Salafi Research Institute SRI
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Sunnah.com is arguably the most popular and go-to website for referring to the aḥādīth of the prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). The website is an off-shoot of the popular Quran.com website. It is highly beneficial but there are some drawbacks such as missing sections (see for example Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn) and typos which directly affect other websites/apps that rely on sunnah.com given its open-source nature. No doubt referring to an actual book or at least the pdf of it is more reliable and less prone to mistakes. Now, sunnah.com relies on the translations of Darussalam (for the most part) which was found by ‘Abdul Malik Mujāhid, from the ahl al-Ḥadīth in Pakistan. Darussalam state in their introduction of the four books as follows “All the Aḥādith of this collection have been documented, referenced and traced by the great research scholar, Ḥāfiẓ Zubair ‘Ali Za’ī.” This makes it clear that sunnah.com relies on the gradings of Shaykh Zubair ‘Ali Za’ī رحمه الله when referring to (Darussalam). Likewise, they get their gradings of Shaykh al-Albānī رحمه الله from al-Maktabah al-Shamilah. There is a key mistake in this however, the people of truth retract their position once they find the correct saying and therefore we must quote the latest gradings of a scholar which is something missing from some of the gradings in this website. I posed this issue to some of the main students of shaykh Zubair and they clarified that these are old gradings of shaykh Zubair and that Darussalam did not give him the chance to review his gradings before publishing.
Shaykh Nadeem Zaheer حفظه الله, he spent 15 years with the shaykh until his death and has been the main person who writes the introductions to the books of his shaykh when it publishes. At times when shaykh Zubair was not able to teach, he would appoint him at his place. He is the founder of al-Ma’rifah institute and author of many books/articles. I asked him:
“Assalāmu ‘alaykum wa raḥmatullāhi wa barakātuh, Hope you are in goodness and wellbeing.
In the publications of Darussalam (old ones) for the 4 sunan, I have seen some differences in the gradings of shaykh Zubair ‘Ali Za’ī. For example, the Du’a for laylatul Qadr, it’s written “Ṣaḥīḥ” therein and the ḥadīth “usury has seventy degrees…” (Ibn Mājah 2274) is written “Ḥasan” therein even though in ishaatulhadith app [1] both are written as Ḍa’īf.
What is the reason for the differences in grading? kindly answer in detail.
May Allah preserve you and bless you”
He answered:
“Wa ‘alaykum assalām wa raḥmatullāhi wa barakātuh.
The publication of Darussalam is old. Afterwards, there has been corrections and so on which is why differences are found.”
[1] Ishaatulhadith app, managed by his son shaykh Mu’az حفظه الله is an extremely beneficial app for the Urdu audience wherein all the published books/articles of shaykh Zubair and many works of his students are available for free.
Shaykh Naseer Ahmad Kashif حفظه الله, he recently finished his Takhrīj of al-Mustadrak by al-Ḥākim. He has already worked on Tafsīr ibn Kathīr and Muwaṭṭa ibn Wahb and other works. He is a close friend of shaykh Ḥabīb al-Raḥmān and a direct student of shaykh Zubair. I asked him the same question and he replied:
“Wa ‘alaykum assalām wa raḥmatullāhi wa barakātuh.
At times he relied upon someone and based on shāwahid (supporting evidences), he would declare the narration as Ṣaḥīḥ or Ḥasan. Later on, after research, it became proven that those shāwahid were not authentic.
And at times, there is a hidden defect which becomes apparent later on.
At times, the ruling on a narrator that is differed upon (in authenticity) gets changed based on evidence”
Shaykh Ḥabīb al-Raḥmān Hazārvī حفظه الله, one of the main students of shaykh Zubair who learnt under him for a long time. He currently teaches in the library of the shaykh and has several works including takhrīj of Faḍāil al-Ṣaḥābah by Imām Aḥmad. He has taught several books and is currently teaching sunan al-Nasāī in detail. I asked him the same question and he said:
“Wa ‘alaykum assalām wa raḥmatullāhi wa barakātuh.
The Taḥqīq of Darussalam was old and they did not let the shaykh رحمه الله review it which is what caused differences. And the shaykh رحمه الله has freed himself from the books they publish [of his]. ”
I asked “Can I publicise this [chat]?”
He said “The Shaykh رحمه الله himself publicised this”
Therefore, the one who wants to know the actual gradings of the shaykh, let him look at zubairalizai.com or the ishaatulhadith app.
As a personal note, I recommend people to ask experts themselves regarding authenticity as they know better which scholar made a mistake and whether that scholar retracted his position in terms of authenticity.
