Aban bin Abi Ayyash and the Sayings of the Scholars of Appraise and Criticism about him “collection and study”

Abstract

Writing about a narrator on whom the scholars of criticism differ, and reaching a result which clarifies his circumstance is important in studying the chains of transmission and judging them. The researcher chose the narrator Aban bin Abi Ayyash because he is disagreed on, although many hadiths were narrated from him, and a group of trustworthy people narrated about him. The researcher investigated what was said about him, and the disagreement in him was based on ranks between: the certifying, and whoever accused him of lying. Thus, the researcher divided them according to their ranks in Appraise and Criticism, then studied them according to the rules of Appraise and Criticism, and made sure that the ascriptions were correct, as well as their correspondence and direction of each other. The result was that Aban – God have mercy on him – was as he described of good character; however, he was afflicted by his poor memorization, his negligence, and his delusion. Hence, his hadiths were reprehensible, and he was said about: that his hadiths were discarded. Besides, his unknown narrators harmed him, though he did not deliberately lie. Consequently, he should not be used as evidence, yet he is considered for his abstinence and tenderness by some critics.

Finally, the researcher transmitted some of the hadiths mentioned by the authors of the books of Appraise and Criticism, and heard by Aban from Al-Hasan Al-Basri, but he made them on the authority of Anas, and thus the Imams denounced his hadiths. God knows best and wiser.