0/5.1. Chapter:
Sahih Muslim 55 — Massive Hadith Claims
Unveiling Defects of the Transmitters of Ḥadīth and Relaters of Reports and the Statements of the A’immah Regarding That
Massive Hadith Claims: Why Big Numbers Need Care
Sahih Muslim : 55
Sahih MuslimHadith Number 55
وَحَدَّثَنَا حَسَنٌ الْحُلْوَانِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو يَحْيَى الْحِمَّانِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا قَبِيصَةُ، وَأَخُوهُ، أَنَّهُمَا سَمِعَا الْجَرَّاحَ بْنَ مَلِيحٍ، يَقُولُ سَمِعْتُ جَابِرًا، يَقُولُ عِنْدِي سَبْعُونَ أَلْفَ حَدِيثٍ عَنْ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم كُلُّهَا .
Jābir Narrated from:
I have 70,000 Ḥadīth all of which are on authority of Abū Ja’far on authority of the Prophet, peace and blessings upon him’.
Reference : Sahih Muslim Introduction 55In-book reference : Introduction, Narration 54
Summary of Sahih Muslim Hadith 55
This report is about massive hadith claims and the need to check them carefully. Al-Jarrāh bin Malīh says he heard Jābir claim that he had seventy thousand hadith, all from Abū Ja'far from the Prophet, peace and blessings upon him. The report itself does not ask the reader to accept that claim as proof. It records the statement in a section that is concerned with narrator criticism and hadith reliability. A very large claim about prophetic reports naturally calls for careful review, especially when other reports in this group discuss concerns about Jābir. The main lesson is not to be impressed by numbers alone. In hadith narrator reliability, the chain, the narrator, and the trustworthiness of the claim must be considered.
What we learn from this hadith
- Large claims about hadith should be checked carefully.
- Numbers alone do not prove that reports are reliable.
- A narrator’s wider condition matters when judging his claims.
- Hadith transmission needs more than impressive-sounding statements.
