Is Sijl a Companion and One of the Scribes of the Prophet?
(An Extraction from 'The Book of Hands')
Commentary on Surah Al AmbiyÄ: 104
AllÄh says:
“And (remember) the Day when We shall roll up the heavens like a scroll (Sijl) rolled up for books.â€
The exegetes differ on the meaning of the word "Sijl". Some said: "It is a book."
Some said: "It is an Angel."
Some said: "It is the name of a companion who was the scribe of the Prophet."
Abu Dawud, An Nasai (Al Kuburah), and At Tabari reported it from Ibn 'AbbÄs: "As Sijl was the scribe of the Prophet (salla AllÄh 'alayhi wa sallam).
Al KhatÄ«b also reported it in his TÄrikh from Ibn 'Umar: "As Sijl was the scribe of the Prophet."
Then he (Ibn Kathīr) commented: "This is rejected and weak report from Ibn 'Umar."
Ibn KathÄ«r said: "It is also a weak report from Ibn 'AbbÄs and he added; the memorizers of narrations explicitly declared that it was fabricated, despite being in Sunan Abi Dawud, among them was the great memorizer, Al MÄ«zi… I have written a treatise on this report.
Al ImÄm Abu Ja'afar At Tabari had examined the narration and completely refuted it and said: "No companion was known bearing As Sijl, all the scribes of the Prophet were well known." He (Rahimahu AllÄh) is correct, and this is from the strong evidence that the hadÄ«th is rejected.
Note:
Other exegetes and verifiers such As Ash ShawkÄni (Fat'h Al QadÄ«r 3/590), SidÄ«q Hasan KhÄn (Fat’h Al BayÄn 8/377), Mustafa Al 'Adhami, Ahmad ShÄkir (‘Umdah At TafsÃr 2/573), ‘AbdullÄh bn 'Abdil Muhsin At Turk (in his verification of TafsÄ«r Al Qurtubi 14/297) relied on Ibn KathÄ«r verifications.
I (Abu Sahl) have concluded before I read Al ImÄm Al AlbÄni (Silsilah AhÄdÄ«th Ad Da'Ä«fah 12/403) saying: "The critics among the scholars followed Ash ShawkÄni in his TafsÄ«r which he cited from Ibn KathÄ«r..."
AlhamduliLlÄh for the success!
Note: In Fat'h Al BayÄn 8/377, SiddÃq Hassan KhÄn wrote “…Ash ShawkÄni has written a treatise on this report.†This is a mistake from the him, rather the statement belong to Ibn KathÄ«r; Ash ShawkÄni and others (as mentioned) relayed it from him, even SiddÄ«q himself!). So, the treatise belongs to Al ImÄm Ibn KathÄ«r.
Those (Ibn AthÄ«r and Abu Nu'aym) that mentioned the name among the companions only relied on the weak reports (of Ibn ‘Umar and Ibn ‘AbbÄs).]
Ash Shaykh Mustafa Al 'Adhami then commented: "I also consider the reports fabricated, I only mentioned it for comprehensiveness."
I (Abu Sahl) say: "At Tabari's statement was also cited by Al Qurtubi Al Mufassir, Ibn Taymiyyah, and Ibn Qayyim, definitely they all relied on his (ImÄm At Tabari) conclusion."
Al ImÄm As Sama'Äni said: "Ibn IshÄq reported, Sijl was a scribe of the Prophet and it is a strange (and weak) opinion. The second opinion is, Sijl is an Angel, however the third opinion that As Sijl is a scroll, is the preponderant. (TafsÄ«r Al Qur'Än 3/412).
Ibn Qayyim Al Jawzi added the fourth opinion: "He was a man." (ZÄd Al MasÄ«r 5/395).
Ash Shaykh Al AmÄ«n Ash ShinqÄ«ti said: "The opinion is glaringly invalid" (Al AdwÄ Al BayÄn 4/866).
Ibn Hajar authenticated it in Al IsÄbah 3/28-29), and refuted those who graded it mawdu'.
As Suyuti (citing Al Bayhaqi) also graded it hasan (Ad Durr Al ManthÅ«r 5/683-684). Al AlbÄni refuted this statement by saying: "I could not see his (Al Bayhaqiy) authentication in the page..." (Ad Da'Ä«fah 12/404)
Dr Hikmat graded the narration of Ibn 'AbbÄs Hasan and weakened Ibn 'Umar's narration (Tasliyah Al KadhÄ«m TakhrÄ«j TafsÄ«r Ibn KathÄ«r 5/371).
AllÄh knows best, the narration is weak as graded by Abu Dawud, Adh Dhahabi, Al ‘Uqayli, Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn Qayyim, Ibn KathÄ«r, and others among the critics and verifiers.
