Hadith: The first one would change my way – man from clan of Umeyyah.

Hadith with such text was narrated by ibn Abu Asim in “al-Awail” with such text: Narrated to us Ubeydullah ibn Muaz, narrated to us my father, from al-Muhajir ibn Mukhalad from Abul Aliyah from Abu Dhar, that he heard him saying to Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan: I heard messenger of Allah (sallalahu alaihi wa ala alihi wa sallam) said: The first one would change my way (sunnah) – man from clan of Umeyyah.

This chain seems disconnected from the very first look.

1) Imam ibn Kathir in his “al-Bidayah wal Nihaya” (8/254) quoted opinion of Yahya ibn Maeen:

قال الدوري سألت ابن معين: أسمع أبو العالية من أبي ذر؟ قال: لا، إنما يروي عن أبي مسلم عنه، قلت: فمن أبو مسلم هذا؟ قال: لا أدري

Ad-Doore asked ibn Maeen: Did Abul Aliyah heard from Abu Dhar? He said: No, he narrated from Abu Muslim from him (Abu Dhar). I asked: And who is this Abu Muslim? He said: I don’t know.

Imam Bayhaki narrated hadith with similar text and also noticed that this chain is disconnected between Abul Aliyah and Abu Dhar.

وفي هذا الإسناد إرسال بين أبي العالية وأبي ذر

(Beyhaki “Dalail” N 2802, al-Maqrizi “Imta al-Asma” 12/232)

And this is testified by the way of transmission which quoted al-Asimi in “Samtu Nujum”. He wrote there:

حدثنا محمد بن بشار بندار، حدثنا عبد الوهاب، حدثنا عوف الأعرابي، حدثنا مهاجر أبو مخلد، حدثني أبو العالية، حدثني أبو مسلم، قال: قال أبو الدرداء: سمعت النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول: ” أول من يبدل سنتي رجل من بني أمية يقال له يزيد “

Narrated to us Muhammad ibn Bishar Bindar, narrated to us Abdulwahab, narrated to us Awf al-Arabi, narrated to us Muhajir Abu Mukhalad, narrated to me Abul Aliyah from Abu Muslim from Abu Darda: I heard messenger of Allah saying: The first one who would change by way is man from clan of Umeyyah by name Yazid”.

2) There is also other problem with text of this hadith, in some versions it says that Abu Dhar said these words to Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan, while they were inSyria.

Imam Bukhari said in “Tareeh al-Awsat”:

والمعروف أن أبا ذر كان بالشام زمن عثمان ، وعليها معاوية ، ومات يزيد في زمن عمر ، ولا يعرف لأبي ذر قدوم الشام زمن عمر.

And it is known  that Abu Dhar was in theSyriain the time of Uthman, and upon it was Muawiyah (as a ruler). And Yazid (ibn Abu Sufyan) died in the time of Umar, and it is not known for Abu Dhar his coming toSyriain the time of Umar.

3) Third  point to notice is al-Muhajir ibn al-Mukhalad, he narrated this from Abu Aliyah.  He was soft in ahadeth as it is in “al-Mizanul itidal” (4/N8815).

In “Musannaf” of ibn Abu Shayba this hadith coming from the way of Awf al-Arabi but there he didn’t use al-Muhajir as intermediate (like this was quoted by Asimi) and narrated directly from Abu Aliyah.

He was Awf al-Arabi, Abu Sahl al-Basre.  He was authenticated by Nasai and others. But he hold up to the innovation which was pure evil. Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak said:  “By Allah Awf wasn’t satisfied with (one) innovation, in him were two innovations. He was qadari and shia”. Bundar while he was narrating ahadeth of Awf said: “By Allah Awf was Qadari, Rafidi Shaytani”. (“Mizanul itidal” 3/ N 6530)

4) If shias would persist upon authenticy of this report, it would be not in their interests. Because it would be clear in this case that they accept: Neither Abu Bakr, nor Umar didn’t change Sunnah of Prophet (sallalahu alaihi wa ala alihi wa sallam), because hadith clearly says that such man would be from Banu Umeyyah and they both were not from that clan.

Wa Allahu Alam.