Seek Knowledge to China, Is It Really A Hadith?

 اُطْلُبُوْا الْعِلْمَ وَلَوْ بِالصِّيْنِ، فَإِنَّ طَلَبَ الْعِلْمِ فَرِيْضَةٌ عَلَى كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ

Seek knowledge even in China, because seeking knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim.

Oftentimes we hear the term 'Seek knowledge as far as China', it is so popular that some even say it is a hadith. Really?

This Hadith by Hadith scholars is categorized as a well-known non-terminological Hadith, namely Hadith that is already popular in the community even though—sometimes—it does not mean that it is actually a Hadith that came from the Prophet SAW. Because the criteria here is that he is called Hadith by the general public, and he is famous or popular among them.

As proof that the above-mentioned Hadith is included in the non-terminological well-known Hadith (ghair ishtilahi) is that it is included in books that specifically contain well-known hadiths. For example the book al-Maqashid al-Hasanah by al-Sakhawi (d. 902 H), aI Durar al-Muntatsirah fi al-Ahadits al-Musytahirah by al-Suyuti (w 911 H), al-Ghammaz `ala al-Lammaz by aI-Samhudi (d. 91 1 H), Tamyiz al-Tayyib min al-Khabits by Ibn al-Daiba' (d. 944 H), Kasyf al-Khafa wa Muzil al-Ilbas by al-Ajluni (1162 H), Asna al-Matalib by al-Hut, and others.

In contrast to the well-known terminological Hadith (ishtilahi), this one is a Hadith in which the number of narrators in each level of narration ranges from three to nine people.

Rawi and Sanad Hadith

Hadith Seek knowledge even though in China the above was narrated by narrators, among others, Ibn Adiy (d. 356 H) in his book aI-Kamil fi Dhu'afa Rijal, Abu Nu'aim (d. 430 H) in his book Akhbar Ashbihan, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463 H) in his book Date of Baghdad and al-Rihlah fi Thalab al-Hadith, Ibn Abd al-Barr (d. 463 H) in his book Jami' Bayan al-'Ilm wa Fadhlih , Ibn Hibban (d. 254 H) in his book Majruhin, and others.

While the sanad is, they all received the Hadith from: aI-Hasan bin 'Atiyah, from Abu 'Atikah Tarif bin Sulaiman, from Anas bin Malik, (from the Prophet).

Hadith Quality

Imam Ibn Hibban said, This hadith is false la ashla lahu (vanity, false, without basis). Ibn Hibban's statement was repeated by al-Sakhawi in his book al-Maqhasid al-Hasanah. The source of the falsehood of this Hadith is the narrator named Abu Atikah Tarif bin Sulaiman (in another source it is written: Salman).

According to Hadith scholars such as al-`Uqaili, al-Bukhari, al-Nasa'i, and Abu Hatim, they agree that Abu Atikah Tarif bin Sulaiman has no credibility as a Hadith narrator. Even according to al-Sulaimani, Abu Atikah is known as a forger of Hadith. Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal also strongly opposed the Hadith. That is, he does not admit that the phrase Seek knowledge even though in China is a Hadith of the Prophet.

Other History

The hadith was also rewritten by Ibn al-Jauzi in his book al-Maudhu'at (false hadiths). Then al-Suyuti in his book al-La'ali al-Mashnu'ah fi al-Ahadith al-Maudhu'ah — a summary book of the book of Ibn al-Jauz plus comments and additions — said that in addition to the above sanad, the Hadith has three other sanads. Each one is as follows.

First, Ahmad bin 'Abdullah-Maslamah bin al-Qasim-Ya'qub bin Ishaq bin Ibrahim al-'Asqalani-`Ubaidullah bin Muhammad al-Firyabi – Sufyan bin `Uyainah – al-Zuhri –Anas bin Malik – (The Prophet) . Hadith with a chain like this narrated by Ibn Abd al-Barr and al-Baihaqi in the book Shu'abal Iman.

Second, Ibn Karram - Ahmad bin Abdullah al-Juwaibari - al-Fadhl bin Musa - Muhammad bin 'Amr - Abu Salamah - Abu Hurairah - (the Prophet). This hadith with this chain was narrated by Ibn Karram, as mentioned in the book al-Mizan (Mizan I'tidal fi Naqd al-Rijal) by al-Dzahabi.

Third, in his book al-Lisan (Lisan al-Mizan), Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani narrated the Hadith with his own narration from Ibrahim al-Nakha'i — Anas bin Malik. Ibrahim said, "I heard the Hadith from Anas bin Malik".

While the qualities of these three sanad are as follows:

In the first sanad there is the name Ya'qub bin Ibrahim al-Asqalani. According to Imam al-Dzahabi, Ya'qub bin Ibrahim al-Asqalani is a kadzdzab (liar). In the second sanad there is the name of Ahmad bin Abdullah al-Juwaibari, he is a forger of Hadith. While in the third sanad, Ibrahim al-Nakha'i never heard anything from Anas bin Malik. Thus said Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani. Therefore, he is also nothing more than a liar.

Not Changing Position

The three sanad mentioned by al-Suyuti above do not change the position of the Hadith that we are studying. This means that the hadith is still in the status of maudhu 'or fake, because the sanad mentioned by al-Suyuti are all weak. Therefore, the present-day Hadith expert, Sheikh Muhammad Nashir al-Din al-Albani said that al-Suyuti's note was laisa bi syai'in (meaningless), because it did not change the status of the Hadith, in fact it strengthened its falsehood.

Usually, a hadith that is weak, if it is narrated with another weak chain, then it can increase its status to a hasan li ghairih hadith. But with a note, his weakness is not because he is a fasiq (doing immorality) or he is a liar. While the Hadith "Learning in China" is different. He cannot improve his quality to become hasan li ghairih, because his weakness is that his narrators are liars, even Hadith forgers.

Meanwhile, a contemporary Hadith expert, Prof. Dr. Nur al-Din 'Itr is of the opinion that although the Hadith "Seeking knowledge in China" cannot improve its quality from dha'if to hasan li ghairih, he also does not confirm that the Hadith is fake. He only determined that the Hadith was very weak (dha'if syadid). Unfortunately, Nur al-Din 'Itr did not explain what was meant by dha'if syadid (very weak). Because false Hadith is the weakest Hadith.

In the discipline of Hadith, Hadith with very severe weaknesses, such as the Maudhu Hadith, Matruk Hadith and munkar Hadith cannot be used as any proof, hatta for the evidence of good deeds (fadhail al-a'mal, because one of the conditions can be used Hadith -Hadith dha'if for the arguments of fadhail al-a'mal is kedha'ifan These hadiths are not severe.

While the Hadith "Seeking knowledge in China" is very bad. Therefore, even though Prof. Dr. Nur al-Din `Itr differed in opinion with Sheikh Nashir al-Din al-Albani and Ibn al-Jauzi in assessing the Hadith, but in practice they agreed that the Hadith could not be used for any argument, whether for aqidah, sharia or morality. and fadhail aI a'mal.

Controversial Rawi

Meanwhile, Imam Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani said that Ya'qub bin Ishaq al-Asqalani, who was considered a kadzdzab (liar) by Imam al-Dzahabi, was actually mentioned by Maslamah bin al-Qasim in his book al-Shilah. Maslamah said that there were several Hadith teachers who mentioned Ya'qub bin Ishaq al-Asqalani to him. Maslamah also said, "I wrote Hadith from Ya'qub bin Ishaq and I saw Hadith teachers writing Hadith from him. Ya'qub is also disputed among Hadith experts, some consider it majruh (incredible), and some consider it tsiqah (credible). For me," Maslamah continued, "Ya'qub bin Ishaq is shalih wa ja'iz al Hadts (both Hadith)"

If this is the case, then the narrator named Ya'qub bin Ishaq al-Asqalani is a controversial narrator. Furthermore, can it change the status of the Hadith into a Sahih Hadith? The answer is still can't.

Why? Because in the science of al-Jarh wa Ta'dil (negative and positive evaluation of Hadith narrators), there is a rule that if a narrator is judged negative (jarh) and positive (ta'dil by Hadith critic scholars, then the superior opinion is the opinion of the Hadith critic). who evaluates negatively if the assessment is explained by the reasons.

In the case of Ya'qub bin Ishaq, al-Dzahabi has given a negative assessment (jarh) by describing him as a kadzdzab (liar). Therefore, this assessment must be put forward, so that Ya'qub bin Ishaq remains as a majruh (incredible) narrator.

Furthermore, after it is known that the above Hadith is fake, it is now no longer necessary to answer the question "why did the Holy Prophet mention China, not Europe". Because that expression has nothing to do with the Prophet Muhammad, even though the general public considers it a Hadith.

The phrase may have originally been a kind of pearl of wisdom, because it is said that China in the past was known to have a high culture. Then gradually the expression was mentioned as Hadith.

And keep in mind that the fake Hadith as referred to in this answer is an expression as stated at the beginning of this description which consists of two sentences, namely "Seek knowledge even in China, because seeking knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim".

Meanwhile, the second sentence, "Seeking knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim", is an authentic Hadith narrated by Imam al-Baihaqi in the book of Shu'ab al-Imam, Imam al-Thabrani in the book al-Mu'jam al -Shagir, and al-Mu jam al-Ausath, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi in his book Date of Baghdad and others. Wallahu alam.