The Virtue of hadith scholars

Ṣāliḥ ibn Ḥātim ibn Wardān said: “I heard Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ say: «لكل دين فرسان، وفرسان هذا الدين أصحاب الأسانيد» "Every religion has its horsemen/defenders, and the horsemen/defenders of this religion are the people of isnād (i.e. the scholars of ḥadīth).” [Siyar A'lām An-Nubalā'] ____ The following is a simple example illustrating the above, drawn from Sheikh Rashād Aḍh-Ḍhāli'ee’s explanation of Imām Abu Al-Barakāt Majd Ad-Dīn’s Al-Muntaqā. Chapter: The opening supplication between the opening takbir and the recitation ... ‘A’ishah reported that when the Prophet ﷺ began the prayer, he would say: ((سبحانك اللهم وبحمدك وتبارك اسمك وتعالى جدك ولا إله غيرك)) “Glory be to You, O Allāh, and praise is Yours. Blessed is Your Name, exalted is Your Majesty, and there is no diety (worthy of worship) besides You.” This was narrated by Abu Dawud. Abu Dawud mentioned its chain of narration and explained that although the narrators are trustworthy, the chain is disconnected between Abu Al-Jawzā’ and ‘A’ishah. Abu Al-Jawzā’ is Aws ibn ‘Abdullāh Ar-Rib‘i. This is one defect with the chain. Another defect, pointed out by several scholars, is that this wording of the opening supplication is not well-established. Abu Dawud himself noted after narrating the hadith that it is not well known from ‘Abdus-Salām ibn Ḥarb, and that only Ṭalq ibn Ghannām narrated it from him. Others narrated the description of the prayer from the same source but did not mention this opening supplication. This narration also appears in Sahih Muslim through another chain from Budayl ibn Maysarah, but without mentioning this opening supplication. Ad-Dāraquṭni also declared it defective, saying it was narrated only by Ṭalq ibn Ghannām and is not strong. Al-Bayhaqi likewise said in Ma‘rifat As-Sunan wal Athar that this wording is not preserved. So there are two defects in this chain: 1. the disconnection between Abu Al-Jawza’ and ‘A’ishah, and 2. this addition about the opening supplication is not reliably preserved according to scholars, making it irregular. This hadith has other routes of transmission, reported by At-Tirmidhi and Ibn Mājah, but their chains are very weak. One narrator, Ḥarithah ibn Abi Ar-Rijāl, is matrūk (abandoned) and known for unreliable reports. Imam Ahmad strongly rejected this hadith. There is a third route reported by Aṭ-Ṭabarāni in Ad-Du’ā’ and Ad-Dāraquṭni in As-Asunan (and these two sources contain an extensive collection this ḥadīth's routes), but its chain is also very weak due to Sahl ibn ’Āmir being a very weak narrator. So this hadith from ‘A’ishah, through these routes, is very weak. The first route is irregular (shādh), and the ones after it are severely weak. Ad-Dāraquṭni also reported a similar narration from Anas, and the five major collectors reported a similar one from Abu Sa‘eed. As for the hadith of Anas: Ad-Dāraquṭni narrated it through the chain: Al-Husayn ibn ‘Ali ibn Al-Aswad → Muhammad ibn Aṣ-Ṣalt → Abu Khālid Al-Aḥmar → Humayd → Anas. This chain contains Al-Husayn ibn ‘Ali ibn Al-Aswad. Imām Aḥmad was asked about him and said, “I do not know him.” Abu Ḥātim said he was truthful (Ṣadūq), but some scholars criticised him severely. Ibn ‘Adi said: “He steals hadith, and his narrations are not taken.” Al-Azdi also said he is very weak. Ibn Abi Ḥātim (in his book Al-’ilal) said: I heard my father mention this hadith—Muhammad ibn aṣ-Ṣalt narrated it from Abu Khalid Al-Ahmar from Humayd from Anas from the Prophet ﷺ—and my father said: “This hadith is a lie and has no basis.” So the route mentioned by the author is extremely weak. The hadith of Anas has two other routes. One of them was narrated by Aṭ-Ṭabarāni in Ad-Du‘a’ through ‘A’idh ibn Shurayḥ from Anas. ‘A’idh ibn Shurayḥ is weak; rather, Ibn Ṭāhir said about him: “He is nothing,” meaning his weakness is severe. The second route is also in Aṭ-Ṭabarani’s Ad-Du‘ā': Maḥmūd ibn Muhammad Al-Wāsiti → Zakariyyah ibn Yahya → Al-Fadl ibn Musa As-Sīnāni → Humayd At-Tawil → Anas.