Is the Ḥadīth of the Roasted Bird Authentic?

Question: Is the Hadith of the Roasted Bird authentic: “O Allah, bring to me the most beloved of Your creation to You, so that he may eat this bird with me.” Then ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib came and ate with him?

Answer: In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

Know—may Allah عز وجل strengthen you—that this hadith is known as the report of the Roasted Bird (Khabar al-Ṭāʾir al-Mashwī). It is one of the well-known hadiths and has a very large number of chains of transmission. It has been narrated from a great many Companions, including the Commander of the Faithful (Imam ʿAlī عليه السلام), Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī, Abū al-Ṭufayl ʿĀmir ibn Wāthilah, Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, Abū Rāfiʿ, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, Ḥabashī ibn Junādah, Yaʿlā ibn Murrah, Safīnah—the freedman of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله—ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, and Anas ibn Mālik.

Anas ibn Mālik is particularly well known for narrating this report, as the number of its transmission routes through him exceeds ninety, as the hadith scholar al-Dhahabī explicitly stated. ⁽¹⁾

Hadith scholars and other scholars devoted separate works specifically to collecting the transmission routes of this hadith. These include:

• Ṭuruq Ḥadīth al-Ṭayr wa Alfāẓuhu (The Transmission Routes and Wording of the Hadith of the Bird), by Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī [d. 310 AH].

• Ḥadīth al-Ṭayr (The Hadith of the Bird), by Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Ibn ʿUqdah [d. 333 AH].

• Ṭuruq Ḥadīth al-Ṭāʾir (The Transmission Routes of the Hadith of the Bird), by ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUbayd Allāh al-Anbārī [d. 356 AH].

• Ṭuruq Ḥadīth al-Ṭayr, by Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥākim al-Naysābūrī [d. 407 AH].

• Ṭuruq Ḥadīth al-Ṭayr, by Aḥmad ibn Mūsā Ibn Mardawayh [d. 410 AH].

• Ḥadīth al-Ṭayr, by Abū Nuʿaym Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Iṣfahānī [d. 430 AH].

• Ṭuruq Ḥadīth al-Ṭayr, by Abū Ṭāhir Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥamdān [d. 441 AH].

• Ṭuruq Ḥadīth al-Ṭayr, by Shams al-Dīn al-Dhahabī [d. 748 AH].

There are other works besides these. Furthermore, a number of hadith scholars and critics graded certain chains of this hadith as authentic, including al-Ṭabarī and al-Ḥākim. Others graded it as ḥasan (good), such as Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī and al-Haythamī. Some scholars stated that the hadith has a basis in the sources, including al-Dhahabī. Here are some of their statements:

1. Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī [d. 310 AH]:

Saʿd Āl Ḥumayd stated:

تقدّم: أنّ ابن كثير ذكر أنّ الطبريّ له مجلدٌ في جمع طرق وألفاظ هذا الحديث، وظاهر كلام ابن كثير أنّ الطبريّ يرى صحّة الحديث وإنْ لم يصرّح به

“It has already been mentioned that Ibn Kathīr reported that al-Ṭabarī has a volume devoted to collecting the transmission routes and wordings of this hadith. The apparent meaning of Ibn Kathīr’s statement is that al-Ṭabarī considered the hadith authentic, even though he did not explicitly say so.” ⁽²⁾

2. Abū Ḥafṣ Ibn Shāhīn [d. 385 AH]:

He stated:

تفرَّد بهذا الحديث عبد القدوس بن محمد عن عمّه، لا أعلم حدّث بغيره، وهو حديثٌ حسنٌ غريبٌ

“ʿAbd al-Quddūs ibn Muḥammad is the only one who narrated this hadith from his uncle. I do not know of him narrating anything else. It is a ḥasan gharīb hadith (a good report with an unusual chain).” ⁽³⁾

3. Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥākim al-Naysābūrī [d. 405 AH]:

He stated:

هذا حديثٌ صحيحٌ على شرط الشيخين، ولم يخرجاه، وقد رواه عن أنسٍ جماعةٌ من أصحابه زيادةً على ثلاثين نفساً، ثمّ صحّت الرواية عن عليّ وأبي سعيد الخدريّ وسفينة، وفي حديث ثابت البنانيّ عن أنس زيادة ألفاظ

“This is an authentic hadith according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs [al-Bukhārī and Muslim], although they did not include it in their collections. A group of Anas’s students narrated it from him, numbering more than thirty individuals. Furthermore, its transmission has been established from ʿAlī, Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, and Safīnah. In the narration of Thābit al-Bunānī from Anas, there are additional wordings.” ⁽⁴⁾

He also stated:

حديث الطير من مشهورات الأحاديث، وكان على أصحاب الصحاح أنْ يخرّجوه في الصحاح

“The Hadith of the Bird is among the well-known hadiths, and it was incumbent upon the compilers of the authentic collections to include it in their Ṣaḥīḥ works.” ⁽⁵⁾

4. Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Dhahabī [d. 748 AH]:

He stated:

حديث الطير، وله طرقٌ كثيرةٌ عن أنس متكلَّم فيها، وبعضها على شرط السنن، من أجودها حديث قطن بن نسير شيخ مسلم

“The Hadith of the Bird has many transmission routes from Anas, though they have been subject to criticism. Some of them meet the criteria of the Sunan collections. Among the finest of them is the narration of Quṭn ibn Nusary, the teacher of Muslim.” ⁽⁶⁾

He also stated:

وأمّا ‌حديث ‌الطير ‌فله ‌طرقٌ ‌كثيرةٌ ‌جدّاً، قد أفردتُها بمصنَّفٍ، ومجموعها هو يوجب أنْ يكون الحديث له أصل

“As for the Hadith of the Bird, it has a very great number of transmission routes. I have devoted a separate work to them, and their totality necessitates that the hadith has a basis.” ⁽⁷⁾

5. The hadith scholar Abū Saʿīd al-ʿAlāʾī [d. 761 AH]:

He stated:

والحق أنَّه ربما ينتهي إلى درجة الحسن، أو يكون ضعيفاَ يُحتمَل ضعفه. وأمّا أنْ ينتهي إلى كونه موضوعاً في جميع طرقه فلا

“The truth is that it may reach the degree of ḥasan (good), or it may be weak in a manner that renders its weakness tolerable. However, it cannot be the case that it is fabricated in all of its transmission routes.” ⁽⁸⁾

6. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Subkī [d. 771 AH]:

He stated:

وأمّا الحكم على حديث الطير بالوضع فغير جيّد، ورأيتُ لصاحبنا الحافظ صلاح الدين خليل بن كيكلدي العلائيّ عليه كلاماً، قال فيه - بعد ما ذكر تخريج الترمذيّ له، وكذلك النسائيّ في خصائص عليّ -: إنّ الحقّ في الحديث أنّه ربّما ينتهي إلى درجة الحسن، أو يكون ضعيفاً يُحتمَل ضعفه، قال: فأمّا كونه ينتهي إلى أنّه موضوعٌ من جميع طرقه فلا

“As for declaring the Hadith of the Bird fabricated, that is not a sound judgment. I came across a discussion of it by our fellow scholar, the hadith master Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Khalīl ibn Kaykaladī al-ʿAlāʾī. After mentioning that al-Tirmidhī had included it in his collection, and likewise al-Nasāʾī in Khaṣāʾiṣ ʿAlī, he said: ‘The truth concerning this hadith is that it may reach the degree of ḥasan (good), or it may be weak in a manner that renders its weakness tolerable.’ He then said: ‘As for claiming that it is fabricated through all its transmission routes, that is not the case.’” ⁽⁹⁾

7. Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī [d. 852 AH]:

He graded the hadith as ḥasan (good). This was after he had documented eighteen hadiths in his responses to al-Maṣābīḥ. Among them was the Hadith of the Bird, which was numbered sixteen. He followed these hadiths with a section entitled, “A chapter summarising which of the six leading Imams included these hadiths in their famous collections, in their respective order.” There, he stated:

السادس عشر: الترمذيّ، وهو حسن

“The sixteenth: al-Tirmidhī, and it is ḥasan (good).” ⁽¹⁰⁾

8. Ibn Ḥajar al-Makkī [d. 974 AH]:

He stated:

وحينئذٍ، فيُقوّى كلٌّ من تلك الطرق بمثله، ويصير سنده حسناً لغيره، والمحقّقون أيضاً على أنّ الحسن لغيره يُحتجّ به كالحسن لذاته

“In that case, each of those transmission routes is strengthened by another comparable route, and its chain becomes ḥasan li-ghayrihi (good due to corroboration). The hadith experts also hold that a ḥasan li-ghayrihi report is used as evidence, just like a ḥasan li-dhātihi report (one that is good in and of itself).” ⁽¹¹⁾

I say: From what has been presented above, you now know that the hadith has a very large number of transmission routes, some of which strengthen one another. Here, we shall limit ourselves to mentioning two reliable routes.

The First Route: The Route of Anas ibn Mālik

It has already been mentioned that the hadith scholar al-Dhahabī stated that the total number of narrations transmitted from Anas exceeds ninety routes. We shall mention one of these routes, followed by a corroborating narration.

Al-Tirmidhī—and the wording below is his—as well as Abū Yaʿlā, al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn ʿAsākir, transmitted the following through the route of ʿĪsā ibn ʿUmar, from Ismāʿīl al-Suddī, from Anas ibn Mālik, who said:

كان عند النبيّ (صلى الله عليه [وآله] وسلم) طيرٌ، فقال: اللهمّ ائتني بأحبّ خلقك إليك يأكل معي هذا ‌الطير، فجاء عليّ، فأكل معه

“There was a bird with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله, so he said: ‘O Allah عز وجل, bring to me the most beloved of Your creation to You, so that he may eat this bird with me.’ Then ʿAlī came and ate with him.” ⁽¹²⁾

The hadith scholar al-ʿAlāʾī stated:

عبيد الله بن موسى – أحد المتفق عليهم –، عن عيسى بن عمر – وقد وثَّقه يحيى بن معين وغيره، ولم يضعّفه أحد -، عن إسماعيل عن إسماعيل بن عبد الرحمن السديّ، -وقد احتج به مسلمٌ والناس-، عن أنس

“ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā—one of the narrators agreed upon [as reliable]—from ʿĪsā ibn ʿUmar, whom Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn and others deemed trustworthy, and whom no one declared weak; from Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Suddī, whose narrations Muslim and others relied upon; from Anas.” ⁽¹³⁾

The hadith scholar Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī stated:

أخرجه الترمذيّ من طريق عيسى بن عمر، عن إسماعيل بن عبد الرحمن السديّ، سمع من أنس. قلتُ: أخرج له مسلم، ووثّقه جماعةٌ منهم شعبة وسفيان ويحيى القطّان)، ثـمّ ذكر تخريج الحاكم له من طريق يحيى بن سعيد عن أنس، وأشار لشواهده عن جماعةٍ من الصحابة، ثـمّ قال في تلخيص ما ذكره: (السادس عشر: الترمذيُّ، وهو حسن)

“Al-Tirmidhī transmitted it through the route of ʿĪsā ibn ʿUmar, from Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Suddī, who heard it from Anas. I say: Muslim included his narrations in his Ṣaḥīḥ, and a number of scholars deemed him trustworthy, among them Shuʿbah, Sufyān, and Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān.” He then mentioned al-Ḥākim’s transmission of the hadith through the route of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd from Anas, and referred to corroborating narrations from a number of Companions. After summarising what he had mentioned, he stated: “The sixteenth: al-Tirmidhī, and it is ḥasan (good).” ⁽¹⁴⁾

I say: This narration is further corroborated by numerous transmission routes, including the route of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd from Anas ibn Mālik. Al-Ṭabarānī, Ibn Yūnus, and al-Ḥākim transmitted it through the route of Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿIyāḍ ibn Abī Ṭaybah, who said:

حدّثنا أبي، حدثنا يحيى بن حسان، عن سليمان بن بلالٍ، عن يحيى بن سعيدٍ، عن أنس بن مالك به

“My father narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn Ḥassān narrated to us, from Sulaymān ibn Bilāl, from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from Anas ibn Mālik,” who narrated the hadith. ⁽¹⁵⁾

Al-Ḥākim stated:

هذا حديثٌ صحيحٌ على شرط الشيخين، ولم يخرجاه، وقد رواه عن أنسٍ جماعةٌ من أصحابه زيادةً على ثلاثين نفساً، ثمّ صحّت الرواية عن عليٍّ وأبي سعيد الخدريّ وسفينة، وفي حديث ثابت البنانيّ عن أنس زيادة ألفاظ

“This is an authentic hadith according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs [al-Bukhārī and Muslim], although they did not include it in their collections. A group of Anas’s students narrated it from him, numbering more than thirty individuals. Furthermore, its transmission has been established from ʿAlī, Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, and Safīnah. In the narration of Thābit al-Bunānī from Anas, there are additional wordings.” ⁽¹⁶⁾

The Second Route: The Route of Safīnah, the Freedman of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله

Al-Ṭabarānī transmitted the following through the route of Fiṭr ibn Khalīfah, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Nuʿm, from Safīnah—who was a servant of the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وآله—who said:

أهدي لرسول الله (صلى الله عليه [وآله] وسلم) طوائر، فصنعتُ له بعضها، فلما أصبح أتيتُه به، فقال: من أين لك هذا؟ فقلت: من التي أتيت به أمس، فقال: ألم أقلْ لك لا تدخرنَّ لغدٍ طعاماً، لكلّ يومٍ رزقه؟ ثمّ قال: اللهمّ أدخلْ عليّ أحبّ خلقك إليك يأكل معي من هذا الطير. فدخل عليٌّ (رضي الله عنه) فقال: اللهم وإلي

“Some birds were presented as a gift to the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وآله, so I prepared some of them for him. When morning came, I brought them to him. He said: ‘Where did you get this from?’ I replied: ‘From the birds that were brought to you yesterday.’ He said: ‘Did I not tell you not to store food for tomorrow? Each day has its own provision.’ He then said: ‘O Allah عز وجل, bring to me the most beloved of Your creation to You, so that he may eat with me from this bird.’ ʿAlī entered, may Allah be pleased with him, and said: ‘O Allah, and me too!’” ⁽¹⁷⁾

Al-Haythamī stated:

رواه البزار والطبرانيّ باختصار، ورجال الطبرانيّ رجال الصحيح غير فطر بن خليفة، وهو ثقة

“It was narrated by al-Bazzār and, in an abridged form, by al-Ṭabarānī. The narrators in al-Ṭabarānī’s chain are the narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ collections, with the exception of Fiṭr ibn Khalīfah, who is trustworthy (thiqah).” ⁽¹⁸⁾

I say: The weakening of this hadith by some of those who oppose us is refuted by the abundance of its transmission routes, its widespread recognition, the authentication of it by their own scholars, and the numerous corroborating narrations supporting it.

It appears that the motive behind weakening this hadith is its indication that the Commander of the Faithful, Imam ʿAlī عليه السلام, is superior to all of creation except the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله. This becomes evident from the fact that ʿĀʾishah and Ḥafṣah wished that the person being summoned would be their respective fathers, just as Anas wished that it would be Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah.

Ibn ʿAsākir transmitted this narration through the route of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Muthannā, from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Anas, from Anas, who said:

«أهدي لرسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم حجل مشوي بخبزة وظبابة، فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: اللهم ائتني بأحبّ خلقك إليك يأكل معي من هذا الطعام.

“A roasted partridge, together with bread and a dish of broth, was presented as a gift to the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وآله. The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وآله then said: ‘O Allah, bring to me the most beloved of Your creation to You, so that he may eat this food with me.’

ʿĀʾishah said:

اللهم ‌اجعله ‌أبي

‘O Allah, let it be my father.’

Ḥafṣah said:

اللهم ‌اجعله ‌أبي

‘O Allah, let it be my father.’

Anas said:

اللهم اجعله سعد بن عبادة

‘I then said: O Allah, let it be Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah.’

He said:

فسمعتُ حركةً بالباب فخرجت فإذا عليّ

‘Then I heard a movement at the door. I went out, and there was ʿAlī.’” ⁽¹⁹⁾

These wishes demonstrate that ʿĀʾishah, Ḥafṣah, and Anas understood the hadith to indicate superiority, and that such superiority entails the position of supreme leadership (al-imāmah al-kubrā).

We shall suffice with this much. All praise belongs to Allah عز وجل, first and last.