Contradictory hadiths on the most beloved individuals to the Holy Prophet in Jami at-Tirmidhi

Question

Ever since I started exploring Sunnah.com (a website that hosts primary Sunni hadith sources), I have come across many questionable sets of hadiths which seem to reflect the influence of post-Prophetic partisan politics on the process of hadith narration. One striking example that I recently stumbled was upon searching the key word, "beloved" as a way to find out which things and people were most loved by the Holy Prophet according to these sources. Among my findings was a set of contradictory accounts from Tirmidhi on the most beloved woman and man to the Holy Prophet.

The first set is a hadith attributed by Amr bin al-As to the Holy Prophet quoted through different chains of narrators who all quote al-As:

Narrated 'Amr bin Al-'As: that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) appointed him as a leader of the army of Dhatis-Salasil. He said: "So I went to him and said: 'O Messenger of Allah! Who is the most beloved to you among the people?' He said: ''Aishah.' I said: 'From the men?' He said: 'Her father.'" (Source)

Narrated 'Amr bin Al-'As: that he said to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): "Who is the most beloved of the people to you?" He said: "'Aishah." He said: "From the men?" He said: "Her farther." (Source)

Narrated 'Amr bin Al-'As: "It was said: 'O Messenger of Allah! Who is the most beloved of the people to you?' He said: ''Aishah.' It was said: 'From the men?' He said: 'Her father.'" (Source)

So according to al-As, the most beloved woman and man to the Holy Prophet have been his youngest wife Aisha and her father, Abu Bakr.

But this is contradicted by hadiths quoted by two other companions -- one of whom interestingly quoting Aisha herself in turn! --, reporting that the two most beloved woman and man to the Holy Prophet have been his cousin and son-in-law, Ali ibn abi Talib, and his wife and Prophet's daughter, Fatima:

Narrated Buraidah: "The most beloved of women to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was Fatimah and from the men was 'Ali." (Source) [a March 2020 postscript: rated "hassan gharib" (good but strange) by an Abu Isa according to the Arabic text, but rated as da'if in the translation].

Narrated Jumai' bin 'Umair At-Taimi: "I entered along with my uncle upon 'Aishah and she was asked: 'Who among people was the most beloved to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)?' She said: 'Fatimah.' So it was said: 'From the men?' She said: 'Her husband, as I knew him to fast much and stand in prayer much.'" (Source) [a March 2020 postscript: with rating similar to the above].

What is interesting with all of these sources and names, is how they fall meaningfully on the opposite sides of political disagreements and conflicts that broke out after the passing of the Holy Prophet.

We know that Amr ibn al-As was among the most staunch enemies of Ali, who along with Muawiya led the Battle of Siffin against Prophet's son-in-law and cousin. On the other hand, I learned that Buraidah who quotes several other hadiths in favor of Ali, has been among his loyal devotees since Prophet's time, and was notably among companions who protested election of Abu Bakr instead of Ali as the immediate successor to the Holy Prophet at Saqifa. But so far I could not find information on the second narrator, Jumai' bin Umair.

Now my thesis is, could have al-As the single narrator of this hadith been possibly fabricating this hadith in favor of Abu Bakr and Aisha in order to play down the status of Ali and Fatima who were among his enemies? For how could al-As know that Aisha and her father were the most beloved people the Prophet, without Aisha herself knowing that? The historians have described al-As as shrewd politician. This is while there seems to be no reason for Aisha to fabricate hadiths in favor of a man she felt jealous of and fought her own war against him. More interestingly Aisha has narrated other hadiths in favor of Ali and his wife such as this one! The impossibility for the forgery of the latter set of hadiths is further reinforced by several other hadiths quoted from the Holy Prophet wherein he expresses his special love for Ali and his family such as the hadith below:

Narrated Zaid bin Arqam:that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to 'Ali, Fatimah, Al-Hasan and Al-Husain: "I am at war with whoever makes war with you, and peace for whoever makes peace with you." (Source)

I could think of no other explanation for these contradictory hadiths except by assuming that the Holy Prophet might have changed his mind on who he loves most over time. But the last hadith by Aisha obviously seems to express Prophet's eternal opinion. So if my thesis is correct, does this mean that we should take into account political affiliations of hadith narrators as one possible factor in determining reliability of the narrators?

Addendum:

goldPseudo pointed out a reasonable observation that I had failed to deal with in my argument saying that all the hadiths in favor of Ali that I have quoted particularly here are graded as dhaif (weak). [Postscript: reviewing this post long afterwards in March 2020, I realized the hadiths in favor of Ali and Fatima are actually rated as "hassan gharib", "good and strange", by scholars referenced in the original text which seem to contradict the English translations of ratings.]

But I could've also quoted similar hadiths that are graded either as "good" or "correct" which seem to corroborate the previous hadiths. Here are two examples:

This hadith again narrated by Aisha, testifies to Fatima's excellent Islamic manners as well as Prophet's expression of unique respect for her:

Narrated 'Aishah: "I have not seen anyone closer in conduct, way, and manners to that of the Messenger of Allah in regards to standing and sitting, than Fatimah the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)." She said "Whenever she would enter upon the Prophet (ﷺ) he would stand to her and kiss her, and he would sit her in his sitting place. Whenever the Prophet (ﷺ) entered upon her she would stand from her seat, and kiss him and sit him in her sitting place. So when the Prophet (ﷺ) fell sick and Fatimah entered, she bent over and kissed him. Then she lifted her head and cried, then she bent over him and she lifted her head and laughed. So I said: 'I used to think that this one was from the most intelligent of our women, but she is really just one of the women.' So when the Prophet (ﷺ) died, I said to her: 'Do you remember when you bent over the Prophet (ﷺ) and you lifted your head and cried, then you bent over him, then you lifted your head and laughed. What caused you to do that?' She said: 'Then, I would be the one who spreads the secrets. He (ﷺ) told me that he was to die from his illness, so I cried. Then he told me that I would be the quickest of his family to meet up with him. So that is when I laughed.'" (Source) [rated as hasan gharib in Arabic text but daif in the translation]

This hadith suggests that Allah literally sent his most beloved creature, Ali, to the Prophet upon his request:

Narrated Anas bin Malik: "There was a bird with the Prophet (ﷺ), so he said: 'O Allah, send to me the most beloved of Your creatures to eat this bird with me.' So 'Ali came and ate with him. " (Source) [Gharib in Arabic text, daif in the translation]

So given the above supportive hadiths, how do we explain Al-As's contradictory account? And given this latter observation of the grading disparity, I would also appreciate knowing why the earlier three hadiths have been graded as weak by the English editors when the original Arabic texts describe them as "hasan gharib" which means they have good isnad but simply not narrated by other narrators. Plus their content seem to have been corroborated by many other good, correct, and weak hadiths from the same book and others.

Answer 1

All perfect praise be to Allah

First of all i would like to encourage you on starting exploration of ahadees, but i would like to add that you need to keep in contact with a good shiekh al hadith for getting all the answers of your questions side by side, and have a book on history of sunni ahadees, their rules and history, such book will also be suggested by a good shiekh al-hadith accordingly.

Now coming to your question, i will present analogy in the above ahadees in original question.

The hadees you mentioned:

Narrated Buraidah: "The most beloved of women to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was Fatimah and from the men was 'Ali."
Grade : Da'if

Is clearly his own observation of the sahabi reporting. Even if you WANT to consider it sahi hadees even than it does not contradict with the second hadees

Narrated 'Amr bin Al-'As: that he said to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): "Who is the most beloved of the people to you?" He said: "'Aishah." He said: "From the men?" He said: "Her farther."
Grade : Sahih

Which is the answer this sahabi got from asking the prophet ﷺ. Now Even if you insist that the first hadees is falsely graded zaeef, and we should consider it, even then there is no contradiction, one is observation and other is answer of a question. This should be enough for clearing the ambiguity.

But there is another point, which is, that Buraidah as of his observation, he concluded that prophet loves daughter most and in men Ali R.A, that might be because it was his family, and love with daughter or children is something different and is shown differently than love with wife or someone else. So, we can safely say that when prophet has himself said in the other sahi hadees who are his most beloved woman and man than there is nothing left to question and both of these ahadees DO NOT CONTRADICT!

Now about your addition in question

after goldPsuedo pointed that the hadith is zaeef.

The first long hadees you have quoted has no issue, this hadees tells about the manners of her and prophet ﷺ love with her daughter. You will find many ahadees like these and also many for Aisha and other Sahaba. Praising one does not mean that we should conclude one is superior to other, we should also conclude the love and respect between members of the holy family, and other positive things.

Now remains the last hadees.

Narrated Anas bin Malik: "There was a bird with the Prophet (ﷺ), so he said: 'O Allah, send to me the most beloved of Your creatures to eat this bird with me.' So 'Ali came and ate with him."
Grade : Hasan (Darusalam)

Interesting thing about this hadees is that sunnah.com has written hassan in this hadees although to my search this hadees is weak... it has many asnaad but all of them are weak. You can see the تخريج حديث الطير in which you will find all the isnaad and the issues in them. الطريق الثالث and issues in this sand are also mentioned alongside.

Also it is strange why sunnah.com has written hasan with it, while it clearly states in arabic text هَذَا حَدِيثٌ غَرِيبٌ that this hadees is gareeb/weak.

As for the short version of takhreej you can read here which states:

((اللهم ائتني بأحب خلقك إليك يأكل هذا الطير فجاء علي))

رواه الحاكم 3/130 بسند موضوع تعقبه الذهبي وحكم عليه بالوضع. وتناقض الحاكم في الحكم عليه. قال أبو عبد الرحمن الشاذياخي » كنا في مجلس السيد أبي الحسن فسئل أبو عبد الله الحاكم عن حديث الطير فقال: لا يصح، ولو صح لما كان أحد أفضل من علي – رضي الله عنه- بعد النبي. قال الذهبي: ثم تغير رأي الحاكم وأخرج حديث الطير في مستدركه« (تذكرة الحفاظ2/1042). وقال الذهبي » هو خبر منكر« (1/602). وقال الشيخ الألباني « ضعيف» (مشكاة المصابيح ح رقم6085 ضعيف الترمذي ص500 ح رقم3987). ورواه الترمذي (3721) وقال حديث غريب. أي ضعيف. قال الحافظ ابن حجر »هو خبر منكر« (لسان الميزان2/354) وفي أجوبته عن الأحاديث الموضوعة في مشكاة المصابيح ذكر للحديث شواهد: غير أن المعول عليه هو المتأخر من قوليه كما في اللسان. قال الزيلعي في نصب الراية »كم من حديث تعددت طرقه وكثرت رواياته وهو ضعيف كحديث الطير« (نصب الراية1/361 وانظر تحفة الأحوذي10/224). وقال ابن كثير في البداية والنهاية (7/351) »إن كل من أخرجوه بضعة وتسعون نفسا أقربها غرائب ضعيفة.. ووقفت على مجلد كبير في رده وتضعيفه سندا ومتنا للقاضي أبي بكر الباقلاني« (مختصر مستدرك الحاكم للحميد3/1446). وقال ابن الجوزي في العلل المتناهية1/225 » ذكره ابن مردويه من نحو عشرين طريقا كلها مظلم«.

Anyway, the point is that this hadees is weak according to majority of scholars of hadees. And you can post a separate question about this hadees concerning the validity of this hadees.

Other than this last hadees, i think the main point of your question "Contradictory hadiths on the most beloved individuals to the Holy Prophet in Jami at-Tirmidhi" is cleared.

Allah knows best