Umar Fled from the Battle of Uhud!

Proponents of the bravery of the second caliph, Umar (la) insist that he was a fierce warrior. Unfortunately for them, in the face of these narrations the true cowardice of Umar (in one of the most important battles of Islamic history) is exposed in hilarious fashion!

The Narration:

During his prayer speech (sermon) on Friday Omar read the Surah of the children of Imran, until he came to this verse: 

"Those of you who turned your back, the day the two armies stood met, it was only the Devil who made them stumble, because of some of their (bad) actions. But surely Allah has forgiven them. For truly Allah is Forgiving and Indulgent! »(Âl e Imrân, 155). 

Then Omar said: The day of the battle of Uhud, they defeated us, so I fled, until I climbed the mountain, so that I saw myself running and jumping as if I were a goat of the mountains. I heard people say, "Muhammad was murdered. I say: I can't find anyone saying: Muhammad (sawaws) was killed. Without me killing him. When we all gathered in the mountains, this verse was revealed.

Sources:

This hadith is found in multiple sources such as Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān (commonly referred to as Tafsir of Al Tabari) and Al-Durr Al-Manthur Fi Tafsir Bil-Ma'thur (commonly known as Tafsir Dur Al Manthur).

1) Tafsir Al Tabari - Volume 7, page 327 & 328, compiler: Muhammad Ibn Jarir al-Tabari

2) Tafsir Dur Al Manthur - Volume 4, page 81, compiler: Jalal Ad-din As-Suyuti

3) Tafsir Jami Al-Bayan. Vol. 6, Pg. # 172

As well as other books:

4) Izalatul Khafa'an Khilafatul Khulafa - Volume 2, Maqsood, Page 49, compiled by Shah Walliallah Dehlawi
5) Kanzul-Ummal - Volume1, Page 238, compiled by Ali ibn Abd al Malik Al Hindi

(Source for scans: Sunnism.net)

Chain of narrators and Authenticity:

Some of the opponents refuse to accept these narrations based off of a supposed weakness of the chain. Take for example the objections from twelvershia.net, youpuncturedtheark blog, and islamistruth blog:

As you can see they object to the otherwise pristine chain of narrators by claiming that one of the narrators, Abu Hisham Al Rifa'ee is very weak and untrustworthy, rendering the entire narration as rejected. Before we move on to refute this contesting by the opponents lets look at all of the narrators in the chain.

Chain:

Abu Hisham Al Rifa'ee -> Abu Bakr bin Ayash -> Asim bin Kulaib -> Kulaib
Ahmad Shakir, the researcher of Tabari writes:

"Abu Hasham is Mohammad bin Yazid bin Mohammad bin Kathir, as mentioned previously in Narrations 3286, 4557, 4888.

And Abu Bakr bin Ayash, it is said that His name is Mohammad, or Abdullah etc. But Ibn Hajr said that correct version is that His name is His kuniyat. He was Hafiz and Mutaqqan (Means Trustworthy Narrator). Although his memory weakened when he was older.
And Asim bin Kulaib. Ahmad bin Hanbal said that there is nothing wrong with His Narrations. And Nisai and Ibn Ma’een said he is trustworthy. He did not narrate many Narrations
And His father, Kulaib, He narrated from Umar, Ali, Saad, Abu Dhar, Abu Huraira etc. Ibn Saad said that He is trustworthy, and His narrations are good, and people use it as evidence."

Authenticating Mohammad bin Yazid bin Mohammad bin Kathir (Abu Hisham Al Rifa'ee):
Abu Hisham is a Narrator authenticated by Muslim ibn Hajjaj in his Sahih, Tirmidhi (14 narrations) and Ibn Maja (4 narrations) of the Sahih Sittah.He is Narrator of Saheeh Ibn Khuzaima (4/71, Narration 2373).
I’jli included Him in His al-Thiqaat (Trustworthy Narrators) p. 416 (Narrator 1517.)
Ibn Hibban included Him in al-Thiqaat, (9/109.)
Dhabi included him in His book, Mun Tukallam fih wa Hoa Mauthiq, (Those who have been criticized but are Trustworthy), p. 172, Narrator 321.
Imam Abu Bakr Barqani termed Him Trustworthy and mentioned that Abu-ul-Hasan Darqutni ordered him to write His Narrations in Saheeh/Authentic.(Mausu’at Aqwal Abu-ul-Hasan Darqutni fi Rijal-ul-Hadeeth wa I’llalaho, 2/637 & Sair A’laam Nabala, 12/155)
Tirmidhi mentions His Narration in His Sunan, 4/360, Narration 1998 (see below) ; and terms the Narration as Hasan Saheeh. Sheikh Albani termed it Saheeh too. Regarding of his Narrations in Ibn Majah, 1/456, Narration 1420, We find Fawad Abdul Baqi saying: "في الزوائد إسناد حديث أبي هريرة قوي. احتج مسلم بجميع رواته." "In Zawaid, Chain of This Narration is Strong, and Muslim has used all of its Narrators in His Saheeh The same narration has been termed as Saheeh by Albani as well."
Zubair Ali Zai also termed This chain Hasan/Good in His research upon Sunan Ibn Majah, urdu version, 2/411
Boseri mentions his Narration in Misbah-uz-Zujaja fi Zawaid Ibn Maja, 2/17; and gives the verdict "هَذَا إِسْنَاد صَحِيح احْتج مُسلم بِجَمِيعِ رُوَاته" "This chain is Authentic andImam Muslim has used all of its Narrators"
Sheikh Hussein Salim Asad termed His Narrations as Hasan/Good in His research upon Musnad Abu Ya’la. For example, Narration 482, Vol 1, page 375; Narration 536 Vol 1, page 408 etc.
Imam Hakim included His Narrations in Mustadrak, 1/337, Narration 786; and termed the narration Authentic on terms set by Sheikhain. Dhabi agreed to His opinion. Also, He included His Narration in Mustadrak, 2/326, Narration 3169; and Dhabi said Narration is authentic on terms of Bukhari and Muslim
(Source for Jarh wa Tadil: Slave of Ahulbait)

We can clearly see that a plethora of highly touted scholars have authenticated Abu Hisham Al Rifaee despite some of the other narrators criticizing him. The opponents conveniently will not quote those who praise him because it does not work in their favor to do so. I will quote some of the narrations from Ibn Majah and Tirmidhi to demonstrate that he has been authenticated by Darussalam as well!

This is one example of him narrating in Sunan Tirmidhi where the chain has been deemed Sahih as mentioned above.

Finally, we should read what hadithanswers.com answered by Moulana Suhail Motala, approved by Moulana Muhammad Abasoomar and checked by Moulana Haroon Abasoomar says in regards to Abu Hisham:

"Certain Muhaddithun like Imam Bukhari and Imam Nasai (rahimahumallah) have deemed him weak. Hafiz Ibn Hajar (rahimahullah) was also of this view.

However, Imam Muslim (rahimahullah) has accepted him to be reliable. Imam Yahya ibn Ma’in and Imam ‘Ijli (rahimahumallah) have accepted him to be credible. Imam Abu Bakr Al Barqani has declared him reliable and further cites Imam Daraqutni’s approval of his narrations.

‘Allamah Dhahabi (rahimahullah), an expert in the field of ‘Hadith Narrators’, has indicated that his narrations will be deemed reliable."

(Refer: Tahdhibul Kamal, vol. 27 pg. 24, Tahdhibut Tahdhib, vol. 9 pg. 526, Taqribut Tahdhib, 6402 and Mizanul I’tidal, vol. 4 pg. 294. Also see footnotes of Shaykh Muhammad ‘Awwamah on Al Kashif, 5223)

As we can now see clearly, there have been some criticism of the narrator Abu Hisham but it is clear that he is a trustworthy narrator that has been authenticated AND narrated from on the authority of several scholars INCLUDING SAHIH MUSLIM.

It is important to note that some Sunni scholars hold that Sahih Muslim is even MORE authentic than Sahih Al Bukhari, while both of them together are the most authentic books. Muslim's analysis of narrators was especially stringent so from this we can conclude that Abu Hisham was definitely authenticated by one of the GREATEST muhaditheen.

Sunnah.com reads:

"Imam Muslim strictly observed many principles of the science of Hadith, which had been slightly ignored by his great teacher Imam Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on both of them).

Imam Muslim considered only such traditions to be genuine and authentic as had been transmitted to him by an unbroken chain of reliable authorities up to the Prophet (saw) and were in perfect harmony with what had been related by other narrators whose trustworthiness was unanimously accepted and who were free from all defects. He divided narrators and sub-narrators into 3 levels:


1. Those people who are completely authentic in their memory and character with no deficiency whatsoever. They were known to be honest and trustworthy.
2. People of slightly lesser memory and perfection than the previous category, yet still trustworthy and knowledgeable, not liars by any measure. Examples of people in this category include `Ata ibn Said and Layth ibn Abi Sulaim.
3. People whose honesty was a subject of dispute or even discussion. Imam Muslim did not concern himself with such people. Examples in this category include Abdullah ibn Maswar and Muhammad ibn Said al-Maslub.

So we can see that Imam Muslim would not even LOOK at anyone who he felt was considered disputed amongst the ulema.

Final verdict:

The chain of narrators is accepted, strong and usable as evidence to support the traditions cited above that Umar ran from the battle of Uhud like a scared mountain goat. Congratulations on having such a fearless caliph!