Khalf bin Ayyoob al-Aamri, Abu Sa’eed al-Balkhi

Name:

خلف بن أيوب العامري أَبُو سعيد البلخي

Khalf bin Ayyoob al-Aamri Abu Sa’eed al-Balkhi

Tabaqah: 9 – From the Minor Taba Taabi’een

Death: 215 H

Narrated by: At-Tirmidhi

Teachers: Israa’eel bin Yoonus, Khaarijah bin Mus’ab, Qays bin ar-Rabee’, Ma’mar bin Raashid, Qaadhi Abu Yoosuf etc

Students: Ahmed bin Hanbal, Muhammad bin Muqaatil al-Marwazi, Muhammad bin Mansoor al-Nasfi, Mas’ood bin Sahl al-Nahdi etc

Status: Thiqah Hasan ul-Hadeeth, the head of Murji’ah

Opinions of Ahl ul-Jarh wat Ta’deel:

Those who praised him:

1-    Imaam Ibn Hibbaan mentioned him in ath-Thiqaat and said: “He is Ghaali in Irjaa…”

[8/227]

2-    Imaam Abu Ya’la al-Mawsali said: “He is Sadooq, Famous from Khurasaan… he is attributed with concealment, uprightness, and austerity; he is a Faqeeh over the opinions of Koofis…”

[Al-Irshaad: 3/929]

3-    Haafidh Dhahabi said: “He is the head in Irjaa, Thiqah”

[Al-Kaashif: 1/373]

Those who criticized him:

1-    Imaam Yahya ibn Ma’een said: “He is Da’eef”

[Ad-Du’afa al-Kabeer: 2/24]

2-    Imaam Abu Ja’far al-Ukaylee said: “This Khalf has narrated Munkar narrations from Qays (bin ar-Rabee’) and Awf (bin Abi Jameelah) which are not followed, and he was a Murji’i”

[Ad-Du’afa al-Kabeer by al-Ukaylee: 2/24]

Note: Shaykh Albaani answers this Jarh and states that Khalf did not narrate anything Munkar. The most that Ukaylee has mentioned are two ahaadeeth; one of them is this (from Awf) and the other one is narrated with a Saheeh chain from Abu Hurayrah as Marfoo’: “There is no transitive disease, nor Safr, nor Hama” – And Ukaylee said about it that “Its chain is Mustaqeem”. As for this hadeeth (from Awf) then Balkhi is not alone in narrating it. It has been narrated from two routes one of them is from Anas… and the other one is narrated by Abdullah bin al-Mubaarak in al-Zuhd (1/175)….

[Silsilah al-Ahaadeeth as-Saheehah: 1/563 H. 278]