Abu Hurairah

Abu Hurairah were recorded has participated during the Expedition of Dhat al-Riqa‘which took place in the Najd, a large area of tableland in the Arabian Peninsula in Rabi' al-Thani or Jumada al-awwal, 4 AH (or the beginning of 5 AH), as Muhammad received the news that certain tribes of the Ghatafan were assembling at Dhat al-Riqa‘ with suspicious purposes.[11] The Muslim fighters penetrated deep into their land until they reached a spot called Nakhla, where they came across some bedouins of Ghatafan.[11][12] However, according to Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri in his The Sealed Nectar, the Dhat ar-Riqa‘ campaign took place after the fall of Khaybar and not as part of the invasion of the Najd. This is supported by the fact that Abu Hurayrah and Abu Musa al-Ash'ari witnessed the battle as Abu Hurairah embraced Islam only some days before Khaybar, and Abu Musa Al-Ash‘ari came back from Abyssinia and joined Muhammad at Khaybar. The rules relating to the prayer of fear which Muhammad observed at Dhat Ar-Riqa‘ campaign, were revealed at the Invasion of the 'Asfan and this, scholars such as al-Dhahabi,[7] has recorded the invasion were took place after the Battle of the Trench, which nodded by Mubarakpuri.[12]

Nevertheless, consensus of Muslim historians has placed that Abu Hurayrah came into historical record after the battle of khaybar.[13] Then he afterwards participated in battle of Mu'tah, conquest of Mecca, battle of Hunayn, and Expedition of Tabuk.[13]

According to Ahmad ibn Hanbal, after the death of Muhammad, Abu Hurairah participated in quelling the rebellions in Ridda wars under Abu Bakr al Siddiq.[14]

Later, after Abu Bakar passed away, in the era of Umar reign, Abu Hurairah actively participated in the Muslim conquest of Persia.[15] Later, he became governor of medieval Bahrayn provice, or Eastern Arabia encompassing the modern day Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Arabian gulf, and UEA.[7][16] After the tenure of his governorate, Abu Hurairah return to Medina and worked as Qadi judge and passing down Fatwa verdicts during his career.[7][10]^: 357

Later, during the reign of Marwan ibn Hakam, the caliph once testing Abu Hurairah about his hadiths memory, and one year later, he tasked Abu Hurairah to help the caliphate secretary to audit any hadiths circulated within the caliphate realm.[10]

Al Baqi cenetery, place where Abu Hurairah were buried

Following the death of Muhammad, Abu Hurayrah spent the rest of his life teaching hadith in Medina, except for a short period as governor of Eastern Arabia (then called "Bahrayn") during the reign of Umar, and when he was the governor of Medina during the early Umayyad Caliphate. Abu Hurayrah died in 681 CE (59AH) at the age of 78 and was buried at al-Baqi'.[17]

According to Yasin Jibouri, several of Shia scholars such as Ja’far al-Iskafi regarded Abu Hurayra as telling lies.[26] Same goes with Abu Rayyah, another scholar who quoted medieval Shia source in his report regarding Abu Hurairah.[27] Certain Shia writers are known for doubting his authority as a narrator.[28] As Abdullah Saeed points out the writing from Abu Rayyah that Caliph Umar bin Khattab is recorded to repeatedly threaten Abu Hurayrah, noted at the time as a blatant self-promoter, with serious consequences due to his frequent misquote of the Prophet's words.[29]

Researchers has found that Sunni scholarly community in general regarded the Abu Hurairah as trustworthy and the allegation of the hadith falsification are coming solely from Shia traditions, which not found in Kutub al-Sittah and other major Hadith works, such example are Ali al-tamimi.[30] While Badri Khairuman from Kalijaga Islamic University has pointed out that Abu Rayyah critic towards Abu Hurairah were flawed according to the main principles of Biographical evaluation traditions.[31]

Safia Aoude also highlighted, the narration of Umar threatening Abu Hurairaha, which quoted by Abdullah Saeed, were also came solely from a writer which influenced by Abu Rayyah,[32] Particularly from anonymous writer who has pen name "O. Hashem" who write his criticism towards Abu Hurairah in his book, Saqifah.[16] Several Sunni thinkers and scholars such as has been Mustafa al-Siba'i, Shuaib Al Arna'ut , Muhammad Ajaj al-Khatib, Abdur-Rahman al-Mu'allimee al-Yamani, Abdul Mun’im Shalih Al ‘Ali Al ‘Izzi and others, has criticized the sources which O. Hashem quoted only using falsified and inauthentic hadith according to standard of Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, and Al-Dhahabi criterion of biography evaluation, while also questioning O. Hashim scholarly credibility as they though O. Hashem were driven by Shiite biased view on his critics.[16]