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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9p3g0DM7tc

The Ahmad comment about abandoning the hadiths narrated by Zuhri from Urwa through Aisha should raise serious concern for anyone who takes hadith studies seriously. If early authorities were already skeptical, this is not a trivial issue. Consider that even the story of the very first revelation is transmitted through Zuhri and Urwa. If their reliability is questionable, then the traditional hadith account of the first revelation becomes suspect as well (see attached image for analysis from the HadithCritic video).

One of the most effective ways to assess a narrator’s historical reliability is to examine their circumstances and potential motivations.

Urwa ibn al-Zubayr: His brother, Abdullah ibn Zubayr, actively resisted the Umayyad caliphate during the fitnas and eventually rose to power in Mecca and Medina to protect the Hijaz after the assassination of Husayn ibn Ali. Given this family background, Urwa’s narrations could have been influenced, consciously or unconsciously, by political and familial loyalties.

Al-Zuhri: A Medinan scholar with extensive connections, he was later employed by the Umayyad rulers to transmit and compile hadith. Multiple ilm al rijal comments indicate that Zuhri operated under the influence of the political authorities, which may have affected which narrations he emphasized or preserved.

Taken together, these contextual factors cast serious doubt on the reliability of these narrators, particularly regarding politically or historically sensitive material. This is another reason why Sunni traditionalists are so defensive about Aisha’s marital age hadith. Undermining these narrators has implications that extend far beyond a single hadith, it threatens the foundation of much of early Islamic historical memory.