No Fabricated Hadith in Sunan al-Sughra – Clarification Regarding One Disputed Hadith
There is no fabricated (mawdu') hadith in Sunan al-Sughra. Only one hadith was included by Ibn al-Jawzi in his book al-Mawdu‘at, which is not correctly classified. This narration appears in Sunan al-Nasa'i, Book of Drinks (Kitab al-Ashribah), under the chapter: "Mention of the Sins Resulting from Drinking Alcohol" (Hadith No. 5672). It is narrated with the chain: Yazid ibn Abi Ziyad from Mujahid from Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-‘As (RA), in a marfu‘ form. The text of the hadith is:
“Whoever drinks alcohol and lets it enter his stomach, Allah will not accept his prayer for seven days. If he dies during this period, he dies in a state of disbelief. If the alcohol causes him to lose his senses and miss an obligation (Ibn Adam said: like missing the Qur’an), then his prayer will not be accepted for forty days, and if he dies in this state, he dies as a disbeliever.”
The defect ('illah) in this hadith, as noted by Ibn al-Jawzi, is the narrator Yazid ibn Abi Ziyad. He stated the hadith is not authentic. ‘Ali ibn al-Madini and Yahya ibn Ma‘in both said his narrations are not reliable. Ibn al-Mubarak said: “Throw it away.” Al-Nasa'i himself labeled him matruk al-hadith (abandoned in hadith). Hafiz al-Dhahabi in Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala commented that the hadith appears fabricated (mawdu‘). He added, “Had Shu‘bah known Yazid narrated such false reports, he would not have narrated a single word from him” (6/132).
It is worth noting that before mentioning this marfu‘ hadith, Imam al-Nasa'i included a mauquf (non-prophetic) narration with the same meaning, from Abdullah ibn ‘Umar (RA), which is authentic. It states:
“From Mujahid, from Ibn ‘Umar who said: Whoever drinks alcohol and does not get intoxicated, his prayer will not be accepted as long as there is even a trace of it in his stomach or veins. If he dies in that state, he dies as a disbeliever. If he becomes intoxicated, then his prayer is not accepted for forty nights, and if he dies during this period, he dies as a disbeliever.” (Hadith No. 5671).
Imam al-Nasa'i then said before citing the marfu‘ hadith: "Khalafahu Yazid ibn Abi Ziyad" – meaning Yazid contradicted the earlier authentic narration from Fudayl. Thus, Imam al-Nasa'i himself indicated the weakness in the marfu‘ narration. A study of the chain confirms that the hadith from Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-‘As (RA) is weak, while the mauquf narration above is authentic.
Also note that although Ibn al-Jawzi criticized Yazid ibn Abi Ziyad, both al-Bukhari (narrating via suspended chain) and Muslim (through another route) have narrated from him. Great critics like Shu‘bah also narrated from him. Al-Dhahabi quoted Shu‘bah as saying that Yazid would sometimes elevate companion statements (athar) to prophetic narrations (marfu‘). Ahmad ibn Hanbal said Yazid was not a memorizer (hafiz), Abu Zur‘ah said he was weak (layyin), Abu Hatim al-Razi said he was not strong (qawi), and Abu Dawud said: “To my knowledge, no one has declared him abandoned (matruk).” (See: Fath al-Mughith 1/100–101; Tawjih al-Nazar, p. 153, etc.)
