| The Author of ‘Musannif Abdur Razzaq’ and ‘Tafseer Abdur Razzaq’, Imam Abdur Razzaq ibn Hummam al-Sinaanee al-Yamanee rahimahullah (died. 211 hijri) said: ‘By Allah! My heart was never satisfied in giving Ali precedence over Abu Bakr. May Allah have mercy on Abu Bakr, on Umar, on Uthman, on Ali. And whoever doesn’t love them, then he is not a believer(Mo’min). My strongest deed is that I love them. May Allah be pleased with them and may the mercy of Allah be showered upon them‘ (Tareekh Damishq by Ibn Asaakir 38/130, its chain is saheeh, Kitaab al-Ilal wa Ma’arifat al-Rijaal by Abdullah ibn Ahmed ibn Hanbal. 1/256, hadith 1465 , its chain is saheeh) Sheikh Zubair Alizai rahimahullah writes: From this golden statement, we come to know that Imam Abdur Razzaq was not a Twelver Shi’ite. Infact he recanted also from the lesser tash’ee since in this statement he has mentioned his love for the Rightly Guided Khalifahs in their order of appointment. After reading this, whosoever continues to call Imam Abdur Razzaq a ‘Shia’ shall have his mental health checked up in a hospital. Imam Abdur Razzaq additionally said: ‘I am a proponent of the higher virtue of the Shaykhayn (i.e Abu Bakr & Umar radhiyallahu anhuma) because Ali (radhiyallahu anhu) himself gave them precedence over himself in terms of virtue.‘ (Al-Kamil by Ibn Adee 5/1949, its chain is saheeh, second manuscript 6/540) Author: Hafiz Zubair Alizai Rahimahullah Translated by: taalibeilm via (sheikhzubairalizai dot wordpress dot com) Reference: Sheikh Zubair’s book: Tahqeeqi Maqalaat (Vol 1 pages 409-411) | 