Do Shi’a Hadiths narrate from a Donkey?

The most common argument against Shi’a Hadith Science, amusingly, is a singular mursal report transmitted in Kitab al-Kafi which says the following:

وَرُوِيَ أَنَّ أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) قَالَ: إِنَّ ذَلِكَ الْحِمَارَ كَلَّمَ رَسُولَ الله (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِه) فَقَالَ بِأَبِي أَنْتَ وَأُمِّي إِنَّ أَبِي حَدَّثَنِي عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنْ جَدِّهِ عَنْ أَبِيهِ أَنَّهُ كَانَ مَعَ نُوحٍ فِي السَّفِينَةِ فَقَامَ إِلَيْهِ نُوحٌ فَمَسَحَ عَلَى كَفَلِهِ ثُمَّ قَالَ يَخْرُجُ مِنْ صُلْبِ هَذَا الْحِمَارِ حِمَارٌ يَرْكَبُهُ سَيِّدُ النَّبِيِّينَ وَخَاتَمُهُمْ فَالْحَمْدُ لله الَّذِي جَعَلَنِي ذَلِكَ الْحِمَارَ.

It is narrated that the Commander of the Faithful (A) said: The Messenger of Allah (SAW) was once spoken to by a donkey, which said: “May my father and mother be sacrificed for you! My father told me, from his father, from his grandfather, from his father, that he was with Prophet Noah in the Ark. Noah approached him, stroked his back, and said:

‘From the loins of this donkey will come a donkey that will be ridden by the master and seal of the prophets.’ All praise belongs to Allah, who made me that very donkey.”

Anyone with even a basic understanding of Hadith Science would know that a donkey is not 'narrating' in the chain of transmission of this report, as it is being reported in Mursal form (meaning, without a connected chain) to Imam Ali (AS). This is clear from the word وَرُوِيَ in the report, which means "and it is narrated".

So the narrator in question is Imam Ali (AS), and the Donkey speaking to the Prophet (SAW) is part of the report's matn (content of report) as opposed to its sanad (chain of transmission). As for the possibility of a donkey speaking to another, then such an incident would be miraculous and nothing about it is impossible as the Qur'an narrates animals speaking to one another, such as in Surat An-Naml 27:18:

حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَآ أَتَوۡاْ عَلَىٰ وَادِ ٱلنَّمۡلِ قَالَتۡ نَمۡلَةٌ يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّمۡلُ ٱدۡخُلُواْ مَسَٰكِنَكُمۡ لَا يَحۡطِمَنَّكُمۡ سُلَيۡمَٰنُ وَجُنُودُهُۥ وَهُمۡ لَا يَشۡعُرُونَ

When they came to the Valley of the Ants, one ant said, ‘O Ants! Go into your homes, in case Solomon and his hosts unwittingly crush you.’

Unless one is an Atheist, such a phenomenon (i.e. an animal speaking to another) by essence is not entirely unreasonable. However, the report still contains flaws, and it is subject to scrutiny as any other report is.

As we mentioned it is a mursal report, which means it is weak, and thus not relied upon. Moreover, the idea that a donkey would narrate a report that happened thousands of years ago cannot be met just by two generations of forefathers, which shows that the report is probably a fabrication. 

This was mentioned by the Muhaqiq of Mir’atul Uqul Vol. 3, pg. 56:

ليس الاعتماد في هذه المرسلة من جهة تكلم الحمار مع النبي ﷺ حتى يجاب عنه بكلام الهدهد والنمل، بل الاستبعاد من جهة أن الحمار كيف يعرف أبوه وجده حتى يحدث عنهم

This narration is not rejected merely because a donkey spoke to the Prophet ﷺ since the Qur’an itself mentions the speech of the hoopoe and ants but rather because it is absurd to imagine that a donkey could know his father and grandfather and narrate from them.

---

Similar Sunni Reports 

---

It’s hilarious how for many Sunnis, this is their strongest argument in refutation of Shi’a Hadith, despite the fact that this has nothing to do with neither Hadith Science nor Hadith credibility. The mere presence of an animal speaking to another is part of the miracles Muslims are obligated to believe in, but this particular report is unreliable, so has no credibility in the eyes of the Shi'a.

If the objection is the mere presence of the report in a reliable Hadith book, then the opponent has shot themself in the foot as similar reports exists in their own corpus, such as in Dala’il Al-Nubuwwa, Vol. 1, Pg. 386-387, Hadith #288:

حدثنا أبو بكر أحمد بن محمد بن موسى العنبري قال ثنا أحمد بن محمد بن يوسف قال ثنا إبراهيم بن سويد الجدوعي قال ثنا عبد الله بن أذينة الطائي عن ثور بن يزيد عن خالد بن معدان عن معاذ بن جبل قال:

أتى النبي ﷺ وهو بخيبر حمار أسود، فوقف بين يديه فقال من أنت؟ فقال : أنا عمرو بن فلان، كنا سبعة أخوة كلنا ركبنا الأنبياء وأنا أصغرهم، وكنت لك، فملكني رجل من اليهود، فكنت إذ ذكرتك كبأت به فيوجعني ضرباً فقال النبي ﷺ فأنت يَعْفُور

Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Musa al-‘Anbari narra ted to us, saying: Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Yusuf narrated to us, saying: Ibrahim ibn Suwayd al-Judu’i narrated to us, saying: ‘Abdullah ibn Udhaynah al-Ta’i narrated from Thawr ibn Yazid, from Khalid ibn Ma‘dan, from Mu‘adh ibn Jabal, who said: 

The Prophet ﷺ was in Khaybar when a black donkey came to him and stood before him. The Prophet ﷺ asked, “Who are you?” The donkey replied, “I am ‘Amr, son of so-and-so. We were seven brothers, all of us ridden by Prophets. I am the youngest of them, and I was kept for you. A man from the Jews owned me, and whenever he mentioned you, I would stumble intentionally, and he would beat me harshly.” The Prophet ﷺ then said, “You are Ya‘fur.”

The same issue exists in this report as does with the one in al-Kafi, which is that a donkey is narrating an incident that occurred with its previous Jewish owner, relating it to the Prophet (SAW).

In their most authoritative Hadith books, we read in the following in Sahih al-Bukhari 3663:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) saying, "While a shepherd was amongst his sheep, a wolf attacked them and took away one sheep. 

When the shepherd chased the wolf, the wolf turned towards him and said, 'Who will be its guard on the day of wild animals, when nobody except I will be its shepherd. 

And while a man was driving a cow with a load on it, it turned towards him and spoke to him saying, 'I have not been created for this purpose, but for ploughing." 

The people said, "Glorified be Allah." The Prophet said, "But I believe in it and so does Abu Bakr and `Umar."

Masha’Allah, a mysterious wolf with wisdom speaks in similar expressions as the Qur’an. And it was explicitly mentioned that Abu Bakr and ‘Umar believed in this as a sign of their virtuous faith. Yet, when the same is applied to Shi’a Hadiths we find a double standard emerging. 

The report was repeated in Sahih al-Bukhari 3471, but with an addition of a speaking cow: 

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Once Allah's Messenger (ﷺ); offered the morning prayer and then faced the people and said, "While a man was driving a cow, he suddenly rode over it and beat it. 

The cow said, "We have not been created for this, but we have been created for sloughing." 

On that the people said astonishingly, "Glorified be Allah! A cow speaks!" 

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "I believe this, and Abu Bakr and `Umar too, believe it, although neither of them was present there. 

So let’s be clear, when a donkey talks in a weak Shia hadith, it’s subject to mockery. When the same donkey talks in Sunni books, they are quiet. And when a wolf and a cow talk in Sahih al-Bukhari, it’s “faith” when being believed in. Why the hypocrisy? Why the pathetic arguments? Why the baseless mockerey? 

We hope that Mukhalifeen learn to provide arguments with more intellectual substance to critique Shi’a Hadiths, just as we provide substance criticising Sunni Hadiths. As a demonstration for this, refer to our “Lies of Bukhari” and “Censorships of Ahmad b. Hanbal” articles.