Umar b. Sa'ad: Ahlul Sunnah's 'Truthful' Narrator

In the science of rijal, Ahlul Sunnah often assert that their evaluations of narrators are the most impartial and fair. They claim this positions them to confidently assert that their hadith collections are fully authentic and that they have accurately preserved the Prophet’s words. Let us explore one such example of a so-called reliable narrator in their hadith literature: Umar b. Sa'ad b. Abi Waqqas Al-Zuhri, the commander of the army that besieged and martyred Imam al-Husayn (as) at Karbala.

Firstly, to remind our readers about the heinous crimes of Umar b. Sa'ad, let us quote al-Bukhari's Biographical work, Tarikh al-Saghir, vol. 1, pg. 17, where he records:

حَدثنَا مُوسَى ثَنَا سُلَيْمَان بن مُسلم أَبُو الْمُعَلَّى الْعجلِيّ قَالَ سَمِعت أبي أَن الْحُسَيْن لما نزل كربلاء فَأول من طعن فِي ‌سرادقه ‌عمر ‌بن ‌سعد فَرَأَيْت عمر بن سعد وابنيه قد ضربت أَعْنَاقهم عَلقُوا على الْخشب ثمَّ ألهبت فيهم النَّار

Musa narrated to us, saying: Sulayman ibn Muslim Abu al-Mu'alla al-'Ajli narrated to us, saying: I heard my father say that when al-Husayn (as) arrived at Karbala, the first to attack his pavilion was ʿUmar ibn Saʿd. I saw ʿUmar ibn Saʿd and his two sons; their necks were struck, and they were hung on the wood, then fire was kindled upon them.

Al-Dhahabi likewise comments in his biography work, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala, vol. 4, pg. 349 - 350. Bio. # 123:

عُمَرُ ‌بنُ ‌سَعْدِ ‌بنِ ‌أَبِي ‌وَقَّاصٍ الزُّهْرِيُّ: أَمِيْرُ السَّرِيَةِ الَّذِيْنَ قَاتَلُوا الحُسَيْنَ -رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ- ثُمَّ قَتَلَهُ المُخْتَارُ، وَكَانَ ذَا شَجَاعَةٍ وَإِقْدَامٍ. رَوَى لَهُ: النَّسَائِيُّ. قُتِلَ هُوَ وَوَلَدَاهُ صَبْراً

Umar b. Sa'ad b. Abi Waqqas al-Zuhri: The commander of the troops that fought against al-Husayn , then al-Mukhtar killed him and his sons as captives.

Despite this, being the head of the ones that marched towards the martyrdom of the Master of the Youth of Paradise, the Grandson of the Holy Prophet (saw), what does al-Dhahabi say regarding his character or status of narrating hadith? Well he writes in his Mizan al-I'tidal, vol. 5. pg. 238 - 239, bio. 6122:

هو في نفسه غير متهم

He is not accused [of lying].

Subhan'Allah, have we seen a man who killed or opposed any of the first three Khulafah, being spoken with such 'objectivity' as they regard it as? Were any of the killers of Uthman also analysed in the same way, with some of them narrating many hadiths, yet rejected and weakened only for the fact they engaged in his killing! Why does this 'objectivity' apply differently to al-Husayn (as), where all of a sudden endorsing their reliability is seen as having a 'objective methodology'.

Someone may say, that this is just the words of al-Dhahabi, we say no problem, but what about the giant of Sunni Rijal, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani? What is his assessement of Ibn Sa'ad? When referring to his work, we find the following from his Taqrib al-Tahdhib, pg. 351, bio. # 4903:

عمر ‌ابن ‌سعد ابن أبي وقاص المدني نزيل الكوفة صدوق ولكن مقته الناس لكونه كان أميرا على الجيش الذين قتلوا الحسين ابن علي

ʿUmar ibn Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas, a Madinan who resided in Kufa, was regarded as truthful, but people despised him because he commanded the army that killed al-Husayn ibn ʿAli.

Another giant of 'ilm al-Rijal, Imam al-Mizzi, records in his Tahdhib al-Kamal, vol. 21, pg. 357:

وَقَال أَحْمَد بْن عَبد اللَّه العجلي: ‌كَانَ ‌يروي ‌عَن ‌أبيه ‌أحاديث، ‌وروى ‌الناس ‌عَنْهُ. ‌وهو ‌الَّذِي ‌قتل ‌الحسين، وهو تابعي ثقة

Ahmad b. Abdullah Al-Ijlli said: "He used to narrate traditions from his father, and the people narrated from him, and he is the one who killed al-Husayn, and he is Trustworthy Tabi'i."

Ahmad b. Hanbal had also transmitted hadiths from Umar b. Sa'ad in his Musnad Ahmad, vol. 3, pg. 82, with the examiner, Shu'ayb al-Arnaut declaring him and the chain as reliable.

In fact, he has even transmitted hadiths in the six main hadith books, namely Sunan an-Nasa'i 4104: 

From Umar b. Sa’ad Sa'ad bin Abi Waqas told us that: The Messenger of Allah [SAW] said: "Fighting a Muslim is Kufr and defaming him is evildoing."

Subhanallah! Umar b. Sa’ad narrates from his father that the prophet said that killing a Muslim is kufr but then went on to kill Imam al-Husay (as)? We leave the reader to ponder on this and think critically about such a system of authenticating narrators and if it is to be trusted.