Ahmadiyyat or Qadianism! Islam or Apostasy? — Page 180
Muslim ulemma, including the critics of the Ahmadiyya Muslim. Community, Bukhari's collection of Ahadith 'is hailed as the most authentic book after the Book of Allah, by the entire Muslim Ummah'46 and the collection of Ahadith by Muslim is ‘held as parallel to Bukhari by most traditionalists and only second to it by others. ' 47. It should also be appreciated that while these two collections take precedence in the order of the six most authentic collections of our beloved. Prophet's Traditions, Baihaqui's collection is not rated amongst the Sihah. Sitta. 48 It is hence essential that the authority of the two more authentic works of Traditions, those of Bukhari and Muslim be accepted over and above the authority of Baihaqui, even if Baihaqui was assumed to have followed the chain of narrators to the Holy Prophet, which he no doubt did not. . Infact, this is exactly what Muslim scholars of repute have done throughout the history of Islam. For instance, the supporters of. Baihaqui's version themselves acknowledge the fact that while 'Hazrat. Imam Jalaludin Suyuti quoted from Baihaqui, he omitted the mention of the word sky. ' 49 What feasible explanation could there be for this omission by one of the most revered saint and scholar. of Islam except that he too doubted the authenticity of Baihaqui's version which contains the word sky in its contents. . Hence, not only on the balance of probabilities but infact the admission of the critics of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, one is obliged to admit that the word sky in Baihaqui's version of this Tradition could be no more than a later interpolation, albeit unintentional. While one would tend to be sympathetic to the contentious anti Ahmadiyya mullah's plea that the word sky in Baihaqui's version ‘is not a later addition made by either him or his cronies,' one cannot accept this plea as an excuse to admit this interpolation as authentic since this excuse neither proves that the word is not a later addition nor does it dent the authenticity of the versions carried by either of the two Sahihs, those of 46. Hasan, Suhaib: The Study of Al Quran: Lesson 2, pg 9 . 47. Ibid: Lesson 3, pg 13 48. Ghaffar, Suhaib H. A: Criticism of Hadith Among Muslims with Reference to Sunan Ibn. Maja: pg 3 49. Zaheer, E. E: Qadiyaniat. An Analytical Survey: pg 173 50. Ibid: pg 171 181