Abu Hurayra

حَدَّثَنَا مَكِّيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا يَزِيدُ بْنُ أَبِي عُبَيْدٍ، عَنْ سَلَمَةَ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ ‏ “‏ مَنْ يَقُلْ عَلَىَّ مَا لَمْ أَقُلْ فَلْيَتَبَوَّأْ مَقْعَدَهُ مِنَ النَّارِ ‏”‏‏.‏

Sahih al-Bukhari 109 https://sunnah.com/bukhari:109

So, despite all the overwhelming evidence that the Sunni’s most prolific narrator is entirely unreliable, why does the ulema refuse to budge on this matter? The answer is that they know if their most prolific narrator is a sham, then so is their entire foundation of traditions. This has been known even before the compilations of Bukhari and Muslim that the whole Sunnah rested on maintaining the integrity of the companions. It is documented in the books “Tawil Mukhtalif al-Hadith” by Ibn-Qutayba p. 228, and “Hadith Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World,” p. 302 by Jonathan Brown, that in an audience before the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid, the early Sunni Umar b. Habib (d. 204/819-20) responded to Mu’tazilite and Ahl al-ra’y arguments regarding the reliability of Abu Hurayra and claimed “ that if one opened the door to criticizing the Companions of the Prophet, Muslims would lose the whole Shariah. “

Narrated Abu Huraira: “The Prophet (ﷺ) said, ‘The best alms is that which is given when one is rich, and a giving hand is better than a taking one, and you should start first to support your dependents.’ A wife says, ‘You should either provide me with food or divorce me.’ A slave says, ‘Give me food and enjoy my service.” A son says, “Give me food; to whom do you leave me?” The people said, “O Abu Huraira! Did you hear that from Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ)?” He said, “No, it is from my own self.”