This post is just for knowledge, not for arguments about whether the sun came back for Ali (RadhiAllahu Anhu).
Ibn Kathir said:
أما حديث رد الشمس بسبب علي ، رضي الله عنه ، فقد تقدم ذكرنا له من طريق أسماء بنت عميس ، وهو أشهرها ، وأبي سعيد وأبي هريرة وعلي نفسه ، وهو مستنكر من جميع الوجوه ، وقد مال إلى القول بتقويته أحمد بن صالح المصري الحافظ ، وأبو جعفر الطحاوي ، والقاضي عياض ، وكذا صححه جماعة من العلماء الرافضة كابن المطهر وذويه ، ورده وحكم بضعفه آخرون من كبار حفاظ الحديث ونقادهم ، كعلي بن المديني ، وإبراهيم بن يعقوب الجوزجاني ، وحكاه عن شيخه محمد ويعلى ابني عبيد الطنافسيين ، وكأبي بكر محمد بن حاتم البخاري المعروف بابن زنجويه أحد الحفاظ ، والحافظ الكبير أبي القاسم بن عساكر ، وذكره الشيخ جمال الدين أبو الفرج بن الجوزي في كتاب ” الموضوعات ” وكذلك صرح بوضعه شيخاي الحافظان الكبيران أبو الحجاج المزي ، وأبو عبد الله الذهبي . وأما ما ذكره يونس بن بكير في زياداته على ” السيرة ” من تأخر طلوع الشمس عن إبان طلوعها ، فلم ير لغيره من علماء السير ، على أن هذا ليس من الأمور المشاهدة ، وأكثر ما في الباب أن الراوي رأى تأخير طلوعها ولم يشاهد حبسها عن وقته .
وأغرب من هذا ما ذكره ابن المطهر في كتابه ” المنهاج ” أنها ردت لعلي مرتين ،
As for the ḥadīth about the sun being rolled back (returned) for ‘Alī (may Allah be pleased with him), we have previously mentioned it through the narration of Asmā’ bint ‘Umays the most famous chain as well as through Abū Sa‘īd, Abū Hurayrah, and ‘Alī himself. However, this narration is rejected from all perspectives۔
Some scholars, such as the ḥāfiẓ Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Miṣrī, Abū Ja‘far al-Ṭaḥāwī, and Qaadi ‘Iyāḍ, leaned toward strengthening it. Likewise, a group of Shi‘a scholars like Ibn al-Muṭahhar and his peers authenticated it.
However, other leading ḥadīth masters and critics such as ‘Alī ibn al-Madīnī, Ibrāhīm ibn Ya‘qūb al-Jūzjānī who reported it from his teachers Muḥammad and Ya‘lā, the two sons of ‘Ubayd al-Ṭanāfisī, as well as Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Ḥātim al-Bukhārī known as Ibn Zanjuwayh, one of the ḥuffāẓ, and the great ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Qāsim ibn ‘Asākir rejected it and ruled it weak۔
Shaykh Jamāl al-Dīn Abū al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzī listed it in his book al-Mawḍū‘āt (Fabricated Ḥadīth). Moreover, my two great teachers the eminent ḥuffāẓ Abū al-Ḥajjāj al-Mizzī and Abū ‘Abd Allāh al-Dhahabī explicitly declared it fabricated۔
As for what Yūnus ibn Bukayr mentioned in his additions to al-Sīrah about the sun’s rising being delayed past its usual time no other scholars of sīrah (prophetic biography) reported this. Moreover, this is not something observable (like a miracle witnessed by many). At most, what is reported is that the narrator saw the sun rise late but did not witness it being held back from its natural course.
Even more astonishing is what Ibn al-Mutahhar (Raafidhi) mentioned in his book Al-Minhaj that the sun was returned for Ali twice۔
(al Bidaya wal Nihaya 6/314)
Shaykh ul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah also weakened it.
Ibn Kathir said regarding Ibn al-Mutahhar al-Rafidi:
وله كتاب (منهاج الاستقامة في إثبات الإمامة)، خبط فيه في المعقول والمنقول، ولم يدر كيف يتوجه، إذ خرج عن الاستقامة. وقد انتدب في الرد عليه الشيخ الإمام العلامة شيخ الإسلام تقي الدين أبو العباس بن تيمية في مجلدات أتى فيها بما يبهر العقول من الأشياء المليحة الحسنة، وهو كتاب حافل.
“He authored the book *Minhaj al-Istiqamah fi Ithbat al-Imamah* (The Path of Steadfastness in Affirming the Imamate), in which he stumbled in both rational and transmitted proofs, failing to discern the correct direction having deviated from the straight path.
In refuting him, the noble Imam, the erudite Scholar, Shaykh al-Islam Taqi al-Din Abu al-Abbas Ibn Taymiyyah undertook the task, composing multiple volumes. Within them, he presented astonishingly brilliant and excellent arguments that dazzle the intellect. It is a comprehensive work.”
[Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, 14/141]Conclusion
Scholars Who Leaned on authentication.
1. Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Misri
2. Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭaḥāwī
3. Al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ (
4. Raafidi Scholars (Ibn al-Muṭahhar al-Ḥillī and his peers.)
Scholars Who Declared It Weak or Rejected It:
1. ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī (Great Ḥadīth critic, teacher of al-Bukhārī)
2. Ibrāhīm ibn Yaʿqūb al-Jūzjānī (Renowned Muhaddith)
3. Muḥammad al-Ṭanāfisī
4. Yaʿlā ibn ʿUbayd al-Ṭanāfisī (both Teachers of al-Jūzjānī)
5. Ibn Zanjuwayh (Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Ḥātim al-Bukhārī)
6. Ibn ʿAsākir (Famous historian and Ḥāfiẓ)
Scholars Who Declared It Fabricated (Mawḍūʿ):
7. Ibn al-Jawzī Listed it in “Al-Mawḍūʿāt” (Book of Fabricated Ḥadīth).
8. Al-Mizzī (Teacher of al-Dhahabī and Ibn Kathīr)
9. Al-Dhahabī (Famous Ḥadīth scholar, author of Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl)
10. Ibn Kathīr’s Conclusion.
– The ḥadīth is rejected from all angles.
– Some Shīʿa scholars promoted it, but most Sunni ḥadīth experts weakened or outright declared it fabricated.
– The claim that the sun was returned twice (as mentioned by Ibn al-Muṭahhar) is even more astonishing and baseless.
11. Shaykh ul Islam Ibn taymiyyah
Note: The list could be longer, but this is up to the time of Ibn Kathir.