As you know, we cannot just accept a hadith from anyone–this is our deen! If anyone could just say what they wanted, we would have nothing left of the true, pure message of Allah.
The scholars have analyzed the biographies of every narrator of hadith. They compile information on when he was born, and where, his kunya, his tribe, who he met, what his character was, what other people narrated about him … piles and piles of information.
And in the analysis of the chain of narrators–those individuals who transmit a hadith from one to another, from Rasulullah (salallahu alayhi wa sallam) to a collector (like Imam Bukhari, Imam Muslim, etc.)–there are certain types of narrators that, if they are present in the chain, they automatically make the hadith da’eef.
Because they cannot be trusted.
Who are these people, and what are their characteristics? You might be surprised!
- Major Sinners. Anyone who commited a major sin (backbiting? Listening to music? Zina? Cheating? Stealing?) is discounted. Only people known for good, upright, moral character and conduct pass through.
- Liars. Anyone who lies is discounted.
- Accused Liars. Anyone who was accused of lying is discounted. Why? Throws some doubt on their character–maybe they did it, maybe not. Cannot be trusted.
- The Weak. Anyone whom a scholar met and said that he’s weak, or he’s not good, or his memory is not strong, automatically discounts a hadith.
- Known Fabricators. Some people are known to fabricate (invent) hadith, either by observation of scholars, or by their own admission (such as Nuh ibn Abi Maryam). They disqualify a hadith.
- The Unknown. Anyone whom the scholars do not know for sure if he’s a strong or weak narrator, disqualifies the hadith. Why? Maybe he’s weak! We don’t know! We know he narrated a hadith, and maybe a couple of people met him; but nobody commented to say he’s a strong narrator; so we don’t know!
Subhanallah, if you look at that list–especially the first three items–you will realize that the majority of Muslims today would disqualify ahadith that they narrate. I’m not talking about shuyookh, I mean the people you deal with day-to-day–yourself, your family, your friends.
Subhanallah, that’s how particular and picky the scholars of hadith were to preserve our deen! May Allah accept all their efforts and make us among the righteous people (ameen).
Action Steps:
- Reflect on these criteria. Ask yourself, seriously: would I be cause for ahadith to be disqualified from being saheeh?
- Make du’a for the scholars, especially the scholars of hadith. They’ve done a hard, difficult, long, thankless job; only Allah knows how much they did. Ask Him to reward them insha’Allah ameen. (Just raise your hands and do it right now, it just takes a few seconds.)
Wallahu ‘alam.
Lecture: Introduction to Mustalah-Hadeeth by shaykh Suhaib Hasan Abdul-Ghaffaar. Available free from http://islamlecture.com/mustalah.htm.
asak.SHAYKH ZULFIQAR AHMED NAQSHBANDI claims to have a chain of teachers which goes back to ABU BAKR SIDDIQUE[ra] and considers himself a PEER..as a cousin of mine has become a mureed of his ,how do i prove to her that what she is doing and following is not the way of a true muslim.
Wa’alikum as-salaam wa rahmatullah,
I asked one of my friends who is masha’Allah much more knowledgeable about me in these things and into da’wah. Here is what he said:
Now, the person who became Mureed, depending on the level of knowledge of the person giving dawah, have to be approached from various angles. From the angle of ibtid’ah (innovation), grave worship, etc. The person has to be first educated on Tawheed and its branches, understand that the concept of “Gauthul A’zam” (ultimate helper) is invalid, that the Peer cannot even help himself in the grave let alone someone else, only Allah has ‘ilmul ghayb.
Now, if the person giving dawah is not strong in knowledge, he/she may fall victim to the traps of the mureed. So, I would say, stay away, gain knowledge and then give dawah. meanwhile, keep the relationship alive so that there is no bitterness when the person is given dawah at a later stage.
Wallahu ta’ala a’lam.
Assalam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu.
JazakAllahu Khaira for this post.
Very beneficial and clears up alot of issues/misunderstanding about hadiths. And I like the photos you choose for your topics. MashaAllah.
Keep up the great work Ilm Fruits.
http://www.islamtomorrow.com/articles/sufi/Sufism_Shaikh_Salem_Morgan.htm
Assalamualaikum akhi
Can you please share some knowledge of Ahad and Mutawaatir hadeeth? I know you covered it this weekend ;).
Awesome post mashallah!
@Ibn Masood, I might if the poll results end up in favour of ahadith or aqeedah in asmaa-ul-husna. If not, the summary is:
1) Ahadith have multiple chains of narrators (eg. lots of people narrating to/from lots of people); ahaad means that, at some point in the chain, there are only 1, 2, or 3 people narrating. (Theoretically, there’s some chance of those people making a mistake.
2) The vast majority of ahadith are ahaad.
3) Those who say we cannot take from ahaad ahadith (in aqeedah) are wrong; this is a diversion to cover their own misguidance. Take Light Upon Light to find out why. Ahlul Sunnah wal Jama’ah accepts ahaad ahadith for EVERYTHING.
4) The proof of this is the hadith of Mu’adh ibn Jabal–sent to Yemen, the Prophet (S) told him (paraphrased), “call people to Allah (alone); if they accept that, tell them Allah enjoined on them 5x salah; if they accept that …” so he sent Mu’adh, alone, to Yemen–so all of the Yemen people learned from an ahaad hadith! But it’s accepted!
Wallahu ‘alam.