The Ruling on Exposing the Errors of the People of Innovation and the Distinction Between That and Criticizing and Vindicating Narrators
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you. The questioner says: You stated in one of your previous lessons that al-jarh wa al-ta'dil (the critique and vindication of narrators) is only for chains of narration. Is the action of the Imams of the Salaf in criticizing the people of innovation and desires, refuting them, and exposing their errors considered backbiting, given that it is not related to chains of narration? Please inform us. May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
Yes, al-jarh wa al-ta'dil is specific to the chains of narration of hadith. As for refuting the people of innovation, this is called exposing error, not al-jarh wa al-ta'dil. Exposing error and misguidance is like forbidding shirk (associating partners with Allah), commanding tawhid (the oneness of Allah), commanding the Sunnah, and forbidding bid'ah (religious innovation). This is not al-jarh wa al-ta'dil; it is commanding what is right and forbidding what is wrong.
As for al-jarh wa al-ta'dil, this is specific to chains of narration, and its books are called books of al-jarh wa al-ta'dil. This is in the field of narration and is among the hadith scholars. As for refuting the innovators and refuting the people of misguidance, this is not from the category of al-jarh wa al-ta'dil, but rather from the category of clarifying the truth. It is not backbiting, but rather advice. This is advice to the Muslims.
Exposing misguidance, exposing error, and clarifying the correct position in issues, this is advice to the Muslims and not backbiting?
May Allah reward you. The questioner says: You stated in one of your previous lessons that al-jarh wa al-ta'dil (the critique and vindication of narrators) is only for chains of narration. Is the action of the Imams of the Salaf in criticizing the people of innovation and desires, refuting them, and exposing their errors considered backbiting, given that it is not related to chains of narration? Please inform us. May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
Yes, al-jarh wa al-ta'dil is specific to the chains of narration of hadith. As for refuting the people of innovation, this is called exposing error, not al-jarh wa al-ta'dil. Exposing error and misguidance is like forbidding shirk (associating partners with Allah), commanding tawhid (the oneness of Allah), commanding the Sunnah, and forbidding bid'ah (religious innovation). This is not al-jarh wa al-ta'dil; it is commanding what is right and forbidding what is wrong.
As for al-jarh wa al-ta'dil, this is specific to chains of narration, and its books are called books of al-jarh wa al-ta'dil. This is in the field of narration and is among the hadith scholars. As for refuting the innovators and refuting the people of misguidance, this is not from the category of al-jarh wa al-ta'dil, but rather from the category of clarifying the truth. It is not backbiting, but rather advice. This is advice to the Muslims.
Exposing misguidance, exposing error, and clarifying the correct position in issues, this is advice to the Muslims and not backbiting?
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم تجريح أئمة السلف لأهل البدع والرد عليهم؟ وهل يعتبر هذا من الغيبة؟ للشيخ الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.