The Meaning of Ibn Kathir’s Statement: This is Strange
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his tafsir, “This is strange.” Does he mean that it is weak?
Answer:
If he said “strange” regarding a hadith, a strange hadith is one that a single narrator reported exclusively. Ahad reports are divided into well-known, rare, and strange. The well-known is what three or more narrators reported, the rare is what two narrators reported, and the strange is what a single narrator reported exclusively. This is the strange hadith. However, if he means the statements of people or exegetes, then “this is a strange statement” means it is unusual; strange means unusual, differing from the well-known. Yes.
Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his tafsir, “This is strange.” Does he mean that it is weak?
Answer:
If he said “strange” regarding a hadith, a strange hadith is one that a single narrator reported exclusively. Ahad reports are divided into well-known, rare, and strange. The well-known is what three or more narrators reported, the rare is what two narrators reported, and the strange is what a single narrator reported exclusively. This is the strange hadith. However, if he means the statements of people or exegetes, then “this is a strange statement” means it is unusual; strange means unusual, differing from the well-known. Yes.
Source
شرح كتاب التوحيد [ صالح الفوزان ]، باب ما جاء أن سبب كفر بني آدم وتركهم دينهم هو الغلو في الصالحين — islamhouse.com (1:08:58)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.