The Description of the Hafiz (Memorizer) and the Distinction Between Him and the One Who Transmits from Books
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Question:
So here we see that some of the founders, those I see who appeared in this group, and became among the decision-makers who relied upon them and were not refuted in becoming
Answer:
Where did they memorize it from? Where did they receive it from? From the scholars? From the narrators? Or did they find compiled books and read them? This is what a person knows, the disbelievers who narrated it with chains of transmission from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to them, meaning from the person himself to the Messenger, he narrates it with a chain, and narrates it with his chain and his chain from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). This is the hafiz. As for the one who came to existing books and started reading in them and transmitting from them, this is a transmitter, he is not a hafiz. A transmitter, or in other words, like al-Bukhari reads books, he is not a lover [of hadith] nor is he a hafiz. The hafiz is like Ibn Hajar, like al-Bukhari, like Imam Ahmad. These are the true ones: Ibn Ma'in, Ibn al-Mubarak.
These are the ones who verify some of the hadith, and their like among the imams. As for these poor people, they merely read in the books and read, and they may not understand the meaning either. The problem is that they do not understand many of the meanings, nor the objectives, because they did not receive the knowledge from its people, and they did not approach the matter from its proper door, but rather they rushed into these books and started transmitting from them: this is authentic, this is weak, or not?
This is a very great problem, and as I mentioned to you, if you asked about their specialization, he would say: I am a physician, or I am an engineer, or I am a physicist, my specialization is physics, or I am a graduate of the University of Helwan or the University of Sorbonne. These are the ones who speak about Allah, I swear to you, these are deluded. Fear Allah in your religion.
So here we see that some of the founders, those I see who appeared in this group, and became among the decision-makers who relied upon them and were not refuted in becoming
Answer:
Where did they memorize it from? Where did they receive it from? From the scholars? From the narrators? Or did they find compiled books and read them? This is what a person knows, the disbelievers who narrated it with chains of transmission from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to them, meaning from the person himself to the Messenger, he narrates it with a chain, and narrates it with his chain and his chain from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). This is the hafiz. As for the one who came to existing books and started reading in them and transmitting from them, this is a transmitter, he is not a hafiz. A transmitter, or in other words, like al-Bukhari reads books, he is not a lover [of hadith] nor is he a hafiz. The hafiz is like Ibn Hajar, like al-Bukhari, like Imam Ahmad. These are the true ones: Ibn Ma'in, Ibn al-Mubarak.
These are the ones who verify some of the hadith, and their like among the imams. As for these poor people, they merely read in the books and read, and they may not understand the meaning either. The problem is that they do not understand many of the meanings, nor the objectives, because they did not receive the knowledge from its people, and they did not approach the matter from its proper door, but rather they rushed into these books and started transmitting from them: this is authentic, this is weak, or not?
This is a very great problem, and as I mentioned to you, if you asked about their specialization, he would say: I am a physician, or I am an engineer, or I am a physicist, my specialization is physics, or I am a graduate of the University of Helwan or the University of Sorbonne. These are the ones who speak about Allah, I swear to you, these are deluded. Fear Allah in your religion.
Source
شرح العقيدة الواسطية [ صالح الفوزان ] [ الشرح القديم ]، بداية من قوله : وقوله : { وجوه يومئذ ناضرة إلى ربها ناظرة } — islamhouse.com (1:13:50)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.