The Critique and Vindication of Narrators for the Sake of the Call
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, can the critique and vindication of narrators be applied now, for the sake of the call?
Answer:
The critique and vindication of narrators is a matter of the science of narration, the science of the chain of narration. It has its own scholars and experts. As far as we know, no one today is qualified for this. This is the domain of the memorizers and scholars whom Allah has granted the aptitude for narration and the knowledge of hadith. As for today, no one is qualified for it. However, this kind of speech falls under the category of the innovator. If there is a person who is an innovator, one does not speak of critique and vindication; rather, one mentions that he is an innovator in order to warn people. This is not a matter of critique and vindication, but a matter of advising people.
Honorable Shaykh, can the critique and vindication of narrators be applied now, for the sake of the call?
Answer:
The critique and vindication of narrators is a matter of the science of narration, the science of the chain of narration. It has its own scholars and experts. As far as we know, no one today is qualified for this. This is the domain of the memorizers and scholars whom Allah has granted the aptitude for narration and the knowledge of hadith. As for today, no one is qualified for it. However, this kind of speech falls under the category of the innovator. If there is a person who is an innovator, one does not speak of critique and vindication; rather, one mentions that he is an innovator in order to warn people. This is not a matter of critique and vindication, but a matter of advising people.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، تابع باب الرهب من مساوئ الأخلاق — islamhouse.com (1:04:14)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.