What is the criterion for determining whether a hadith provides certainty or probability?

The questioner : Well, my Shaykh, regarding the statement of the hadith scholars that "this authentic hadith provides certainty or provides probability," this issue is not clear in my mind.

The Shaykh : An authentic hadith, in terms of its chain of narration, does not provide certainty; rather, it provides the predominant probability, unless it is accompanied by indicators that strengthen the predominant probability derived from it. In that case, it can provide certainty. However, the original rule for an authentic narration is that it provides only the predominant probability. For example, what the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and, consequently, his student Ibn Kathir mention in *Al-Khasha'is 'Ilm al-Hadith* is that a hadith which the Muslim community has accepted is considered to provide certainty, even if it is a solitary or strange narration, because in itself it only provides the predominant probability. When it is accompanied by the practice of the Muslim community, it elevates the strength of this probability and places it in the rank of what provides certainty. This is because we are certain that it is impossible for the agreement of the Muslim community on something to be an error, based on his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): So, if there is a hadith and the Muslim community agrees to accept it, then at that point, this hadith is considered certain. Perhaps it is this or another, or this is my understanding, as I can no longer distinguish now, that by "the acceptance of the Muslim community" they mean a hadith that came from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), even if some of the Muslim community did not act upon it due to their jurisprudential understanding, but they did not reject it scientifically. The important point is that if a hadith is not acted upon by a group for some reason they have, this means the hadith is accepted by them, but their answer from the jurisprudential perspective is such and such. For example, the hadith: , and the one more explicit than it: . All the schools of jurisprudence have adopted this hadith, but some adopted it as indicating that the recitation of al-Fatihah is a pillar, while others adopted it as indicating that it is obligatory. If this hadith had contained any weakness, for example, those who did not take its apparent meaning would have gotten rid of it by saying: "This is a weak hadith." But all those who differed in the meaning of the hadith conceded its authenticity; they only differed in its understanding and interpretation. So, for such a hadith, it is said that the Muslim community accepted it. Therefore, any hadith that is like this and whose chain of narration is acceptable to the hadith scholars, at that point, their continuous concession of the establishment of this hadith, even if they differ in acting upon it from the jurisprudential perspective, is evidence that this hadith is established with certainty, not only for the sake of its chain of narration, but also due to the addition of the practice of the Muslim community with it. This is what I understood from the words of Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Kathir, and perhaps others as well. This is what I have.

The questioner : But certainty, it is said: certainty in establishment, not certainty in meaning.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : Meaning certainty in establishment.

The Shaykh : Establishment, and the question is about probability in establishment, yes.