What are the best statements by the scholars of knowledge that they used to clarify this saying, in your opinion, regarding the statement of Imam Ahmad?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Well, the statement of Imam Ahmad: "Three things have no isnad, and among them are tafsir, the campaigns, and histories", what are the best statements by the scholars of knowledge that they used to clarify this saying, in your opinion?
The Shaykh : That is not meant as an absolute statement, but rather as a general rule, since most of the narrations are actually, as we were discussing earlier, from *al-Dr al-Mathur* by al-Hafiz al-Suyuti. Referring to this book reminded me of something I wanted to digress into, and before I forget, I will answer this question by saying that a book like this contains many, and very many, narrations related to tafsir. As for the campaigns, particularly the campaigns of Ibn Ishaq, most of whose narrations revolve around *balaghat* (reports missing the Companion link), *mursal* (reports missing the Companion link), or *mu'adil* (reports with a broken chain), they are not authentic. Therefore, Imam Ahmad did not intend to imply that there is nothing authentic in tafsir or nothing authentic in the campaigns. It is sufficient for a person to remember that among the books of Imam al-Bukhari in his *Sahih* is a book on the campaigns, which contains, by the will of Allah, a great deal of good material. However, this large amount, relative to what has been narrated about the campaigns, is actually small. That is why Imam Ahmad made that statement. Returning to what I mentioned earlier as an example of the breadth of al-Suyuti's scope in compiling *al-Dr al-Mathur*, I wanted to turn to his other book, *al-Jami' al-Kabir* by al-Suyuti, which is currently being printed in Egypt. This *al-Jami' al-Kabir* by al-Suyuti may be the source from which *al-Jami' al-Saghir* was derived. The additions to *al-Jami' al-Saghir* are two known books of his. He has *al-Jami' al-Kabir*, from which *al-Jami' al-Saghir* branched off. How did this Hafiz manage to gather this massive amount of material in *al-Jami' al-Kabir* and in *al-Dr al-Mathur*? There was a library in Egypt, and he was its custodian, so he had the time to devote himself to it and was able to gather it. But he was not able to verify it. If a person wanted to verify *al-Jami' al-Kabir* by al-Suyuti, it would take the lifespan of al-Suyuti and more if he wanted to assign the grade of authenticity to every hadith. Therefore, while gathering is easy, only this Hafiz accomplished it. As for verification, very few people verify.
This is sufficient.
And all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds
The Shaykh : That is not meant as an absolute statement, but rather as a general rule, since most of the narrations are actually, as we were discussing earlier, from *al-Dr al-Mathur* by al-Hafiz al-Suyuti. Referring to this book reminded me of something I wanted to digress into, and before I forget, I will answer this question by saying that a book like this contains many, and very many, narrations related to tafsir. As for the campaigns, particularly the campaigns of Ibn Ishaq, most of whose narrations revolve around *balaghat* (reports missing the Companion link), *mursal* (reports missing the Companion link), or *mu'adil* (reports with a broken chain), they are not authentic. Therefore, Imam Ahmad did not intend to imply that there is nothing authentic in tafsir or nothing authentic in the campaigns. It is sufficient for a person to remember that among the books of Imam al-Bukhari in his *Sahih* is a book on the campaigns, which contains, by the will of Allah, a great deal of good material. However, this large amount, relative to what has been narrated about the campaigns, is actually small. That is why Imam Ahmad made that statement. Returning to what I mentioned earlier as an example of the breadth of al-Suyuti's scope in compiling *al-Dr al-Mathur*, I wanted to turn to his other book, *al-Jami' al-Kabir* by al-Suyuti, which is currently being printed in Egypt. This *al-Jami' al-Kabir* by al-Suyuti may be the source from which *al-Jami' al-Saghir* was derived. The additions to *al-Jami' al-Saghir* are two known books of his. He has *al-Jami' al-Kabir*, from which *al-Jami' al-Saghir* branched off. How did this Hafiz manage to gather this massive amount of material in *al-Jami' al-Kabir* and in *al-Dr al-Mathur*? There was a library in Egypt, and he was its custodian, so he had the time to devote himself to it and was able to gather it. But he was not able to verify it. If a person wanted to verify *al-Jami' al-Kabir* by al-Suyuti, it would take the lifespan of al-Suyuti and more if he wanted to assign the grade of authenticity to every hadith. Therefore, while gathering is easy, only this Hafiz accomplished it. As for verification, very few people verify.
This is sufficient.
And all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds