How is it that a single collection is considered authentic, yet some of its hadiths are weak and others are authentic?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : The narrations of 'Amr ibn Shu'ayb from his father from his grandfather, the collection: The majority of hadith scholars held that it is used as evidence and is authentic, but at the same time, they would judge hadiths with the same chain of narration as weak. How is it that one collection is authentic, yet some of its hadiths are weak and some are authentic?
The Shaykh : I think it is not hidden from you that the hadith of 'Amr ibn Shu'ayb from his father from his grandfather holds an intermediate status, meaning: it is hasan (good), neither sahih (authentic) nor da'if (weak). If we recall this fact, the answer comes as follows: Perhaps you remember what was said in explaining al-Tirmidhi's statement in one hadith that it is: "hasan sahih", and that among these explanations is that it is hasan according to some and sahih according to others. You certainly remember this. So now I say:
A hasan hadith may contain a narrator about whom scholars differ. Some of them authenticate the narrator with a moderate level of reliability, making his hadith hasan, while others weaken him. So, to make the answer to your question consistent with reality, you must first observe that the issue is relative. The one who grades a hadith as hasan and uses it as evidence is not the same as the one who weakens it and does not use it as evidence. If you observe that one of those who grade it as hasan, or who grade some of his hadiths as hasan, weakens some of the hadiths of 'Amr ibn Shu'ayb from his father from his grandfather, then you should realize that they noticed something in those hadiths that they weakened, because his hadith is hasan, and a hasan hadith is susceptible to being criticized for the slightest reason. This is the aspect of the contradiction, if the contradiction comes from the one who grades his hadith as hasan as a general rule.
As for the case where the one who grades it as hasan is not the one who weakens it, and the one who weakens it is not the one who grades it as hasan, there is no problem with that, because you know that the issue of authenticating and grading as hasan is relative. How many hadiths, for example, in Sahih al-Bukhari have been criticized by some, as you know, by al-Daraqutni and others. This is the answer to what you asked.
The Shaykh : I think it is not hidden from you that the hadith of 'Amr ibn Shu'ayb from his father from his grandfather holds an intermediate status, meaning: it is hasan (good), neither sahih (authentic) nor da'if (weak). If we recall this fact, the answer comes as follows: Perhaps you remember what was said in explaining al-Tirmidhi's statement in one hadith that it is: "hasan sahih", and that among these explanations is that it is hasan according to some and sahih according to others. You certainly remember this. So now I say:
A hasan hadith may contain a narrator about whom scholars differ. Some of them authenticate the narrator with a moderate level of reliability, making his hadith hasan, while others weaken him. So, to make the answer to your question consistent with reality, you must first observe that the issue is relative. The one who grades a hadith as hasan and uses it as evidence is not the same as the one who weakens it and does not use it as evidence. If you observe that one of those who grade it as hasan, or who grade some of his hadiths as hasan, weakens some of the hadiths of 'Amr ibn Shu'ayb from his father from his grandfather, then you should realize that they noticed something in those hadiths that they weakened, because his hadith is hasan, and a hasan hadith is susceptible to being criticized for the slightest reason. This is the aspect of the contradiction, if the contradiction comes from the one who grades his hadith as hasan as a general rule.
As for the case where the one who grades it as hasan is not the one who weakens it, and the one who weakens it is not the one who grades it as hasan, there is no problem with that, because you know that the issue of authenticating and grading as hasan is relative. How many hadiths, for example, in Sahih al-Bukhari have been criticized by some, as you know, by al-Daraqutni and others. This is the answer to what you asked.