What is your opinion of one who holds that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah classified many hasan hadiths and many weak reports as fabricated, and claimed consensus on the fabrication of hadiths that are agreed upon, basing this on the fact that they are weak?
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The questioner : He says: What is your esteemed opinion of one who holds that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah classified hasan hadiths and many weak reports as fabricated, and claimed consensus on the fabrication of hadiths that are agreed upon, stating that they are weak, and claimed consensus on the fabrication of hadiths regarding which there is disagreement about their fabrication?
The Shaykh : This is a correct statement, meaning: that Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) sometimes ruled that certain hadiths are fabricated, even though, in terms of their chains of narration, they do not reach the level where they can be judged as fabricated. Abu al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi preceded him in doing much of this in his book *Al-Mawdu'at*. However, there is something here that students of knowledge, or those who occupy themselves with reading the science of hadith in terms of terminology, critique, and vindication of narrators, must note:
A hadith is generally judged as fabricated based on its chain of narration. If there is a liar or fabricator in it, it is said to be a fabricated hadith, even if its meaning is beautiful. On the contrary, it is said of some hadiths whose chains do not descend to the level of fabrication, as mentioned in the question, that the hadith remains at the level of weakness, because the chain does not contain what necessitates ruling the hadith as fabricated. It contains a weak man, or a man who has narrations that are denounced, and neither of these necessitates that the hadith be fabricated.
But some of the memorizers and critics, in many cases, look at the text of the hadith in addition to looking at the chain of the hadith. In this case, it appears to them that the text of the hadith is fabricated, and they say: this is a fabricated hadith. This does not mean that its chain is fabricated, as the questioner implied in this issue, which is not the case. So, if Ibn Taymiyyah sometimes ruled that a hadith with a weak chain is fabricated, he means that from the perspective of the text, not from the perspective of the chain.
The Shaykh : This is a correct statement, meaning: that Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) sometimes ruled that certain hadiths are fabricated, even though, in terms of their chains of narration, they do not reach the level where they can be judged as fabricated. Abu al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi preceded him in doing much of this in his book *Al-Mawdu'at*. However, there is something here that students of knowledge, or those who occupy themselves with reading the science of hadith in terms of terminology, critique, and vindication of narrators, must note:
A hadith is generally judged as fabricated based on its chain of narration. If there is a liar or fabricator in it, it is said to be a fabricated hadith, even if its meaning is beautiful. On the contrary, it is said of some hadiths whose chains do not descend to the level of fabrication, as mentioned in the question, that the hadith remains at the level of weakness, because the chain does not contain what necessitates ruling the hadith as fabricated. It contains a weak man, or a man who has narrations that are denounced, and neither of these necessitates that the hadith be fabricated.
But some of the memorizers and critics, in many cases, look at the text of the hadith in addition to looking at the chain of the hadith. In this case, it appears to them that the text of the hadith is fabricated, and they say: this is a fabricated hadith. This does not mean that its chain is fabricated, as the questioner implied in this issue, which is not the case. So, if Ibn Taymiyyah sometimes ruled that a hadith with a weak chain is fabricated, he means that from the perspective of the text, not from the perspective of the chain.