What is your opinion on tracking the narrations of a narrator of unknown status and comparing them with the narrations of other trustworthy narrators to reach a conclusion regarding the status of these narrators of unknown status?
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The questioner : Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Please go ahead.
The questioner : Some students of knowledge have a project for tracking the narrations of a narrator of unknown status, where they track all his narrations and compare them with the narrations of other trustworthy narrators. If the majority of his narrations agree with the narrations of the trustworthy narrators, they accept his narration, or the opposite.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : What is your opinion on this?
The Shaykh : This is a very good endeavor and may yield benefit, but this depends on the one carrying out this project, meaning, is he competent in this knowledge, and is he well-versed in the books that collect the hadiths of this narrator of unknown status, or not.
In any case, this work is truly a good thing, and it is hoped that it will yield a good result.
The questioner : O Shaykh, but will he be successful in judging him in terms of precision and also integrity?
The Shaykh : Yes, based on the proportion of the narrations he has obtained, their abundance or scarcity, and whether he agreed with the trustworthy narrators in all of them or in some of them, and then whether that portion in which he agreed is more or less. The matter requires very precise clarification.
The questioner : I mean, in terms of precision, meaning, it is known if the majority of his narrations agree with the narrations of the trustworthy narrators.
The Shaykh : Yes, this is one of the methods that the scholars of hadith resorted to when they authenticated or weakened a narrator whom they did not meet, and no statement was transmitted to them from those who did meet him, either authenticating or criticizing him. Rather, their way of judging him by authenticating or weakening him is to examine the hadiths of such people.
The Shaykh : Please go ahead.
The questioner : Some students of knowledge have a project for tracking the narrations of a narrator of unknown status, where they track all his narrations and compare them with the narrations of other trustworthy narrators. If the majority of his narrations agree with the narrations of the trustworthy narrators, they accept his narration, or the opposite.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : What is your opinion on this?
The Shaykh : This is a very good endeavor and may yield benefit, but this depends on the one carrying out this project, meaning, is he competent in this knowledge, and is he well-versed in the books that collect the hadiths of this narrator of unknown status, or not.
In any case, this work is truly a good thing, and it is hoped that it will yield a good result.
The questioner : O Shaykh, but will he be successful in judging him in terms of precision and also integrity?
The Shaykh : Yes, based on the proportion of the narrations he has obtained, their abundance or scarcity, and whether he agreed with the trustworthy narrators in all of them or in some of them, and then whether that portion in which he agreed is more or less. The matter requires very precise clarification.
The questioner : I mean, in terms of precision, meaning, it is known if the majority of his narrations agree with the narrations of the trustworthy narrators.
The Shaykh : Yes, this is one of the methods that the scholars of hadith resorted to when they authenticated or weakened a narrator whom they did not meet, and no statement was transmitted to them from those who did meet him, either authenticating or criticizing him. Rather, their way of judging him by authenticating or weakening him is to examine the hadiths of such people.