The opinion on those who criticized the one who clarified Imam Ahmad's statement: "A weak hadith is more beloved to me than opinion"
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The questioner : 3.
The Shaykh: Please proceed.
The questioner : Of course, it is well known that the stronger position is...
Another questioner: Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah.
The questioner : The stronger position regarding a weak hadith is that it is not acted upon in the virtues of deeds; because recommendation is a legal ruling that must be established by a sound text.
The Shaykh : And peace be upon you. You have done well.
The questioner : Yes, there is a statement by Imam Ahmad that a hadith is more beloved to him than opinion, and some scholars have interpreted it...
The Shaykh : ...by qualifying the hadith, saying: a weak hadith.
The questioner : Yes, a weak hadith.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : It is more beloved to him.
The Shaykh : ... It is problematic here.
The questioner : A weak hadith is more beloved to him than opinion, so some precise scholars interpreted that Imam Ahmad's meaning of "weak" is not what has become the established technical term, but rather that he meant hasan?
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : And some contemporary scholars who have written on terminology have rejected this interpretation; is there any basis for his statement?
The Shaykh : There is no justification for his statement, and it is sufficient for your satisfaction to know that the one who said this statement is not a specialist in this science!
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So leave the statement of a non-specialist to the statement of the specialist, if you do not have, I mean, what satisfies you of an argument or proof; because people today have become, I mean, reckless. They have become speaking in every science even if they are beginners in it. And this is one of the misfortunes of the present age. You find the beginner in seeking knowledge authoring a thesis. And what is this thesis? It is a collection of snippets from here and there. Then he continues to go astray, starting to grade hadiths as authentic, good, or weak based on some information he gathered in the span of a year or two. Especially if that is coupled with the misleading means of obtaining a doctorate! At that point, his inner state says—as they say in our Syria: "O earth, be firm, for no one can bear you," meaning, be proud! It is known that a weak hadith... now, I mean, I am clarifying the aspect of that interpretation mentioned by the early scholars regarding Imam Ahmad's word. What is the aspect of that?
It is known, as you said, that a weak hadith is not acted upon in the virtues of deeds; because it necessitates establishing a recommended matter, which is one of the five rulings. And no ruling is established except by a sound hadith. So how is it valid for an imam like Imam Ahmad to act upon a weak hadith; not only in the limits of recommendation, but to prioritize it over analogical reasoning in everything?! In prohibition, in obligation, in permissibility, and the like. Because it is known that the driving reason for the researchers among the people of hadith to turn away from acting upon a weak hadith in the virtues of deeds is that a weak hadith does not yield anything but a weak suspicion, and a weak suspicion is not permissible to act upon by the Book and the Sunnah. Since Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) criticized the disbelievers for their acting upon suspicion, when He said:[An-Najm 53:23], and He said (the Exalted): [Yunus 10:36], and He said (peace and blessings be upon him) in the hadith narrated byThe Shaykh : ... from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1988Sahih (Darussalam). So if acting upon suspicion is the most false of speech, and suspicion does not avail anything of the truth; how can we say that Imam Ahmad prioritizes a weak hadith over what is established with him by analogical reasoning? And analogical reasoning is a source of legislation after the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and scholarly consensus. From here, those who said that Imam Ahmad does not mean by "weak" the hadith known today by technical definition; that is: the one that is below hasan (good). And what supports that is that the classification of hadith, as you indicated at the beginning of your question, was not known among them except as sahih (authentic) and weak. There was no intermediate rank between the sahih and the weak among them, which is the hasan hadith. So when he said he prioritizes the weak hadith over opinion or analogical reasoning; he means the weak that did not reach the rank of sahih. But in the terminology of the later scholars, it did not descend from the rank of hasan to weak. This and that is what made the scholars of the past interpret Imam Ahmad's word; that he does not mean the weak known today as being below the hasan hadith. This is what I have.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And beware of that.
The Shaykh: Please proceed.
The questioner : Of course, it is well known that the stronger position is...
Another questioner: Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah.
The questioner : The stronger position regarding a weak hadith is that it is not acted upon in the virtues of deeds; because recommendation is a legal ruling that must be established by a sound text.
The Shaykh : And peace be upon you. You have done well.
The questioner : Yes, there is a statement by Imam Ahmad that a hadith is more beloved to him than opinion, and some scholars have interpreted it...
The Shaykh : ...by qualifying the hadith, saying: a weak hadith.
The questioner : Yes, a weak hadith.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : It is more beloved to him.
The Shaykh : ... It is problematic here.
The questioner : A weak hadith is more beloved to him than opinion, so some precise scholars interpreted that Imam Ahmad's meaning of "weak" is not what has become the established technical term, but rather that he meant hasan?
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : And some contemporary scholars who have written on terminology have rejected this interpretation; is there any basis for his statement?
The Shaykh : There is no justification for his statement, and it is sufficient for your satisfaction to know that the one who said this statement is not a specialist in this science!
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So leave the statement of a non-specialist to the statement of the specialist, if you do not have, I mean, what satisfies you of an argument or proof; because people today have become, I mean, reckless. They have become speaking in every science even if they are beginners in it. And this is one of the misfortunes of the present age. You find the beginner in seeking knowledge authoring a thesis. And what is this thesis? It is a collection of snippets from here and there. Then he continues to go astray, starting to grade hadiths as authentic, good, or weak based on some information he gathered in the span of a year or two. Especially if that is coupled with the misleading means of obtaining a doctorate! At that point, his inner state says—as they say in our Syria: "O earth, be firm, for no one can bear you," meaning, be proud! It is known that a weak hadith... now, I mean, I am clarifying the aspect of that interpretation mentioned by the early scholars regarding Imam Ahmad's word. What is the aspect of that?
It is known, as you said, that a weak hadith is not acted upon in the virtues of deeds; because it necessitates establishing a recommended matter, which is one of the five rulings. And no ruling is established except by a sound hadith. So how is it valid for an imam like Imam Ahmad to act upon a weak hadith; not only in the limits of recommendation, but to prioritize it over analogical reasoning in everything?! In prohibition, in obligation, in permissibility, and the like. Because it is known that the driving reason for the researchers among the people of hadith to turn away from acting upon a weak hadith in the virtues of deeds is that a weak hadith does not yield anything but a weak suspicion, and a weak suspicion is not permissible to act upon by the Book and the Sunnah. Since Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) criticized the disbelievers for their acting upon suspicion, when He said:
They follow not except assumption and what [their] souls desire
إن يتَّبعون إلا الظَّنَّ وما تهوى الأنفسIndeed, assumption avails not against the truth at all
إن الظَّنَّ لا يغني من الحق شيئًاBeware of Zann (suspicion), for indeed Zann is the falsest of speech.
إيَّاكم والظن ؛ فإن الظن أكذب الحديثThe questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And beware of that.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.