The questioner : Shaykh, regarding what you mentioned about al-Walid ibn Muslim’s condition of narrating with the gathering of layers of hearing. The Shaykh : Yes, that is correct.

The questioner : Regarding what you mentioned about al-Walid ibn Muslim’s condition of narrating with the gathering of layers of hearing.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : This rule can suffice for every hadith or the hadiths that the hadith scholar wants to declare defective; because I found some of your hadiths to which you do not apply this treatment?

The Shaykh : This is correct, just as we always do with al-A’mash’s use of the term “from,” for example. He is one who conceals defects in chains; but we accept his concealment because of his high status and knowledge, and so on, unless it becomes clear that there is something in this hadith, and we search and find nothing to hold onto to declare it defective, in which case we stop at al-A’mash’s use of “from.” This is the concealment of the early scholars in reality. Therefore, I say that the theoretical study of the science of hadith terminology alone is not sufficient; it must be combined with practical application; because the practical study reveals to him what appears from the theoretical study, and this is in fact a matter that encompasses all sciences.