What is the criterion for the hadiths of the mixed-up narrators?
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The questioner: His EminenceThe Shaykh : What is the criterion for the hadiths of the mixed-up narrators?
The Shaykh : What is the criterion?
The questioner : Regarding the hadiths of the mixed-up narrators...
The Shaykh : The ones who are mixed up, yes.
This—praise be to Allah—is a matter on which there is no disagreement among the scholars of hadith. A mixed-up narrator is either one whose confusion is severe or one whose confusion is not severe. As for the one whose confusion is of the second type, describing him as "mixed up" is not precise. Therefore, one must pay attention to this point. The precise expression for one who has been affected by some degree of confusion is that he has "changed," whereas for one whose confusion has become frequent, it is said that he has "become mixed up." After this clarification, we know that the result is that the hadith of the mixed-up narrator is not used as evidence, with the following details: As for the one who has changed, his hadith is used as evidence if he is trustworthy in the rank of a good hadith. As for the one in whom it has been established that he became mixed up, such as Abu Ishaq al-Sabi'i and his like, they mention that he has one of three states:
One looks at the narrator who narrated from him. If it is known that he narrated from him before his confusion, then his hadith is authentic. If it is known that he narrated from him after his confusion, then his hadith is weak. If it is not known whether it was before or after, one suspends judgment on accepting his hadith. This means that his hadith is treated and dealt with as a weak hadith, because the condition for acceptance was not met in it. The condition for acceptance, we said, is that the narrator who narrated from him did so during the state of confusion. So, if it is not known whether he narrated from him before or after the confusion, that necessitates suspending judgment on accepting his hadith. However, this hadith does not prevent it from being a corroborating narration, and from being strengthened by others, like most of the hadiths of weak narrators.
This is what can be mentioned regarding this question.
The Shaykh : What is the criterion?
The questioner : Regarding the hadiths of the mixed-up narrators...
The Shaykh : The ones who are mixed up, yes.
This—praise be to Allah—is a matter on which there is no disagreement among the scholars of hadith. A mixed-up narrator is either one whose confusion is severe or one whose confusion is not severe. As for the one whose confusion is of the second type, describing him as "mixed up" is not precise. Therefore, one must pay attention to this point. The precise expression for one who has been affected by some degree of confusion is that he has "changed," whereas for one whose confusion has become frequent, it is said that he has "become mixed up." After this clarification, we know that the result is that the hadith of the mixed-up narrator is not used as evidence, with the following details: As for the one who has changed, his hadith is used as evidence if he is trustworthy in the rank of a good hadith. As for the one in whom it has been established that he became mixed up, such as Abu Ishaq al-Sabi'i and his like, they mention that he has one of three states:
One looks at the narrator who narrated from him. If it is known that he narrated from him before his confusion, then his hadith is authentic. If it is known that he narrated from him after his confusion, then his hadith is weak. If it is not known whether it was before or after, one suspends judgment on accepting his hadith. This means that his hadith is treated and dealt with as a weak hadith, because the condition for acceptance was not met in it. The condition for acceptance, we said, is that the narrator who narrated from him did so during the state of confusion. So, if it is not known whether he narrated from him before or after the confusion, that necessitates suspending judgment on accepting his hadith. However, this hadith does not prevent it from being a corroborating narration, and from being strengthened by others, like most of the hadiths of weak narrators.
This is what can be mentioned regarding this question.
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