What is your opinion on improving a hadith whose authentication and weakening are disputed, as Ibn al-Qattan did in his book "Al-Wahm wa al-Ihham" and others?
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The questioner: What is the opinion of His EminenceThe Shaykh- May Allah preserve him - regarding improving a hadith whose authentication and weakening are disputed, as Ibn al-Qattan did in his book "Bayan al-Wahm wa al-Ihham" and others?
The Shaykh : I do not see this as a sound methodology to rely upon; because it contradicts the scholars' rule of prioritizing criticism over vindication, or vice versa; where the known detail among hadith scholars is that, as everyone knows - if Allah wills - if there is disagreement regarding a narrator between one who authenticates him and one who weakens him, it is not permissible to take a middle path as reported from Ibn al-Qattan, but rather one should investigate whether the criticism is prioritized over the vindication or not? For perhaps a narrator was weakened by one of the trusted imams who explained that the cause of his weakness is his poor memory and his inconsistency in his narration of hadiths; this is an explained criticism, and even if there are those who authenticated him, this criticism from this one person is prioritized over the authentication of those who authenticated him. So if we wanted to apply the rule of Ibn al-Qattan mentioned earlier, that would mean nullifying this hadith rule which a person feels secure with and finds no alternative to. If it becomes preponderant that the weakness is based on evidence and ... reaching it, and it is not permissible to look at taking a middle path between the one who weakened him and the one who authenticated him, so we stop at a middle position. These are not material issues, but rather intellectual and scientific issues; as long as the cause of weakening the man is established, which is his poor memory, it is not permissible to cancel this cause on the grounds that there are those who authenticated him; so he is not authenticated and his hadith is not raised to the level of authentic as Ibn al-Qattan says, nor is his hadith weakened as required by the invalidation of the one who invalidated him due to his poor memory; rather it is said this is a good hadith. In my belief, this falls into what is called today half-measures, and this has no mention, as far as we know, in any of the sciences of Islamic Shari'ah. Yes.
The questioner : O Shaykh, regarding ... Ibn al-Qattan.
The Shaykh : Yes?
The questioner : Is this issue mentioned about Ibn al-Qattan accepted that he said it? What I know is that Ibn al-Qattan does not say this.
The Shaykh : I do not know.
The questioner : Rather, he follows the path of the people of hadith in the speech and detail that I mentioned earlier.
The Shaykh : Yes, but.
Another questioner : I read it in "Bayan al-Wahm wa al-Ihham".
The Shaykh : Yes?
Another questioner : I read this statement in "Bayan al-Wahm wa al-Ihham".
The questioner : But not in its absolute form.
The Shaykh : Listen a little, where did you read it?
Another questioner : In "Bayan al-Wahm wa al-Ihham".
The Shaykh : In "Bayan al-Wahm".
Another questioner : In more than one place.
The Shaykh : I ... meaning I obtained this book recently, and some of the brothers ... here in this land - may Allah reward him with good - gifted it to me, so I have not studied it yet, and therefore my answer was based on the assumption that this statement was said by so-and-so, but I cannot say whether he said it or not; because I have not studied his book yet; so it does not concern us whether Ibn al-Qattan or someone else said this, but rather the important thing is to know the truth, as you know from the rule that the truth is not known by men, know the truth and you will know the men. Yes.
The questioner : ... mentioning improvement is not authentication.
The Shaykh : No, I am saying improvement absolutely, I meant this, or perhaps I was ahead of the word; so I mentioned lastly that some authenticated him and some weakened him, so we take a middle path; we do not raise his rank to the rank of an authentic hadith, nor do we lower it to the rank of a weak hadith, this is what I understood from what was reported from Ibn al-Qattan, and my answer is as previously stated.
The Shaykh : I do not see this as a sound methodology to rely upon; because it contradicts the scholars' rule of prioritizing criticism over vindication, or vice versa; where the known detail among hadith scholars is that, as everyone knows - if Allah wills - if there is disagreement regarding a narrator between one who authenticates him and one who weakens him, it is not permissible to take a middle path as reported from Ibn al-Qattan, but rather one should investigate whether the criticism is prioritized over the vindication or not? For perhaps a narrator was weakened by one of the trusted imams who explained that the cause of his weakness is his poor memory and his inconsistency in his narration of hadiths; this is an explained criticism, and even if there are those who authenticated him, this criticism from this one person is prioritized over the authentication of those who authenticated him. So if we wanted to apply the rule of Ibn al-Qattan mentioned earlier, that would mean nullifying this hadith rule which a person feels secure with and finds no alternative to. If it becomes preponderant that the weakness is based on evidence and ... reaching it, and it is not permissible to look at taking a middle path between the one who weakened him and the one who authenticated him, so we stop at a middle position. These are not material issues, but rather intellectual and scientific issues; as long as the cause of weakening the man is established, which is his poor memory, it is not permissible to cancel this cause on the grounds that there are those who authenticated him; so he is not authenticated and his hadith is not raised to the level of authentic as Ibn al-Qattan says, nor is his hadith weakened as required by the invalidation of the one who invalidated him due to his poor memory; rather it is said this is a good hadith. In my belief, this falls into what is called today half-measures, and this has no mention, as far as we know, in any of the sciences of Islamic Shari'ah. Yes.
The questioner : O Shaykh, regarding ... Ibn al-Qattan.
The Shaykh : Yes?
The questioner : Is this issue mentioned about Ibn al-Qattan accepted that he said it? What I know is that Ibn al-Qattan does not say this.
The Shaykh : I do not know.
The questioner : Rather, he follows the path of the people of hadith in the speech and detail that I mentioned earlier.
The Shaykh : Yes, but.
Another questioner : I read it in "Bayan al-Wahm wa al-Ihham".
The Shaykh : Yes?
Another questioner : I read this statement in "Bayan al-Wahm wa al-Ihham".
The questioner : But not in its absolute form.
The Shaykh : Listen a little, where did you read it?
Another questioner : In "Bayan al-Wahm wa al-Ihham".
The Shaykh : In "Bayan al-Wahm".
Another questioner : In more than one place.
The Shaykh : I ... meaning I obtained this book recently, and some of the brothers ... here in this land - may Allah reward him with good - gifted it to me, so I have not studied it yet, and therefore my answer was based on the assumption that this statement was said by so-and-so, but I cannot say whether he said it or not; because I have not studied his book yet; so it does not concern us whether Ibn al-Qattan or someone else said this, but rather the important thing is to know the truth, as you know from the rule that the truth is not known by men, know the truth and you will know the men. Yes.
The questioner : ... mentioning improvement is not authentication.
The Shaykh : No, I am saying improvement absolutely, I meant this, or perhaps I was ahead of the word; so I mentioned lastly that some authenticated him and some weakened him, so we take a middle path; we do not raise his rank to the rank of an authentic hadith, nor do we lower it to the rank of a weak hadith, this is what I understood from what was reported from Ibn al-Qattan, and my answer is as previously stated.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.