A discussion regarding the chain of narration of the hadith that Shaykh Al-Albani authenticated; which is: "When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to greet us, we would say"

The questioner: There is a question, O Shaykh, regarding the hadith that you authenticated: "When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to greet us, we would say: And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings and His forgiveness." The question is not about the jurisprudence of the hadith, nor about the permissibility of adding "and His forgiveness," and we know your answer that if we were to declare the hadith weak, we have the Qur'an supporting it. But the question is about a hadithological issue in which we want to know your opinion. You mentioned only one route for this hadith, and you did not authenticate it, or you said about it: "This is a good chain of narration, its men are trustworthy." If you strengthened its chain of narration, or said that its chain of narration is good, and in this chain of narration there is a man named Ibrahim ibn al-Mukhtar, who is al-Razi, and about al-Razi you said: "A group of trustworthy men narrated from him," and Ibn Hibban mentioned him, then said: "I asked my father about him, and he said: 'He has sound hadith,'" and he is more acceptable to me than Salama ibn al-Fadl and 'Ali ibn Mujahid. Salama is one whose hadith is abandoned. Then you mentioned in a good and subtle research in "The Weak Series," Volume Three, regarding al-Razi's statement that al-Hakim said "he has sound hadith," and after a long discussion in which you refuted some of the doctors, you said: This is a text from him that the word "he has sound hadith," after you mentioned what I think his son said in "Al-Jarh wa al-Ta'dil." So his son in "Al-Jarh wa al-Ta'dil": If it is said of a man that he is "trustworthy" or "precise" or "firm," he is one whose hadith is used as proof. And if it is said: "He is truthful" or "his place is truthfulness" or "there is no harm" in him; he is one whose hadith is recorded and looked into, and that is the second rank. And if it is said he is a Shaykh, he is in the third rank; his hadith is recorded and looked into, but he is below the second rank. And if it is said: "He has sound hadith" — you preferred this phrase ... —.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner: And if it is said: "He has sound hadith," then his hadith is recorded for consideration. And if they answer about a man with "he has soft hadith," he is one whose hadith is recorded and looked into for consideration.

The Shaykh: And if what?

The questioner: And if they answer about a man with "he has soft hadith," he is one whose hadith is recorded and looked into for consideration. Then you said: This is a text from him that the word "he has sound hadith" is like their saying: "he has soft hadith," his hadith is recorded for consideration and as corroborating evidence, and that means it is not used as proof. So this phrase is from the terms of criticism, not vindication, according to Ibn Abi Hatim. I say, after this digression: I do not know what you say about this hadith with this chain of narration that you permitted?

The Shaykh: The answer is with you.

The questioner: Do you not see that the hadith with this chain of narration is not authentic?

The Shaykh: The answer is with you here. Did you read the entire research?

The questioner: I say: This is in another place, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh: I know. Is that other place a refutation of those who weakened this hadith, or is it on a second topic?

The questioner: No, no, it is in another place; in the hadith: .

The Shaykh: I remember that ... .

The questioner: You say this in another hadith.

The Shaykh: All right.

The questioner: When I read ... for this hadith — the hadith of the greeting — I returned to the men of the hadith's chain of narration, and al-Razi's statement in this hadith caught my attention: "He has sound hadith" regarding this man; Ibrahim ibn al-Mukhtar al-Razi. Then I reviewed your words about Ibrahim ibn al-Mukhtar, I mean regarding the word: "He has sound hadith" according to Ibn Abi Hatim, and you concluded that he is.

The Shaykh: In which hadith?

The questioner: In another hadith: to the end of it. This statement is in "The Weak Series," Volume Three. You said: It is weak with this wording. And there are those who authenticated this hadith. And your words were about weakening this hadith because of a man about whom Ibn Abi Hatim said he is "one who has sound hadith." So you reached in your speech to clarify that when Ibn Abi Hatim says of a man: "He has sound hadith," it is from the terms of criticism in his view, not vindication.

The Shaykh: I understood you. Good.

The questioner: So I want to apply your words, Ibn Abi Hatim's statement: "... he has sound hadith," to Ibrahim ibn al-Mukhtar in the hadith of the greeting, for which you did not mention another chain of narration, or for which you strengthened its chain of narration, even though it is in Ibrahim ibn al-Mukhtar, about whom Ibn Abi Hatim said: "He has sound hadith." If we say that Ibn Abi Hatim's statement: "He has sound hadith" — meaning: soft — is from the terms of criticism; how is this chain of narration recorded?

The Shaykh: Did he say: "Soft" and stop, or was it in an extra phrase?

The questioner: He said: "He has sound hadith," then said: And he is more acceptable to me than Salama ibn al-Fadl.

The Shaykh: No, no, what did he say? Is it considered as proof, or what did he say?

The questioner: Ibn Abi Hatim's words?

The Shaykh : Yes...

The questioner: The son's words said: And if it is said: "He has sound hadith," then his hadith is recorded for consideration.

The Shaykh: For consideration.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh: And do you know what the meaning of consideration is, or not?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : And what is it?

The questioner: It means the hadith is considered, and it means looking into other routes of the hadith until.

The Shaykh: It means that this, that this narrator, it is possible that the hadith is established or not established; is that not so?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh: Good; now, this hadith in which this man is, about whom Abu Hatim said: "He has sound hadith," was there something that corroborates it or not?

The questioner: As far as I know, there is something that corroborates it from the Book, not from the Sunnah.

The Shaykh: And the reports that were mentioned.

The questioner: You did not mention anything, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner: You did not mention reports.

The Shaykh: In some books.

The questioner: I mean, I will read to you your words about this.

The Shaykh: No, no, no, I am reminding you; since you are following the topic, you must be aware of what I will point out. Did it not pass by you in the introduction of these introductions that one of our brother students sent me a letter rambling around what you say about weakening this man or another — I do not remember now —, I wrote a response to him. Did this pass by you?

The questioner: Yes, in the introduction of this book.

The Shaykh: Good, and in the introduction, did you not see the reports that corroborate this hadith?

The questioner: I think they are reports, but as far as I remember, I am far from the introduction, but I do not remember that there is another route for the hadith raised to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

The Shaykh: I am not asking about another route — may Allah reward you —, in short: I am telling you: here are two things: And so the issue of "sound, for consideration" is a matter like some of the matters that preceded just now. And now, when we asked you what is the meaning of "sound for consideration"? It means this narrator is stopped at and contemplated: Is what he narrated a denunciation that he is unique in, or is it something that has corroboration? So at that time, it becomes suitable for proof and becomes sound? And the first of that is what you pointed out in your first words that the verse is not researched in, because it is a matter ... in its indication. The second thing that I drew your attention to is that there are reports from the Salaf of an action in response to those who said: "Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings"; so they added: "and His forgiveness." So the action of the Salaf is among the circumstances that are mentioned in the corroborating evidence; that when a weak hadith comes, and there is nothing, then the action of the Salaf with this hadith comes; that is proof that this hadith has an authentic origin. So I mentioned there a response to those who weakened this hadith, clinging perhaps to this — I am far from the date — or to another man. And you also say that you are far from the date of my response to him.
The point is: I mentioned there that there are some reports from Ibn 'Umar and others that when a Muslim greeted him with the complete greeting, "Peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings," he would add, "and His forgiveness." I understood from that that the man about whom Imam Abu Hatim said he is "sahih" (sound) here must be interpreted as "sahih" specifically regarding this hadith, not according to Abu Hatim's technical term, but according to the general term that makes the hadith's chain good. If this hadith were stripped of its supporting evidence from the Qur'an and from the reports, then the discussion would be as you mentioned earlier. But when I write the hadith, I engage my mind and thought, and I search left and right, front and back, hoping to find supporting evidence that strengthens it. In that case, if there is some weakness in it, I consider this chain to be "sahih" (sound), and it does not harm me that I spoke about one of its narrators and cited Abu Hatim's statement that he is "sahih"; meaning, it implies that he is weak but can be cited as supporting evidence. So here I found the verse, and therefore, when some of you discuss with me: What is the intent of this hadith? Does it contain a ruling that exceeds the Qur'anic text? The answer is: No, rather this hadith is a detail of the Qur'an and an alert for the general Muslim public who did not know this addition from the Qur'an. Because the Sunnah clarifies the Qur'an. Who among you knew that the Qur'an was understood in light of this hadith? No one. They believed that if one gave the complete greeting with its blessings, it was not permissible to say "and His forgiveness" in the response. But this hadith is what opened minds and drew their attention to the fact that the verse means: So if my Muslim brother greets me with the most complete greeting, what is my response to him? They closed the door on me and said: It is enough for you to respond in kind. Well, did the verse abrogate the hadith? The answer is: No. So what is the method of applying this clear (muhkam) verse? It is what came in this hadith. So I noticed something else that some of you may not notice, which is that this hadith is supported by the Noble Qur'an and by the action of some of the Salaf, and this is mentioned in the response, so you can refer to it. This is my perspective; therefore, opinions may differ in handling some texts, and the reason is that what may occur to the mind of some may not occur to the minds of others.

The questioner : O Shaykh, my question is about the chain of narration. The chain, O Shaykh, is it described as "good"? The chain that contains this man?

The Shaykh : What does "good" mean?

The questioner : At least "sahih" (authentic) - as far as I know - it is higher than "hasan" (good) and lower than "sahih" (authentic).

The Shaykh : No, the "good" (jayyid), "sahih" (sound), and "thabit" (established) chain is not like the "sahih" (authentic) chain. These terms include what is below "sahih" (authentic), which is "hasan" (good). So I mean here "good" in the sense that it is a "hasan" (good) chain. And "hasan" (good) may have come with the note of the takhrij (tracing) that I read earlier. Repeat the takhrij for me?

The questioner : You said: This is a good chain, its men are all trustworthy... Ibrahim ibn al-Mukhtar, and he is al-Razi, he narrated from a group of trustworthy men, and Ibn Abi Hatim mentioned them.

Another questioner : He narrated from him.

The Shaykh : He narrated?

The questioner : He narrated from him.

The Shaykh : From him.

The questioner : A group of trustworthy men, and Ibn Abi Hatim mentioned them, then he said: I asked my father about him.

The Shaykh : And so on. So you, especially after the previous explanation regarding the unknown man from whom a group of trustworthy men narrated; especially after that previous explanation; you should note why I said about him that a group of trustworthy men narrated from him? It is a reference that the narration of these trustworthy men from him elevates his status. So this, along with the verse and the report, is what inspired me in my heart that it raised the value of this narrator in this hadith, and I said: Its chain is good. It does not mean that hadith scholars mean by "good" that it is an authentic (sahih) chain, rather they mean that it is below "sahih" (authentic) and above "da'if" (weak), and that is nothing but the "hasan" (good) hadith. And we ask Allah for success for us and for you.