How do jurists derive rulings from hadiths that are narrated by meaning?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : How do jurists establish the Prophetic wording and derive the ruling from it? For example, we sometimes encounter jurists deriving the ruling from the wording of the hadiths, just as we do from the wording of the Noble Qur'an. We know that hadiths are narrated by meaning. So how do they derive the ruling from the wording of the hadiths?
The Shaykh : My answer is clear and does not deviate from what has passed. But before I repeat myself, do you mean the mujtahids (scholars qualified to derive rulings) or the muqallids (those who follow a scholar without knowing his evidence)?
The questioner : The mujtahids.
The Shaykh : The mujtahids.
The questioner : The mujtahids, yes.
The Shaykh : I mean the four Imams, for example, and their like.
The questioner : Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh : Or those who came after them.
The questioner : The four Imams, my teacher, I mean.
The Shaykh: All right.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So your question is: how do they derive it? How, I mean.
The questioner : For example, they say the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used this word there to mean such and such. But we cannot establish the specific wording of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). It is possible that this wording is not the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him), but the wording of...
The Shaykh : My previous answer.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : It contradicts your subsequent denial.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : You say we cannot establish it. Our answer was that any hadith narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) without having multiple narrations...
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : The original presumption is that it is his speech (peace be upon him). You are now asserting the exact opposite, and this is a clear error.
The questioner : Is that clear?
The Shaykh : Well, that is one thing. The second thing is what the critics among the hadith scholars say. We have today dictionaries, such as the famous Lisan al-Arab by al-Fayruzabadi, and others besides. Where do they get the idea that a single word can have many, many meanings?
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Did they use the same method that hadith scholars used to preserve the wording of the hadith and its narration from the Messenger (peace be upon him), or did they not? What is your knowledge on this issue?
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : My question is clear.
The questioner : It is clear, my teacher, yes.
The Shaykh : Well, do you have an answer to that?
The questioner : No, teacher, I do not.
The Shaykh : They have nothing but transmission, and not transmission from scholars, but from Bedouins and nomads. For example, al-Asma'i says, "I heard an Arab, or a Bedouin, in the desert say such and such, so I knew that the meaning of the word is such and such." And we do not know the origin or details of this Bedouin. Here you see the importance of hadith science on one hand, and the danger of opening these doors of criticism on the other. Because if we accept this flimsy criticism of hadith science, which was served by mountains of memorizers, whereas the language was not granted such memorizers to transmit it, knowing that this language is what we use to interpret the Noble Qur'an.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : If they accept the Arabic language as given.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Why do they not accept the Prophetic Sunnah as given, given the vast difference between those who transmitted the language and those who transmitted the Prophetic hadith? So the original question is wrong in two aspects. The first aspect, mentioned earlier, is that whenever a hadith established from the Messenger (peace be upon him) comes to us, the original presumption is that this is his speech. When do we depart from this original presumption? When the contrary is established.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Ah, and when the contrary is established, we return to the issue of narration by meaning. What matters to us then? Did the wording go, or did a synonym go?
The student : It passed and...
The Shaykh : It passed and departed, and so on. "Came" and "arrived." What matters to us, for example, I am mentioning now a hadith:Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1085Da'if (Darussalam) In one narration: Sunan Ibn Majah 1967Da'if (Darussalam), what harm is there to us if it is this or that, because the meaning is the same? We only stop at this doubt in one case, which is when it comes with multiple narrations, and these narrations have disturbance and difference in them. Here hadith science comes in regarding the anomalous and the defective, and then we get out of the problem with hadith science. But if this problem does not arise, the original presumption is that this is the speech of the Messenger (peace be upon him). And if we lower the degree, it is possible that it is not the speech of the Messenger, but its meaning is certainly so. So what do we have to do with the fact that this meaning is not the wording of the Messenger? The important thing is that it is the meaning, and that it is not another meaning.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : This is the answer, if Allah wills.
The questioner : Praise be to Allah.
The Shaykh : Welcome.
The Shaykh : My answer is clear and does not deviate from what has passed. But before I repeat myself, do you mean the mujtahids (scholars qualified to derive rulings) or the muqallids (those who follow a scholar without knowing his evidence)?
The questioner : The mujtahids.
The Shaykh : The mujtahids.
The questioner : The mujtahids, yes.
The Shaykh : I mean the four Imams, for example, and their like.
The questioner : Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh : Or those who came after them.
The questioner : The four Imams, my teacher, I mean.
The Shaykh: All right.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So your question is: how do they derive it? How, I mean.
The questioner : For example, they say the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used this word there to mean such and such. But we cannot establish the specific wording of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). It is possible that this wording is not the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him), but the wording of...
The Shaykh : My previous answer.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : It contradicts your subsequent denial.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : You say we cannot establish it. Our answer was that any hadith narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) without having multiple narrations...
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : The original presumption is that it is his speech (peace be upon him). You are now asserting the exact opposite, and this is a clear error.
The questioner : Is that clear?
The Shaykh : Well, that is one thing. The second thing is what the critics among the hadith scholars say. We have today dictionaries, such as the famous Lisan al-Arab by al-Fayruzabadi, and others besides. Where do they get the idea that a single word can have many, many meanings?
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Did they use the same method that hadith scholars used to preserve the wording of the hadith and its narration from the Messenger (peace be upon him), or did they not? What is your knowledge on this issue?
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : My question is clear.
The questioner : It is clear, my teacher, yes.
The Shaykh : Well, do you have an answer to that?
The questioner : No, teacher, I do not.
The Shaykh : They have nothing but transmission, and not transmission from scholars, but from Bedouins and nomads. For example, al-Asma'i says, "I heard an Arab, or a Bedouin, in the desert say such and such, so I knew that the meaning of the word is such and such." And we do not know the origin or details of this Bedouin. Here you see the importance of hadith science on one hand, and the danger of opening these doors of criticism on the other. Because if we accept this flimsy criticism of hadith science, which was served by mountains of memorizers, whereas the language was not granted such memorizers to transmit it, knowing that this language is what we use to interpret the Noble Qur'an.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : If they accept the Arabic language as given.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Why do they not accept the Prophetic Sunnah as given, given the vast difference between those who transmitted the language and those who transmitted the Prophetic hadith? So the original question is wrong in two aspects. The first aspect, mentioned earlier, is that whenever a hadith established from the Messenger (peace be upon him) comes to us, the original presumption is that this is his speech. When do we depart from this original presumption? When the contrary is established.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Ah, and when the contrary is established, we return to the issue of narration by meaning. What matters to us then? Did the wording go, or did a synonym go?
The student : It passed and...
The Shaykh : It passed and departed, and so on. "Came" and "arrived." What matters to us, for example, I am mentioning now a hadith:
When someone whose religion and character you are pleased with comes to you then marry (her to) him
إذا جاءكم مَن ترضون دينه وخلقه فزوِّجوهIf there comes to you one with whose
إذا أتاكم مَن ترضون دينهThe questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : This is the answer, if Allah wills.
The questioner : Praise be to Allah.
The Shaykh : Welcome.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.