Explaining the Mass-Transmitted Hadith

The Shaykh : First, regarding the mass-transmitted hadith, they offer a general definition: "What is narrated by a group from a group from a group, whose collusion in lying is impossible." There is a condition that it pertains to factual matters, not intellectual matters. This is a reference to what I mentioned earlier, namely matters of the unseen. After agreeing on this definition, they differed on the number required for mass transmission. Some say one hundred narrators, meaning a hadith spoken by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that relates to reality, not the unseen—whether he spoke, acted, prayed, or so on—must be narrated by one hundred Companions to be considered mass-transmitted. Who holds this view? Those who stipulate a number of one hundred or more. Others lowered the number, lowering it until it reached ten. Let that be; if ten of the Messenger's Companions narrated a hadith from the Messenger, it becomes mass-transmitted. If one person is missing from the ten, we take the lower number from the disagreement, which is nine. If nine Companions narrated a hadith, it is not called mass-transmitted, but what is it called? It is called ahad (a report with a limited chain). However, if it was narrated by ten minus one, there is no dispute over the terminology, as the saying goes. But the truth is that all these opinions are purely opinions without evidence. It is not obligatory for a Muslim to adopt any of these opinions, whether it be one hundred or descending to ten. So, what is the mass-transmitted hadith? Here... every reasonable Muslim is reassured by it. He says: There is no doubt that the narrators who narrate hadiths from the Companions, let alone those below them, are not equal in their knowledge, strength of memory, and precision. For example, we have hadiths narrated by one Companion whose status as a Companion is suspected. I will mention one of these men who is not known by his name but only by his kunya. What is his kunya? Abu Awra. By Allah, we do not know who Abu Awra is. Is he Abu Hurayrah? No, Abu Awra is not Abu Hurayrah. Abu Hurayrah was the most memorizing of the Messenger's Companions. So, is a hadith narrated by Abu Hurayrah equal to a hadith narrated by Abu Awra? No, they are not equal. This is an approximate example. Likewise, if you descend from the level of the Companions to the level of the Successors and those after them, such as Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, al-Zuhri, and so on, the scholar of hadith, when he sees nine Companions, all of whom are famous for narration, and the Successors who narrated from them are also known for precision, memory, and mastery, his soul is reassured that this hadith is impossible to be a lie. The number of narrators did not enter into the definition of mass transmission, or into one of the definitions, but the scholar, through his knowledge of the biographies of these Companions and those who narrated from them, until it is recorded in the books, is reassured with certainty. He swears by the Great Allah that this hadith was said by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and it is not mass-transmitted; it is ahad. The point is that the term ahad has actually been used as a very dangerous weapon to cast doubt on some authentic hadiths, even if they have no relation to the matters of the unseen, regarding which it was found in ancient times that some said that ahad hadiths do not establish doctrine.