What is the criterion for the criticism of scholars toward one another?
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The questioner : The scholars of the same era...
The Shaykh : The criterion is to examine whether the critic could possibly be criticizing his contemporary out of personal enmity or not. If the first possibility is the case, it is not accepted; if the other possibility is the case, it is accepted. Each of the two possibilities should be studied in a specific manner; that is, it is obligatory to prefer one possibility over the other by the presence of a piece of evidence that serves as a preference factor. For example, two contemporary scholars from the same country: the possibility that there is some rivalry between them is greater than if the contemporaries were in two countries far apart from each other.
This draws attention to the fact that the issue requires independent legal reasoning (ijtihad). Likewise, if an imam came after that period of contemporaneity and also criticized the person whom his contemporary and peer had criticized, that serves as a preference factor that the criticism is not due to contemporaneity, but rather because the person criticized deserves the criticism. The matter becomes further confirmed when scholars of hadith successively support that criticism over the course of the ages. In that case, we are certain that the rejection of these criticisms directed at one person is due to contemporaneity, because that contemporaneity did not exist for those who came after the contemporaries.
This is very clearly exemplified by the agreement of the majority of hadith scholars on weakening the hadiths of Imam Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him), whether they were his contemporaries or those who came after him. Their agreement on weakening Abu Hanifah’s hadiths removes the possibility that the criticism is defective due to contemporaneity; because his contemporary, such as Sufyan al-Thawri and others, did not single out the criticism of weakening him.
In summary: It is obligatory to look at this rule with a discerning eye and to prefer what the evidence requires.
Please proceed.
The Shaykh : The criterion is to examine whether the critic could possibly be criticizing his contemporary out of personal enmity or not. If the first possibility is the case, it is not accepted; if the other possibility is the case, it is accepted. Each of the two possibilities should be studied in a specific manner; that is, it is obligatory to prefer one possibility over the other by the presence of a piece of evidence that serves as a preference factor. For example, two contemporary scholars from the same country: the possibility that there is some rivalry between them is greater than if the contemporaries were in two countries far apart from each other.
This draws attention to the fact that the issue requires independent legal reasoning (ijtihad). Likewise, if an imam came after that period of contemporaneity and also criticized the person whom his contemporary and peer had criticized, that serves as a preference factor that the criticism is not due to contemporaneity, but rather because the person criticized deserves the criticism. The matter becomes further confirmed when scholars of hadith successively support that criticism over the course of the ages. In that case, we are certain that the rejection of these criticisms directed at one person is due to contemporaneity, because that contemporaneity did not exist for those who came after the contemporaries.
This is very clearly exemplified by the agreement of the majority of hadith scholars on weakening the hadiths of Imam Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him), whether they were his contemporaries or those who came after him. Their agreement on weakening Abu Hanifah’s hadiths removes the possibility that the criticism is defective due to contemporaneity; because his contemporary, such as Sufyan al-Thawri and others, did not single out the criticism of weakening him.
In summary: It is obligatory to look at this rule with a discerning eye and to prefer what the evidence requires.
Please proceed.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.