In recent years, young people have made great efforts in critiquing narrators, authenticating hadiths, and weakening them, to the point of commenting on some of the scholars.
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The questioner : In recent years, young people have made great efforts in critiquing narrators, authenticating hadiths, and weakening them, to the point of commenting on some of the early and later scholars by authenticating what they had weakened or vice versa. The question is: What is your assessment of these works, both negative and positive, and what are your guidelines in such a matter? A similar question follows: What are the conditions that a student of knowledge must possess in order to be able to judge the authenticity or weakness of hadiths? And another question for you regarding the same topic: Why do you not suffice with judging the hadiths narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih as authentic, since we see you sometimes judging some of them as good and sometimes judging others as weak?
The Shaykh : ... We advise our young brothers, the students in this knowledge, to be patient and not to rush, because this knowledge, as I have experienced it firsthand, requires many things. Among the most important is that one must combine the understanding of the principles of hadith, understand them well, and practice them for a long time. One should not rush to write for others, but rather write for oneself until he feels that he has become qualified to authenticate and weaken, as the early imams did. I say: We know this from ourselves and from others. Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (may Allah have mercy on him), who was rightly called the Commander of the Faithful in hadith, has many, many books. He testifies to himself, and that is sufficient testimony, because he was not satisfied with any of his books except Fath al-Bari. He worked on Fath al-Bari for about twenty years, and that is why he was satisfied with that book. As for the other books, it appears that they were written during his period of seeking knowledge, just as it is said of the young students today.
I know from my own experience that the first book I wrote is the one I refer to in many of my later works, and you hear its name: al-Rawd al-Nadhir, and its full title is "Arrangement and Tracing of al-Tabarani's al-Mu'jam al-Saghir." It is two large volumes. Many of my brothers asked me to rush to publish this book for two reasons. First, al-Tabarani's al-Mu'jam al-Saghir had not been printed except for the old Indian edition, and you know the Indian editions; although they were pioneers in publishing hadith books, their editions were late. So I had to publish this book, printing al-Tabarani's al-Mu'jam al-Saghir with my commentary, tracing, and arrangement on it. But I did not do it, and I will not do it. Why? Because I correct myself with my own self. I give you an example: By the grace of Allah the Exalted, it has become known, by the grace of Allah the Exalted, it is now known in the Islamic world, whereas a quarter of a century ago no one had heard of it. I was among those people who trusted Ibn Hibban's authentication. So if a hadith came to me in al-Tabarani's al-Mu'jam al-Saghir whose narrators were trustworthy, or one of them was authenticated by Ibn Hibban, I would authenticate it relying on Ibn Hibban's authentication. But I had not yet read, for example, al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar's introduction to al-Lisan, or the words of Ibn 'Abd al-Hadi in his response to al-Subki, al-Sarim al-Manki. Or this happens to many students: we read something, but it does not settle in the mind with a firmness that works in the heart of its owner and drives him to correct, righteous action. And so it is with this book. Now we say: How do we authenticate this hadith when it contains someone authenticated by Ibn Hibban? This example is very simple, and many, many examples come, the most precise of which relate to the same topic: Students of knowledge now assume that any narrator authenticated only by Ibn Hibban is not authenticated by his authentication. This is not an absolute rule. I have explained this in some sessions, and it will be explained more in the book currently in press, Tammam al-Mannah in the Commentary on Fiqh al-Sunnah.
Therefore, students of knowledge should be patient when they write or compile, for themselves. The difference will appear later between what they wrote during their seeking of knowledge and what they write after years of seeking and practicing in this knowledge, as Allah wills.
Writing too early is a cause for many errors. With the detail I mentioned earlier, I personally attribute the many errors of some scholars to this. For example, one of the clearest examples is al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi's summary of al-Hakim's al-Mustadrak. You find in it amazing things in his authentication following al-Hakim of hadiths that he judges some of them as fabricated, let alone others that he judges as weak. What is the reason? Summarizing a book, as people do today, abbreviating a book, and they think this is an easy matter, whereas this requires knowledge and maturity. It appears, and Allah knows best, that al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi summarized al-Mustadrak before his knowledge had matured. Similarly, we find al-Hafiz al-Suyuti, and perhaps you have read this in my introduction to Sahih al-Jami' and Da'if al-Jami', where he says he protected it from what a liar or fabricator uniquely narrated. Yet you find in it hadiths that he judged as fabricated in two books. The first book is al-Lala' al-Masnu'ah fi al-Ahadith al-Mawdu'ah, which is a book in which Ibn al-Jawzi is followed in his book al-Mawdu'at, but he agrees with him on dozens of hadiths because they are fabricated. This agreement is very clear when he recounts the summary of Ibn al-Jawzi's words in his judgment of the hadith as fabricated, and then does not follow it with "I say," but rather says "the hadith came from another path," and perhaps he says "first, second, third," and so on. He tries thereby to save the hadith from being fabricated. There is no harm in this, but in many hadiths, al-Hafiz al-Suyuti agreed with Ibn al-Jawzi on the fabrication in this work of his. Nevertheless, you find these hadiths present in al-Jami' al-Saghir, and also in the additions to al-Jami' al-Saghir, his second book, which is much broader, as it is like a supplement to Ibn al-Jawzi's al-Mawdu'at, meaning that Ibn al-Jawzi missed many fabricated hadiths, and he came and wrote a book of the tails of fabricated hadiths. All these hadiths that al-Suyuti listed in this book, the tails of fabricated hadiths, are fabricated, but you will be amazed when you find a large portion of them in al-Jami' al-Saghir. How do we reconcile this and that? It is what I mentioned to you earlier: he compiled al-Jami' al-Saghir before he began to refine and purify the weak and fabricated hadiths, or before he was able to master this knowledge as it should be. So he fell into this strange, amazing contradiction. This is a reason for the fact that people rush to knowledge without maturing and without being qualified for knowledge.
In fact, personally, I say that after answering this question, I am as pleased when I find young people criticizing righteous scholars or those present, and I am one of them, for example, when I find them criticizing me, I am pleased. Why? Because less than ten years ago, or so, no one could say a single word of criticism about Al-Albani regarding his knowledge of hadith. So, praise be to Allah, what Allah willed, now there are dozens and hundreds in the Islamic world. This is a sign of good, because as it is said, "The first of the rain is a drop, then it pours down". This benefits me and others, and it does not harm us, but these people harm themselves. Because, as for me, I say what the scholars, past and present, say: "One may find in the inferior what one does not find in the superior". So there is no fault in a student criticizing his teacher, how much more so if he was not his student? There is nothing strange about it. But if he hits the mark here and there, he will err in dozens of other places, and he will think he has done well, while reality will testify against him after years that he was hasty. And it has been said in the wisdoms: "Whoever hastens a thing before its time is afflicted with its deprivation". This is one thing, and a final thing: I fear most of all that authorship in this era will become a disease and a calamity, and it relates to a lack of sincerity in seeking knowledge and in spreading it. Because authorship is the means today, as you know, for spreading knowledge. And you all know that if knowledge is not pure for the face of Allah, whether in spreading a lesson, a lecture, a book, or the like, if it is not pure for the face of Allah, it becomes a calamity for its owner. As you know from the long hadith of Abu Hurayrah, which contains a lesson for whoever takes heed, which begins with his saying, "Ali (may Allah be pleased with him)" to the end of the hadith. So what I fear most is that the motive and driving force for these young people emerging in this knowledge is not advice... but rather that they show themselves and that their names are recorded among the authors. And finally, another wisdom comes to say: "The love of showing off cuts off showing off", because there is no sincerity to Allah in it.
The Shaykh : ... We advise our young brothers, the students in this knowledge, to be patient and not to rush, because this knowledge, as I have experienced it firsthand, requires many things. Among the most important is that one must combine the understanding of the principles of hadith, understand them well, and practice them for a long time. One should not rush to write for others, but rather write for oneself until he feels that he has become qualified to authenticate and weaken, as the early imams did. I say: We know this from ourselves and from others. Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (may Allah have mercy on him), who was rightly called the Commander of the Faithful in hadith, has many, many books. He testifies to himself, and that is sufficient testimony, because he was not satisfied with any of his books except Fath al-Bari. He worked on Fath al-Bari for about twenty years, and that is why he was satisfied with that book. As for the other books, it appears that they were written during his period of seeking knowledge, just as it is said of the young students today.
I know from my own experience that the first book I wrote is the one I refer to in many of my later works, and you hear its name: al-Rawd al-Nadhir, and its full title is "Arrangement and Tracing of al-Tabarani's al-Mu'jam al-Saghir." It is two large volumes. Many of my brothers asked me to rush to publish this book for two reasons. First, al-Tabarani's al-Mu'jam al-Saghir had not been printed except for the old Indian edition, and you know the Indian editions; although they were pioneers in publishing hadith books, their editions were late. So I had to publish this book, printing al-Tabarani's al-Mu'jam al-Saghir with my commentary, tracing, and arrangement on it. But I did not do it, and I will not do it. Why? Because I correct myself with my own self. I give you an example: By the grace of Allah the Exalted, it has become known, by the grace of Allah the Exalted, it is now known in the Islamic world, whereas a quarter of a century ago no one had heard of it. I was among those people who trusted Ibn Hibban's authentication. So if a hadith came to me in al-Tabarani's al-Mu'jam al-Saghir whose narrators were trustworthy, or one of them was authenticated by Ibn Hibban, I would authenticate it relying on Ibn Hibban's authentication. But I had not yet read, for example, al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar's introduction to al-Lisan, or the words of Ibn 'Abd al-Hadi in his response to al-Subki, al-Sarim al-Manki. Or this happens to many students: we read something, but it does not settle in the mind with a firmness that works in the heart of its owner and drives him to correct, righteous action. And so it is with this book. Now we say: How do we authenticate this hadith when it contains someone authenticated by Ibn Hibban? This example is very simple, and many, many examples come, the most precise of which relate to the same topic: Students of knowledge now assume that any narrator authenticated only by Ibn Hibban is not authenticated by his authentication. This is not an absolute rule. I have explained this in some sessions, and it will be explained more in the book currently in press, Tammam al-Mannah in the Commentary on Fiqh al-Sunnah.
Therefore, students of knowledge should be patient when they write or compile, for themselves. The difference will appear later between what they wrote during their seeking of knowledge and what they write after years of seeking and practicing in this knowledge, as Allah wills.
Writing too early is a cause for many errors. With the detail I mentioned earlier, I personally attribute the many errors of some scholars to this. For example, one of the clearest examples is al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi's summary of al-Hakim's al-Mustadrak. You find in it amazing things in his authentication following al-Hakim of hadiths that he judges some of them as fabricated, let alone others that he judges as weak. What is the reason? Summarizing a book, as people do today, abbreviating a book, and they think this is an easy matter, whereas this requires knowledge and maturity. It appears, and Allah knows best, that al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi summarized al-Mustadrak before his knowledge had matured. Similarly, we find al-Hafiz al-Suyuti, and perhaps you have read this in my introduction to Sahih al-Jami' and Da'if al-Jami', where he says he protected it from what a liar or fabricator uniquely narrated. Yet you find in it hadiths that he judged as fabricated in two books. The first book is al-Lala' al-Masnu'ah fi al-Ahadith al-Mawdu'ah, which is a book in which Ibn al-Jawzi is followed in his book al-Mawdu'at, but he agrees with him on dozens of hadiths because they are fabricated. This agreement is very clear when he recounts the summary of Ibn al-Jawzi's words in his judgment of the hadith as fabricated, and then does not follow it with "I say," but rather says "the hadith came from another path," and perhaps he says "first, second, third," and so on. He tries thereby to save the hadith from being fabricated. There is no harm in this, but in many hadiths, al-Hafiz al-Suyuti agreed with Ibn al-Jawzi on the fabrication in this work of his. Nevertheless, you find these hadiths present in al-Jami' al-Saghir, and also in the additions to al-Jami' al-Saghir, his second book, which is much broader, as it is like a supplement to Ibn al-Jawzi's al-Mawdu'at, meaning that Ibn al-Jawzi missed many fabricated hadiths, and he came and wrote a book of the tails of fabricated hadiths. All these hadiths that al-Suyuti listed in this book, the tails of fabricated hadiths, are fabricated, but you will be amazed when you find a large portion of them in al-Jami' al-Saghir. How do we reconcile this and that? It is what I mentioned to you earlier: he compiled al-Jami' al-Saghir before he began to refine and purify the weak and fabricated hadiths, or before he was able to master this knowledge as it should be. So he fell into this strange, amazing contradiction. This is a reason for the fact that people rush to knowledge without maturing and without being qualified for knowledge.
In fact, personally, I say that after answering this question, I am as pleased when I find young people criticizing righteous scholars or those present, and I am one of them, for example, when I find them criticizing me, I am pleased. Why? Because less than ten years ago, or so, no one could say a single word of criticism about Al-Albani regarding his knowledge of hadith. So, praise be to Allah, what Allah willed, now there are dozens and hundreds in the Islamic world. This is a sign of good, because as it is said, "The first of the rain is a drop, then it pours down". This benefits me and others, and it does not harm us, but these people harm themselves. Because, as for me, I say what the scholars, past and present, say: "One may find in the inferior what one does not find in the superior". So there is no fault in a student criticizing his teacher, how much more so if he was not his student? There is nothing strange about it. But if he hits the mark here and there, he will err in dozens of other places, and he will think he has done well, while reality will testify against him after years that he was hasty. And it has been said in the wisdoms: "Whoever hastens a thing before its time is afflicted with its deprivation". This is one thing, and a final thing: I fear most of all that authorship in this era will become a disease and a calamity, and it relates to a lack of sincerity in seeking knowledge and in spreading it. Because authorship is the means today, as you know, for spreading knowledge. And you all know that if knowledge is not pure for the face of Allah, whether in spreading a lesson, a lecture, a book, or the like, if it is not pure for the face of Allah, it becomes a calamity for its owner. As you know from the long hadith of Abu Hurayrah, which contains a lesson for whoever takes heed, which begins with his saying, "Ali (may Allah be pleased with him)"