The Shaykh mentioned an anecdote that happened to him in the past.

The Shaykh : ... and I will explain to you what I intended, but there must be an anecdote, and it has a benefit. In the beginning of my academic life, while I was still in my father’s trade of repairing watches, an army officer named ... came to us. It was midday, and at this time my father - may Allah have mercy on him - would pray the midday prayer and then go to his house for a nap. So I would remain in the shop. The front of the shop faced west, where the sun beat down; so I would lower the shutter so that a small opening remained, so that if a customer came to repair a watch or pick up a watch, he could see me. This man came and took out a watch ... of a well-known brand from the old days. He said to me: "I like the look of this watch ... and so on," and then he began to praise it highly. So I said to him, by way of ... He said: "You are a group of good, skilled, and honest people, and so on," and other such words. Some people say this is for the sake of caring for it, while some say it is out of genuine belief, or it may be a report that is authentic ... I said ... I do not know you, and I have not dealt with you, and so on. In short, he surprised me with the well-known weak hadith. He said: "No, the believer has intuition, and the Messenger - peace and blessings be upon him - said: ." I said to him: "This is a weak hadith." I said to him: "This is the logic of the hadith scholars." My father ... His amazement increased, that this small boy is speaking about a science greater than himself ... Yes?

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: I mean, certainly under twenty. Yes, that is right.
The point is: days passed and days came, and we repaired the watch for him, and he became our customer, and so on. I moved from my father’s place and opened a shop, and lo and behold, he surprised me one Friday with a well-known Shaykh there in Damascus, who was a student of Badr al-Din, andThe Shaykh : Badr al-Din was famous there for delivering the lesson under the dome, the dome of the largest mosque, the Umayyad Mosque, and this is an inherited tradition among them, so whoever succeeds him in hadith - likewise - sits under the dome, and this was one of them. The officer, Najm al-Din, entered ... and it is my custom on Friday to sit for reading and study, not for work, in case a customer passes by on Friday to leave a watch or pick up a repaired watch, and so on. When he entered, I stood up to welcome them ... a little, and I seated them. No sooner had he sat down than Najm al-Din said: "O Shaykh, is it true, O Professor, that the hadith: is a weak hadith?" He said: "No, it is an authentic hadith, narrated by Abu Dawud and Ahmad and ... The attribution is complete and correct; this now requires a balanced scientific discussion, completely. I said: "O Professor, this ... is sound, but is it necessary that every hadith narrated by these people and their like must have a correct chain?" He did not answer, as some do intentionally or by mistake, he went around in circles and said: "If this hadith were not authentic, the scholars would not have used it as evidence. This is not the speech of a scholar of hadith. How many hadiths do the scholars use as evidence, especially those who have no knowledge of hadith, and they are weak hadiths!"
The point is now: my mind turned, I will give him a hadith that is not authentic by his own admission, so what did he think, meaning if he has some knowledge and I say to him "the scholars used it as evidence," how can you then make ... the scholars a proof for the authenticity of the hadith, and this hadith that you brought up, you say: it is not authentic? But his ignorance collapsed ... his ignorance. I said: "What do you say about the hadith: ?" He said: "The hadith is established." This is a hadith that has no basis at all! I said to myself, be patient, do not ... meaning I said to him: "No, this has no basis." I said to him: "Who narrated it?" And lo and behold, the more he increased in what? Drowning in ignorance, he said: "Imam Ahmad narrated it." And this statement has no basis. I said to him: "Did you see it in 'Musnad Imam Ahmad'?" He said: "No." Then who attributed it to Imam Ahmad? He said: "Al-Mundhiri in 'Al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib' ... on a Friday of reading." I said to him: "Please, here is Al-Mundhiri’s book," and lo and behold, he answered with another answer indicating his ignorance, he said: "Yes, and where do I look for it now, the hadith? The hadith is related to al-Nasa'i, in the biographies of the Book of Hajj, in the biographies of the Book of Purification, in the biographies of the Book of Prayer, please, here is the Book of Prayer." He said: ... . It is not with him. I said to him: "O Shaykh, do not tire yourself, this hadith was not narrated by Ahmad, and no one attributed it to him, neither Al-Mundhiri nor anyone else, and I am an expert in Al-Mundhiri; because I teach it. Then Al-Hafiz al-'Iraqi says in his takhrij of the book 'Al-Mughni 'an Haml al-Asfar fi al-Asfar fi Takhrij Ma fi al-Ihyah min Akhbar' he says: 'I did not find a basis for this hadith,' so how can you be able to find a basis for it when Al-Hafiz al-'Iraqi did not find a basis for it? In any case - also - I had some of the remaining patience, I said to him: "In any case, and above every knowledgeable person is a Knower ... I said to him: "You heard whatThe Shaykh : , so I hope when you arrive at the house that you remind him to bring out this hadith from 'Al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib' by Al-Mundhiri, perhaps we will correct what ... .
Our companion here asked: "What does it mean that this hadith is hasan?" I thought he would be a memorizer of the answer, he says: "A hasan hadith means for other chains, but in any case, it now means that the hadith of al-Tirmidhi described as a hasan hadith means that it is a hasan hadith for other chains. Now the question comes: Is the hadith that al-Tirmidhi grades as hasan for other chains, are all its individual chains hasan in themselves, or are they weak?

The questioner: I do not ... .

The Shaykh: Do not deviate, do not deviate [Everyone laughs!], may Allah reward you.

The questioner: I do not deviate ... it is weak; meaning the majority, but I want you to understand this hadith ... this hadith is from the side of being disconnected.

The Shaykh: May Allah guide you, no, no, do not waste our time, either you are knowledgeable about the terminology of hadith and a scholar of it, or you learn it, and you are neither a scholar nor do you want to learn. When I asked you what al-Tirmidhi means by a hasan hadith? It means a hasan hadith for its chains, we find that the individual chains of a hasan hadith for other chains are all weak, so you now want to argue with me why is this? First I said: "I used it as evidence." I said: "No, I do not know that you used it as evidence, but you made it a corroborator or a strengthener, this is the nature of the hasan hadith, and even the sahih for other chains; that the individual chains are all weak, either there is a disconnection in it, or there is an unknown narrator, or there is a weak narrator who is not severely weak, or something similar; therefore you must have a broad horizon in this issue, and do not criticize so that you are criticized.

The questioner: I do not criticize, by Allah, and by Allah my intention is not to criticize, but I hear people ... .

The Shaykh: And what do you do with criticism? O Shaykh, you have a foreign accent, and perhaps you understand some words incorrectly, criticism is not a word that should not be said, I criticize you and you criticize me, but the one who is criticized is the one who intends ill with the criticism, did you understand me? Likewise, argumentation; so if I argue with you or you argue with me, argumentation in itself is neither praised nor blamed, but the praise and blame come from the intention of the arguer, so if I argue with you and intend to guide you, that is good, if you argue with me and intend to understand the knowledge, that is good, and so on, likewise criticism, but the one who criticizes must have knowledge, and if he has no knowledge, then you ... .
So take this summary: The hasan hadith in itself is the one that is used as evidence by itself, the hasan hadith for other chains is the one that is not used as evidence by any of its individuals; because there is weakness in it, but this group of chains gives strength to the text, as the poet said - and this is the end of the speech - :
"Do not fight my heart with your eyes *** For two weak ones overcome the strong one."