Discussion of the innovation of classifying hadith into ahad and mutawatir regarding the establishment of creed.

The Shaykh : The other aspect is that they introduced a foreign philosophy that our righteous Salaf did not know. This is with regard to the hadiths, for they divided the authentic hadiths, in terms of their transmission to the obligated people, into two categories: ahad hadiths and mutawatir hadiths. They said that any hadith from the category of ahad, meaning authentic but not mass-transmitted, is not to be relied upon in matters of creed. Therefore, whenever a hadith stood in the way of their figurative interpretation of some Qur'anic texts, they struck it down with the hammer of ahad hadith, claiming that it does not constitute proof in creed. This was the approach of the Mu'tazilah and those who followed their path, whether in all, in part, or in some aspect. Whenever they were unable to answer regarding a hadith from the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), they wielded the hammer of destruction against it by saying that it is an ahad hadith.
Among the beliefs in which the Khalaf disputed with the Salaf—and by the Khalaf I mean specifically the Mu'tazilah and those who followed their path from the other sects, even though we do not declare them disbelievers, and it is sufficient for us to declare them misguided, for they opposed the Salaf, and their misguidance is sufficient for them—is that it was said, "All good is in following those who came before, and all evil is in the innovation of those who came after."