Discussion of the hadith of Thabit ibn al-Harith al-Ansari, in which it is reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sought the assistance of the People of the Book against the polytheists

Al-Halabi : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. These are specialized hadithic investigations regarding the issue of seeking assistance from polytheists and disbelievers.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : Peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and Allah's mercy and blessings, and His forgiveness.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.

The questioner : How are you?

The Shaykh : I thank Allah for you.

The questioner : How are the brothers with you? Are they well?

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, we are well, if Allah wills.

The questioner : Muhammad 'Abdullah is with you from Saudi Arabia.

The Shaykh : Welcome.

The questioner : I called you, O Shaykh, do you remember, two days ago?

The Shaykh : What did you ask me about?

The questioner : About the hadith, may Allah reward you, in *Mashkil al-Athar* by al-Tahawi.

The Shaykh : Yes, I remember.

The questioner : By Allah, O Shaykh, I am one of your students who was raised on this methodology and what you taught us.

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you and benefit through you.

The questioner : And may He do the same for you. This issue has confused us; we find some who weaken the evidence and others who say there is no evidence in the issue. So when I came across this hadith, I called you.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

The questioner : And I asked you about it, and you attributed it to Thabit ibn al-Harith, saying he is unknown. I was satisfied with this as your answer.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

The questioner : Then I discussed it with some of the brothers afterwards, and they were authenticating it. So I told them, "I asked the Shaykh myself in Amman, and he told me that this hadith is defective due to Thabit ibn al-Harith."

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

The questioner : That he is unknown. They said, "We will bring the books and review and study the chain of this hadith." I found with them that the chain of this hadith is Thabit ibn al-Harith, and all the books mention that he is a Companion of the early period. So I do not know; I really want to reach a solution and a conclusion so that we can get out of this confusion.

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you. Confusion should not come to you or anyone else from studies in a science that has almost become well-studied and known. You who gathered and studied the chain of this hadith, how long have you been in this science?

The questioner : By Allah, we are not long-time students in it; it is very few years.

The Shaykh : You mean twenty years?

The questioner : No, less than that.

The Shaykh : Ten years?

The questioner : Approximately.

The Shaykh : Approximately?

The questioner: Nine years.

The Shaykh : Okay, so how is it that confusion takes hold of you between a new, inexperienced opinion and an old, established opinion of one who spent more than half a century of his life in this science? What did you do? You opened *al-Isabah* and similar books, which may or may not be accurate, and you found that Thabit ibn al-Harith was said to be a Companion.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : So confusion took hold of you because you relied on your own research and did not rely on the research of others whom you know for certain are more established in this science and art than you. It was not befitting for you to fall into such confusion. I will tell you and those like you among the good students of knowledge, if Allah wills, as a reminder of the saying of the Exalted: So you all who gathered and studied the chain of this hadith, and especially the status of this Thabit ibn al-Harith, either you consider yourselves scholars of this noble Prophetic science, or you consider yourselves students of this science, no more than that. If you are scholars, it is your right to rely on your opinion and not to fall into confusion in your knowledge. And if you are not so, and you are students of knowledge, meaning you are not scholars, then it is also not befitting for you to fall into confusion. Rather, you must do as came in the previous verse: As for you, you applied this verse, but it was not befitting for you to include yourself with the group and say, "We really fell into confusion." Since you asked someone you think has knowledge, why did you fall into confusion when you do not think of yourself as one of the people of knowledge, but rather as a student of this knowledge? As for the others who were with you, their excuse may be accepted because they did not ask, but you may have conveyed to them what you asked and the answer you received. From this perspective, they are also not excused for falling into confusion. So I tell you and them: either you are scholars, in which case it is not befitting for you to fall into confusion, and your affair should be like that of the scholar jurists and hadith scholars who differed on some issues—this one says it is permissible and this one says it is not permissible, and each has his opinion and his share of independent legal reasoning, either being rewarded with two rewards or one reward. And so it is with hadith scholars. Either you are among these scholars, in which case you rely on your opinion and do not fall into confusion, or you are not so, in which case it is not your right to fall into confusion either. Rather, you must ask the people of knowledge. This speech is intended as advice to establish a principle from which you proceed in your study of knowledge.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : As for the objective answer, as it is said, not everyone who is called a Companion is a Companion. And so that you are clear regarding this issue, first, and then regarding other issues that may be related to this specific issue, I advise you to return to *al-Isabah* in the names of the Companions, which you must have referred to, to the introduction, and read the chapter on what is the way and what is the means to know whether a man is a Companion or not. Did you understand me?

The questioner : Yes, yes, I understood you.

The Shaykh : So after this, I expect from you the result of this study on this topic from the book *al-Isabah*. If you understand the topic from *al-Isabah* and apply what is mentioned there of the means by which one can know whether a person is a Companion or not, you will then know that Thabit ibn al-Harith al-Ansari is not a Companion, but rather an unknown Tabi'i whom no one has authenticated.

The questioner: May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : This is my answer.

The questioner : May Allah reward you and bless you.

The Shaykh : And to you, may He bless you.

The questioner : Peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and Allah's mercy and blessings, and His forgiveness.
Abu Layla : Repeat, O our Shaykh, this speech that you mentioned.

The Shaykh : I say that this hadith about which you heard the answer, and that it is not established, is the hadith of the hour, especially in that Saudi country. And perhaps you heard, either directly or through the tapes, that we denied, as soon as the incident occurred, the seeking of assistance by the Saudis from disbelievers. We have about five or six tapes on this issue. Without a doubt, these tapes reached the Saudi country and did their work in the hearts of many of the students and people of knowledge there. From these tapes, I addressed a hadith, which is this hadith of Thabit ibn al-Harith.