What is your opinion of the book *Hayat al-Sahabah* (The Lives of the Companions)? And what is the meaning of al-Haythami’s statement in *Majma' al-Zawa'id*: "Its narrators are trustworthy," or the statement of some scholars: "Its narrators are the narrators of the authentic collections"?

The Shaykh : Regarding this question, the book *al-Sahabah* is evidence for what we say. The one who authored this book is not an individual member of the Tabligh group, but rather a leader; if he is not among their leaders, he is the leader of leaders. He authored this book, and the group proceeds according to its guidance. However, this book collected everything that came to mind, meaning: this book did not specify that it would only mention what is authentic from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); because the speech of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is not like the speech of other people, even if they were awliya (close friends of Allah) and righteous.
Second: It mentions many narrations from the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), which are even more problematic, a fortiori, if there are things in the hadiths attributed to the Messenger that are not correctly attributed to the Messenger according to whom? According to the scholars of hadith knowledge, knowledge of chains of narration, biographies of the narrators in the chains, and the like. Therefore, a fortiori, it is mentioned in this book many, and very many, narrations from the Companions from their sayings, their actions, their methodology, their conduct, and much of it is not authentic.
I am pleased, on this occasion, with a statement by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), and this is from his precious words and precise scientific methodology, where he said, to the effect of: that every researcher must be careful in what he narrates from the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) just as he is careful in what he narrates from Allah and His Messenger. This is the word of the majority of scholars, both ancient and modern, not just modern. Ancient and modern scholars have neglected this, so you do not find it in a book except very rarely, very rarely. For example, the book *Nail al-Awtar* by al-Shawkani. This is one of the books that we encourage students of knowledge to pay attention to studying and benefiting from. And yet, you find that he gathers sayings of the Companions, the Tabi'un, and others on the occasion of discussing a verse or a hadith, but he does not follow this path, which is the path of being careful about what is attributed to the Companions, just as one must be careful about what is attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Few do this.
From here: the Muslim society suffers from some deviation. Why? And this is a point that is actually very important. We have always and forever said: that our methodology is the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, and according to what our righteous Salaf (the earliest generations) were upon. It is never sufficient today to call people to the Book and Sunnah only, because you will not find in all these different groups, ancient and modern, you will not find a group among them, even if they were from the Murji'ah (a sect that excluded deeds from faith) or they were from the Mu'tazilah (a rationalist theological sect), who say: "We are not upon the Book and Sunnah." They all say this. So what is the difference between these groups, all of which say—and they are truthful in what they say, we cannot accuse them, they are truthful in what they say—"We are upon the Book and Sunnah," but they are not truthful in applying it according to what our righteous Salaf (may Allah be pleased with them) were upon.
From here we say: it is necessary to know what the Salaf were upon so that we can use it to help us understand the Book and Sunnah. So if a narration comes to us from some of the Companions and it is not authentic, and we take it as a basis for explaining the Book and Sunnah, we deviate just as if we took a weak or fabricated hadith. For this reason, Ibn Taymiyyah says: "It is obligatory to be careful in what we narrate from the Companions just as we are careful in what we narrate from Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family)." This book, *al-Sahabah*, contradicted this scientific approach, so it collected everything that came to mind. And I give you a general example: he quotes, for example, a hadith from the book *Majma' al-Zawa'id*, saying: "It was narrated by Ahmad and al-Tabarani, and he said in *Majma' al-Zawa'id*: 'Its narrators are trustworthy.'" Those who circulate this book, when they read "he said in *Majma' al-Zawa'id*: 'Its narrators are trustworthy,'" what do they understand from it, as they say of some Bedouins in Syria: "Khashsh hadith" (a good hadith). Since its narrators are trustworthy, it becomes a established hadith—no. According to the scholars of hadith: any hadith in which one of the hadith scholars says "Its narrators are trustworthy" does not mean that this hadith scholar considers it an authentic hadith. Rather, any hadith in which the author of the book says "Its narrators are the narrators of the authentic collections" does not mean that it is authentic. And this is more misleading regarding the authenticity of the hadith than the first statement. If he says "Its narrators are trustworthy," some people may assume it is authentic, but the misleading nature of the second expression, "Its narrators are the narrators of the authentic collections," is greater. Nevertheless, neither this nor that means the authenticity of the hadith in the science of hadith.
So it should have been incumbent upon the author of this book to select. We do not say that he should verify all these narrations and scrutinize the statement in them; because in reality, I believe that if a knowledgeable, careful man wanted to verify and weaken, to author a book like *al-Sahabah*, it would take him many years, because the verification of a single hadith may take him hours, or it may take him a day or days. And this is what we know by experience. So he wanted to author such a book in this manner, as if it would take him his life, or at least part of his life. But we hoped that he would select what is authentic with him by the shortest path, without coming to specify the discussion of every hadith from these hadiths. So this is the answer regarding the book *al-Sahabah*: that it is not permissible to rely on it except with some reservation, like most books. And I place in your hands now a rule so that you do not respect the benefit from such a book, so I say: whenever you see a hadith attributed first to one of the two authentic collections in this book or in another, saying: "It was narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim," "It was narrated by al-Bukhari," "It was narrated by Muslim," then hold onto it firmly. This is first.
Second: If you see it quoted from one of the hadith scholars that he said: "This hadith has an authentic chain," or he said "Its chain is good," also hold onto it. And as for anything other than that, turn away from it, and do not turn to it, other than that.
The student : May Allah reward you. Is this our Shaykh in the book itself, or a rule for books in general?

The Shaykh : All books; perhaps you will memorize your question for another occasion, if Allah wills.