A teacher who teaches Islamic education may encounter a weak hadith or a ruling that contradicts the Sunnah in the textbook, and he is obligated to teach what is in the curriculum. Does he...

The questioner : The teacher, while teaching Islamic education, may encounter a weak hadith or a ruling that contradicts the Sunnah in the textbook, and he is obligated to teach what is in the curriculum. Does he tell the students, "This is a weak hadith" and "This ruling contradicts the Sunnah," or does he not say it?

The Shaykh : It is necessary to clarify this, because concealing knowledge is not justified by anything. If the curriculum obligates the teacher to teach what is not authentic from the hadith or what is not established from the legal ruling, then our leniency with him is to say, "My brother, the one who transmits disbelief is not a disbeliever." He mentions the hadith as it appears in the prescribed textbook, and he also mentions the jurisprudential issue as it appears in the book. However, it is necessary to give advice after he has presented what is in the prescribed book. He must resume the discussion and tell the students that this hadith is not authentic and is not established from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He should advise them, in turn, that if they are asked about this topic and are forced in the exam to mention the hadith, they should mention it as they read it, with a parenthetical statement: "Although we know from some scholars that this hadith is weak." This does not disqualify them in the exam. The examining teacher is concerned to know that this student has memorized the lesson that was taught to him, and that he has done so and recorded the lesson in its entirety. Then he added to that knowledge, perhaps knowledge that the examining teacher himself does not have. Therefore, it should be combined: what was taught to the student, what was taught systematically, and what the teacher mentioned as an addition to the curriculum, clarifying that, for example, that hadith is weak, or that the answer to this jurisprudential issue is as it came in the book, but there is another opinion, which is an Islamic opinion and is more correct, with such-and-such evidence. The teacher must advise the students in their religion that if he conceals knowledge and teaches people what is contrary to knowledge, there is no doubt that the saying of the one with prayer and peace be upon him applies to him: .

The questioner : Regarding the question, some argue that the students... are young and do not understand the weak hadith... the legal ruling that contradicts the Sunnah.

The Shaykh : Young, meaning how old are they?

The questioner : ... nine, ten years old.

The Shaykh : I do not think this statement is correct, because we will say that if it is told to the students on an occasion or occasions that news in general is divided into two categories: news that is established and correct, and news that is not established and correct. For example, we hear news, a political news, a social news, news of an eclipse, or any kind of news. It is possible that this news is correct and it is possible that it is weak. Does the student understand this? He understands it. But if you tell him, "This hadith and its defect is that this hadith is weak and its defect is such-and-such, it contains Abdullah ibn Lahi'ah, and he is poor in memory," this is what he does not understand, right? Or his mind cannot bear it. But when we say that clarification is necessary, we do not forget, at least in our hearts, even if we may forget to clarify with our tongues. And now that we have remembered, we say that from the teachings of the Salaf to us, as it came in Sahih al-Bukhari from Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), that he said: . So when we say that it is necessary to advise the students and to clarify that this hadith is weak and this legal ruling is not correct, we return and say, "This is weak to the extent that they understand it." But we do not intervene in the details of explaining the weakness, whether it is, for example, the weakness of the narrator, or in its chain, a missing link, a broken chain, a condensed narration, or concealment of a defect... in these details. So this brevity can be understood by a student in the eighth year, let alone the tenth. Likewise, if it is said, for example, take the issue of blood coming out. It came in the book that blood coming out invalidates the ablution, or it came that the ablution, if it is much, may invalidate it. The teacher might say, "This is one of the schools of thought, but the most correct school is that it does not invalidate, whether it is little or much." Does the student understand this statement? He understands it. But if you want to enter into presenting the evidence of the different schools of thought and then comparing the stronger to the weaker of them, this of course requires... from the students, if we do not say, without blame, from the teachers.