What is your opinion of those who rejected the interpretation of Imam Ahmad's statement, "A weak hadith is more beloved to me than opinion," by saying that he meant a hasan hadith?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : 3.
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The questioner : Of course, it is well known that the stronger position is...
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah.
The questioner : ...that the stronger position regarding a weak hadith is that it is not acted upon in the virtues of actions; because recommendation is a legal ruling that must be established by a sound text.
The Shaykh: And upon you peace.
Well done.
The questioner : Yes, there is a statement by Imam Ahmad that a hadith is more beloved to him than opinion, and some scholars have interpreted it...
The Shaykh : ...by qualifying the hadith, saying: a weak hadith.
The questioner : Yes, a weak hadith.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : ...is more beloved to him.
The Shaykh : ...is problematic, yes.
The questioner : A weak hadith is more beloved to him than opinion, so some precise scholars interpreted that Imam Ahmad's meaning of "weak" is not what has become the established technical term, but rather that he meant hasan?
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : And some contemporary scholars who have written on terminology have rejected this interpretation; is there any basis for his statement?
The Shaykh : There is no basis for his statement, and it is sufficient for your satisfaction to know that the one who said this is not a specialist in this science!
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So leave the statement of the non-specialist to the statement of the specialist, if you do not have, I mean, any argument or proof that convinces you; because people today have become, I mean, reckless; they speak in every science even if they are beginners in it, and this is one of the misfortunes of the present age; you find a beginner in the pursuit of a certain science writing a thesis!! And what is this thesis? It is a collection of snippets from here and there, and then he continues to go astray, starting to grade hadiths as authentic or weak based on some information he gathered in the span of a year or two; especially if that is coupled with the misleading means of obtaining a doctorate; at that point, his inner voice says, as we say in Syria: "O earth, be firm, for no one can bear you"; meaning, be proud.
It is known that a weak hadith—now, I am clarifying the basis for that interpretation mentioned by the early scholars regarding Imam Ahmad's statement, what is the basis for it—it is known, as you said, that a weak hadith is not acted upon in the virtues of actions; because it necessitates establishing a recommended matter, which is one of the five legal rulings, and no legal ruling is established except by a sound hadith; so how is it valid for an Imam like Imam Ahmad to act upon a weak hadith, not only in matters of recommendation, but to prioritize it over analogical reasoning in everything; in prohibition, in obligation, in permissibility, and the like? Because it is known that the reason driving the precise scholars of hadith to refrain from acting upon a weak hadith in the virtues of actions is that a weak hadith only yields a weak suspicion, and a weak suspicion is not permissible to act upon according to the Book and the Sunnah; since Allah—Blessed and Exalted is He—criticized the disbelievers for acting upon suspicion when He said:[An-Najm 53:23], and He said—Exalted is He—: [Yunus 10:36], and he—peace and blessings be upon him—said in the hadith narrated by the two Shaykhs from Abu Hurayrah—may Allah be pleased with him—he said: The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said: Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1988Sahih (Darussalam), so if acting upon suspicion is the most false of speech, and suspicion does not avail anything of the truth; how can we say that Imam Ahmad prioritizes a weak hadith over what is established with him by analogical reasoning, and analogical reasoning is a source of legislation after the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and consensus?!
From this, those who said that Imam Ahmad does not mean by "weak" here the hadith known today by technical definition; that is: the one that is below hasan. And what supports this is that the classification of hadith, as you indicated at the beginning of your question, was not known among them except as authentic and weak; there was no intermediate rank between authentic and weak, which is the hasan hadith. So when he said: he prioritizes a weak hadith over opinion or analogical reasoning, he means the weak that has not reached the rank of authentic, but in the terminology of the later scholars, it has not descended from the rank of hasan to weak. This and that is what made the scholars of the past interpret Imam Ahmad's statement as meaning he does not mean the weak known today as being below the hasan hadith.
This is what I have.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And beware of that.
The Shaykh : Oh God.
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The questioner : Of course, it is well known that the stronger position is...
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah.
The questioner : ...that the stronger position regarding a weak hadith is that it is not acted upon in the virtues of actions; because recommendation is a legal ruling that must be established by a sound text.
The Shaykh: And upon you peace.
Well done.
The questioner : Yes, there is a statement by Imam Ahmad that a hadith is more beloved to him than opinion, and some scholars have interpreted it...
The Shaykh : ...by qualifying the hadith, saying: a weak hadith.
The questioner : Yes, a weak hadith.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : ...is more beloved to him.
The Shaykh : ...is problematic, yes.
The questioner : A weak hadith is more beloved to him than opinion, so some precise scholars interpreted that Imam Ahmad's meaning of "weak" is not what has become the established technical term, but rather that he meant hasan?
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : And some contemporary scholars who have written on terminology have rejected this interpretation; is there any basis for his statement?
The Shaykh : There is no basis for his statement, and it is sufficient for your satisfaction to know that the one who said this is not a specialist in this science!
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So leave the statement of the non-specialist to the statement of the specialist, if you do not have, I mean, any argument or proof that convinces you; because people today have become, I mean, reckless; they speak in every science even if they are beginners in it, and this is one of the misfortunes of the present age; you find a beginner in the pursuit of a certain science writing a thesis!! And what is this thesis? It is a collection of snippets from here and there, and then he continues to go astray, starting to grade hadiths as authentic or weak based on some information he gathered in the span of a year or two; especially if that is coupled with the misleading means of obtaining a doctorate; at that point, his inner voice says, as we say in Syria: "O earth, be firm, for no one can bear you"; meaning, be proud.
It is known that a weak hadith—now, I am clarifying the basis for that interpretation mentioned by the early scholars regarding Imam Ahmad's statement, what is the basis for it—it is known, as you said, that a weak hadith is not acted upon in the virtues of actions; because it necessitates establishing a recommended matter, which is one of the five legal rulings, and no legal ruling is established except by a sound hadith; so how is it valid for an Imam like Imam Ahmad to act upon a weak hadith, not only in matters of recommendation, but to prioritize it over analogical reasoning in everything; in prohibition, in obligation, in permissibility, and the like? Because it is known that the reason driving the precise scholars of hadith to refrain from acting upon a weak hadith in the virtues of actions is that a weak hadith only yields a weak suspicion, and a weak suspicion is not permissible to act upon according to the Book and the Sunnah; since Allah—Blessed and Exalted is He—criticized the disbelievers for acting upon suspicion when He said:
They follow not except assumption and what [their] souls desire
إِنْ يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا الظَّنَّ وَمَا تَهْوَى الْأَنْفُسُIndeed, assumption avails not against the truth at all
إِنَّ الظَّنَّ لَا يُغْنِي مِنَ الْحَقِّ شَيْئًاBeware of Zann (suspicion), for indeed Zann is the falsest of speech.
إياكم والظَّنَّ ؛ فإن الظَّنَّ أكذبُ الحديثFrom this, those who said that Imam Ahmad does not mean by "weak" here the hadith known today by technical definition; that is: the one that is below hasan. And what supports this is that the classification of hadith, as you indicated at the beginning of your question, was not known among them except as authentic and weak; there was no intermediate rank between authentic and weak, which is the hasan hadith. So when he said: he prioritizes a weak hadith over opinion or analogical reasoning, he means the weak that has not reached the rank of authentic, but in the terminology of the later scholars, it has not descended from the rank of hasan to weak. This and that is what made the scholars of the past interpret Imam Ahmad's statement as meaning he does not mean the weak known today as being below the hasan hadith.
This is what I have.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And beware of that.
The Shaykh : Oh God.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.