Is it permissible to establish matters of creed with a solitary report (ahad)?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : And from here we enter into an important issue, which is: Is it permissible to establish matters of creed with a solitary report (ahad)?
For example, is it permissible for us to believe that there is a known punishment in the grave, called the punishment of the grave? Or is it permissible for us to affirm that there is questioning by Munkar and Nakir: "Who is your Lord? What is your religion? Who is your Prophet?" Those who say that it is not permissible to establish matters of creed except with a mass-transmitted report (mutawatir) say: It is not permissible to believe in these creeds because they did not come in mass-transmitted reports. And those who say there is no difference between creed and a legal ruling; it is permissible, indeed obligatory, to act upon a solitary report (ahad) in everything that this report contains, whether it is in creed or in a legal ruling; these people say: Yes, we believe that there is a punishment of the grave and questioning by Munkar and Nakir, and so on. Why? Because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us of it. Yes, but this report did not reach us by way of mass transmission, so what harm does that do us? And where in the Book or in the Sunnah is there a condition of a specific number so that it is permissible for us to act upon this report narrated by this specific number?
The questioner : But ... stronger.
The Shaykh : Stronger is in doubt, and the Qur'an is stronger than the mass-transmitted report (mutawatir) in terms of the calculation of strength, it differs, but.
The questioner : ... Professor.
The Shaykh : But does the difference in the degree of strength of a report justify us leaving a report with a certain degree of validity? This is the point of discussion.
The questioner: Yes ... .
The Shaykh : This is the point of discussion, as for the fact that the mass-transmitted report (mutawatir) is stronger; there is no dispute in that.
Yes.
For example, is it permissible for us to believe that there is a known punishment in the grave, called the punishment of the grave? Or is it permissible for us to affirm that there is questioning by Munkar and Nakir: "Who is your Lord? What is your religion? Who is your Prophet?" Those who say that it is not permissible to establish matters of creed except with a mass-transmitted report (mutawatir) say: It is not permissible to believe in these creeds because they did not come in mass-transmitted reports. And those who say there is no difference between creed and a legal ruling; it is permissible, indeed obligatory, to act upon a solitary report (ahad) in everything that this report contains, whether it is in creed or in a legal ruling; these people say: Yes, we believe that there is a punishment of the grave and questioning by Munkar and Nakir, and so on. Why? Because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us of it. Yes, but this report did not reach us by way of mass transmission, so what harm does that do us? And where in the Book or in the Sunnah is there a condition of a specific number so that it is permissible for us to act upon this report narrated by this specific number?
The questioner : But ... stronger.
The Shaykh : Stronger is in doubt, and the Qur'an is stronger than the mass-transmitted report (mutawatir) in terms of the calculation of strength, it differs, but.
The questioner : ... Professor.
The Shaykh : But does the difference in the degree of strength of a report justify us leaving a report with a certain degree of validity? This is the point of discussion.
The questioner: Yes ... .
The Shaykh : This is the point of discussion, as for the fact that the mass-transmitted report (mutawatir) is stronger; there is no dispute in that.
Yes.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.