Why do you differentiate between good hadiths, accepting some and leaving others? For example, the hadith of al-Tirmidhi from 'Umar (that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)
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The questioner : Why do you differentiate between good hadiths, accepting some and leaving others? For example, the hadith of al-Tirmidhi from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), when he raised his hands in supplication, did not lower them until he wiped his face with them. Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar said that it has corroborating narrations supporting it, including one from Abu Dawud from the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas and the hadith of al-Sa'ib ibn Yazid, and other corroborating narrations, and their total indicates that it is a good hadith.
You do not act upon this, yet you act upon the hadithMishkat al-Masabih 5940, which is a good hadith narrated by Ahmad, and the hadith Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2414Hasan (Darussalam) narrated by al-Tirmidhi?
The Shaykh : This question is a precise scientific one; a quick, hasty answer like that is not sufficient to satisfy the questioner. However, a general answer is necessary, which is that the first hadith, which we do not act upon and which the questioner says is a good hadith—he says that by following the opinion of others, and this is his duty by nature regarding Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar—and Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar himself acknowledges that the hadith reached the level of goodness in his view through the totality of its chains. We had, for a period of a few years, believed this statement to be correct, meaning that this hadith is good through other chains. Then, when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) willed for me to devote myself to tracing the hadiths of a book of jurisprudence known as *Minar al-Sabil*, I traced them, and this hadith passed by me. Here, I did not, in all my annotations and investigations, simply authenticate a hadith, grade it as good, or weaken it by following the opinion of others, for there is no great work in that, and a beginner in the pursuit of any knowledge can do it, saying "So-and-so said such and such, and so-and-so said such and such." But I proceeded with research, investigation, and digging. When I came to this hadith and studied the chains by which Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar strengthened the hadith, I found them to be severely weak. Every chain in it has severe weakness, and they have established in the terminology of hadith science that a weak hadith that is strengthened by the multiplicity of its chains is one in which the weakness has not become severe in its chains. When I found that this rule does not hold or is not verified in the individual chains of wiping the face with the hands after supplication, I left the hadith as weak and left the individual chains as severely weak. This is the general answer. As for the detailed answer, this requires that we task the questioner, who appears to want scientific research, to produce these chains for us, each chain separately, and for you to study them if you can... through others, weaken the narrator by whom the hadith was weakened. If you find that it is only slight weakness, that he is trustworthy in himself but has weakness in his memory, then at that time your question comes to me, and my response is that I do not see what you see, but it is permissible for you to adopt the opinion of Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar with insight, according to your opinion and independent legal reasoning. And this is, of course, until the questioner does this. I think there are gaps and efforts... but we are now, by the grace of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), in the process of printing this book in which I traced this hadith, which is *Irwaa' al-Ghalil fi Takhrij Ahadith Minar al-Sabil*. Perhaps this book, at least the first volume, will be published, and it contains this hadith, so the questioner can look at it and thus look at my treatment and my uncovering of the severe weakness I referred to in... After that, he should hold himself accountable. If he is convinced by what I said, the question will not be raised. If he is not convinced except by what Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar said, we do not impose our opinion on others, and consequently, it is not permissible for others to impose their opinion on us[Al-Baqarah 2:148] others, yes.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : No.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : No, my brother, these chains are referred to as *mutaba'at* and *shawahid*. This is a technical term that does not distinguish from what we were discussing, meaning if you read the words of Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir in "al-Ba'ith al-Hathith", you will find there that they mean by this, sometimes this and sometimes the reverse. So *shawahid* are hadiths other than the first hadith, but sometimes the same hadith is intended, coming through other chains, and they are called *shawahid*. This is a technical term, and it is not a fixed technical term either, but there is... others, yes.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Yes?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : What is the matter with them?
You do not act upon this, yet you act upon the hadith
Let him who falsely attributes to me things I have not said come to his seat in hell.
من تقوّل عليّ ما لم أقل فليتبوّأ مقعده من النارwho ever seeks the people's pleasure by Allah's wrath, Allah will entrust him to the people
من أرضى الناس بسخط الله وكله الله إلى الناسThe Shaykh : This question is a precise scientific one; a quick, hasty answer like that is not sufficient to satisfy the questioner. However, a general answer is necessary, which is that the first hadith, which we do not act upon and which the questioner says is a good hadith—he says that by following the opinion of others, and this is his duty by nature regarding Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar—and Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar himself acknowledges that the hadith reached the level of goodness in his view through the totality of its chains. We had, for a period of a few years, believed this statement to be correct, meaning that this hadith is good through other chains. Then, when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) willed for me to devote myself to tracing the hadiths of a book of jurisprudence known as *Minar al-Sabil*, I traced them, and this hadith passed by me. Here, I did not, in all my annotations and investigations, simply authenticate a hadith, grade it as good, or weaken it by following the opinion of others, for there is no great work in that, and a beginner in the pursuit of any knowledge can do it, saying "So-and-so said such and such, and so-and-so said such and such." But I proceeded with research, investigation, and digging. When I came to this hadith and studied the chains by which Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar strengthened the hadith, I found them to be severely weak. Every chain in it has severe weakness, and they have established in the terminology of hadith science that a weak hadith that is strengthened by the multiplicity of its chains is one in which the weakness has not become severe in its chains. When I found that this rule does not hold or is not verified in the individual chains of wiping the face with the hands after supplication, I left the hadith as weak and left the individual chains as severely weak. This is the general answer. As for the detailed answer, this requires that we task the questioner, who appears to want scientific research, to produce these chains for us, each chain separately, and for you to study them if you can... through others, weaken the narrator by whom the hadith was weakened. If you find that it is only slight weakness, that he is trustworthy in himself but has weakness in his memory, then at that time your question comes to me, and my response is that I do not see what you see, but it is permissible for you to adopt the opinion of Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar with insight, according to your opinion and independent legal reasoning. And this is, of course, until the questioner does this. I think there are gaps and efforts... but we are now, by the grace of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), in the process of printing this book in which I traced this hadith, which is *Irwaa' al-Ghalil fi Takhrij Ahadith Minar al-Sabil*. Perhaps this book, at least the first volume, will be published, and it contains this hadith, so the questioner can look at it and thus look at my treatment and my uncovering of the severe weakness I referred to in... After that, he should hold himself accountable. If he is convinced by what I said, the question will not be raised. If he is not convinced except by what Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar said, we do not impose our opinion on others, and consequently, it is not permissible for others to impose their opinion on us
For each [religious following] is a direction toward which it faces. So race to [all that is] good.
ولكل وجهة هو مولّيها فاستبقوا الخيراتThe questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : No.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : No, my brother, these chains are referred to as *mutaba'at* and *shawahid*. This is a technical term that does not distinguish from what we were discussing, meaning if you read the words of Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir in "al-Ba'ith al-Hathith", you will find there that they mean by this, sometimes this and sometimes the reverse. So *shawahid* are hadiths other than the first hadith, but sometimes the same hadith is intended, coming through other chains, and they are called *shawahid*. This is a technical term, and it is not a fixed technical term either, but there is... others, yes.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Yes?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : What is the matter with them?