What is the ruling on narrating from the hypocrites?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Abu Ishaq: I was in a study session withThe Shaykh : Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut.
The Shaykh: May Allah preserve you.
All the students laughed.
Abu Ishaq: In some scholarly issues, I mean, and so on, so I do not know what led us to mention the Shi'ah among the narrators. I mentioned al-Jawzajani, and it is well known that he holds a grudge against every Shi'ite, so he raised an issue with meThe Shaykh : Shu'ayb, and said, "Did the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) not say to 'Ali:Sunan an-Nasa'i 5018Sahih (Darussalam) ?" I said, "Yes, indeed, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said that." He said, "Al-Jawzajani, do you not see that he is a hypocrite?" I said, "Is that a necessary implication?" He said, "It is not a necessary implication, but the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is something we must apply to people like them... and in that case, narrating from the hypocrites is not permissible...; so, of course, there are points to criticize in his answer, but I want to hear the scholarly answer from you.
The Shaykh: I mean, it implies that hating 'Ali makes a man a hypocrite.
Abu Ishaq: Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh: All right; first, we distinguish between one type of hatred and another. If the hatred is due to a doubt that arose in the person himself, and not due to bad character, just as we say exactly regarding the innovators who opposed the Sunnah in many issues, especially those related to creed; then the one who intentionally opposes the creed, and the truth has become clear to him but he denies it, is a disbeliever in the true sense; but the one who denies the truth while imagining that he is on the right path, we do not declare him a disbeliever, but we consider him misguided; we do not take him out of the circle of Islam; and I think that no one who has been granted even a particle of knowledge would dispute this. And on that basis, if we distinguish between the one who denied something that would make him a disbeliever if he intended it, but we did not declare him a disbeliever because he did not intend it, then a fortiori, we should not declare a disbeliever the one who denies a hadith by calling him a hypocrite; because this hypocrisy of his may not be intentional on his part, but rather due to negligence and error; and in that case, we return to the rules of hadith science: what is the ruling regarding the people of innovation and desires? Do we cite their hadiths or not? The known answer in the science of terminology is that if their trustworthiness and integrity are established in everything except the issues in which they deviated from the guidance and the correct path, then their hadiths are cited, because the main criterion in that is precision and memorization; as for differences in creed, that is between them and Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). In short, the one who hates 'Ali is from the people of innovation and desires, like the Shi'ah who, for example, prefer 'Ali over Abu Bakr; this is the least that can be said about them, but we accept their narration if their trustworthiness, memorization, and precision are established. This is the answer.
Al-Halabi: There remains, Shaykh, in the original issue
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
Al-Halabi: whether it is established that al-Jawzajani was actually a Nasibi.
The Shaykh: This is a question that certainly arises, and I do not have an answer to this.
Al-Halabi: What I recall is that many scholars defended him and refuted this accusation against him; that is what is in my memory right now.
The Shaykh: But the truth is, if this is established, it is not impossible that there were people among the narrators whose stance was against 'Ali, I mean, the Khawarij; take the Khawarij in general and 'Imran ibn Hutan in particular; all right, what do we say about them, are they Nasibis or more than that? They fought him until he fought them; but despite that, their narrations are cited because they did not exit the circle of Islam with this grave error. This is my answer, and Allah knows best.
The Shaykh: May Allah preserve you.
All the students laughed.
Abu Ishaq: In some scholarly issues, I mean, and so on, so I do not know what led us to mention the Shi'ah among the narrators. I mentioned al-Jawzajani, and it is well known that he holds a grudge against every Shi'ite, so he raised an issue with meThe Shaykh : Shu'ayb, and said, "Did the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) not say to 'Ali:
none but a believer would love me, and none but a hypocrite would hate me
لا يحبك إلا مؤمن ولا يبغضك إلا منافقThe Shaykh: I mean, it implies that hating 'Ali makes a man a hypocrite.
Abu Ishaq: Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh: All right; first, we distinguish between one type of hatred and another. If the hatred is due to a doubt that arose in the person himself, and not due to bad character, just as we say exactly regarding the innovators who opposed the Sunnah in many issues, especially those related to creed; then the one who intentionally opposes the creed, and the truth has become clear to him but he denies it, is a disbeliever in the true sense; but the one who denies the truth while imagining that he is on the right path, we do not declare him a disbeliever, but we consider him misguided; we do not take him out of the circle of Islam; and I think that no one who has been granted even a particle of knowledge would dispute this. And on that basis, if we distinguish between the one who denied something that would make him a disbeliever if he intended it, but we did not declare him a disbeliever because he did not intend it, then a fortiori, we should not declare a disbeliever the one who denies a hadith by calling him a hypocrite; because this hypocrisy of his may not be intentional on his part, but rather due to negligence and error; and in that case, we return to the rules of hadith science: what is the ruling regarding the people of innovation and desires? Do we cite their hadiths or not? The known answer in the science of terminology is that if their trustworthiness and integrity are established in everything except the issues in which they deviated from the guidance and the correct path, then their hadiths are cited, because the main criterion in that is precision and memorization; as for differences in creed, that is between them and Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). In short, the one who hates 'Ali is from the people of innovation and desires, like the Shi'ah who, for example, prefer 'Ali over Abu Bakr; this is the least that can be said about them, but we accept their narration if their trustworthiness, memorization, and precision are established. This is the answer.
Al-Halabi: There remains, Shaykh, in the original issue
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
Al-Halabi: whether it is established that al-Jawzajani was actually a Nasibi.
The Shaykh: This is a question that certainly arises, and I do not have an answer to this.
Al-Halabi: What I recall is that many scholars defended him and refuted this accusation against him; that is what is in my memory right now.
The Shaykh: But the truth is, if this is established, it is not impossible that there were people among the narrators whose stance was against 'Ali, I mean, the Khawarij; take the Khawarij in general and 'Imran ibn Hutan in particular; all right, what do we say about them, are they Nasibis or more than that? They fought him until he fought them; but despite that, their narrations are cited because they did not exit the circle of Islam with this grave error. This is my answer, and Allah knows best.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.