What is the ruling on one who denies ahad and mutawatir hadith?

The Shaykh : The meaning is: I heard a hadith from a person. Who is this person? He heard it from the number of narrators required for mutawatir transmission. So, relative to me, it is not mutawatir; because I heard it from only one person. Is this example clear? Good, this is an example of the letter M. Now we will give an example of the letter A. The letter A. I say: So-and-so narrated to me from so-and-so, and so-and-so to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). This is one path, and a second, and a third, and a fourth, and so on. This has become, for him, what? A mutawatir hadith.

The questioner : It could be the same hadith.

The questioner : It could be the same hadith.

The Shaykh : It is the same hadith; it is the same hadith. Therefore, now the rulings of the scholars of hadith differ regarding whether a specific hadith is mutawatir or not; because it has become clear to you that the matter is relative. Then the difference appears when there are scholars of hadith on one side, and other scholars who do not specialize in hadith on the other side. So they will say to these non-specialists that a hadith is ahad. But those specialists say it is mutawatir. Why? Because it is their job. Tracing the paths and narrations is the work of the specialists among the scholars of hadith, whereas this is not the concern of the jurists. And I will give an illustrative example of what we are discussing, which is also beneficial from the jurisprudential perspective, in that the ruling of the Shari'ah sometimes differs depending on whether the hadith is mutawatir or not, even among some scholars and jurists. For example, the Hanafi scholars say in their principles and jurisprudential rules: It is not permissible to specify the generality of the Qur'an with an ahad hadith... with the same strength as the Qur'an. And this is, of course, contrary to the schools of the other Imams. From this principle or rule, a difference in a legal ruling related to prayer has resulted, namely the ruling on reciting al-Fatihah in prayer: Is it a pillar of the pillars of prayer, such that the prayer is not valid without it? Or is it merely obligatory, such that the prayer is valid if it is left, but the one who leaves it has sinned? All the scholars of the Ummah say what he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . The Hanafis said this hadith is an ahad hadith; it is authentic, but it is ahad. And it is not permissible to specify the Qur'an with an ahad hadith. And the Qur'an says: . So Allah made it general, and the hadith restricted it. It is not permissible to restrict what the Qur'an made general with an ahad hadith. This is according to their principle. The point in what follows is that Imam al-Bukhari wrote a well-known treatise called "The Part on Recitation" (Juz' al-Qira'ah), "The Part on Recitation in Prayer" by Imam al-Bukhari. The first thing he says in this treatise is: The report is mutawatir from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: . Now, what does the student of knowledge do? He is facing a mountain of knowledge in hadith, the Amir al-Mu'minin (Commander of the Faithful) in truth, Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari. He says in this hadith that it is mutawatir. And the Hanafi jurists say this is an ahad hadith. There is no doubt that it is said here: If Hudham speaks, believe them, for the truth is what Hudham says. So the hadith is mutawatir, but the matter is relative. It is mutawatir according to al-Bukhari, and not mutawatir according to the Hanafis. Do you understand what the issue is?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : So those who transmitted this report to you are not, in the first place, people of specialization. Rather, they are certainly ignorant, because there are books written on hadith, among them "The Scattered Flowers in Mutawatir Hadiths" by one of the Maghribi scholars. It is published, and I personally have come across many hadiths where you do not find anyone saying they are mutawatir, but when you look at the paths, you are certain that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said that hadith. So this is the first issue. The second issue: The ruling on one who denies a mutawatir hadith. The answer to this second issue is based on the first issue. If we know that the matter is relative, then it is not permissible to declare as a disbeliever one who denies a hadith that is mutawatir according to some, and not mutawatir according to others. However, let us assume a hadith on which there is consensus regarding its mutawatir status, and such a hadith is known in books of terminology, namely his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: . In that case, we say: There is no difference between declaring as a disbeliever or not declaring as a disbeliever one who denies a mutawatir hadith or one who denies an authentic ahad hadith; there is no difference between them. Why? Because the criterion is his personal conviction. If we assume a knowledgeable person who believes that a certain hadith is authentic and was said by the Messenger, but it is not mutawatir for him, and he denies it, he has committed disbelief. Do you understand why? Because he knew that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said it, but not by the way of mutawatir, but by the way of ahad. And the reverse is exactly the reverse: if a mutawatir hadith is not established for him according to others, it is not permissible to declare him a disbeliever; because the criterion is what is established in his own mind, negatively or positively. I think it has now become clear to you that declaring as a disbeliever or not declaring as a disbeliever one who denies a mutawatir hadith is like declaring as a disbeliever or not declaring as a disbeliever one who denies an authentic hadith, because in both cases, the operative cause is what is established in his own mind, regardless of whether it is mutawatir or not. If it is established in his mind that this is an authentic hadith and then he denies it, he is a disbeliever. And if it is established in his mind that it is not authentic, it is not permissible to declare him a disbeliever...

The questioner : Even if the Ummah agreed that this hadith is mutawatir, meaning the scholars of the Ummah agreed that this hadith is mutawatir... temperament

The Shaykh : I gave you an example that the consensus exists in . This consensus which he denies, does it mean that he has a personal, conscience-based, psychological conviction that the Ummah has agreed? If this happens and he denies it, he is a disbeliever. But this scenario is very difficult to imagine. Yes.