The Shaykh's advice to young students of hadith regarding caution in issuing rulings.

The Shaykh : Was my answer clear to you?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : I have something I did not mention there, which came to my mind afterwards. It is that we advise our young brothers in this science to be cautious in issuing rulings. Part of this caution is that they should look for a scholar from the earlier generations who preceded them in reaching a similar ruling to the one they might adopt. Because I, having reached this age, have not known, up to this hour, any scholar of hadith who claimed this claim. Rather, all scholars of hadith who dedicated their books to authentic hadiths proceeded on the basis that this hadith is authentic, such as Ibn Hibban and Ibn Khuzaymah, and al-Muntakha by Ibn al-Jarud, and the like. Add to this that the scholars who came after and extracted the hadith, none of them mentioned that this hadith is anomalous. Here, one needs some patience, lest one falls into fabrication, something that some people may not notice; because the cunning of Satan with the children of Adam is very subtle. So, to have a guarantee that one has not deviated somewhat from the path followed by the majority of scholars of hadith, one must seek reassurance in the opinion of those who preceded him in that. For example, this hadith was authenticated by Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, who is among the later scholars, let alone the earlier scholars we mentioned. Without a doubt, we are perhaps pioneers in not following blindly and in prohibiting blind imitation... and so on. But this does not mean that we should leap like gazelles to the exact opposite extreme, so that we do not take into account the efforts of all the scholars. Rather, we should proceed slowly and not rush, so that we do not one day fall into a scientific error that contradicts, first, the rules of the science of hadith, and second, the imams of hadith who preceded us. This is what came to my mind to mention, which I did not mention there. There, I mentioned something, which is that this hadith is the hadith of Wail ibn Hujr, narrated by Zayd ibn Qudamah, . If there had been room for claiming the weakness of this wording from the hadith of Wail, Imam al-Bayhaqi would have been relieved of it and would not have undertaken that effort which we witness was unnecessary for him, if he had found a way and a path to weakening the hadith of Wail ibn Hujr with this wording. What did he do? He included this hadith among the hadiths he cited regarding moving the finger and pointing with the finger, before he cited the hadith of Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, via the path of Imam Abu Dawud in his Sunan, where Abu Dawud narrated it with the wording: "So he pointed with his finger, and I saw him not moving it." Then al-Bayhaqi said, "The reconciliation between the hadith of Wail, which is explicit in affirmation, and the hadith of Ibn al-Zubayr, which is explicit in negation..." He said, "Perhaps there are two lessons here: First, that he did not say that this hadith which he narrated from Ibn al-Zubayr is to be acted upon, while the hadith 'he does not move it' is anomalous. If that were the case, he would have been relieved of the issue of reconciliation. But he did not do any of that; rather, he said... The second lesson is his statement: 'Perhaps the intended meaning of the hadith of Wail is that he points with it,' so that the hadith of Wail does not contradict the hadith of Ibn al-Zubayr." And this is an imam among the later imams of hadith, after Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn Hibban, and Ibn al-Jarud in al-Muntakha, etc. What led him to this reconciliation is the well-known rule among scholars of hadith, specifically as expressed by Ibn Hajar in his commentary on al-Nukhba: "When two contradictory hadiths come from the category of acceptable hadiths, it is obligatory to reconcile them if possible. If that is not possible, it is referred to the consideration of the abrogating and the abrogated. If that is not possible, it is referred to preference, i.e., the stronger over the strong, and so on. If they are equal in strength, then the matter is left to its expert." So al-Bayhaqi, by his implicit indication, and as the scholars say, "the implicit indication is more eloquent than the explicit statement," tells you: The hadith of Wail ibn Hujr with the wording "he moves it" is an authentic hadith; and therefore he tried to reconcile between the two hadiths. This is what I mentioned there, to be added to what I mentioned here; because the issue takes on some strength. Now, as for the others.
Al-Halabi : Something here by way of addition: Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him), in Fath al-Bari, in the commentary, of course, may mention that Ibn al-Arabi claimed the weakness of an addition that appeared in some hadiths because it was via the path of Zayd. He said: "And our Shaykh, al-Hafiz al-Iraqi, refuted him by saying that Zayd is a trustworthy major narrator, and his isolation does not harm if he is isolated, for one of his like does not actually isolate, because his biography is very white; they placed him in Shu'ab and such, and greater than that."

The Shaykh : Correct, some scholars said of him that he is trustworthy and firm. I even mentioned this there. So one of the students asked me, and it appears he is engaged in study, and this is a good phenomenon in reality, that these questions are frequent. He said to me: "You said that Zayd ibn Qudamah, they said of him that he is trustworthy and firm, on the occasion that you authenticated the hadith 'I saw him moving it.' I said: Yes. He said: Is this specific to his narration from Asim ibn Kulayb, or is it general? I said to him: Which is stronger? He said: If it is general. I said: It is general, and he is trustworthy and firm in everyone he narrates from."
Al-Halabi : When he asked, does he want the first one?

The Shaykh: Yes.
Al-Halabi : When he asked, does he want the first one?

The Shaykh : It is this, but no, it is exactly the opposite, yes.