Is it permissible to cite the mursal reports of those who narrate from the trustworthy?

The Shaykh : The man has many questions with him, so there is no harm in the time being extended.

The questioner : Regarding the mursal reports of those about whom it is stated that their mursal reports are very weak, or that they narrate from everyone, or that their mursal reports are like the wind, or such and such: does this mean that their mursal reports are cited as evidence, or is it only the mursal reports of those known for being cautious about narrating from the weak, or such and such, that are cited?

The Shaykh : No, I believe the answer is general, because the narration of those mursal narrators from whoever comes and goes does not mean that every report they narrated in mursal form is like that. Rather, it is possible that it is of this type, and it is possible that it is of another type. For example, I do not imagine that al-Hasan al-Basri did not narrate a mursal hadith that he had heard from a trustworthy person, let alone that it is possible that he heard it from a sheikh whose defect was poor memory, in which case it is possible that the matter revolves between the dropped narrator in the mursal report being a trustworthy person with poor memory and being very weak. If the matter revolves between this and that, and we have nothing to tip the scale, the original presumption is to think well of this narrator. This is confirmed when other narrations come that have no connection to the mursal report, tipping the scale toward thinking well of him, rather than thinking ill of him, that the sheikh he dropped was a liar or very weak, and not just having poor memory or not being trustworthy. This is my answer.

The questioner : May Allah reward you.