What is your opinion on Ibn Hibban’s authentication?

The questioner : Regarding Ibn Hibban’s authentication, Shaykh, you said in one of your books, if I recall, that if a man is authenticated by Ibn Hibban and four or so narrated from him, then his hadith is accepted. What is the extent of this statement, Shaykh?

The Shaykh : It is valid in my view, and I am not an innovator in this matter.

The questioner : What is the basis for its validity, Shaykh?

The Shaykh : The basis for its validity is personal conviction that the one authenticated by Ibn Hibban, if a group of trustworthy narrators narrated from him—and we do not say a group of trustworthy narrators, but rather the imams who are huffaz (memorizers) like al-Bukhari and Ibn Abi Hatim and others—the narration of these trustworthy narrators, attested to by these huffaz, from this narrator who is authenticated by Ibn Hibban, indicates to us that he did not have any munkar (denounced) narrations in the reports of these famous trustworthy narrators. Thus, the soul is reassured by their truthfulness and the lack of frequent error in the totality of the hadiths they narrated. By observing these matters, the soul is reassured to say that in their case, their hadith is a proof. When we adopted this position, it was based on our reflection on the method of authentication used by the early imams for narrators whom they did not live with and did not know their justice, precision, and memorization closely, directly, or through immediate listening to their hadith. How did they authenticate them when they were far from them? This is the path.

The questioner : Okay, a final question, Shaykh.