Request for the Shaykh to speak about the tapes of Abdul-Rahim al-Tahan and the exaggeration and fanaticism contained in them.

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah. As for what follows: Our Shaykh, in recent times, much has been said by many of our brothers, especially those residing in some of the Gulf states, and specifically Qatar, regarding the tapes of Abdul-Rahim al-Tahan. These are the tapes that have spread, whose news has become widespread, and about which long discussions have taken place, and so on. We have seen in recent times, as our brothers report, and we have heard some of it, much of the attacks and delving into matters that involve a type of exaggeration, indeed, shades of fanatical sectarianism, or the scent of Sufism, and the like. It would be good if you would give us a word related to this subject so that it may be of benefit, if Allah wills, and useful, and just, as we have come to know you, O our Shaykh. May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : First, I was today before the afternoon prayer visiting or checking on our brother Abu Malik, and this topic was opened up, and I learned from him that he is in the process of writing something against this al-Tahan, and that he has obtained a considerable amount of material. Therefore, I do not see a great benefit in expanding on the discussion of this issue, as long as our brother Abu Malik has spared us the burden of delving into it, especially since it is not easy for me to gather my thoughts now and recall the points taken against this man. But I say a general word: I had hoped that this man was sincere in what he says, even if he was mistaken in what he says. But it appeared to me, unfortunately, that he is not so, because he quotes some reports truncated from what comes before them and what comes after them, and presents them to those he preaches to or lectures to, such that it appears to them that the truth is withThe Shaykh : But the reality is that there is much deception and concealment in many of his words. For example, the hadith and so on. He singled me out for criticism regarding this hadith because I graded it as weak, and he takes from his report of this hadith what suits him, misleading the audience that the writer who graded it weak, who is me, is ignorant of the science of hadith, and that he is the one who applies the rules of the science of hadith. This hadith, in reality, has three routes, the most authentic of which is weak. The mursal route is the route of Abdullah al-Muzani, Abdullah ibn Bakr.

The questioner : Bakr ibn Abdullah.

The Shaykh : Bakr ibn Abdullah al-Muzani is a Tabi'i, and the chain of narration to this Tabi'i for this hadith is sound. There is no doubt that the mursal hadith is one of the categories of weak hadiths among the hadith scholars. He does not address the denial of this, but he claims that the second route, or the second one, and the third route, strengthen it. The second route is narrated through a man named Abdul-Majid ibn Abi Rawwad, through his chain from Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said. Here the man stops and goes around and about, as is his custom, to improve the biography of this narrator, who is Abdul-Majid ibn Abi Rawwad. He quotes words of the scholars about him, from those who authenticated him and from those who criticized him slightly, and says that this hadith narrated by Ibn Abi Rawwad through his chain from Ibn Mas'ud, if it is not good in itself, is good due to the mursal. And here he goes around in a circle of truth with him, because he says that the hadith scholars say that a weak hadith is strengthened by the multiplicity of routes. So this is a mursal with a sound chain, and this is a musnad from Ibn Mas'ud with slight weakness, so this strengthens that. Then he added to that the third route, which is from the narration of Anas ibn Malik. He says that this, even if it is weak, is added to what preceded it, so the hadith takes strength in which there is no doubt, and the least that can be said about the hadith is that it is a good hadith. And he reads to them some of the words from my words that he quoted from the Chain of Weak Hadiths, but he does not list the whole speech; rather, he cuts out from it what suits him. There, I mentioned that this hadith of Ibn Abi Rawwad is spoken of regarding its memorization, and he does not deny this, but it is a denounced hadith that is not valid, according to what we know of the rules of hadith, to support the mursal hadith with it, because it has been established for us by the following of the narrators who shared in the narration fromThe Shaykh : and he is Sufyan al-Thawri. All the trustworthy narrators narrated from Sufyan al-Thawri through his chain, I do not mention it, perhaps it is Asim ibn Kulayb from his father, and this is, Allah knows best, the chain from Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said . This was narrated by the trustworthy narrators from Sufyan with a sound chain, and it is authentic. Abdul-Majid ibn Abi Rawwad uniquely narrated this hadith with the trustworthy narrators, then he added and said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said . Here it is said that this is anomalous and contradicts the trustworthy narrators who shared with him in narrating the first part of the hadith . So his unique addition of "My life is better for you" is considered this addition either anomalous if we consider Ibn Abi Rawwad trustworthy, or denounced if we consider him weak. And the best of his states is that he is trustworthy but anomalous from the majority of the trustworthy narrators, contradicting them and adding to them by narrating . So this addition is anomalous. He does not address this aspect, and it is mentioned in detail in the book, in the Chain. It appears that this is an independent hadith, and the trustworthy narrators did not narrate it from Sufyan with only the first phrase. And he says it is cited here, but there is a barrier to citing it, which is the anomaly or denunciation. And the most distressing and bitter of this is that the hadith of Anas, which is the third route, he limited himself to saying that it is weak, even though it is accused of fabrication and lying. Perhaps we heard the defects present in the chain of Anas ibn Malik.