If a scholar cites a hadith with certainty, is this considered his authentication of it?
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The questioner : I have a question regarding a scholar: if he cites a hadith with certainty, is this considered his authentication of the hadith?
The Shaykh : No. Even if it were permissible, I would say no, though it would be somewhat stronger, but it is not in the right place. No, no.
The questioner : Well, I stopped here in *Al-Arwaa'* at your citation of one of the imams who authenticated a hadith he relied upon, and you said, "If he did not consider it authentic, he would not have been certain of it." This is in *Al-Arwaa'*; I don't remember who it was just now, but I have the location in *Al-Arwaa'*, Part Four?
The Shaykh : Yes, we mentioned, I think, in some writings—I don't know if there is something of this in *Al-Ba'th al-Hathith*—I remember now, it is not a comment; the Hafiz Ibn Kathir mentions in *Al-Ba'th al-Hathith* that the citation of an imam of jurisprudence with a hadith is not considered an authentication of it, because he may say it based on the hadith through independent legal reasoning (ijtihad), and ijtihad is not necessarily always wrong, but in his case, it is correct. So, if his ijtihad agrees with a hadith and he brings the hadith that agrees with his ijtihad, this is like a hadith with a weak chain that is strengthened by another weak chain, where one strengthens the other. But when we do not have, for this imam, anything but a hadith with a weak chain in our view, and we know of no other, but we know that he acted upon it or relied upon it, this does not mean that the hadith is authentic in itself, i.e., due to its chain, but rather because something of knowledge, jurisprudence, and ijtihad was associated with it for him, so he cited it.
The questioner : What Allah willed.
The Shaykh : Perhaps this contains the answer.
The questioner : I believe that perhaps he mentioned something regarding it by way of analogy, or general texts, or presumption of continuity, or caution, or so on, which makes him say it even if it is not [authentic]. But how is the situation where I stopped in *Al-Arwaa'*?
The Shaykh : You should point it out to us.
The questioner : Part Four, pages fifty-nine and one hundred.
The Shaykh : So that the answer [can be given].
The questioner : May Allah preserve you.
The Shaykh : And may Allah protect you.
The Shaykh : No. Even if it were permissible, I would say no, though it would be somewhat stronger, but it is not in the right place. No, no.
The questioner : Well, I stopped here in *Al-Arwaa'* at your citation of one of the imams who authenticated a hadith he relied upon, and you said, "If he did not consider it authentic, he would not have been certain of it." This is in *Al-Arwaa'*; I don't remember who it was just now, but I have the location in *Al-Arwaa'*, Part Four?
The Shaykh : Yes, we mentioned, I think, in some writings—I don't know if there is something of this in *Al-Ba'th al-Hathith*—I remember now, it is not a comment; the Hafiz Ibn Kathir mentions in *Al-Ba'th al-Hathith* that the citation of an imam of jurisprudence with a hadith is not considered an authentication of it, because he may say it based on the hadith through independent legal reasoning (ijtihad), and ijtihad is not necessarily always wrong, but in his case, it is correct. So, if his ijtihad agrees with a hadith and he brings the hadith that agrees with his ijtihad, this is like a hadith with a weak chain that is strengthened by another weak chain, where one strengthens the other. But when we do not have, for this imam, anything but a hadith with a weak chain in our view, and we know of no other, but we know that he acted upon it or relied upon it, this does not mean that the hadith is authentic in itself, i.e., due to its chain, but rather because something of knowledge, jurisprudence, and ijtihad was associated with it for him, so he cited it.
The questioner : What Allah willed.
The Shaykh : Perhaps this contains the answer.
The questioner : I believe that perhaps he mentioned something regarding it by way of analogy, or general texts, or presumption of continuity, or caution, or so on, which makes him say it even if it is not [authentic]. But how is the situation where I stopped in *Al-Arwaa'*?
The Shaykh : You should point it out to us.
The questioner : Part Four, pages fifty-nine and one hundred.
The Shaykh : So that the answer [can be given].
The questioner : May Allah preserve you.
The Shaykh : And may Allah protect you.
Source
www.al-albany.com
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