What is the ruling on a narrator of unknown identity in corroborating and supporting narrations?

The questioner : I do not know. What is the ruling on a narrator of unknown identity in your view regarding supporting and corroborating narrations?

The Shaykh : In my view, the ruling on a narrator of unknown identity differs depending on whether he belongs to the upper tier of the Tabi'un or the lower tier. The reason, as is clear to you, is that the upper tier is, in our view, certified through a general certification. Due to some scholars' observation of this type of certification, they would accept and utilize the hadith of an unknown narrator from the Tabi'un, considering the certification I mentioned earlier on one hand, and the absence of widespread lying in the first and second eras, or at least in the early part of the second era, on the other hand. In brief, it is not possible to establish a consistent rule for a narrator of unknown identity regarding whether he should be used as a corroborator or for guidance, or rejected. Rather, one must look at the circumstances surrounding this unknown narrator, including what I mentioned earlier: if he is a Tabi'i, he has more value than if he were of a lower status.

The questioner : I mean, if he is a Tabi'i, we accept him in supporting narrations.

The Shaykh : Yes, and that is what I mean.

The questioner : I do not know. Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar, in al-Nukhba or its commentary, when he listed those whose hadith is accepted in supporting narrations, mentioned the one of unknown status and held back from mentioning the one of unknown identity. He listed those who are accepted in supporting and corroborating narrations, mentioning the omission of a link (mursal) and concealment of a defect (tadlis), and so on. Then he said, "and the one of unknown status." It appears from this restriction that, in the view of al-Hafiz, a narrator of unknown identity is not included, or we say he is not included except under this condition.

The Shaykh : It is this one.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : However, I draw attention to this on this occasion. I have found that al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar, in dozens of cases of narrators he accepted, and I mentioned in some of my notes that, according to his rule, he should have said that they are of unknown identity.

The questioner : Authentic

The Shaykh : Because, in his view, the unknown narrator is the one who is not known except through the narration of a single person.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : So how many, and how many, in his book al-Taqrib, are narrators for whom he did not mention a narrator in the original al-Tahdhib, which is al-Tahdhib, except a single narrator, and yet he said about them:

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Accepted.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : He said about them: accepted.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : I observe that sometimes he may say that regarding the Tabi'un.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : And sometimes it may be a slip of the pen or an oversight or something similar. Allah knows best. As I said earlier, there is no rule or criterion that can be applied consistently, but I observe this exception I mentioned well.

The questioner : It seems to me that I observed that al-Hafiz, perhaps the matter also passed you by, meaning for those who extracted hadiths from him, meaning he considers it in the extractors, meaning if Muslim extracted a hadith for him, even if he is of unknown identity, it is different from if Ibn Majah extracted it for him. He considers some...

The Shaykh : This is among the observations we mentioned earlier.

The questioner : Yes, he considers the tier, and perhaps he considers the extractor who extracted the hadith.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.