He was asked about the authenticity of the hadith of Mu'adh in which it says: (I will use my own judgment)?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Let me clarify my question. He said to our master Mu'adh: By what will you judge? He said: By the Book of Allah, then by the Sunnah of His Messenger, and I will use my judgment and not hold back. This means that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) opened the door of independent legal reasoning for the Muslims. In matters where the Messenger did not clarify, he taught the Muslims how to derive them...
The Shaykh : So clarify. If you are asking me if it is authentic or not? If you say it is not authentic and you say it is authentic, it needs explanation. I almost said before you asked me this question, whether it is authentic or not, I almost said, "I wish you had asked me this question as you did." But I said, "Perhaps you will hate a thing and it is good for you." The hadith of Mu'adh is not authentic. The famous hadith of Mu'adh is not authentic.
The questioner : They taught it to us in school.
The Shaykh : I... No, listen to what I will say. The hadith of Mu'adh is not authentic, even though it is taught, not in schools, but in universities, in the science of the principles of jurisprudence. And if it is permissible for me to say and to recount what happened to me regarding this hadith, I was a teacher at the Islamic University for the subject of hadith for three years, which still exists, praise be to Allah, in Medina. I was the teacher of the subject of hadith, and others, naturally, as these are matters of specialization, taught the science of the principles of jurisprudence. Glory be to Allah, the science of hadith prevails over all sciences. The science of exegesis must refer back to hadith. The science of the principles of jurisprudence must refer back to hadith. The science of the principles of hadith refers back to hadith... and so on. Therefore, there was a phenomenon in this university where the students, whenever they heard a lesson in exegesis or hadith or jurisprudence, would return to a specialist in the science of hadith. So it happened that one of the students came to me and said to me: Today we had a lesson in the science of the principles of jurisprudence. The professor discussed with us analogical reasoning and whether it is one of the four proofs, as is known in the science of the principles of jurisprudence: the Book, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus, and analogical reasoning. And he cited the hadith of Mu'adh that I mentioned earlier. What do you know, Professor of Hadith? I said to him: This hadith is not only weak, but it is a denounced narration. And I will return to this word, but I want to mention the lesson for you.The student : He later returned to the professor of the principles of jurisprudence and said to him: Professor, you mentioned this hadith to us, and we asked the professor of the subject of hadith, so-and-so, and he said this hadith has a weak chain of narration and its text is denounced. So how did you... who says? He said to him: Do you know who?The Shaykh : Al-Albani, and so on. Now, I return. This hadith is mentioned in most books of the principles of jurisprudence, and in all universities, this hadith is taught. And it is a denounced narration, by the testimony of the Commander of the Believers in Hadith, the Imam al-Bukhari, let alone others who were his contemporaries or came after him. I had restricted their names in a book of mine titled *The Chain of Weak and Fabricated Hadiths and Their Bad Effect on the Ummah*, in its second volume, with number eight hundred and something. So I gathered those who weakened this hadith from the imams of hadith, about fifteen hadith scholars, all of whom agreed that this hadith is weak in its chain of narration, with obscurity in its chain. After I was cautious and knew, by relying on the science of hadith, that this hadith is not authentic, I studied its text and found it to be denounced. And this is what I want to clarify for you now. Look now how this denounced hadith is treated. It places the Sunnah in relation to the Qur'an in the position of analogical reasoning in relation to the Sunnah. I mean, briefly, when does a person use analogical reasoning? When he does not find a text in the Book or in the Sunnah, is that not so? The text of the hadith? Good. When does he go to the Sunnah? The meaning of the hadith is if he did not find the ruling in the Qur'an. And this is a very grave error, because it is obligatory for every mufti who wants to issue a ruling on a matter to combine the speech of Allah and the speech of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) so that he takes the correct ruling. And this speech may be hidden from some of the attendees, so here is the example. If a mufti was asked, and let us assume his knowledge of hadith is mixed, they said: O my master,The Shaykh : I was on the seashore.
The Shaykh: I found a very large dead fish. Is it permissible to eat it? He says to him: No. What is the evidence? He said: Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Ma'idah 5:3] It is explicit in the Qur'an. Is this answer correct?
The questioner: No, of course not.
The Shaykh : Why?
The Shaykh : So clarify. If you are asking me if it is authentic or not? If you say it is not authentic and you say it is authentic, it needs explanation. I almost said before you asked me this question, whether it is authentic or not, I almost said, "I wish you had asked me this question as you did." But I said, "Perhaps you will hate a thing and it is good for you." The hadith of Mu'adh is not authentic. The famous hadith of Mu'adh is not authentic.
The questioner : They taught it to us in school.
The Shaykh : I... No, listen to what I will say. The hadith of Mu'adh is not authentic, even though it is taught, not in schools, but in universities, in the science of the principles of jurisprudence. And if it is permissible for me to say and to recount what happened to me regarding this hadith, I was a teacher at the Islamic University for the subject of hadith for three years, which still exists, praise be to Allah, in Medina. I was the teacher of the subject of hadith, and others, naturally, as these are matters of specialization, taught the science of the principles of jurisprudence. Glory be to Allah, the science of hadith prevails over all sciences. The science of exegesis must refer back to hadith. The science of the principles of jurisprudence must refer back to hadith. The science of the principles of hadith refers back to hadith... and so on. Therefore, there was a phenomenon in this university where the students, whenever they heard a lesson in exegesis or hadith or jurisprudence, would return to a specialist in the science of hadith. So it happened that one of the students came to me and said to me: Today we had a lesson in the science of the principles of jurisprudence. The professor discussed with us analogical reasoning and whether it is one of the four proofs, as is known in the science of the principles of jurisprudence: the Book, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus, and analogical reasoning. And he cited the hadith of Mu'adh that I mentioned earlier. What do you know, Professor of Hadith? I said to him: This hadith is not only weak, but it is a denounced narration. And I will return to this word, but I want to mention the lesson for you.The student : He later returned to the professor of the principles of jurisprudence and said to him: Professor, you mentioned this hadith to us, and we asked the professor of the subject of hadith, so-and-so, and he said this hadith has a weak chain of narration and its text is denounced. So how did you... who says? He said to him: Do you know who?The Shaykh : Al-Albani, and so on. Now, I return. This hadith is mentioned in most books of the principles of jurisprudence, and in all universities, this hadith is taught. And it is a denounced narration, by the testimony of the Commander of the Believers in Hadith, the Imam al-Bukhari, let alone others who were his contemporaries or came after him. I had restricted their names in a book of mine titled *The Chain of Weak and Fabricated Hadiths and Their Bad Effect on the Ummah*, in its second volume, with number eight hundred and something. So I gathered those who weakened this hadith from the imams of hadith, about fifteen hadith scholars, all of whom agreed that this hadith is weak in its chain of narration, with obscurity in its chain. After I was cautious and knew, by relying on the science of hadith, that this hadith is not authentic, I studied its text and found it to be denounced. And this is what I want to clarify for you now. Look now how this denounced hadith is treated. It places the Sunnah in relation to the Qur'an in the position of analogical reasoning in relation to the Sunnah. I mean, briefly, when does a person use analogical reasoning? When he does not find a text in the Book or in the Sunnah, is that not so? The text of the hadith? Good. When does he go to the Sunnah? The meaning of the hadith is if he did not find the ruling in the Qur'an. And this is a very grave error, because it is obligatory for every mufti who wants to issue a ruling on a matter to combine the speech of Allah and the speech of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) so that he takes the correct ruling. And this speech may be hidden from some of the attendees, so here is the example. If a mufti was asked, and let us assume his knowledge of hadith is mixed, they said: O my master,The Shaykh : I was on the seashore.
The Shaykh: I found a very large dead fish. Is it permissible to eat it? He says to him: No. What is the evidence? He said: Allah the Exalted said:
Prohibited to you are dead animals
حرمت عليكم الميتةThe questioner: No, of course not.
The Shaykh : Why?
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.