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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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How is an anomalous hadith identified?

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The Shaykh : The first question is: How is an anomalous hadith identified? Its definition in the terminology of hadith is clear, but visualizing it in the mind and grasping it firmly is difficult for many students, especially when they read in the terminology books that an addition by a trustworthy narrator is acceptable. This confuses the matter for them, mixing up the anomalous hadith with an acceptable addition by a trustworthy narrator. So I wrote for them the following hadith. The hadith is in the two Sahihs, from the narration of Ibn Abbas, in a well-known story in both, where the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to his companions one day:
On the Day of Resurrection, seventy thousand from my Ummah will enter Paradise without reckoning or punishment, their faces like the full moon on the night of the full moon. يوم يدخل الجنة من أمتي سبعون ألفا بغير حساب ولا عذاب وجوههم كالقمر ليلة البدر
The Messenger dropped this hadith and then entered his chamber. His companions began to speculate about who these seventy thousand would be. Some said, "These are we, the Muhajireen in the path of Allah, from Makkah to al-Madinah." Others said, "No, they are the Ansar who supported the Messenger of Allah in the hour of hardship." A third said, "No, they are their children who will come after them, believing in the Messenger of Allah without having seen him." Soon the Messenger (peace be upon him) came out to his companions to complete the hadith for them, saying:
They are those who do not use charms nor cauterise themselves nor seek omens and who rely on their Lord. هم الذين لا يسترقون ولا يكتوون ولا يتطيرون وعلى ربهم يتوكلون
Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 911
I wrote the hadith on the board with the chain from al-Bukhari and Muslim, then I wrote the chain in a narration in Sahih Muslim with the wording:
They are those persons who neither practise charm, nor ask others to practise it هم الذين لا يرقون ولا يسترقون
Sahih Muslim 220a
The difference now is the addition of the word:
They are those persons who neither practise charm هم الذين لا يرقون
Sahih Muslim 220a
It became clear, by comparing the chains of the two Sahihs with the chain unique to Muslim, that the error and mistake originated from the sheikh of Imam Muslim, who is Sa'id ibn Mansur, the author of the Sunan, two volumes of which were recently printed, becauseThe Shaykh : Sa'id ibn Mansur is present in the two Sahihs from other angles regarding thisThe Shaykh : with the first wording:
and they are those who do not practice Ar-Ruqya هم الذين لا يسترقون
Sahih al-Bukhari 6472
As for Sa'id ibn Mansur, he added to them:
They do not perform incantation. لا يرقون
Then he said:
and they do not perform ruqyah ولا يسترقون
Ibn Taymiyyah said, "This addition has a weak chain." When the beginner reader reads the word "Ibn Taymiyyah," doubt enters him: how is it weak when Muslim narrated it? But the one who traces the chains after having mastered the science of hadith terminology knows the reason for the weakness and where it came from. It is from the anomaly (shudhudh) that they know as a trustworthy narrator contradicting one who is more trustworthy than him or more numerous than him. Here, both conditions are true: the greater number, and they are the more memorizing than Sa'id ibn Mansur, who was unique in this addition. Therefore, it is not possible to accept the statement that everything in the two Sahihs is correct by mere acceptance and concession. This is not possible except by closing one's eyes, looking at the matter with one eye. But with both eyes, there is no way except to say that most of what is in the two Sahihs is correct. As for saying that everything in the two Sahihs is correct, this is a false statement, especially regarding al-Bukhari, where there are many suspended hadiths without chains, and this section contains many weak hadiths. I mention on this occasion that some of our friends in Damascus, when they became attached to the science of hadith and took an interest in it anew, rushed to compose a small treatise, the size of a palm, titled "The Authentic Hadiths from the Sahih, Sahih al-Bukhari," and he gave me a copy. Indeed, these hadiths were collected from Sahih al-Bukhari, but since the one who collected these hadiths was not knowledgeable about the terminology and not aware of the two sections of al-Bukhari's hadiths, namely the chained and the suspended, I found in it the following hadith. And we also mention this, aiming to kill two birds with one stone, because this is a hadith we hear often from preachers on the occasion of Ramadan. Every preacher must narrate this to the people on the occasion of the month of Ramadan. The hadith says:
Whoever breaks the fast on a day of Ramadan without an excuse, he will not make it up even if he fasts for the rest of his life. من أفطر يوما من رمضان بغير عذر لم يقضه ولو صام الدهر كله
This is present in Sahih al-Bukhari, but it is suspended. Al-Hafiz al-Mundhiri, in his book al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib, says regarding it: "Abu Dhuyyan, I think, and he is unknown, and there is disagreement about whether it is raised or stopped." So our friend mentioned placed this hadith in his book "The Authentic Hadiths." Why? Because he took them from Sahih al-Bukhari, but he did not know the difference between the chained and the suspended ones. First, even if he knew this, he would not be able to distinguish the weak from the authentic among the suspended hadiths. So it is unscientific to say that everything in Sahih al-Bukhari is correct. Perhaps in this, if Allah wills, is the answer to the question.
Source www.al-albany.com

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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