What is your opinion regarding the statement of some party members (that the Islamic sects have the right to trust their sources, and that we should not contradict them in this, and that they remain a sect of the Muslims)?

Al-Halabi : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. There are statements repeated by some people who claim affiliation with certain groups or Islamic sects, and we want to know their truth or falsehood in light of evidence and proof. They say that the Shi'ah have the right to trust their sources and narrations, and that we should not contradict them in this right, and that they remain a sect of the Muslims, and the same applies to the Ibadiyyah and the rest of the Islamic sects.

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. My answer to this question is exactly like if someone said that every follower of the religions existing today has the right to rely on their books and the narrations contained in them. But we say, in answer to this and that, where did this right come from? And we know, for example, from the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: . Therefore, verification is among the characteristics of the Islamic Shari'ah, which requires or obliges every Muslim not to narrate anything from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) except after verifying and confirming the authenticity of this attribution to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Without a doubt, the first thing we begin with in our speech is regarding what is narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the books of all Muslims, regardless for now of the differences in their schools of jurisprudence and inclinations. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is the second reference after the Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He. We mean that just as a Muslim should return to his Lord, i.e., to His Book, so it is obligatory for the Muslim to return to his Prophet, i.e., to his Sunnah. This is because Allah, Mighty and Majestic, commanded the Muslims to hold fast to the Book of Allah on one hand, and to the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) on the other hand. And as clarified in more than one verse of the Noble Qur'an, there is no way to understand it correctly except through his explanation (peace and blessings be upon him), as in His saying, Mighty is He: . This explanation is what is known among Muslim scholars as the Sunnah or the Prophetic hadith. Thus, if it is obligatory for the Muslim to verify what comes to him from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in terms of hadiths, he must adopt a scientific method that reassures the soul and opens the chest, to reach through this method the knowledge of what he (peace and blessings be upon him) said and what he (peace and blessings be upon him) did in explaining the Qur'an. Here we stand with all the sects: what is the way to know the Sunnah? Or the explanation, in the Qur'anic expression? What is the way with you? As for our way, it is known by what is called the sanad (chain of narration), i.e., that the trustworthy one narrates from the trustworthy one, from the trustworthy one, and so on in a sequence, each taking from the other, until the report ends with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). With the note that there are reasons that sometimes prevent relying on such a chain, which is called the sanad. This science, which revolves around studying the sanad, which aims to reach the knowledge of what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said or did, so that we can use it to interpret the Qur'an, this science was unique to one sect among all the Islamic sects, ancient and modern, and that is the people of the Sunnah and the community, in the general expression, because it includes all the schools of jurisprudence, the followers of the four schools, as well as the people of the other theological schools, who also fall within the circle of the people of the Sunnah, even if there is some reservation in including them in this circle, such as the Asha'irah and the Maturidiyyah. Whether we speak of these two theological schools or the four schools of jurisprudence, all of these and those are in agreement with the people of hadith that the method of reaching what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was upon in terms of guidance and explanation of the Qur'an is nothing but isnad (chain of narration). The people of the Sunnah are unique in this, unlike the other sects. If this is accepted by the sects in general, and by the one who posed this question in particular, and I do not think anyone would dispute the validity of this methodology for knowing what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was upon in terms of guidance and biography, the greatest proof of that is that some individuals from the disbelieving nations, who do not share with all the Islamic sects in testifying to the oneness of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and to the messengership of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), have admitted, despite their noses, that what the Muslims have in terms of what is called the sanad for knowing the early Islamic history, this is something that the Islamic nation is unique in, unlike the other nations. And as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) says, that the Islamic nation was distinguished from the nations of the Jews and the Christians by being upon guidance and upon the oneness of Allah, likewise the nation of hadith among the Muslims was distinguished from the rest of the other sects in its approach, this scientific methodology based on the sanad, and what it relies on, and what is related to it in terms of knowing the science of hadith terminology, and the science of al-jarh wa al-ta'dil (the critique and vindication of narrators). So the people of hadith are unique among all the Islamic sects, just as the Islamic nation was unique in guidance and the oneness of Allah among the nations that believe in religions, such as the Jews and the Christians and others. So this is like that. Therefore, I return to say, if suchThe questioner : Or the transmitter believes in the validity of this methodology. We then say to them that this submission, which they keep harping on about and claiming that the people of the Sunnah should not deny the Shi'ah's reliance on their books and the narrations in their books, we say: if their books are based on this correct methodology of connected chains of narration, and narrations whose validity or weakness should be known, then we say that the distinction between the people of the Sunnah and the Shi'ah is returning to the chains of narration. Do the Shi'ah have chains of narration like the Muslims do? The answer is no. In my opinion, the intention behind such a question or such a call for the Shi'ah to have the right to rely on their books is to pave the way for other sects, such as the Ibadiyyah, for example, and the Zaydiyyah, for example, and other Islamic sects like them. All these sects, if you know their books, are extremely poor in that they do not have hadiths narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in a quantity that would allow them to rely on them in understanding the Noble Qur'an, as exists with the people of the Sunnah, and especially with the people of hadith among them. Therefore, the one who says this word is only paving the way for other sects to rely on the books and narrations they have. I return to say that if what the scholars of hadith are upon, namely relying on chains of narration and knowing the narrators, and so on, which relates to the science of men and vindication, and the science of hadith terminology, if they believe in the validity of this methodology, we demand that they adhere to the same methodology in proving the narrations they have that relate to their school or their sect. But I say that the reality is that if this path, this hadith methodology, is not accepted by the other sects, or by the people of other religions, it means that they all cannot prove their religion and their school, and what they are upon of guidance or misguidance, because there is no other method or means to know what was in the ancient time except by the way of isnad. And if they say, "We accept the validity of this methodology, and that there is no way except relying on the isnad," then we say to them: Where are the books of hadith that you rely on? And where are the books of men that you rely on to know the trustworthy from the weak, from the liar, from the fabricator, and so on? They have nothing of this kind to speak of at all. Then where are the books that they rely on to obtain the hadiths? We have, for example, may Allah will it, hundreds of books, some of which have been printed and most of which have not been printed until now, all of which narrate the hadiths from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) with connected chains from them to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). And we do not mean, when we say this, that all of that is authentic and established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but we want to say that in these hundreds and hundreds of books, they have provided us with the means by which the scholar can know what is authentic and what is not authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). That is, they have provided us with the hadiths with their chains of narration. And in contrast to these books that mention the hadiths with their chains of narration, we have books known as books of the names of men and narrators. In these books are thousands of narrators, each one mentioning who his shaykhs are, who his students are who took from him, when he was born, when he died, whether his memory remained sound and consistent until his last breath, or whether he became confused before his death, and so on. These are sciences in which we, Muslims, take pride over all nations on one hand, and we, the Sunnis, also take pride over all sects on the other hand, that we alone are those upon whom Allah the Mighty and Majestic has bestowed such a means by which Allah preserved our religion for us, fulfilling the promise of our Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He, who said in the Noble Qur'an: .