Discussion on the importance of the science of hadith, in which the Shaykh spoke about al-Kawthari.

The questioner : What I have noticed, particularly in the later periods, is that there are a number of people interested in the science of hadith. However, I say that in reality, their craft is not the methodology of the Salaf, nor the methodology of the people of the Sunnah and the community. Rather, as you know, if this observation is correct.

The Shaykh : If this observation is correct?

The questioner : If it is correct and a reality, like al-Kawthari, Habib al-Rahman, and others like them, which you know are numerous, did this happen spontaneously, or is it intentional for these people to enter the Sunnah for purposes that are not hidden? Or what is the secret behind that? May Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : In my opinion, they are of two categories. The larger category, as I mentioned earlier, is a profession, a craft, and a means of earning, because they have noticed that the science of hadith now has a market; it is active and effective among all the other sciences. The greatest proof of that is the great multitude of hadith books that are printed; other books are hardly mentioned in comparison to them in terms of quantity. Therefore, I believe that most of those who work in this field do so for a living. I believe there is no harm in this, like the one who prints mushafs and prints scholarly books; he is doing good work. But there is no doubt that the best of all good is to intend by what he does in serving this science, serving the Sunnah for the sake of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as one of the important principles of Islam. There may be other purposes, but it is difficult for us to believe or to assert that they are working as enemies against Islam and the Muslims, and against the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The people I named earlier, I never thought in my mind that they were spies. But what prevails in my opinion is that they were overcome by their sectarian bias. This phenomenon is one of the most ... jurisprudential, especially among the Hanafis. For in their principles, as mentioned quoting al-Dabusi or al-Sarakhsi, if a hadith comes in contradiction to the madhhab, it is interpreted as abrogated. So serving the hadith for these biased people is not serving the Sunnah.
Al-Halabi : Al-Karkhi, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Al-Karkhi, not al-Sarakhsi. Al-Karkhi, and I think it is in al-Dabusi’s treatise.
Al-Halabi : It is because it was printed in its marginal notes, perhaps.

The Shaykh : Perhaps. The important thing is that the study of hadith among these two madhhabs was motivated by a motive different from the motive that drives our Salafi brothers to study hadith for jurisprudence. As for these madhhab followers, they study hadith, as they explicitly state, only for seeking blessing, only for seeking blessing, and not for practice. So the engagement of Zahid al-Kawthari and others whom I named is not serving the Sunnah, but for other matters. It may include reputation and prominence among peers, showing that he distinguishes himself from them by his knowledge of the Sunnah. So Zahid al-Kawthari, as the head of the sheikhs of scholars in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman state before Ataturk, was afforded this very, very wide study. And I say, regretfully, that I do not know of anyone in his era comparable to him in the breadth of his access to hadith manuscripts. I do not know of anyone comparable to him. But al-Kawthari, yes, but he did not benefit from it at all, because the sectarian bias with which he was characterized prevented him from benefiting from this treasure that he acquired because he was in the heart of Islam at that time, which was Istanbul. There were in it various manuscripts collected from different Islamic lands at that time under the banner of the Ottoman state. So the conclusion is that of those engaged today in hadith, few are those who work as it is said, "knowledge for the sake of knowledge," which for us is knowledge for the sake of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). Yes. And the majority are either out of love for prominence and standing out, or for earning a living and the money by which they sustain themselves. This is what appears to me, and Allah knows best.