Is the student required to be content with the authentic hadiths verified by the scholars, or is he required to research?

The questioner : I have two questions, Shaykh, that are related to each other.
The questioner: The first is whether a person should be content with what the scholars have verified from the authentic hadiths, or should he research? The second is how a person seeks knowledge, especially in the city where I live, where there are no scholars.

The Shaykh : Excuse me, repeat that. Is he content with what?

The questioner : Is he content with what the scholars have verified from the authentic hadiths, or does he research?

The Shaykh : It is necessary, may Allah reward you, to research. And therefore, he has erred. The professor reminded you, do you have the two cassettes? It was reported to us by some of our brothers there in Saudi Arabia that he broadcasts among the people that it is not permissible to benefit from the scholars of hadith who came after the famous imams, such as the six and their like.
The Shaykh: Therefore, we say, if one adopts this opinion, which aligns with part of your question—whether one is content with what the scholars have verified or continues to research—the answer is yes, he continues, because research is essential. As I say in many gatherings, and some of our brothers present know this, knowledge does not accept stagnation. Knowledge does not accept stagnation, because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: And as you see in material science, you see a wonder every day. But it is also so in religious knowledge. Did you see or hear, thirty or forty years ago, from those who lived in that era, did you hear of a hadith being described as authentic or weak, narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim? No, the Islamic society absolutely did not know this language. This is a real example that knowledge advances. Therefore, it is not befitting for a student of knowledge to be satisfied with the efforts of the early scholars, because the matter, as some of the later scholars said, contrary to the saying of some of the early scholars, is that the first generation did not leave anything for the last. How much did the first generation leave for the last? This is a factual reality that cannot be discussed at all. Therefore, every Muslim who is a student of knowledge, who is dedicated to knowledge, and who devotes himself to it, must not be satisfied with the effort of so-and-so or so-and-so, whether he is from the early or the later scholars. The wheel of knowledge must continue to turn and move.

The questioner : They say that the previous scholars, for example, the scholars of hadith, when they were silent about some hadiths, they were not silent out of emptiness. So how are we?

The Shaykh : They were not silent out of emptiness. No problem, we want to clarify. They were not silent out of emptiness?

The questioner : They were silent about them and did not rule, for example, that they are authentic. They did not say they are authentic. How do we respond to them?

The Shaykh : This is the response. What is our position toward these hadiths about which they were silent?

The questioner : He says that they did not remain silent about them except that there is something in these hadiths. How do we come and say these hadiths...

The Shaykh : How does he know, my brother? This is conjecture. How does he know that they were silent for such a reason? Where do I know this? And you know that the science of hadith has not been cut off, praise be to Allah. Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani authenticates and weakens his shaykh al-Haythami, al-'Iraqi, al-Zayla'i, al-Nawawi, Ibn al-Qayyim, and Ibn Taymiyyah. And you go up and up. All of these continued in authenticating and weakening. So this man is actually repeating a tune that was sung by one of the scholars of terminology, Ibn al-Salah (may Allah have mercy on him). But this man did not justify this justification. He said that authenticating and weakening has been cut off. I do not know in which era he mentioned it. The fourth?

The questioner : Yes, after the era of...

The Shaykh : Ah, it was cut off. But the scholars refuted this, and among them was al-Nawawi. He said: No, this is not sound speech. The evidence for that, or one of the evidences for that, is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): "Do not know the good" This is from one aspect. From another aspect, you know the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): The rest of the hadith, and it is famous. Do you see this group proceeding from knowledge or from ignorance? No one can answer except that they proceed from knowledge. That is what they build the deviant path upon, away from the straight path. Those hadiths about which they were silent, and especially like Musnad al-Imam Ahmad, which contains thirty thousand hadiths without repetition and forty thousand with repetition. There is not, except for a very few of these thirty thousand, anyone who said authentic, good, weak, etc. What is the position of the victorious group toward those hadiths for which we do not find an authenticator or weakener among the early scholars? I mention now that he made the last of them al-Daraqutni.
The Shaykh: Al-Daraqutni is the last whose speech is accepted. And authenticating and weakening, and I have said before, where did this limitation come from? In reality, this is the affair of the people of desires. They assume a matter that surprises them, so they adopt a belief. What is the difference between al-Daraqutni and it could be a man from his shaykhs whose death was delayed after al-Daraqutni? Why did they make the death of al-Daraqutni the end of authenticating and weakening? It is an assumption and an encroachment upon knowledge.
The Shaykh: The point is, what is the position of this victorious group toward these hadiths? They must use the rules established by the scholars of hadith. First, every student of knowledge who knows something of the science of hadith terminology and the principles of jurisprudence knows that the scholars who established these two principles, the principle of hadith and the principle of jurisprudence, did not establish them just for show, but for practical application. For example, the general and the specific, the absolute and the restricted, etc. Why are these rules? Is it not the case that if a student of knowledge stands between two texts, he must reconcile them with one of these rules?
The Shaykh: If so, this is the destruction of the efforts of the continuous scholars from the time of the Companions to this time, just for the sake of a claim. And finally, we say, does this man or anyone else guarantee that he can encompass knowledge of all the sayings of the imams, the last of whom is al-Daraqutni, of all the sayings of these imams in authenticating and weakening? Is he able to encompass them?

The questioner : No

The Shaykh : If so, many of the hadiths that those scholars authenticated or weakened will be missed by us, and we have not looked into that. So why do we not apply these scientific rules established by al-Daraqutni and those before him? And there is a very long research, and I think there is a cassette in it. And now we will hear the opinion of a man, and I hope that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will guide us to respond to some points, because in reality, his error is sufficient: that he entered into the generality of His saying (peace and blessings be upon him), excuse me, the saying of the Lord of Mankind:
The Shaykh: So this man said a saying that no one from the early or later scholars has preceded him in. Then he has no evidence at all; it is merely a claim. And it was said long ago: "And claims, unless you establish proofs for them, their children are claimants."
The Shaykh: So he is a claimant. And this is something that every disbeliever, every hypocrite, every ignorant person can claim. They claim what they wish and say, "I am like this." So where is ? And I asked, I think in some gatherings, how old is this man? I think I was told he is under forty. I do not know. Do you know him personally??

The questioner : No

The Shaykh : Do you know him? The important thing is, I was told he is under forty. So where is the study of knowledge in these forty years? By Allah, I have reached eighty, or nearly so, and I still feel that I am ignorant. What is this speech? A person comes and claims a claim that no one from the scholars has preceded him in. This is the height of arrogance and the strange thing, and the affliction of youth in the present era. As he (peace and blessings be upon him) said... Maybe it will become that time...
Al-Halabi : Our Shaykh, the topic of Ibn al-Salah in the first part of the Da'if Series, you mentioned a hadith that Ibn al-Salah weakened, and you indicated that by doing so he contradicted the rule.

The Shaykh : Indeed.
Al-Halabi : And in his weakening, excuse me, he authenticated it, and you erred in authenticating it, saying it is weak.

The Shaykh : Then from another aspect, he contradicted his principle.
Al-Halabi : He contradicted his principle. Yes, correct.

Another questioner : They may mention something more important than these two cassettes for him.

The Shaykh : For him? Where?
Al-Halabi: 'Abd al-Sa'd.

Another questioner : And where?
Al-Halabi : In Riyadh.

Another questioner : This man who...
Al-Halabi : No, Waleed, I think the one who brought them... Our Shaykh, the two cassettes.

The Shaykh : Where are they?

The questioner : In them is a methodology for learning the science of hadith.

The Shaykh : ...

The questioner : The two cassettes about the narration of Abu al-Zubayr from Jabir. In reality, the speech, Shaykh, I followed it, and there is nothing distinctive in it. On the contrary, there are arguments and throwing out words without mentioning evidence, except the word "induction" and "following." I induced and followed.

The Shaykh : ... .
Al-Halabi : And this is the word of al-Daraqutni, Ibn 'Adi, and Ibn Hibban. If they said it, they are contradicted in it. So how about those after them?

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar.
Al-Halabi : In reality.

Another questioner : How does a person begin to seek knowledge?