The Classification of Hadith into Authentic and Non-Authentic
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Please, Shaykh.
The Shaykh : That there are authentic hadiths and non-authentic hadiths; this is the initial classification. As for authentic, good, weak, and fabricated, that comes later, let alone the other details: authentic in itself, good in itself, authentic due to other evidence, and so on; authentic and famous, authentic and widely transmitted, authentic and mass-transmitted. All of that comes later. Therefore, they say—and this is what reality bears witness to—that the classification of hadith into authentic and below it into good was popularized in technical terminology by Imam al-Tirmidhi, but he received it from his teacher, al-Bukhari.
The questioner : Its origin is known from Imam al-Bukhari.
The Shaykh : From Imam al-Bukhari, but the extensive usage is from al-Tirmidhi. This means that Imam Ahmad, who is the Shaykh of Shaykhs and the Shaykh of al-Bukhari by nature, was not accustomed to using the terms authentic and good. He used authentic and weak. So when he stated that he prefers the weak over analogical reasoning, he does not mean weak in the terminology of the later scholars, but rather weak in the sense of good in the terminology of the later scholars. This statement was popularized by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), who has great merit in knowledge.
The questioner : In which sciences? And what honor?
The Shaykh : In the fatwas.
The questioner : In the fatwas?
The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh : That there are authentic hadiths and non-authentic hadiths; this is the initial classification. As for authentic, good, weak, and fabricated, that comes later, let alone the other details: authentic in itself, good in itself, authentic due to other evidence, and so on; authentic and famous, authentic and widely transmitted, authentic and mass-transmitted. All of that comes later. Therefore, they say—and this is what reality bears witness to—that the classification of hadith into authentic and below it into good was popularized in technical terminology by Imam al-Tirmidhi, but he received it from his teacher, al-Bukhari.
The questioner : Its origin is known from Imam al-Bukhari.
The Shaykh : From Imam al-Bukhari, but the extensive usage is from al-Tirmidhi. This means that Imam Ahmad, who is the Shaykh of Shaykhs and the Shaykh of al-Bukhari by nature, was not accustomed to using the terms authentic and good. He used authentic and weak. So when he stated that he prefers the weak over analogical reasoning, he does not mean weak in the terminology of the later scholars, but rather weak in the sense of good in the terminology of the later scholars. This statement was popularized by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), who has great merit in knowledge.
The questioner : In which sciences? And what honor?
The Shaykh : In the fatwas.
The questioner : In the fatwas?
The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.