The Criterion for Acting on the Hadith: “Convey from me, even if it is a single verse.”

The questioner : ... Regarding the group, these are the people of Tabligh... We, the people of the Sunnah, what is our obligation regarding the words of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) Is it obligatory for us or not?

The Shaykh : Whoever memorizes a verse as it was revealed, or a portion of the hadiths of the Messenger (peace be upon him) as they were narrated, or rather as they are authentic, and conveys them as he heard them, that is his obligation. As for the one who does not know how to recite a verse, let alone how to read a hadith without breaking it or making grammatical errors, that is what is obligatory for him. But if the opposite is the case, he should not say, “The Messenger said,” while he is, as the scholars of hadith say, lying about the Messenger of Allah, especially with grammatical errors, such as raising a noun that should be in the accusative case or putting a noun in the accusative case that should be in the genitive case, and the like. Lying about the Messenger in narrating a hadith includes narrating it in the colloquial dialect. There is no objection to explaining it in the colloquial dialect, but if he narrates the hadith, he should narrate it as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) pronounced it, with this clarity and condition. So let him convey, even if it is a single verse, or a portion of the hadiths of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). On this occasion, I say: If a Muslim learns a ruling from the rulings of the Shari'ah from a scholar whose knowledge is recognized, and he is asked about a ruling he received from a scholar—where he, the recipient, is not a scholar but one of the general public, yet he learned a ruling from a scholar—and then this learner is asked about that ruling by another person like him, it is not permissible for him to say, “It is forbidden” or “It is lawful.” Rather, he should say, “I heard so-and-so say such-and-such,” and that is sufficient. This is an error that the majority fall into. I do not mean the general public and their common people, but also students of knowledge. One of them is asked about an issue he heard from a scholar, so he answers with what he heard, and the listener assumes that this man is a scholar, whereas he is not a scholar, but only heard someone say so. Therefore, so that a student of knowledge does not get into trouble by appearing before others as a scholar, becoming arrogant with what he has not been given, and perhaps his soul becomes haughty and he looks down upon others and is arrogant toward them, when that is not from his own effort but from the knowledge he benefited from. Therefore, knowledge is of two types: knowledge that comes from the person’s own self, and with this he issues fatwas; and knowledge that he received from a person, and he conveys it from him. They are not equal. For example, this is what we advise our brothers.The questioner : That this man is a scholar, whereas he is not a scholar, but only heard someone say so. Therefore, so that a student of knowledge does not get into trouble by appearing before others as a scholar, becoming arrogant with what he has not been given, and perhaps his soul becomes haughty and he looks down upon others and is arrogant toward them, when that is not from his own effort but from the knowledge he benefited from. Therefore, knowledge is of two types: knowledge that comes from the person’s own self, and with this he issues fatwas; and knowledge that he received from a person, and he conveys it from him. They are not equal. For example, this is what we advise our brothers.