Discussion of the mursal hadith.

The Shaykh : Then this leads us to a third science, which is the mursal hadith. It is not used as evidence by the scholars of hadith. The mursal hadith is one that comes with a sound chain up to a Tabi'i, where that Tabi'i says, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said..." This is the mursal hadith. The entire chain is sound up to the Tabi'i, but he did not say, for example, "Ibn 'Umar told me," or "Abu Hurayrah told me," or "a man from among the Companions of the Messenger (peace be upon him) told me." In fact, he did not even say, "A man from among the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) told me," because if he had said that, it would no longer be mursal, as he would have named the intermediary between him and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), which is the Companion. However, he did not name him. The fact that he did not name him does not harm us, because the Companions are trustworthy. But the mursal hadith is one in which the Tabi'i says, "The Messenger of Allah said," without mentioning the intermediary. Because he did not mention the intermediary, the scholars of hadith do not use the mursal hadith of a Tabi'i as evidence. Why? They said, "We do not know whether the intermediary between him and the Messenger is only the Companion, in which case the hadith would be sound, or whether there is a Tabi'i between him and the Messenger, below the Companion, and this Tabi'i received it from that Tabi'i, and that Tabi'i from the Companion. Thus, there is a possibility of an intermediary existing between him and the Messenger other than the Companion." The scholars of hadith do not use the mursal hadith as evidence, especially since they have investigated and found that some hadiths are narrated by a Tabi'i from a Tabi'i from a Companion, sometimes a Tabi'i from a Tabi'i from a Tabi'i from a Companion, and so on, with six Tabi'ins in succession and on the same pattern. In the end, what comes? The Companion. So, for the hadith to be sound, regardless of the trustworthiness of everyone below the first Tabi'i, all these Tabi'ins must be trustworthy and preservers for the hadith to be sound. Since such a narration has been found in the hadiths, a Tabi'i from a Tabi'i, what prevents this Tabi'i who mursalized the hadith to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) from having received it from a Tabi'i? Because of this possibility, the scholars of hadith say, "We do not use the mursal hadith as evidence, even if the narrator is trustworthy." The reason is that the scholars of hadith are precise and want to know the identity or name of the narrator first, and then know his biography. If he is just and a preserver with control, only then do they narrate his hadith. For that reason, the scholars of hadith, despite their reverence and respect for Imam al-Shafi'i, do not give weight to a hadith if they hear Imam al-Shafi'i say, "A trustworthy man informed me," even if those above him are mountains of knowledge, trustworthiness, and justice. Because this "trustworthy man" is less than what is said if it were from someone other than al-Shafi'i, where the person would be unknown. But from al-Shafi'i, it is known that he means his sheikh, Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Yahya al-Aslami, who is accused of lying, as we mentioned earlier.

The questioner : And this is very common in the books.

The Shaykh : Yes, indeed. And therefore, it is not permissible to rely on such a narration unless there is another chain.