A question regarding the grading of a hadith on returning the greeting with an addition, and an explanation that some narrators’ reports are accepted for some hadiths but not for others.

Al-Halabi : The question I want to ask first is about a hadith in "Sunan Abu Dawud," which I believe is from Mu'adh, regarding returning the greeting with an addition. One of the brothers says he asked me about the hadith, and I told him that what I remember from our Shaykh is that he graded it as weak. So he said:The Shaykh : Meaning that Abu Marhum authenticated several hadiths from Mu'adh ibn Sa'id with the same chain of narration.

The Shaykh : No, it is not authenticated; it is hasan (good).
Al-Halabi : Hasan, yes, it is hasan. So why is there this weakness in it?

The Shaykh : This answer is known to you, I think, but it must be explained to teach some and remind others.
Al-Halabi : To teach everyone, our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Excuse me, as you know, the hadith that scholars of hadith describe as a hasan hadith is one that is open to being authenticated and also open to being weakened. It is unstable when there is nothing to support and strengthen it, so it remains hasan. Likewise, if there is nothing to increase its weakness, because a hasan hadith, as you know, contains some degree of weakness. This does not mean that every hadith narrated by Muhammad ibn Ishaq, the author of the Sirah, and explicitly attributed to him, is hasan. So the previous question does not apply: why was this one graded hasan while the same narrator was graded weak in another hadith? You know the answer very well.
Al-Halabi : It is due to the difference in the opinion of the critic. The words of Imam al-Dhahabi that you always repeat on this issue are very precise.

The Shaykh : Yes, indeed. A hadith passed by me; I received a question on this occasion. Our friend, Mahmoud Murad, did he call you on the phone?
Al-Halabi : But about a month and a half ago, roughly two months.

The Shaykh : Meaning he did not invite you to attend the conference?
Al-Halabi : Yes, he invited me.

The Shaykh : Meaning you sent him a reply.
Al-Halabi : On the phone, still in the eleventh month, on the phone I told him I agree, but there is nothing new, because the man is in the eleventh month of the conference.

The Shaykh : The important thing is he sent me a package containing a book responding to al-Habashi. This is a Halabi, do you know his name?
Al-Halabi : Abdullah al-Shami. Well, that is a pseudonym.

The Shaykh : The name of the book?
Al-Halabi : Response to Abdullah al-Habashi.

The Shaykh : It is large, it is yellow like this, and he sent with this package a very small message. You must have seen it, for our brother Muhammad Zayn al-Din, "How We Raise Our Children." So he sent it, written or perhaps he called me on the phone saying he would send you such a message. What is in the message regarding Muhammad Zayn al-Din? If it is suitable for publication, we see that publishing it here in Canada would be beneficial. I had of course looked at the message, but I was not given the opportunity to study it in detail. Now, when the request came from this man, and he wanted to print it there, I found myself compelled to read it and give him my opinion and my observations on it. Despite its small size, there are many observations. But the important thing is he brought a hadith he took from the book "Al-Sarim al-Mashhur" by al-Tuwajiri. Al-Tuwajiri brought in this book hadiths, like most of the sheikhs, from whatever source, meaning on the basis that the end justifies the means. A weak or fabricated hadith does not matter to us as long as it supports the general idea. For example, the prohibition of tabarruj (a woman's display of her adornment) is agreed upon and forbidden. So any hadith that comes on this occasion is feared, as they say. Among the hadiths that al-Tuwajiri crammed into this occasion is the hadith of al-Bara' ibn 'Amir, not ibn 'Azib?
Al-Halabi : Al-Bara' ibn Malik.

The Shaykh : Ibn Malik, well done. Al-Bara' ibn Malik was a shepherd for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and had a beautiful voice. So one day he was singing on one of the journeys, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: Not No, He exploited this text from one side, and it is from the route of Muhammad ibn Ishaq from Nafi' from Ibn 'Umar. Muhammad ibn Ishaq said at the end of the hadith: The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) feared that the women would be affected by the beautiful voice of al-Bara' ibn Malik. Here he is building castles and palaces, saying: Look, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) feared for the hearts of the women that they would be captivated by the beautiful voice, so he forbade singing and music. And this right is with him. He brought this hadith. The hadith is in "Al-Sahihayn" (the two authentic collections), as is known to many of you. It has no relation to al-Bara' ibn Malik, but rather to this Ethiopian slave named Anjasha, who truly had a beautiful voice. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: So now, if the chain of this hadith regarding the first hadith and it is from the route of Muhammad ibn Ishaq, if it were hasan as is the norm for hadiths of Ibn Ishaq, due to this cause of contradiction, it would not be said here: whyThe Shaykh : Al-Albani graded hadiths of Muhammad ibn Ishaq as hasan and weakened this one specifically. He said: Because Al-Albani looked at a contradicting narration for this hadith that weakened it, and the correct path is to grade it as hasan as he did with others. This is a problem for people; first, they do not have a general culture of the principles and rules. And it is not necessary for them to have a culture and awareness of the specific terms to which these rules apply. Yes, but this general culture is very necessary. They see this as a contradiction, while this is the science, even though they mistake the trustworthy narrator in some hadiths, and the other hadiths are authentic. So what does the stranger say? How is this man trustworthy and his hadith weakened? My brother, the scholars of critique, authentication, and weakening have a comprehensive and broad view. Glory be to Allah, how could it be otherwise? So where is this witness? So that we do not go too far, Zayn al-Din, our friend, took the hadith and put it down and said: "Authentic, narrated by al-Hakim." It is in al-Hakim's Sahih, he said it is authentic, and the problem is also that al-Dhahabi agreed with him, and al-Tuwajiri also followed this authentication because he did not... The verification of the witness. This is a message; I studied it, and this example came with me, and it is an answer to what I asked earlier. If this first narrator is Abu Marhum, did I say?
Al-Halabi : Yes.

The Shaykh : So I truly grade it as hasan for him, and with his grading it as hasan, he responds to al-Dhahabi's own words. But if it becomes clear to us that he contradicted in some of them, we do not hesitate at all to weaken his hadith.