Is beef a disease, and what is the authenticity of the hadith regarding it?
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The questioner : Your Eminence, may Allah preserve you. In the hadith about the meat of cows, which ends by stating that its meat is a disease, some contemporary scholars have graded it as authentic. How do you reconcile their authentication with the fact that some of the scholars of the Salaf graded it as weak?
The Shaykh : This does not require reconciliation. Do you think that your Lord, Glorified and Exalted is He, would permit for you that which harms you?
It is impossible. If He permitted the meat of cows by the explicit text of the Qur'an, how can it be said that their meat is a disease?
If an anomalous hadith that contradicts a more authentic narration is rejected, then a hadith that contradicts the Qur'an must be rejected. For this reason, we say: whoever among the later scholars authenticates it, even if he is of a high level of knowledge in hadith, has erred. His authentication is considered an error. A person must not look at the chain of narration alone; he must look at both the chain and the text. For this reason, the scholars stated as a condition for an authentic or good hadith that it must not be defective or anomalous. However, if you examine the errors of the scholars—may Allah have mercy on them and grant success to those of them who are alive—you will know that no one is free from error except the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Every person is exposed to error, whether it is a minor error or a grave error. I see that this is a grave error: to say that their meat is a disease and their milk is a cure or medicine. How? Glory be to Allah! Judge this hadith as fabricated and do not care, yes.
The Shaykh : This does not require reconciliation. Do you think that your Lord, Glorified and Exalted is He, would permit for you that which harms you?
It is impossible. If He permitted the meat of cows by the explicit text of the Qur'an, how can it be said that their meat is a disease?
If an anomalous hadith that contradicts a more authentic narration is rejected, then a hadith that contradicts the Qur'an must be rejected. For this reason, we say: whoever among the later scholars authenticates it, even if he is of a high level of knowledge in hadith, has erred. His authentication is considered an error. A person must not look at the chain of narration alone; he must look at both the chain and the text. For this reason, the scholars stated as a condition for an authentic or good hadith that it must not be defective or anomalous. However, if you examine the errors of the scholars—may Allah have mercy on them and grant success to those of them who are alive—you will know that no one is free from error except the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Every person is exposed to error, whether it is a minor error or a grave error. I see that this is a grave error: to say that their meat is a disease and their milk is a cure or medicine. How? Glory be to Allah! Judge this hadith as fabricated and do not care, yes.