The Book of Faith-02b
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The reciter: And Abu Ja'far al-Darimi narrated to us, and Bishr ibn 'Umar narrated to us, saying: "I asked Malik ibn Anas about Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman, who narrates from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, and he said: He is not trustworthy. I asked him about Salih, the freed slave of al-Tawammah, and he said: He is not trustworthy. I asked him about Abu al-Huwayth, and he said: He is not trustworthy. I asked him about Shu'bah, from whom Ibn Abi Dhi'b narrated, and he said: He is not trustworthy. I asked him about Harim ibn Uthman, and he said: He is not trustworthy. I asked Malik about these five, and he said: They are not trustworthy in their hadith. I asked him about another man whose name I have forgotten, and he said: Have you seen him in my books? I said: No. He said: If he were trustworthy, you would have seen him in my books".
The Shaykh : This is like its predecessors in clarifying that mentioning a man in accordance with his condition is advice for the sake of Allah and for the Muslims; this is not considered backbiting. In his statement, "If he were trustworthy, you would have seen him in my books," he means: If he were trustworthy in my estimation, you would have seen him in my books. This is not boasting or self-praise, but rather a statement of the reality. It is as if he is saying to the questioner: Do not ask too much if you do not see the man in my books, for my ruling on him is that he is not trustworthy.
The Shaykh : This is like its predecessors in clarifying that mentioning a man in accordance with his condition is advice for the sake of Allah and for the Muslims; this is not considered backbiting. In his statement, "If he were trustworthy, you would have seen him in my books," he means: If he were trustworthy in my estimation, you would have seen him in my books. This is not boasting or self-praise, but rather a statement of the reality. It is as if he is saying to the questioner: Do not ask too much if you do not see the man in my books, for my ruling on him is that he is not trustworthy.