What is the rule that justifies rejecting a hadith?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : What is the rule for one who rejects a hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)?
The Shaykh : I wanted 'Umar, but Allah willed Kharijah; I wanted Khalid, but what Allah willed was the gray hair. Yes.
The questioner : The rule, O Shaykh, is that every person comes and says this hadith is unclear or weak. What is the rule regarding this man, ...?
The Shaykh : The rule in this matter is to refer to the books of hadith, the books of narrators, and the books of history. From the books of narrators, we know whether this man is upright or not upright. From the books of history, we know whether the chain of narration is broken or not broken. Therefore, the reasons for rejecting a hadith are limited to only two things: the breaking of the chain of narration, and the criticism of the narrator. All reasons for rejection are confined to these two: either the chain of narration is broken, in which case we need to know the history, or the narrator is criticized. Criticizing the narrator is a reason for rejection, for example, an anomalous narration, where the narrator is criticized because he narrated what contradicted other trustworthy narrators.
The Shaykh : I wanted 'Umar, but Allah willed Kharijah; I wanted Khalid, but what Allah willed was the gray hair. Yes.
The questioner : The rule, O Shaykh, is that every person comes and says this hadith is unclear or weak. What is the rule regarding this man, ...?
The Shaykh : The rule in this matter is to refer to the books of hadith, the books of narrators, and the books of history. From the books of narrators, we know whether this man is upright or not upright. From the books of history, we know whether the chain of narration is broken or not broken. Therefore, the reasons for rejecting a hadith are limited to only two things: the breaking of the chain of narration, and the criticism of the narrator. All reasons for rejection are confined to these two: either the chain of narration is broken, in which case we need to know the history, or the narrator is criticized. Criticizing the narrator is a reason for rejection, for example, an anomalous narration, where the narrator is criticized because he narrated what contradicted other trustworthy narrators.