Why was Imam Muslim’s criticism of al-Bukhari so severe because he conditions [authenticity] on hearing?

The questioner : You mentioned, our Shaykh, al-Bukhari’s condition of explicitly stating that he heard it. It is stated in Muslim that this is a condition for authenticity, otherwise... Now, may Allah preserve you, your answer is that the statement of Imam Ahmad is not to be taken as a statement regarding the virtues of actions, where it is weak except for what is good in his meaning. Then, meaning, that session left a question in my mind.

The Shaykh : Please, please, one by one, let me finish this now. What is the question here?

The questioner : The question, our Shaykh, is that you said the concept of the hasan hadith was a later development.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : And Imam al-Bukhari knew of it, and they mention for such an occasion that al-Tirmidhi (may Allah have mercy on him) was the first to divide these categories into hasan and da'if.

The Shaykh : No, he was not the first to divide them; he was the one who publicized it. Otherwise, the division belongs to al-Bukhari. The important thing is that I mentioned earlier that this division into sahih and hasan came after Imam Ahmad. I affirmed and affirmed that al-Tirmidhi uses it. So where is the question now? I understand from your question, or from your raising of the question, that you want to say: since the student al-Tirmidhi and his teacher Imam al-Bukhari knew this terminology, then Imam Ahmad knew it.

The questioner : Or that it existed before al-Tirmidhi with al-Bukhari, because they mention it.

The Shaykh : With al-Bukhari, certainly, Professor. But our position is not with al-Bukhari; our position is with Imam Ahmad, who was al-Bukhari’s teacher.

The questioner : On this occasion, they say that the first to use this division was al-Tirmidhi.

The Shaykh: All right.

The questioner : On this occasion, that is what they say.

The Shaykh : Brother, this is in my hand; we did not say it is a question.

The questioner : The question remains: al-Bukhari used it before al-Tirmidhi.

The Shaykh : I say this: Imam al-Tirmidhi took this terminology from Imam al-Bukhari, but he distinguished himself by frequently using it and spreading it. But what does this have to do with it, Professor? Or does this mean that whether the one who spread this usage was al-Bukhari, as you claim, or al-Tirmidhi, what does this have to do with what we answered earlier?

The questioner : You reminded me, our Shaykh, your mention of the hasan hadith reminded me of an old question I have regarding al-Bukhari’s use of hasan. One thing brings to mind another; the like reminds one of the like.

The Shaykh : Yes, but it has no relation to our topic.

The questioner : It has no relation.

The Shaykh : Ah, okay, good, you have relieved us now, since it has no relation.

The questioner : The question remains, our Shaykh, so that I may benefit...

The Shaykh: Go ahead.

The questioner : The secret of Muslim’s severe campaign: if al-Bukhari wanted hasan, Muslim’s campaign, our Shaykh, is severe.

The Shaykh : Where does he want hasan? In which book?

The questioner : In hearing. If hearing is not established, you decided in a previous session that if hearing did not occur, but only coexistence and the possibility of meeting occurred, you decided it is hasan. It appeared to me that al-Bukhari...

The Shaykh : That is not my question.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Does Imam Muslim take issue with al-Bukhari in all his books, or in his Sahih? This is a very sensitive point.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Because I said that al-Bukhari’s condition appears from combining the condition reported from him with what I touched with my hand in al-Tirmidhi’s Sunan, where he reports from al-Bukhari’s teacher that he considers hasan what does not meet his condition for authenticity. So al-Bukhari has books, he has many books. In the Sahih, which he selected from two hundred thousand hadiths, for example, if you were present, he placed this precise, strong, and solid condition in it, which Imam Muslim does not dispute, that it is a condition that is more preserving of the hadith, more solid due to its strength, without doubt. But the research is: does Muslim now, in your view, mean that Muslim responds to al-Bukhari in his "Sahih," or in his methodology generally in all his books? This is what cannot be generalized.

The questioner : But the expressions of the Shaykh, Imam Muslim, in the introduction appear to indicate that he is responding to those who condition hearing for authenticity.

The Shaykh : Now you have opened a gap in your speech. Who conditions? It is not necessary that it be al-Bukhari himself. So we are relieved of the problem.

The questioner : They mention either al-Bukhari or al-Madini.

The Shaykh : No problem, then this question is not directed at al-Bukhari, or it is not directed at me when I distinguished between al-Bukhari’s condition in his Sahih and his condition in other than his Sahih. It is not directed, because first, as is known from the commentators, it is from whom? His teacher or companion, Imam al-Bukhari, or the teacher of Imam al-Bukhari, 'Ali ibn al-Madini. Allah knows the truth. The important thing is that there is no explicit text on the matter. So the question that went through my mind, whether recent or distant, does not apply when we speak of other than al-Bukhari’s Sahih.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And to you.