Clarifying the meaning of al-Hakim’s phrase in his rulings on hadiths: “Authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhari, or Muslim, or both.”

The Shaykh : What al-Hakim produces in al-Mustadrak makes this clearer. Al-Hakim is of a later generation than al-Tabarani, yet he himself produces hundreds of hadiths and says of them: “Its chain is authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs,” “Its chain is authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhari,” or “Its chain is authentic according to the criteria of Muslim.” He means those below al-Hakim’s Shaykh, and even those below the Shaykh of al-Hakim’s Shaykh. This point is very important at times, and at other times it is a matter of formalities. In the first case, they often use this phrase when al-Tabarani’s Shaykh, or al-Hakim’s Shaykh who narrated the hadith from one of the two Shaykhs, is not trustworthy, or is not relied upon as a source. In that case, what benefit do we gain from one of us saying: “Its narrators are the narrators of the two Shaykhs,” or “Its narrators are relied upon in the two Sahihs,” when the chain below the level of the two Shaykhs’ narrators contains even one weak, unknown, or otherwise defective narrator? Therefore, take this as a rule: whenever you see such a statement, do not assume at first that this chain is authentic for the reasons we have mentioned repeatedly. The meaning of “its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih” is: its narrators are trustworthy. However, there may be other defects such as disconnection, concealment of a defect in the chain, or the like. We do not want to delve into this now, of course, but what suffices us for now is this: if someone says, “Its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih,” immediately recall the question: What is the status of al-Tabarani’s Shaykh? What is the status of al-Hakim’s Shaykh? And what about the Shaykh of his Shaykh? It is necessary to review this.