The Shaykh’s clarification of what is obligatory for a student of knowledge to do when two authentic hadiths conflict, or when one is authentic and the other is more authentic.

The Shaykh : And in this context, I want to remind you, or at least remind some of you who have a concern with us in seeking knowledge, and knowledge that has unfortunately been neglected in the Islamic lands for many long centuries, except for very few cases: that is the science of hadith. Among the rules of the science of hadith and the understanding of this science is: “When two conflicting hadiths come, it is obligatory to reconcile them by one of the many ways of reconciliation.” I am not now in the position of detailing these methods of reconciliation; rather, I only want to draw attention to the fact: that when two hadiths from the category of acceptable hadiths come—and the category of acceptable hadiths includes the hasan li-ghayrihi (good hadith due to supporting chains) and above—if two hadiths come, one at the lowest degree of authenticity and the other at the highest degree of authenticity, and they are conflicting, then it is not permissible to dismiss the more authentic one in favor of the authentic one. It is not permissible to dismiss the authentic hadith in favor of the more authentic one and say: “We give no weight to this authentic hadith because it conflicts with the more authentic hadith!” This is an error. It is sufficient that both of the conflicting hadiths fall within the category of acceptable hadiths. And among the categories of acceptable hadiths is the hasan hadith, even if it is hasan li-ghayrihi. Therefore, it is not befitting for a student of knowledge, if he sees a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari, for example, that conflicts with a hadith in al-Musnad or in one of the known Sunan collections, to say: “This is more authentic than this, and we take the more authentic one and rest from the authentic one!!” This is ignorance. Rather, if both fall within the category of acceptable hadiths, then it is obligatory to reconcile the two hadiths by one of the many ways of reconciliation. And as I said earlier, I am not now in the position of mentioning even some of these ways.