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Thursday 28 March 2024  
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Home » Prophetic Traditions » Science Of Hadeeth

Position of Ahl us Sunnah with regard to Ahadeeth
Question:

Ya shaikh, we find those who say the matter of ahadeeth, those hadeeth which have not reached the level of mutawaatir. They say it does not give us a level of certainty without any doubt, but it gives us less than that. He said, it is a matter about which we do not declare anyone an innovator, and they say that those who say this have an element of doubt but they agree with Ahl us Sunnah in that you have to act upon this the hadeeth aahad, in aqeedah and in worship and some of them claim that this is the statement of the majority of the people of knowledge?
Answer:

Answer - The shaikh (hafidha ullah) responded that the answer to this question, upon this question contains many matters, many affairs. How do we know what a kabar ahad is? and he said ahad is the plural of one and the kabar ahad in the science of hadeeth is that which has not reached tawaattur, meaning, widespread. Or we can say that hadeeth that has not gathered the conditions of tawaattur.

The shaikh (hafidha ullah) the second matter, that we will mention is that hadeeth ahad, what do we benefit from this. Do we benefit and take from them knowledge in totality, ilm, or do we have some suspicion in totality, or is there an elaboration to be made?

He said (hafidha ullah) these are the three sayings in regard to this masala. He said Ibnul Salah and other than him mention this in their books of mustalah. The first saying is the saying when the scholars they say it gives us dun / suspicion in totality and this is the saying of the Muttazillah and those who have agreed with them from the Kawaarij and the people of innovation from the Rawafidh. The shaikh he said, the second saying is that it gives us ilm in totality, we benefit from knowledge in totality. The shaikh said insha Allah later I shall give some additional information or I will elaborate more on this second point.

He said the third saying is that it gives us suspicion. We benefit only that there is some kind of suspicion with regard to this narration but if we find that there were various factors attached to this then we would say that it would give us ilm/knowledge. And we would benefit knowledge if there were various factors connected to this hadeeth. So the shaikh said these are the three sayings regard to this masala/ this matter. The shaikh (hafidha ullah) said by qarain/ factors, he said for example, we mean what is found in the Books of saheehain in al- Bukhari and Muslim. So the shaikh that which is correct and it is not allowed for us to be in opposition to this saying and we cannot oppose this saying is that the ahad or the akhbar. The narrations that are ahad have not reached the level of tawaatur if they are saheeh/ authentic and those people of maruf of knowledge of hadeeth those people who have insight have accepted it and it gives us and we benefit from it knowledge and action. He said Ibn Hazm said if there was a narrator and this narrator was trustworthy and one was like him was to narrate upon him, until it was to reach upon the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi-wasallam) and it was this manner, then we would benefit from this ilm/ knowledge and action and this was the statement or the like of it was made by Ibn Hazm.

The shaikh (hafidha ullah) Ibnul Qiyyum in one of his books he has mentioned that the authentic akhbar ahad we get from them and they give us ilm / knowledge and we benefit from them ilm/knowledge and action. And Ibnul Qiyyum has mentioned 21 proofs from the Book of Allah and the sunnah, and from the way of the sahaba with regards to this matter.

The shaikh (hafidha ullah) said, so that was the first proof from the saying of Ibn Qiyyum from the Book and the sunnah and the sayings of the sahaba.

Secondly, the second thing is that the hadeeth ahad that we benefit from them knowledge and benefit from them action. The second daleel is the ijmaah/ consensus of the ummah, he said and Ibn Qiyyam mentioned in the book the summarised version of ‘asawaikal mursala’, he mentioned concerning those people who negate that the kaabar al ahad that we benefit from the knowledge. He said about them that they are broken and they are in opposition to the ijmaah/consensus of the sahaba, the consensus of the tabee’oon and the consensus of the immah of Islaam, the great scholars of Islaam.And they have agreed with the muttazillah and the Rawafidh and the Kawaarij, and some of the usooliyoon, meaning some of the scholars of usool and some of the scholars of fiqh have taken this from them, meaning from those deviant groups.

The shaikh went on to say that the shaikh Ibn Taymiyyah (rahim ullah) he mentioned with regards to this matter that there is no differing with regards to this amongst the sahaba, that they never differed over this and he mentioned this was a matter that was agreed upon by Imaam Ahmed and Imaam Abu Haneefa and Imaam Sha’afi and Imaam Malik and the rest of the scholars who were present about that time and their companions. He said there was no differing amongst them and he said there was no differing amongst the sahaba and there was no difference amongst the tabi’oon with regards to this and the shaikh he said, the first person to ever mention that was a differing with regards to this was a man known as Ibn al Bakilaanee.

So the shaikh (hafidha ullah), he said, likewise shaikh al Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah (rahim ullah) he mentioned ijmaah/ consensus concerning the kabar al wahid that it gives us ilm/ knowledge and action, and we benefit and we act upon it. He said this was the methodology or the belief of ahl ul hadeeth in totality and generally. The shaikh, he said, I say that the ijmaah of ahl ul hadeeth the consensus of the people of hadeeth with regards to this issue is that which is meant to be relied upon and it is not he said, permissible for us to oppose it.

The shaikh, he went on to say that the kulaasa, the summary of what we mentioned earlier and the end result of all of that in this matter is a matter of agreement / ijmaah between the sahaba agreed upon it, the Tabi’oon and ahl ul hadeeth/ the people of hadeeth and the Imaamatul arba’aa, the four Imaams, Imaams’ Abu Haneefa, Imaam Ahmed, Imaam Sha’fi, Imaam Malik, and their students.

The shaikh (hafidha ullah) said, know may Allah bless you my sons and daughters in Birmingham and whoever may listen to our speech later on, that once ijmaah has been affirmed, or been established about any given thing that then we have to follow, have to follow it, and it is not allowed for us to be in opposition to it, and being in opposition to ijmaah it is innovation and it is misguidance.

The shaikh (hafidha ullah), he said, the third matter, insha Allah, we will deal with, that it is an answer to a shubhah / a doubt. And this doubt, is do we make tabdee/ meaning do we declare to be a mubtadi/ innovator, the one who says that the kabar ahad, we benefit from them some type of dun/ suspicion or there is only a small element of dun / suspicion. The answer, the shaikh (hafidha ullah) said, the answer to this question, those people who say the kabar ahad that they give us ‘dun’, there is some type of doubt, there is a small element of doubt with regards to this. They can be broken into three types of people: 1.He said the first of them are those who have no knowledge, they have no ilm. So they resemble the common people with regards to this and we give them no importance. We do not look at what they say. We don’t follow them and we don’t return to the likes of these people. 2.The shaikh (hafidha ullah) he said, the second type of people are the people of bidah, the people of innovation, from the Rawafidh, the Kawaarij, the Muttazzillah, and those who have preceded upon their path. He said, these people again, we give them no importance. We don’t pay any attention to that which they are saying and we do not follow them. And following them would be bidah, misguidance, and it would be an innovation and it would be dalaalah/ misguidance. 3.The sheikh (hafidha ullah) said, the third group of people are those noble people from the people of knowledge, the people of deen, those people of amaanah, the people who are truthful and trustworthy. He said, these people we do not follow them in this matter, why? Because they have followed the likes of Bakilaanee and other then them, who came about after them, such as Aamidee, but we say they are mistaken. We say they are mistaken and they gave the advise and we do not follow them in this matter.

Shaykh `Ubayd al-Jaabiree
Audio Tape: Question and Answer Concerning the Manhaj-Live Telelink with Shaikh Ubayd ibn Abdullah ibn Sulaimaan al Jabiree Article reference:SLF020007
Translated by Abu 'Abdillah Hasan as-Somali
http://salafipublications.com
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