Chapter 2: Warning about Lying Upon the Messenger of Allah [peace and blessings of Allah upon him]
‘Indeed what prevents me from relating to you a great number of Ḥadīth is that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, said: ‘Whoever intends to lie upon me, then let him take his seat in the Fire.’
Chapter 3: The Prohibition of Narrating Everything One Hears
‘It is enough of a lie for a man that he narrates everything he hears’.
Chapter 4: The Weak Narrators, Liars, and Those Whose Hadith are Avoided
‘Indeed we would take Ḥadīth and they would be taken on authority of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah upon him. However if you take every difficult and docile [narration] then how far that is [from being upright]!
‘A book was brought to Ibn Abbās which contained the verdicts of Alī, may Allah be pleased with him, and he effaced but a small amount,’ and Sufyān bin Uyaynah indicated with his arm [the amount].
Chapter 5: That Which is Related to the Statements ‘The Chain of Narration is from the Religion’; ‘Transmissions are not Taken Except from Trustworthy Narrators’; and ‘Criticism of the Narrators With What is Permissible Regarding Them, Even Obligatory and That It is not the Prohibited Kind of Backbiting, Rather it is the Defense of the Noble Sharī’ah’
Muhammad said, I heard Alī bin Shaqīq saying, I heard Abd Allah bin al-Mubārak saying in front of the people: ‘Abandon the Ḥadīth of Amr bin Thābit for indeed he would curse the Salaf [i.e., the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them]’.
Chapter 6: Unveiling Defects of the Transmitters of Ḥadīth and Relaters of Reports and the Statements of the A’immah Regarding That
Muslim said: Similar instances to what we mentioned from the words of Ahl ul-Ilm regarding those transmitters who are imputed in Ḥadīth, and reports about their defects, are great in number, it would lengthen this book to mention its investigation, and what we [already] mentioned should be sufficient for whoever reflects upon and understands the way of the people [Muhaddithīn] in terms of what they said and clarified of all of that.
Indeed [the Muhaddithīn] concerned themselves with the unveiling of the defects of transmitters of Ḥadīth and narrators of reports; they delivered verdicts in that at the time they were asked when there was a great danger involved considering that the reports are regarding affairs of the Dīn; whether [the transmissions] present a permission or proscription, a command or prohibition, encouragement or admonition.
If the transmitter for it is not a source of truthfulness or reliability, then those who know [his condition], who risk transmitting on his authority, and not declaring [his condition] to others whom are ignorant of his [state], are sinning through doing that, and deceiving the common Muslims, since he should not feel secure in that some of those who heard these reports will act upon them, or act upon some of them, and perhaps they are lies which have no basis, or a majority of them; this along with the fact that authentic reports from the trustworthy chains and the people who are satisfactory [to the majority of Ahl ul-Ilm] are in too great a number to compel relating from those who are not trustworthy and who are not satisfactory.
I do not think highly of those who would permit from the people what we described of these weak narrations and unknown chains, and who judge by these transmissions after knowing what is in them of those who are imputed and weak unless he, through his conveyance and judgment by them, desires to accumulate [status] through that among the commoners, or that it can be said, ‘How great is the number of Ḥadīth that so-and-so has gathered and compiled!’. Those who held this ideology regarding knowledge and traversed this path have no share in it and that they were designated as being ignorant is more deserving than for them to be attributed to knowledge.
‘I was sitting near al-Qāsim bin Ubayd Allah and Yahyā bin Sa’īd [bin Qays al-Madanī al-Qāḍī], when Yahyā said to al-Qāsim: ‘Oh Abā Muhammad! Indeed it is gravely harmful for the likes of you to be asked about something from the affair of this Dīn, and then knowledge of it is not found with you, and no relief [in the form of an answer]’ -or- ‘…knowledge and no articulation’. So al-Qāsim said [to Yahyā bin Sa’īd]: ‘Where did that come from?’ [Yahyā] said: ‘It is because you are the son of two Imāms of guidance- a descendent of Abu Bakr and Umar.’ [al-Qāsim] said to him: ‘More harmful than that- according to whoever reflects about Allah- is to speak without knowledge or to take [Ḥadīth] from someone who is not trustworthy’. [Abū Aqīl] said: ‘So [Yahyā bin Sa’īd] was quiet and did not respond to him’.
‘I asked Sufyān ath-Thawrī , Shu’bah, Mālik, and Ibn Uyaynah about a man who is not reliable (Thabt) in Ḥadīth, and someone comes and asks me about him, and they said: ‘Inform [others] against him that he is not reliable’.’
‘Who is this man from whom you transmit the Ḥadīth of Abd Allah bin Amr, ‘The day of Fitr is the day of prizes…’?’ [Abd Allah] said: ‘Sulaymān bin al-Hajjāj. Look at what I placed in your hands [of praise] about him’.Ibn Quhzādh said I heard Wahb bin Zam’ah mentioning about Sufyān bin Abd il-Mālik, he said, Abd Allah –meaning Ibn al-Mubārak- said: ‘I saw Rawh bin Ghutayf, the companion of blood the amount of a Dirham , and I took a seat in one of his audiences. Then I began to become ashamed for my companions to see me sitting with him while his Ḥadīth are disapproved of.’
Chapter 2: Warning about Lying Upon the Messenger of Allah [peace and blessings of Allah upon him]
Muhammad bin Ja’far narrated to us, Shu’bah narrated to us, on authority of Mansūr, on authority of Rab’iy ibn Hirāsh, that he heard Alī, may Allah be pleased with him, giving a Khutbah and he said that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, said: ‘Do not lie upon me; indeed whoever lies upon me will enter the Fire’.
‘Whoever lies upon me intentionally, then let him take his seat in the Fire’.
‘I arrived at the Masjid and al-Mughīrah, the Amīr of al-Kūfah said: ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, saying, ‘Indeed a lie upon me is not like a lie upon anyone else, for whoever lies upon me intentionally, then he shall take his seat in the Fire’.’
’ Alī bin Hujr as-Sa’dī narrated to us, Alī bin Mushir narrated to us, Muhammad bin Qays il-Asadī informed us, on authority of Alī ibn Rabī’at al-Asadī, on authority of al-Mughīrat ibn Shu’bah, on authority of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah upon him a similar narration, however he did not mention the words ‘Indeed a lie upon me is not like a lie upon anyone else’.
Chapter 3: The Prohibition of Narrating Everything One Hears
‘Iyās bin Mu’āwiyah asked me saying: ‘Indeed I see that you love knowledge of the Qur’ān, so recite for me a Sūrah and explain it until I can reflect on what you know’. [Sufyān] said, so I did that, and [Iyās] said to me: ‘Memorize from me what I am about to say to you- Beware of abominations in Ḥadīth for indeed rarely does anyone convey them except he lowers himself and his Ḥadīth are denied’.’
‘It is the case that you do not relate to the people a narration which their minds cannot grasp except that it becomes a Fitnah for some of them’.
Chapter 4: The Weak Narrators, Liars, and Those Whose Hadith are Avoided
‘There will be in the end of time charlatan liars coming to you with narrations that you nor your fathers heard, so beware of them lest they misguide you and cause you tribulations’.’
‘Go back to such-and-such narration‘. Then [Bushayr] returned to it and narrated it. So [Ibn Abbās] said to him: ‘Go back to such-and-such narration’. Then [Bushayr] returned to it and narrated it. Thus [Bushayr] said to him: ‘I do not know whether you know all of my Ḥadīth and you reject this one and that, or if you reject all of my Ḥadīth and know this one and that?’ Ibn Abbās said to him: ‘Indeed we would be narrated to on authority of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, at a time when one would not lie upon him, however when the people took the difficult [Munkar] and the docile [Sahīh], we abandoned listening to Ḥadīth from them’.
‘The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, said…’, ‘the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, said…’. Then it seemed that Ibn Abbās was not listening to his Ḥadīth and not reflecting on them, so [Bushayr] said: ‘Oh Ibn Abbās, why is it that I see you not listening to my Ḥadīth? I narrate to you on authority of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, however you are not listening’. Ibn Abbās said: ‘Indeed once upon a time we would listen to a man saying, ‘the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, said…’ rushing towards him with our eyes and harkening towards him with our ears; then when the people took the difficult and the docile we no longer took from people except those whom we knew’.
‘When they narrated these things after Alī, may Allah be pleased with him, a man from the companions of Alī said: ‘May Allah curse them. Did they corrupt every [type of] knowledge!?’
Chapter 5: That Which is Related to the Statements ‘The Chain of Narration is from the Religion’; ‘Transmissions are not Taken Except from Trustworthy Narrators’; and ‘Criticism of the Narrators With What is Permissible Regarding Them, Even Obligatory and That It is not the Prohibited Kind of Backbiting, Rather it is the Defense of the Noble Sharī’ah’
‘Indeed this knowledge is faith, so carefully consider from whom you take your faith’.
‘They would not ask about the chains of narration, and when the Fitnah occurred, they said: ‘Name for us your men’. So Ahl us-Sunnah would be regarded, and their Ḥadīth were then taken, and Ahl ul-Bi’dah would be regarded, and their Ḥadīth were not taken’.