Are all hadiths authentic.
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
(May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked
this question:
Aslamo-elaikum
I am currently reading the Bukhari hadith set and in the introduction it
mentions that out of the thousands of hadiths only a couple of thousand can be
definitely marked as authentic. In which case i am confused as to which one's
these are and which cannot be said to be authentic.
For example, i read one hadith that if one yawns and makes the noise
"ha" that he is like an animal (or something).
Another
one said that if the a women does not let her husband sleep with her when he
asks then the angels send curses to her all night?
I can see how the hadiths that repeat over and over again throughout the books
narrated by different people about the same thing must be authentic but for
others where they are only mentioned once or one's that make a ruling that
seems unfair might not be real.
What should one do in such a case?
I know that islam is to follow the quran and the hadith of the Prophet but how
does one follow something that seems unfair and unlike the kind and fair
character of the Prophet (saw).
(There may be some grammatical and spelling
errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in
confidentiality.)
Answer:
Are all hadiths
authentic
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His
help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide,
and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear
witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear
witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His
Messengers.
It is We (Allah),
Who has sent down this Remembrance (the Al-Quran), and We will assuredly guard it against
corruption.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 17 Surah
Isra verse 88:
Declare this! ‘Even if human beings and the
jinns should co-operate with one another to bring forth a book like the
Quran, they would never be able to bring
anything like it, even though they all
helped one another!”
The only Book in existence which is devoid of absolutely
any errors, mistakes, contradictions, etc. is the Divine Book which was
revealed by the Lord Most High Himself upon His Last and Final Messenger
(saws); ie. the Glorious Quran, which is preserved today in its exact verbatim
text as revealed by the Lord Most High, and will remain so until the end of
time, Insha Allah.
At the time of the death of the Noble Prophet (saws), his
Sunnah or way was witnessed, established, and practiced by tens of thousands of
his noble companions who saw him, and then by the believers who saw the noble
companions who saw the Prophet (saws), and so on.
With the passage of time, many believers and scholars
started making a record of the practice and narrations of the Prophet (saws) in
a text form for the use of future generations.
Amongst the thousands of records kept through time, the works of six
eminent and pious scholars was accepted by the believers to be the most
authentic amongst them; namely:
The records of the above six eminent scholars later came
to be recognized as the ‘Saha Sitta’ or the ‘Six most authentic’ records.
These great and eminent scholars
have done an exhaustive research and investigation in each of the hadiths to
determine their authenticity, and only when they were completely satisfied,
they recorded these hadiths in their ‘Sahih’ or Book of Authentic Hadiths. They investigated each aspect of the saying
or deed whether it was in conformity with the Quran or not, for it is
inconceivable for a believer to assume that the Messenger of Allah (saws) would
have done or said anything against the dictates of the Quran. Then they thoroughly checked and investigated
the chain of narrators to see whether they were truthful people or not, or
whether one who claimed to have heard it from the other was alive at the same
time or not, and if alive, did they ever meet each other or not! If there was even a slight doubt in any event
or chain of events, these eminent scholars refused to accept the hadith as
authentic.
Even after all their exhaustive
efforts and thorough investigations, it is impossible to claim, nor does anyone
ever claim, that each and every hadith in their collection of ‘saha sitta’ is
absolutely authentic; for after all, this is a work of man, and man is prone to
shortcomings and error. For the
believers, the only guaranteed authentic Book of Guidance has to be the
Glorious Quran, whose authenticity is guaranteed until the end of time by none
other than Allah Subhanah. For every
aspect of guidance, ‘emaan’, belief, faith, ‘aqeedah’, ‘tawheed’, ‘shirk’,
etc., one need not look beyond the Quran.
The hadiths, once they have been declared authentic by the
scholars, will only be used when one
finds the Quran silent on a practical subject.
Thus in conclusion, none can say
with absolute conviction that every hadith recorded in the ‘saha sitta’ is
absolutely authentic and free from human error; the absolute most one can claim
that amongst all the available hadeeths attributed to the Prophet (saws), the
records that find mention in the ‘saha sitta’ are the most authentic.
It is indeed unfortunate that
some people have gone to the two extremes when dealing with the ‘ahaadiths’ of the
Messenger of Allah (saws). One extreme
declares belief in each and every hadith of the Prophet (saws), without
confirming whether the hadith is authentic or not! The other extreme declares their complete
opposition and rejection of any and all ahaadiths, regardless of whether they
are fabricated or not!
The true muslims must take a
balanced view or the ‘middle way’ when dealing with anything. Just because someone calls a statement or a
deed a hadith, we are not to completely submit to it, nor completely reject it;
but the right and correct mode of conduct would be to do a thorough
investigation to determine whether the Messenger of Allah (saws) indeed did do
or say the thing claimed by the narrator.
There are a few rules, if followed,
one can easily realize if the hadith is genuine or not.
1.
If any hadith is directly against any commandment
or statement of the Holy Quran, it will
be immediately rejected. Simply
because, it is inconceivable that the
Prophet (saws) did or said anything against the Holy Quran. His whole life was a practical example of
following the Quran, and Allah Himself certifies in the Holy Quran that the
Prophet (saws) is a good example to follow for anyone who believes in Allah and
the Last Day.
2.
If any hadith is directly against any
established Sunnah of the Prophet
(saws), it will be rejected. For example,
if one hadith says the Prophet (saws) prayed four rakahs for ‘magrib’
prayers, it will not be accepted.
3.
If any hadith goes against the foundation of Islam, it will not be accepted. For example,
if one hadith says that the Prophet (saws) went to an idol or grave and
invoked it, it is against the basic
foundation of Tauheed or worship and invocation of one-God, and will thus be rejected. It would just be inconceivable for the
Prophet (saws) to do such an act!
4.
If any hadith is against basic common-sense, it will not be accepted. For example if one hadith says that a man
talked to a tree and the tree started walking! These sort of things are absolutely against
basic common sense, and will be
rejected.
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only
due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me
alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is
the Only Source of Strength.
Your brother and well
wisher in Islam,
Burhan
