Muslim

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. All praise and thanks are for Allah, the Lord of all the worlds, and the best reward is for those who adopt piety. May Allah send His mercy upon the Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad (peace be upon him), and upon all the prophets and messengers.

After this!
May Allah have mercy on you! Indeed, by the guidance of your Creator, you have mentioned that you wish to know, along with their transmitted chains, all the hadiths that have reached (the Ummah) from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the ways and rulings of the religion, as well as those hadiths which are about reward and punishment, encouragement and warning, and other similar matters, and which the people of knowledge have taken from one another and transmitted.
May Allah guide you! You wish that all these hadiths be counted and compiled in a collection for your access. You have requested from me that I summarize these hadiths for you in the form of a compilation with minimal repetition, because you believe that this (repetition) will be an obstacle for you in properly understanding these hadiths and deriving rulings from them, which is your (main) objective.
(May Allah honor you!) When I reflected on what you have requested from me and the fruits that would result from it, (I became certain that) by the will of Allah, its outcomes will be praiseworthy and its benefits assured.
And when you asked me to undertake this task, I became convinced that if I am granted success in it and Allah decrees its completion, the first person to benefit from it, before others, will be myself. The reasons for this are so numerous that mentioning them would be lengthy, but in summary, it is easier for a person to preserve and master a small number of hadiths with such characteristics than to manage a large number of hadiths, especially for a layperson who, until then, cannot distinguish (between authentic and weak hadiths) unless someone else informs him of this difference. When the matter is as we have described, then selecting a small number of authentic (hadiths) is far better than collecting a large number of weak hadiths. It is true that gathering many hadiths and compiling repeated (hadiths) also has some benefits, especially for those who have been granted some understanding and knowledge of the causes and reasons in this (science). By Allah’s will, such a person, due to the qualities granted to him, can benefit from a large collection of hadiths. But as for the general public, who are different from the knowledgeable elite in terms of understanding and awareness, and are unable to comprehend even a small number of hadiths, then there is no benefit for them in acquiring a large number of hadiths.

Then, the (book) you requested, we shall, Insha’Allah, begin its compilation and referencing (clarifying it from various aspects) with the commitment I am about to mention before you, and that is: we will take all those hadiths which have been narrated with a chain of transmission from the Noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and, without repetition, we will divide them into three categories and according to three classes of (narrators), except in cases where it becomes necessary to mention a hadith again, for example, if it contains an additional meaning or a chain of transmission that, due to some reason or cause, appears alongside another chain. Because in hadith, an additional meaning, when needed, is equivalent to a complete hadith, therefore, it is unavoidable to bring such a hadith again in which there is an (meaningful) addition as we have described, or when possible, we will mention that meaning separately from the complete hadith in a concise manner. But sometimes it is difficult to separate it from the complete hadith, and when it is not possible, then mentioning it again in its original form is safer. However, wherever it is possible for us to avoid repeating it completely and we do not need it in its complete form, we will, Insha’Allah, refrain from doing so.

As for the first category, in it, we will try to give preference to those hadiths which are more protected and purer from (technical) flaws compared to other hadiths, meaning their transmitters (narrators) are reliable and accurate in transmitting hadith, and there is no severe disagreement in their narration, nor have (words and meanings) been badly mixed up as is found among many narrators of hadith, and this has become evident in their narration.

When we have encompassed the narrations of such (trustworthy) people, then afterwards we will bring those narrations in whose chains there are narrators who do not possess the same level of memorization and precision as those of the first category, but they are still among them, even if they are slightly less in those qualities for which the former were given precedence, but qualities like chastity, truthfulness, and a passion for knowledge are common among them, such as Ata bin Sa’ib, Yazid bin Abi Ziyad, Laith bin Abi Sulaim, and other carriers of traditions and transmitters of reports like them.

Although these individuals are known among the scholars for their knowledge and chastity (such qualities), yet among their contemporaries there are (some) other individuals who, in terms of precision and authenticity of narration, are superior to them in their rank and status. The reason for this is that among the scholars, this (memorization and precision) is a very high rank and an extremely superior quality.

Do you not see that these three individuals: Ata, Yazid, and Laith, whose names we have just mentioned, if you compare them in the memorization and precision of hadith with Mansur bin Mu'tamir, Sulaiman A'mash, and Ismail bin Abi Khalid, you will find them quite far behind these individuals; they do not even come close to them. The experts in the science of hadith have no doubt about this: the qualities of accuracy in memorization and expertise in narrating hadith that the scholars observe in Mansur, A'mash, and Ismail are not known to be present in Ata, Yazid, and Laith in the same way.

If you compare (other) contemporaries, the same situation (comes to light), for example, if you compare Ibn ‘Awn and Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani with ‘Awf ibn Abi Jameelah and Ash‘ath Hamrani. These two (also) are students of Hasan al-Basri and Ibn Sirin just as Ibn ‘Awn and Ayyub are their students, but between these two and those two, there is a great distance in terms of excellence and accuracy of transmission. Although ‘Awf and Ash‘ath are not considered to have deviated from truthfulness and trustworthiness by the scholars, as far as rank is concerned, the reality among the scholars is as we have stated.

We have mentioned names and given examples so that for the person who is unfamiliar with the way the scholars grade the bearers of hadith, this example may serve as a clear sign through which he may gain complete understanding, and neither lower the one of high rank from his status nor raise the one of lower rank above his status, but give each his due and place him at his proper rank.

It is narrated from Hazrat ‘A’ishah Siddiqah (may Allah be pleased with her), she said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded us to place people according to their ranks. Along with this is the command of Allah as stated in the Qur’an: «وَفَوْقَ كُلِّ ذِي عِلْمٍ عَلِيمٌ» “Above every possessor of knowledge is one more knowing.” [12-يوسف:76]

We will compile the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) according to the forms we have mentioned.
As for those hadiths narrated by people who are considered suspect by all or most of the experts in the science of hadith, we will not concern ourselves with their narrations, such as: Abdullah bin Masur Abu Ja'far Mada'ini, Amr bin Khalid, Abdul Quddus Shami, Muhammad bin Sa'id Maslub, Ghiyath bin Ibrahim, Sulaiman bin Amr Nakhai, and others like them, whose narrations are accused of fabrication and invention.

Similarly, we will also avoid the narrations of those people whose majority of narrations consist of rejected and incorrect (ahadith).

The sign of a narrator’s rejected narration is that when his narrated hadith is compared with the narration of other reliable and accepted (muhaddithin), it is found to be contrary to their narration or does not agree with them. When most of someone’s narrations are of this kind, he is considered “matruk al-hadith” (abandoned in hadith), his narrations are not accepted, and they are not used (for ijtihad and istinbat).

Among the narrators of hadith of this type are Abdullah bin Muharrar, Yahya bin Abi Anisah, Jarrah bin Minhal Abu Atuf, Abbad bin Kathir, Husain bin Abdullah bin Dhamirah, Umar bin Suhban, and other such people who narrate rejected reports; we do not turn to their narrations nor do we have any concern with such narrations.

Because the well-known position and decision of the scholars regarding accepting the narration of a solitary narrator in hadith is that if he generally agrees with the scholars and reliable memorizers, and he has agreed with them in depth, then in such a case, if he (the solitary narrator) mentions an addition that is not found with his other peers, this addition will be accepted (by the hadith scholars).

But if you see someone narrating from a great (hadith scholar) like Imam Zuhri, who has a large number of students who are memorizers (of hadith), are experts in his and others’ narrations, or he narrates from someone like Hisham bin Urwah (Imam of the Tabi‘in), the hadiths of both of whom are well spread among the scholars, all of them share in their narrations, and in most of their hadiths their students agree with each other, and this person narrates from either or both of them multiple hadiths in which none of their students are his partners, then it is not permissible to accept any such hadith from such people. Allah knows best.

We have explained in detail some parts of the methodology of Hadith and the scholars of Hadith (muhaddithin) for the attention of anyone who wishes to follow their path and is granted the ability to do so, Insha’Allah.

We will further elaborate and clarify (this methodology) at those places in the book where the mention of defective ahadith (those in which there is some hidden flaw) occurs, that is, when we reach the point where it is appropriate to explain and clarify this (subject). Insha’Allah Ta’ala.

After this (clarification), may Allah have mercy on you! (We wish to say that) had we not seen many of those who appoint themselves to the rank of hadith scholars committing errors in matters such as abandoning the narration of weak and rejected reports—which they were obliged to avoid—and had they not neglected to suffice themselves with narrating only the authentic reports transmitted by those trustworthy narrators who are well-known for their truthfulness and reliability, even after admitting that much of what they carelessly narrate before simple-minded and unintelligent people is, in fact, rejected and transmitted from those whom the scholars do not approve of taking from, and from whom narrating is considered blameworthy by the great imams of hadith, such as Malik ibn Anas, Shu’bah ibn al-Hajjaj, Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah, Yahya ibn Sa‘id al-Qattan, ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi, and others—had we not seen all this, it would not have been easy for us to accept your request regarding distinguishing between the authentic and the weak (hadith) and striving to obtain only the authentic.

But just as we have informed you about the people’s narration of rejected hadiths with weak and unknown chains, and their spreading them among the common folk who are unaware of their defects, it is for this very reason that it has become easy for our hearts to accept your request.