Does a Weak Narrator Render an Entire Hadith Unacceptable?

❖ Does the Presence of a Weak Narrator Invalidate a Hadith?​

Source: Fatāwā ʿUlamāʾ-e-Ḥadīth, Kitāb al-Ṣalāh, Volume 1

✿ Question:​

If a hadith is narrated by five or seven individuals and one of them is a sinner, immoral, or a liar—why is the hadith considered unreliable?

✿ Answer:​

This question arises from a partial understanding of ḥadīth methodology. Narrators of a ḥadīth belong to different generations and levels, and together they form a chain of transmission, known as the isnād.

◈ Analogy of the Chain and the Impact of Weakness​

The isnād is like a chain, and if any one link is weak, the entire chain is compromised—no matter how strong the other links may be.

If one narrator is a liar (kadhdhāb) or highly unreliable, his weakness corrupts the entire chain. The truthfulness of the other narrators cannot compensate for the falsehood introduced by the weak one.

It is similar to a scenario where only one narrator actually witnessed the event, and the others merely reported from him. If that original witness is not trustworthy, the entire narration becomes unacceptable.

✿ Multiple Narrators in the Same Generation​

However, if several narrators from the same generation report the hadith independently, and only one of them is weak, the weakness of one does not affect the overall reliability.

In such cases, the narration as a whole may be accepted, but the specific chain that includes the weak narrator will still be considered individually weak.

Your example belongs to this second category, where all narrators are contemporaries. Hence, the effect of a weak narrator may vary and requires detailed assessment.

Conclusion:​

In traditional ḥadīth sciences, the credibility of each narrator is vital. A single weak narrator in a vertical chain renders the specific transmission weak. But if there are multiple independent chains, a weak narrator among them may not invalidate the hadith overall.