Our scholars of Hadith regard verse 6 of Surah al-Hujurat
to be the source for verifying the reliability or
unreliability of the narrators of Hadith as a result of which
the great science of rijal was born – which is one of the
sciences of which Muslims are the pioneers. The verse reads:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِيْنَ آمَنُوْا إِنْ
جَآءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَأٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوْا أَن تُصِيْبُوْا
قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوْا عَلَى مَا فَعَلْتُمْ
نَادِمِيْنَ.
Believers! If a
defiant person brings you a piece of news, investigate it
thoroughly lest you assail someone unknowingly then regretting
your action. (49:6)
This verse directs Muslims to fully investigate news given
to them by a fasiq. This directive is indeed a general one,
for it is essential to investigate all news likely to have
far-fetched consequences. However, if someone attributes a
report to the Prophet (sws), then it is even more important
that it be scrutinized. The Prophet (sws) is a divinely
appointed guide: each of his directives and practices is the
best exemplar for the Muslims. If something is wrongly
ascribed to him and it is accepted without inquiry, then this
can result in loss not only in this world but in the Hereafter
as well.
Though the verse only asks Muslims to investigate the news
given by a fasiq, yet it is obvious that if a narrator is
majhul such that neither is he known to be trustworthy nor
untrustworthy, then it is essential that he too be researched.
This is because there is a chance that in accepting the report
of an unknown narrator that person turns out in reality to be
a fasiq. Thus scholars of Hadith have always investigated
majhul narrators so that their reliability or unreliability
can be ascertained. If they were not able to find out the
details of a narrator, they rejected him by regarding him to
be majhul.
It is also evident from the verse that this investigation
is essential when a fasiq gives a piece of news that has far
reaching consequences. This is because the word used is
نَبَأ which is used for a piece of
news that is important and has far reaching consequences. This
word is not used for a common piece of news or incident. Thus
in general matters of every day life there is nothing wrong in
accepting the information of a fasiq.
The verse asks Muslims to investigate both the narrator and
his narration since the words used are: “Believers! When a
fasiq brings a piece of news to you, investigate it.” It is
obvious that the object of the verb
فَتَبَيَّنُوْا is both the narrator and his narration;
in fact, that the narration is the object of the verb is even
more evident. This is because it is already known that the
narrator is fasiq. In the investigation of a report, just as
the reliability and trustworthiness of a narrator is
important, even more important is to critically evaluate the
words of the report, its context and background, its
accordance or discordance with other reports, its analysis in
the light of reason and revelation and, most important of all,
its harmony with the Book of God and related things. If only
the narrator is scrutinized and all these aspects are
disregarded, then it cannot be said that research has been
thoroughly done. Our scholars of Hadith mostly stress on
scrutinizing the narrator and do not give much importance to
scrutinizing the content of the report with regard to the
aspects I have just referred to. This is in spite of the fact
that without researching these aspects we cannot say that the
investigation is thorough. It is for this reason that our
jurists have enunciated principles to scrutinize the contents
of a report and this process is called darayah. The greatest
share in this service is that of Imam Abu Hanifah (ra). By
contributing in this regard, he has not only done a great
favour to fiqh, he has also done a great service to the
discipline of Hadith. Had our scholars of Hadith properly
applied these principles, the great propaganda and uproar
against Hadith would never have originated by mischief-mongers
which opened the way to many interventions in religion by many
misled sects. If God gives me the urge and time to write my
proposed book on the principles of deliberation on Hadith, I
will insha’Allah try to elaborate upon the value and
importance of these principles.
It is evident from the above details that it is in
accordance with this explicit directive of the Qur’an that our
scholars of Hadith have exposed fasiq and majhul narrators.
However, in these times, some well-wishers of such narrators
have asserted that exposing the faults of these narrators
amounts to backbiting which the Qur’an has prohibited in verse
12 of this very surah and regarded it to be equivalent to
consuming the flesh of one’s dead brother. In their opinion,
because of a certain “strategy,” the scholars of Hadith
legalized this prohibition in order to save religion from the
narratives of fasiq narrators. From this point, they
postulated an even deeper and subtle point that none of the
prohibitions of the shari‘ah is eternal. Hence, the leader of
an Islamic Movement (Tahrik-i Islami) has the right under the
requisites of this “strategy” to legalize a prohibition. I
have already humbly commented on these views in some of my
articles;
there is neither need nor requirement to repeat this critique
here. It suffices to ask would the scholars of Hadith legalize
a thing as filthy as backbiting as part of this so called
“strategy” when the Qur’an has so explicitly directed to
expose the fasiq and majhul narrators?
It also needs to be kept in consideration that regarding
the impugning of narrators to be backbiting is the work of the
exponents of tasawwuf. Since the whole edifice of tasawwuf
stands on weak and baseless narratives, when the scholars of
Hadith began researching into the narrators of a report, these
people thought that if this work continued fearlessly the
whole edifice of tasawwuf would be razed to the ground. In
order to safeguard themselves from this danger, the exponents
of tasawwuf started to allege that the scholars of Hadith were
indulging in backbiting. This point became very popular among
the circles of tasawwuf. It was adopted by some minds of the
present age who dubbed it as “strategy”, and, on this basis,
enunciated such a principle which could disfigure the whole
religion.
In the end, another thing about this verse should be kept
in mind. Some scholars of Hadith and fiqh, while investigating
the narratives of a fasiq person, gave importance to the
practical fisq which emanated from him while disregarding the
fisq of his belief and ideology. It is their opinion that if a
person is guilty of some practical fisq like telling a lie or
has a bad moral conduct, then his narrative and testimony
shall no doubt not be accepted; however, if he has belief
which can be regarded as fisq, then merely on this basis his
narrative or testimony shall not be rejected. In my opinion,
this view is absolutely wrong. Experience shows that the
number of narratives fabricated by people having beliefs which
reflect fisq are much more than those fabricated by people
whose deeds reflect fisq. Their narratives are found in great
numbers in books of sirah, tafsir, tasawwuf and history and
have been misused by innovators and misguided sects. May God
have mercy on the scholars who have given this concession to
narrators having fisq in their beliefs and in this manner set
this ummah on a trial which is not at all easy for the
upright.
In my opinion, this division between fisq in belief and
fisq in practice is meaningless. There is nothing in the
Qur’an and Hadith which supports this view. The general
principle stated earlier regarding fasiq people is in
accordance with reason and revelation if it is applied to the
people who have fisq in their beliefs: their report and
testimony shall be accepted in all matters in which the report
of a disbeliever is acceptable; however in important matters,
in particular religious ones, their report and testimony
cannot possibly be accepted.
(Translated by Dr Shehzad Saleem)
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