Is it True Daraqutni Classified Some Authentic Hadiths as Weak?
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
Is there any agreed-upon hadith classified as weak by Daraqutni in his book al-Ilzamat wa al-Tatabbu‘ or by any other Hadith scholar? I have heard that Daraqutni has classified 32 agreed-upon hadith as weak. Is it true or false?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.
In his Kitab al-Tatabbu‘, Daraqutni argues for the weakness of 78 hadiths in Bukhari, 100 in Muslim, and 32 in both, based on isnad and matn criticism.
Imam Nawawi mentions that the two Sahihs differ from all other books in the sense that whatever is mentioned in them is considered to be sahih (authentic) and does not require further investigation. Ibn Salah, on the other hand, stated that anything that is narrated by either Bukhari or Muslim enters the category of what is definitely sahih. However, there are a few letters to which some of the expert critics objected, such as Daraqutni and others – and these are known to the specialists.
The questions are sometimes asked
- Whether all the ‘Ulama of Hadith agree that all the hadiths in Bukhari and Muslim are sahih or,
- If there are any scholars who consider them to contain some weak narrations, and
- Whether one who believes that “the Sahihayn are not 100% sahih” is an innovator.
Some of the greatest authorities on hadith, such as Ibn Salah, Ibn Kathir, and Suyuti, have answered yes to the first question. Imam al-Haramain, Ibn al-Juwayni, said that if a man swore on the pains of divorce that all that is in Bukhari and Muslim is sahih, his marriage would be safe. However, Imam Daraqutni said that a small number of hadith may not reach that level, so the answer to the second question has to be yes. Nonetheless, objections were refuted one by one by Ibn Hajar at the beginning of Fath al-Bari and Imam Nawawi at the beginning of Sharh Sahih Muslim.
[Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari; Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim]
The short question “whether the Sahihayn is 100% sahih or not” is misleading, for the Umma far and wide – generation after generation – have been satisfied that they are.
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Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
