# Which hadith book is the most authentic?

*Which is the most authentic hadith book? Each hadith on its merits*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eo90sv4jvho/s/6/
- Date: 2021-01-05 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #196 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (17:21–20:22)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo90sV4JVHo&t=1041s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eo90sv4jvho/

**Topics:** Hadith collections and their history; Sahih al-Bukhari (BukhariGate); The Muwatta and the Mudawwana

**Question as asked:** What is the most authentic hadith book?

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth takes each hadith on its merits rather than trusting one book; if anything, he would call Imam Malik's Muwatta the most authentic.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says he would not single out a particular hadith book, taking each hadith on its merits, but if anything he supposes he would call the Muwatta of Imam Malik the most authentic.

**Evidence, his words at 19:16:** “I would not advocate a particular book uh I would say if anything the the most classic book we have of hadith is the m of IM Malik” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo90sV4JVHo&t=1156s)

## Longer summary

Asked which is the most authentic hadith book, Mufti Abu Layth says his approach is to take every hadith on its merits rather than make a particular book sacrosanct. He accepts that some muhaddithun, Imam Bukhari among them, had more stringent rules, such as requiring that narrators had met, but says that does not make the net product above all other books, since we do not know what made him choose his content and some of it is problematic. He adds that there are dubious claims about whether the book we have today is what he compiled, referring viewers to his BukhariGate video. He says that if anything the most authentic is the Muwatta of Imam Malik, though Malik himself rejects some of the hadith in it.

## Sources and names cited

- al-Bukhari
- Sahih al-Bukhari
- al-Muwatta
- Imam Malik

## Transcript (machine tier, 17:21–20:22)

[16:46] So, what is going down people? What is going down? Ah, Prince J says, "Musty, please give me a shout out." Cello since it's 2021. Go on. Not so not so other people as a first choard shout out going out. This is to uh prince [Music] you you you you you people.

[17:20] So what is going on, right? The most authentic hadith book. My um my approach on how to handle hadith is that we take all hadith uh upon their merits. So it's not that we take a particular book and make it sacrosan.

[17:50] I don't I do accept that some of the scholars of hadith sorry some of the muhadith had tighter uh more rigid rules in compiling their their work. I do accept that Imam Bkari uh who although is by no means perfect but his rules to set up his book um are more stringent than certain other folks.

[18:19] That is unquestionably true. However, that does not mean that the net product is the you above all other books of hadith because even though that may be the case, he had more stringent regulations on the narrators had to have met each other and stuff like this.

[18:47] But the content of what he puts in his book, we don't know what made him choose that content. So he has so many hadith to choose from and he chooses the content. Now some of it may be obvious because he believes in it. Some of it maybe I don't know. I mean but all we do know is he's put it together and some of it is problematic.

[19:16] We also know that there's a lot of uh then you know there's some dubious uh claims as to what he put together is the same book we have today and that's the whole content of my Bkari gate video feel free to watch it but cool so I would not advocate a particular book uh I would say if anything the the most classic book we have of hadith is the m of IM Malik Um but it's I'm not trying to say that um I suppose I I would say the most

[19:55] authentic is then the m of IM Malik but what Malik has taught us in the book is that we reject as well as accept these hadith. So there's hadith in the MA that Malik is rejecting. Rahimahi from Germany says much love much love to you too Gio Gio. He says Li.

[20:21] So Dean you're doing it. Much love for the super chat. There's another super chat there by Isa. Can we start calling Corona virus the UK virus originates from there? Uh it doesn't originate from there but they're speaking about the mutation. Now to be fair you know there's when you look at works um viruses often mutate all the time given in many cases even within a set number of weeks a virus will mutate.

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment eo90sV4JVHo/s/6. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eo90sv4jvho/s/6/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.