# Can a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari be questioned? *Are you challenging Sahih al-Bukhari? What sahih means, insertions, and the rarity of mutawatir* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ksqksrxndnw/s/12/ - Date: 2020-04-22 · Kind: discussion · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Shaykh Dr. Shabir Ally | Juxtaposing the Quran, Jumbling Aisha's age & Jinn Possession | MindTrap#16 (54:33–1:01:06) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsQKsrXndNw&t=3273s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ksqksrxndnw/ **Topics:** Sahih al-Bukhari (BukhariGate); Mutawatir and certainty; Guest conversations **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Sahih means Bukhari and Muslim verified the chains, which says little about the content, since reliable narrators still err and insert explanations; only the few mutawatir reports, mostly practices like the number of units in prayer, are beyond doubt. Mufti Abu Layth says he believes all the hadith on Aisha's age are weak. ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth says he personally believes all the hadith on Aisha's age are weak and will go through every chain with another guest in a separate episode. He then puts the allegation that in questioning reports such as these and the apostasy hadith they are challenging Bukhari, the gold standard of Sunni Islam. The guest says the masses have been given a simple picture of a complex matter: among the six books, Ibn Majah has been questioned and Bukhari and Muslim rank first as collections of sahih hadith, but sahih means that the compilers verified the chains, Bukhari requiring an established relationship between each narrator and his source and Muslim accepting that they could have met, and this says little about the content. Good people make mistakes in what they narrate, as comparing versions shows, so a chain of reliable narrators does not guarantee that what comes out is what was first said; sometimes an explanatory insertion, idraj, becomes part of the text, which only comparison of narratives reveals. The highest test is tawatur: a hadith narrated through so many chains that collusion is inconceivable. Most Muslims do not know this and are told simply to take what is in Bukhari and Muslim, but those are mostly single-narrator reports, khabar al-ahad; only a few hadith are mutawatir, most of those in practice rather than in words, such as the four units of Dhuhr and three of Maghrib, since Muslims narrated by meaning in their own words until the science tightened, by which time much water had flowed under the bridge. ## Sources and names cited - Dr Shabir Ally (guest) - Aisha - report: married her when she was six and consummated the marriage when she was nine - Sahih al-Bukhari - Sahih Muslim - Sunan Ibn Majah - the six books - Imam al-Bukhari - Imam Muslim - sahih - idraj (insertion) - mutawatir - khabar al-ahad - riwaya bil-ma'na (transmission by meaning) - judging a report by its content (matn) ## Transcript (machine tier, 54:33–1:01:06) [54:11] what is related in that narrative absolutely and and on that note just to cut to kind of mention there people like Imam Malik had mentioned that it was not permissible generally to to marry girls he'd mentioned unless they were nubile and you'd mentioned that in his photo and regarding just for the viewers regarding the hadith and the essay needs some people had asked all the hadith week I do personally believe that all the hadith regarding this are weak and I'm a separate episode I will be with another guest we'll go through the [54:51] entire every single summit of hadith to do with the age of Aisha showing the weakness in that particular episode but he or she I want you to say that just hi following on from what you said this thing about look people have this understanding that this is in Bihari regard even what we spoke about earlier on the hadith of apostasy laws is in Buhari is I mean are you not challenging this is the the allegation you are challenging the the masterpiece the [55:29] golden standard of now what is being claimed to be Sunni Islam because it's in variety I mean what are your thoughts on this claim well you know the the the masses of Muslims have been given just a simple way of looking this the matter is more complex than this one Buhari indeed is the masterpiece like among the the great collections of sunni hadith works there are six which are known as a heceta and this has been termed by some as a misnomer but nonetheless this is a popular way of designating the six books [56:06] if no Masha among them you know the questions have been raised about even imagined and many of the narratives within it and that leaves the other five Bihari Muslim term easy abu dawood messiah and among those five Bukhari and Muslim rank paramount and they are referred to as collections of sahih hadith but what is meant by Asahi Hadees it means that the collectors Bukhari and Muslim went through these narratives in in detail checking and verifying the chain of narrators and so they would only accept hadith from narrators who [56:44] were known and who were known to be in contact with each other or in the case of Muslims of hadith narrators who could have theoretically at least like the practical circumstances was such that they could have met so to be clear for imam abu ha albahari it was necessary to know that if he is saying that a told me and then it there must have been an established relationship between a and B so we know that that when b is saying he got it from a he didn't make it up he got you know he Able's a real person and they were in contact with each other whereas [57:24] for imam muslim it was sufficient that they were in the same town or in the same era so he had a slightly less strict rule about who to accept and and the narratives to accept but that says little about the actual content of the hadith itself and we know that even good people can mistake what they what they narrate and in fact we know that they have over time because we can compare the narrations of good people over time and we can see that the good person also makes mistakes in what they what didn't aerate so the the fact that [58:02] you have a chain of narrators of all good people is not a guarantee that the that the thing that finally comes out through that chain of narration narration is actually the original and genuine thing that was originally being narrated from the first narrator and down to the down to the end changes have occurred and sometimes occur and and this is often discovered by Muslim scholars so sometimes you ask me previously about a certain hadith like is this fabricated and the answer is is that hadith it doesn't have to be [58:38] fabricated like whole as it is it there could be accretions along the way what the muslim scholar is referred to as a mod raj and insertion sometimes someone tries to explain this hadith because something is not very clear so he inserts some words in order to explain the hadith and then but the explanation is put in such a way that the way it is passed down it comes down to us as if it's all one whole piece and and we don't realize that there's an explanation that was inserted by somebody there only by comparing two narratives we can see that one contains the explanation and and the other one [59:18] doesn't and it looks like it's not that the explanation dropped out of the of the other one it is somebody has actually inserted an explanation here and so over time the hadith could have been transformed from one person to another even though they are related by good persons the this most severe test of a hadith - and the highest ranking hadith having passed these tests are the hadith which are classified as motiroti er and most Muslims don't seem to know this all they're being told is that take the hadees which are none bihari know the hadees which are in bihari and [59:57] muslim and the other books there are what is referred to as you know share as a hadith a hat they are singles narrator hadith it could be tour three narrators as well but it doesn't reach that stage where it can be hwacha and what a watcher hadith on the other hand is such a hadith that has been narrated by so many different chains of narrators and that it is hard to see how they could have all colluded and to produce this singular narrative yes the narrative is genuine and original unfortunately only a few hadith [1:00:35] are of the motivator category and among the few most of them are motivator not in words but in deeds and and we follow those like for example the fact that we have our door prayer is for our cats and a smuggler prayer as three records this has come down to us through motiroti narrations so we know we have no doubt that this is not this is the number this is the case door for at maverick three records but very few as I said hadith sir of the motiroti category and among them are very few armata watcher in the exact words what has happened in fact is that muslims ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment KsQKsrXndNw/s/12. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ksqksrxndnw/s/12/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.