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rejected Allah's Guidance with which I have been sent
.''
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Commentary:
This Hadith has already been mentioned, and is repeated here to highlight the eminence of
knowledge and to induce Muslims to gain it. We learn from this Hadith that there are three categories of people.
First, those who acquire knowledge of the Qur'an and Hadith, act upon it and also impart it to others. Such people
benefit from this knowledge themselves and extend this benefit to others also. By virtue of this quality they are the
best of all. Second, those people who acquire knowledge and impart it to others, but do not fulfill the requirements
of that knowledge. Such people are inferior in rank to the people of the first category and can be taken to task for
their omissions. Third, those who shun the knowledge of the Qur'an and Hadith. Neither they study and hear the two
themselves for their own benefit, nor do they acquire knowledge to impart it to others for their benefit. This is the
worst category of people. Every Muslim should try to be in the first category of the people.
1379
ُﻪْﻨﻋ ﻪﱠﻠﻟا ﻲﺿر ، ﻲﻠَﻌِﻟ َلﺎَﻗ ﻢﱠﻠَﺳو ِﻪْﻴَﻠَﻋ ُﷲا ﻰّﻠَﺻ ﻲﺒﻨﻟا ﱠنأ ، ُﻪْﻨﻋ ﻪﱠﻠﻟا ﻲﺿر ، ٍﺪﻌﺳ ﻦﺑ ِﻞْﻬَﺳ ْﻦَﻋو
:
»
ﻢﻌﱠﻨﻟا ِﺮْﻤُﺣ ﻦﻣ َﻚﻟ ٌﺮْﻴَﺧ ًاﺪِﺣاو ًﻼُﺟر َﻚِﺑ ﻪﱠﻠﻟا َيِﺪْﻬﻳ ْنﻷ ِﻪﱠﻠﻟا ﻮﻓ
«
ِﻪﻴﻠﻋ ٌﻖﻔﺘﻣ
.
1379.
Sahl bin Sa`d (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (PBUH) said to `Ali (May Allah be
pleased with him), "
By Allah, if a single person is guided by Allah through you, it will be better for you than a
whole lot of red camels
.''
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
Commentary:
"
Better for you than red camels
'' is an allegory for every thing that is better than anything else. Red
camels used to be precious in Arabia, and their reference here is to highlight the value of guidance. Thus, this Hadith
brings into prominence the importance of calling people towards Allah. But before calling others to the path of
Allah, one must himself know it, and for this purpose, the knowledge of the Qur'an and Hadith is essential because
one cannot provide any guidance in this respect without this knowledge.
1380
لﺎﻗ ﻢﱠﻠَﺳو ِﻪْﻴَﻠَﻋ ُﷲا ﻰّﻠَﺻ ﻲﺒﻨﻟا ﱠنأ ، ﺎﻤُﻬْﻨﻋ ﻪﱠﻠﻟا ﻲﺿر ، صﺎﻌﻟا ﻦﺑ وﺮﻤﻋ ﻦﺑ ﻪﱠﻠﻟا ِﺪﺒﻋ ﻦﻋو
:
» اﻮُﻐﱢﻠﺑ
ﱠﻨﻟا ﻦﻣ ُﻩﺪَﻌْﻘَﻣ ْأﱠﻮَﺒﺘﻴْﻠَﻓ ًاﺪﱢﻤﻌَﺘُﻣ ﱠﻲَﻠﻋ بَﺬَآ ْﻦﻣو ، َجﺮَﺣ ﻻَو ﻞﻴﺋاَﺮْﺳإ ﻲﻨﺑ ْﻦﻋ اﻮُﺛﱢﺪَﺣو ، ًﺔَﻳﺁ ْﻮَﻟو ﻲﱢﻨَﻋ
رﺎ«
ﻩاور
ﺎﺨﺒﻟا
ير .
1380.
`Abdullah bin `Amr bin Al-`As (May Allah be pleased with them) reported: The Prophet (PBUH) said,
"
Convey from me even an Ayah of the Qur'an; relate traditions from Banu Israel, and there is no restriction on that;
but he who deliberately forges a lie against me let him have his abode in the Hell.
''
[Al-Bukhari].
Commentary:
This Hadith contains the following three important points:
1. It stresses the importance of acquiring knowledge of the Qur'an and Hadith and imparting it to others. No matter
whether one has more or less knowledge, he must communicate it to others. There is no justification to presume that
preaching or inviting to the Message of Allah is the duty of religious scholars and those who are well-versed in this
sphere. In fact, it is a duty upon every Muslim, so much so that if a person knows even a single Verse of the Qur'an,
that is to say if he knows only one injunction of Allah, he is duty bound to communicate it to other people.
2. It allows the communication of Jewish Traditions but this permission is subject to the condition that such
Traditions are not against the elucidations of the Qur'an and Hadith.
3. There is a stern warning on attributing any false saying to the Prophet (PBUH). This demands strict scrutiny of
Ahadith. If a Hadith does not have a reliable authority or whose chain of narrators has a false link or a person of
doubtful integrity, that is to say if it is weak, then it is a serious offense to quote it as a Hadith of the Prophet
(PBUH). There are various grades of weakness, and this requires deep knowledge of the narrators and principles of
Hadith to know them since scholars who are expert in this discipline are few and far. The safest course for ordinary
scholars is to refrain from stating such Ahadith which are weak, no matter whether the weakness is serious or slight.
The reason is that although the majority of Muhaddithun consider the slightly weak Ahadith acceptable but they
cannot be identified by everybody. Thus, every Hadith which is marked as weak should not be mentioned. In the
present age Sheikh Nasiruddin Al-Albani has done a very remarkable work in this field. He has separated the weak
Ahadith found in the four famous volumes of Ahadith (
Sunnan Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi, An-Nasa'i and Ibn Majah
)
from the authentic and prepared separate volumes of authentic and weak Ahadith. This work of Al-Albani has made
it easy for the ordinary `Ulama' to identify the weak Ahadith. Only a man of Sheikh Al-Albani's calibre can do
research on it. The ordinary `Ulama' and religious scholars of the Muslims are heavily indebted to him for this great
work and they should keep it in view before mentioning any Hadith. They should mention only the authentic
Ahadith and refrain from quoting the weak ones. It is wrong to ignore this work on the ground that Sheikh Al-Albani
is not the last word on the subject. There can be a possibility of error in his work because it is after all a human
effort, but it will be very unfair to regard his effort of no account merely because of a possible error. It is regrettable
indeed that only because of this possible error many people refuse to accept even the correctness of the Sahihain.
(
i.e., Sahih Al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim
). Should we then accept their view? No, certainly not. So there is no sense
586
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