Hadith Research

Hadith Research

Detecting the Root Cause of Sunni Thinkers' Turning away from Albᾱnῑ's Corrections

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Abdul Samad Aliabadi 1
Yahya Haqhani 2
1 Assistant Professor of Jurisprudence and Law, International University of Islamic Madhahib, Tehran, Iran; (Corresponding Author)
2 PhD in Comparative Studies, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran
10.22052/hadith.2023.248574.1273
Abstract
Introduction
Muhammad Naser al-Din al-Albᾱnῑ, whose scientific personality was influenced by the thoughts and ideas of Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn Qayyim and Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhᾱb, believed that if the opinions of the Islamic denominations' scholars contradict the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh) and authentic traditions (hadiths), the sayings of the scholars are baseless and invalid. Putting the words of scholars aside, he states that merely the Qur'an and the Sunnah are considered as the practice criterion. Moreover, the element of purification is notably considered by Albᾱnῑ in his works. According to Albᾱnῑ, purification means that since knowledge is the beginning of action, one must acquire real and refined knowledge from false opinions and thoughts by referring to the Book and Hadiths. Accordingly, he evaluated the traditional texts and divided the hadiths of Sihᾱh and Sunan Hadith Collections into authentic and weak, which, of course, has been criticized by a lot of Sunni scholars and has caused them to turn away from the Albᾱnῑ's corrections. Despite the importance of the present issue, according to the studies, no article has been written on it so far. This article does not seek to examine the Albᾱnῑ's method; Rather, its purpose is to trace the roots of Sunni thinkers' turning away from his corrections. Comparing the famous traditionists' method with the Albᾱnῑ's in correcting hadiths, it analyzes and examines the view of Sunni thinkers in the way of applying the noted rules and the correctness of their point of view, which is considered as an innovation of this research.
Materials and Methods
This research, which is carried out in a descriptive-analytical method, with the aim of finding the root of Sunni scholars' turning away from Albᾱnῑ's corrections, compares Albᾱanῑ's opinions with Sunni traditionists' on the rules of correction to determine that the origin of their turning away is the difference in his view on the rules or it has another reason, that is he was not obliged to follow these rules everywhere.
Results and Findings
Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albᾱnῑ is a famous and prolific traditionist (muhaddith) in the Salafi school. Most of his writings are in the field of hadith studies and he has corrected the hadiths based on his own opinion. Although Sunni scholars have often turned away from his corrections, the root cause of this action has not been detected. Albᾱnῑ's fame in hadith research and the conflicting views of contemporary scholars and hadith researchers about his ability or inability in hadith, require that the reason for the turning away of Sunni thinkers regarding his correction of hadiths be traced. It is necessary to identify and introduce it, which, while discovering it in the field of hadith studies, will be useful for researchers of hadith methods. The research question is, "Why Sunni thinkers turn away from the Albᾱnῑ's corrections?" The root of this turning should be searched according to the rules of correcting hadith or the method of evaluating hadith by Albᾱnῑ. The findings show that Albᾱnῑ has almost a common view with other traditionist scholars regarding the rules of correction; However, his method of applying rules when correcting hadith is seriously criticized by scholars, and he is accused of distorting the views of traditionists, omitting or changing names in the chain of transmitters (tadlῑs), inconsistency in correcting, correcting weak hadith, etc.
Conclusion

Many Sunni thinkers turn away from the Albᾱnῑ's corrections and ignore them. In this case, there are two possibilities: firstly, in the process of correcting hadith, he disregarded or opposed the famous rules of hadith scholars in correcting hadiths; Second, his method in evaluating and applying correction rules has been seriously criticized by Sunni thinkers.
Al-Albᾱnῑ agrees with the famous traditionists about the correction rules. Therefore, the reason why the scholars turned away from his corrections is not under the shadow of this view.
Albᾱnῑ and famous hadith scholars do not consider the action and fatwa of the scholar according to a hadith, the agreement of the hadith with the dream, the agreement of the hadith with the realities of the society, taste and experience, discovery and mystical intuition, the reputation of a tradition and the authenticity of the transmitters of a hadith, as proof of the authenticity of a hadith.
Albᾱnῑ and the famous traditionists accept the rule of "accepting a hadith that is accepted by the people"; But Albᾱnῑ considers the meaning of "Al-Nᾱs (people)" to be traditionists, and famous traditionists say that it means scholars, which includes non-traditionist as well.
Alᾱnῑ and famous traditionists believe that there is no connection between the authenticity of the hadiths and the correctness of the text, and the weakness of the traditions and the weakness of the text, but they consider it obligatory to follow the correct hadith.
Distortion of the traditionists' view, tadlῑs, inconsistency in correcting, correcting weak hadith, lack of familiarity with the transmitters of hadith, little ability in weakening and praising the reporter, and confusing the reporters of hadith are among the reasons why Sunni thinkers turn away from Albᾱnῑ's corrections.
In order to clarify the correctness of the objections raised about Albᾱnῑ's corrections, some of them were examined, including: contradictions in corrections, correcting weak hadiths, distortion of the traditionists' opinions, confusion of hadith reporters, and lack of his knowledge about sanads (chain of transmitters). The results of the investigation indicate that Saqᾱf's statement regarding the fact that Albᾱnῑ considered weak hadith to be authentic is not correct, at least compared to Hakim ibn Jubair's hadith.
Keywords
Albᾱnῑ
Albᾱnῑ's Corrections
Method of Hadith Scholars in Correcting Hadith
Sunni Thinkers
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Hadith Research
Volume 16, Issue 2 - Serial Number 32
32
November 2024
Pages 265-296