Radd al-Jamil fi al-Dhabb an Irwa al-Ghalil
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- Dār al-Luʾluʾah lil-Ṭibāʿah wa-al-Nashr
Radd al-Jamil fi al-Dhabb ʿan Irwaʾ al-Ghalil (Arabic: رد الجميل في الذب عن إرواء الغليل, lit. 'Returning the Favor in Defense of Irwaʾ al-Ghalil') is a contemporary treatise on hadith criticism authored by Abu Abd al-Rahman Abdullah ibn Salih al-Ubaylan . The book is written as a scholarly rebuttal to Mustadrak al-Taʿlil ʿala Irwaʾ al-Ghalil by Dr. Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Khalil, defending the hadith evaluations made by Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani in his work Irwa al-Ghalil .
Background and Purpose
The author was prompted to write the work after a student brought Mustadrak al-Taʿlil ʿala Irwaʾ al-Ghalil to his attention . Upon reviewing it, al-Ubaylan concluded that al-Khalil had erred in the majority of his critical assessments (taʿqibat) against al-Albani's Irwaʾ al-Ghalil and had relied on an uncritical adherence (taqlid) to specific opinions on narrators and hidden defects (ʿilal), leading to the unwarranted weakening of hadiths that serve as foundational proofs in Islamic jurisprudence . Al-Ubaylan completed writing the book on 28 Jumada al-Ula 1429 AH .
Content and Methodology
Before addressing the specific hadiths critiqued by al-Khalil, al-Ubaylan outlines foundational principles in hadith methodology and critiques contemporary approaches to hadith evaluation :
- Ranks of Hadith Scholars: He emphasizes that hadith scholars differ in their level of legal understanding (fiqh), noting that the highest tier consists of those who integrate transmission, technical hadith expertise (dirayah), and deep comprehension of legal meanings .
- Corroboration of Weak Narrations: He affirms the principle established by classical authorities that weak narrations can elevate to the level of hasan (good) through multiple independent transmission routes when the deficiency stems from minor memory flaws rather than dishonesty .
- Practice of the Companions: He highlights the evidential weight of the Companions' practice (ʿamal al-sahabah) and their agreed-upon understanding as an essential tool for evaluating hadiths .
- Critique of the Early vs. Late Dichotomy: Al-Ubaylan warns against what he describes as an invented modern trend that draws a sharp, rigid methodological divide between early scholars (al-mutaqaddimun) and later scholars (al-mutaʾakhkhirun), arguing that it leads to disregarding the scholarship of later authorities and emboldens undue criticism against classical imams such as Ibn Taymiyyah .
Following these introductory principles, al-Ubaylan systematically examines the hadiths in Irwaʾ al-Ghalil that al-Khalil claimed were defective, offering detailed technical responses to defend the validity of al-Albani's conclusions .
Publication
The work was published in a single volume in its first edition in 1431 AH / 2010 CE, released jointly by Dar al-Luʾluʾah in Beirut, Lebanon, and al-Dar al-Athariyyah in Amman, Jordan .
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