Risala fi al-Kalam ala Ahkam Khabar al-Wahid wa Sharaitihi - ضمن "Athar al-Muallimi

Risala fi al-Kalam ala Ahkam Khabar al-Wahid wa Sharaitihi (Treatise on the Rulings and Conditions of Solitary Reports) is a treatise in legal theory and hadith methodology by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (1313–1386 AH / 1894–1966 CE), examining the epistemic value, legal authority, and transmitter requirements of solitary hadith transmissions (khabar al-wahid) Risala fi al-Kalam ala Ah…+1.

Composition and Purpose

Al-Muallimi explained that he undertook the work after observing that early scholars' discussions regarding transmitter criticism and accreditation (al-jarh wa-al-ta'dil) were sparse and dispersed, whereas later writers held divergent views lacking thorough verification, occasionally straying from accuracy Risala fi al-Kalam ala Ah…+1. Having verified several intricate issues not found in earlier references, he recorded his findings and integrated them with a dedicated treatment of the rulings and conditions governing solitary reports Risala fi al-Kalam ala Ah…+1.

Structure and Contents

Although designed around three chapters, only the first two chapters survive in the author's draft; the third chapter is missing from the manuscript Athar Abd al-Rahman ibn Y…+1.

• Chapter One: Issues Concerning Solitary Reports Divided into four sections:

  1. Obligation of Action: Asserts the requirement of acting upon solitary reports using Quranic evidence, while refuting the arguments of Western writers and their followers, the Kharijites, Rafidites, select Mutazilites and Jahmis, and extremist jurists of legal reasoning who diverged from the methodology of hadith scholars Athar Abd al-Rahman ibn Y…+1.
  2. Epistemic Value: Explains that although acting upon a sound solitary report is definitively binding, its attribution to the Prophet ﷺ remains probabilistic (zanni) Athar Abd al-Rahman ibn Y…+1. It clarifies earlier statements attributing certainty (ilm) to such reports, reconciling them as referring to binding legal status, probability unmarred by counter-evidence, or reports corroborated by external indicators or accepted by scholarly consensus Athar Abd al-Rahman ibn Y….
  3. Rationale for Obligatory Action: Discusses whether probability is the operative cause (illa) or the underlying rationale (hikma), favoring the latter and setting the transmission of a trustworthy narrator without anomaly (shudhudh) or impairing defect (illa) as the operative criterion Athar Abd al-Rahman ibn Y…+1.
  4. Comparison Between Narration and Testimony: Addresses the paradox of requiring fewer witnesses for universal religious transmission than for judicial testimony, offering three rebuttals centered on religious necessity, the superior evidential strength of verified transmitters over judicial witnesses, and divine preservation of the religion Athar Abd al-Rahman ibn Y…+1.

• Chapter Two: Conditions of Authoritativeness Outlines three categories of conditions, though only the first—conditions required of the transmitter at the time of narration—is extant Athar Abd al-Rahman ibn Y…+1. Al-Muallimi discusses uprightness (adala) and whether an uncritical transmission by a reliable narrator amounts to accreditation Athar Abd al-Rahman ibn Y…+1. He examines precision (dabt), defining it as the synthesis of internal retention (thabat) and careful verification at delivery (tathabbut), and discusses the critical methods of Ibn Hibban and al-Ijli Athar Abd al-Rahman ibn Y…+1.

Manuscript and Publication

The unique holographic manuscript is preserved in the library of the Great Mosque of Mecca (MS 4665, pp. 1–20) inside a tall ledger with over thirty lines per page, exhibiting water damage around the upper edges, marginal insertions, and authorial cancellations Athar Abd al-Rahman ibn Y…. The treatise was published within the collected legal theory treatises (Majmu Rasa'il Usul al-Fiqh, volume 19) of Athar al-Muallimi, edited by Muhammad Uzair Shams Athar Abd al-Rahman ibn Y…+1.