Tahqiq al-Qawl bil-Amal bil-Hadith al-Daif
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- Editions
- Islamic University of Madinah
Tahqiq al-Qawl bil-Amal bil-Hadith al-Daif (Investigating the Position on Acting upon Weak Hadith) is a legal and hadith treatise by the Saudi scholar Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Uthaym examining the validity and conditions of acting upon weak hadiths in Islamic jurisprudence .
Background and Purpose
The treatise was authored by Abd al-Aziz al-Uthaym, an assistant professor at the College of Da'wah and Usul al-Din at Umm al-Qura University . In the introduction, the author states that he was prompted to write the work after observing varying scholarly positions regarding weak narrations—ranging from unconditional acceptance, to complete prohibition, to conditional permissibility in virtuous actions (fada'il al-a'mal) . Observing that the Quran and authentic Sunnah are sufficient for religious practice, he sought to compile the scattered arguments of classical scholars and provide an evidence-based assessment of narrations agreed to be weak .
Structure and Contents
The book is arranged into five main chapters followed by a conclusion :
- Chapter One: Narrations concerning the prohibition of lying against the Prophet ﷺ, the definition of lying, and the severe warnings associated with attributing unverified words to him .
- Chapter Two: Definition of the weak hadith and its various categories .
- Chapter Three: The obligation of distinguishing authentic narrations from weak ones .
- Chapter Four: The rules governing the narration of weak hadiths, differentiating between those suitable for corroboration (i'tibar) and those whose weakness is severe .
- Chapter Five: Acting upon weak hadiths, detailing the three scholarly opinions on the issue and discussing the validity of their respective proofs .
Method and Arguments
The author reviews the three classical viewpoints on the subject: total rejection of weak hadiths in both legal rulings and virtues (attributed to figures such as Yahya ibn Ma'in, Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, and Ibn Hazm, and inferred from the methods of al-Bukhari and Muslim); unconditional acceptance when no other evidence exists on a topic; and conditional acceptance exclusively in virtuous deeds and hortatory matters (al-targhib wa-l-tarhib) .
Al-Uthaym critiques the practice of acting upon weak hadiths even in virtuous deeds, arguing that recommending an act (istihbab) is a legal ruling (hukm shar'i) that cannot be established without sound evidence . He also argues that the conditions stipulated by scholars like Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani for acting on weak narrations are theoretical rather than practical for laypeople, leading ultimately to the prohibition of acting on unestablished reports .
Publication History
The treatise was published as an academic paper in the Journal of the Islamic University of Madinah (issues 67–68, 1423 AH / 2002 CE) . It was also issued as an independent monograph by Dar al-Hijrah in al-Khobar, reaching its second edition in 1412 AH / 1992 CE across 68 pages .
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