The rejected hadith according to al-Hafiz Ibn al-Asqalani In his book Taqribi al-Tahdhib (A critical study)

Abstract

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, and all his companions. It is well-known among scholars that Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani is the master of the sciences of Hadith, biographies, defects, and the knowledge of men. His pronouncements are considered decisive in judging Hadiths and the biographies of the narrators of Hadith. He authored many books on the sciences of Hadith, which no student of knowledge can do without, due to their immense benefit and the breadth of their knowledge. Among these books is the book "Taqrib Al-Tahdhib," which deals with the biographies of the narrators of the six canonical books of Hadith and the rulings concerning them. This book is an abridgment of his larger work, "Tahdhib Tahdhib Al-Kamal." During my reading of this book, I found that Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar uses the term "munkar al-hadith" (rejected Hadith) for some narrators. This term is not among the twelve levels of criticism and commendation that Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar established in this book. This prompted me to wonder what he meant by it, which led me to conduct a critical study of these narrators. To determine their standing in the field of hadith criticism (jarh wa ta'dil), I examined and compiled the statements of hadith scholars regarding the narrator whom Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani labeled "munkar al-hadith" (rejected hadith), in order to ascertain his status and whether he deserved this label.

The study yielded positive results, most notably:

1. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani labeled seventeen narrators "munkar al-hadith," and I critically analyzed all of them.

2. The study clearly shows that those labeled "munkar al-hadith" are often described as such due to the scarcity of their narrations and their being the sole narrators of those narrations. This renders them unknown and weak, as they are the only ones who narrated the hadiths and there is no corroboration. This falls under the first category of "munkar al-hadith".

3. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani also applied the term "munkar al-hadith" to narrators who were considered unreliable or fabricators. This falls under the second category of "munkar al-hadith," meaning that the weak or extremely weak narrator transmitted hadiths that contradicted those of.

4. trustworthy narrators, thus warranting rejection. And Allah knows best. The study's findings reveal that Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar was correct in his use of the term "munkar al-hadith" (rejected hadith) in all his biographical entries. This clearly demonstrates the immense stature and eminence of Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar and his profound expertise in the fields of hadith criticism and biographical evaluation.

5. It is also noteworthy that Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar frequently adopts the. harshest opinions of prominent hadith critics regarding narrators. This may be to ensure the narrator's reliability and to avoid accepting hadiths without verifying their authenticity by comparing them to the narrations of trustworthy scholars. And Allah knows best.

Keywords: Al-Hafiz, Ibn Hajar, munkar al-hadith, I said, narrator, he said