Here is one of the hadeeth I had in mind – it is saheeh!

“‘Abdullah b. ‘Amr b. al-’As reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: Verily, Allah does not take away knowledge by snatching it from the people but He takes away knowledge by taking away the scholars, so that when He leaves no learned person, people turn to ignorant as their, leaders; then they are asked to deliver religious verdicts and they deliver them without knowledge, they go astray, and lead others astray.” [Saheeh Muslim, Book 34, no. 6462]

Also, you may want to read the hadeeth on the ‘ruwaybida’, which is harsh and directed at the so-called ‘political and religious etc. commentators’ we find nowadays:

“Just before the Dajaal (anti-Christ will come) there will be years of great deception in which people will disbelieve one who tells the truth and believe the liar. They will distrust one who is trustworthy and trust one who is treacherous. And the ruwaybida will speak.” They (the Sahabah) asked, “Who is the ruwaybida?” He (saw) said, “The paltry man (al-fuwaysiq) who will have his say in general affairs.” [Musnad Imam Ahmad]

May Allaah give us all the tawfees to make extraneous efforts to Worship Him in the last 5 days of Ramadan, Ameen.

Br. Imran,

You should take your own advice.

You said, “I personally understand your viewpoint, however, taking into account the current climate of what I call ‘internet scholars’ and ‘armchair muftis’, it is not hard to see how many get carried away by being impressed with their own knowledge (the little that they have).”

Then you, YOURSELF goes on to state, “I believe there is a hadeeth warning the dangers of self-admiration.”

You BELIEVE? Here you are, condemning these ‘internet scholars’ and ‘armchair muftis’ and you yourself is doing exactly the same thing in referencing something you “believe” to be a hadith?

I don’t get some of you people…

I personally understand your viewpoint, however, taking into account the current climate of what I call ‘internet scholars’ and ‘armchair muftis’, it is not hard to see how many get carried away by being impressed with their own knowledge (the little that they have). I believe there is a hadeeth warning the dangers of self-admiration.

Abdullah ibn Mas’ood (RA) said in a lengthy narration: “How many there are who intend good, but do not achieve it.” [Darimi, Tabarani and others]

Traditionally the science of Hadeeth was usually the science that the ulema would devote the middle and latter part of their lives in (after the essentials of Aqeedah, Qur’an and Tafseer). It is a sacred science for which people need to prepare for and hold in the highest esteem.

I pray that your intentions are actualised and have the positive effect you set out to instil in Muslims.

Using the techniques that I am going to present are not a license for being “studied” in this science. There are thousands of volumes, thousands of opinions, and over a thousand years of research that need one with ijaazah to truly understand. The goal here is to simply give a brief overview. This article also gives the student the ability to do some research on their own, to verify what they are being told, and to have a basic understanding of the what and who of hadithic discussions.

It is simply an intro, a glimpse inside the window of ‘ilm ar-rijaal. In fact, I believe that when some students truly begin to utilize these methods they will fall deeply in love with the study, while others who do not understand the complexities of the field, will quickly understand them simply by a brief intro such as this.

So I disagree with your outlook and conclusions.

was-Salam,
Abul Layth

The reason why a layman is described as such is for the very purpose that he is NOT qualified to undertake such tasks. So this is a sincere advise to Abul Layth to think of the consequences his article will have on some naive Muslim who begin to think he has the capability to grade hadeeth.

Imam Bukhari records:’Abdullah bin ‘Amr bin Al’ Aas narrated: I heard Allah’s Apostle (SAW) saying, “Allah does not take away the knowledge, by taking it away from (the hearts of) the people, but takes it away by the death of the religious learned men till when none of the (religious learned men) remains, people will take as their leaders ignorant persons who when consulted will give their verdict without knowledge. So they will go astray and will lead the people astray.”

Thanks for this info

peace