1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,459 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. 2 00:00:03,459 --> 00:00:10,000 “Is he who payeth adoration in the watches of the night, prostrate and standing, bewaring of the Hereafter and hoping for the mercy of his Lord, (to be accounted equal with a disbeliever)? Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Are those who know equal with those who know not? But only men of understanding will pay heed.” (39:9) 3 00:00:10,699 --> 00:00:16,899 The Splendor of Knowledge according to the Sages. 4 00:00:16,899 --> 00:00:21,699 By Dr. Hamza Ibn Fayi' Al Fathi. 5 00:00:21,699 --> 00:00:23,500 May Allah preserve him. 6 00:00:27,469 --> 00:00:29,870 The Guardians of the Earth. 7 00:00:29,870 --> 00:00:34,340 Sufyan Al Thawri said: 8 00:00:34,340 --> 00:00:37,340 The jurist and mujtahid, may Allah have mercy on him, 9 00:00:37,340 --> 00:00:41,340 who passed away in the year 161 AH. 10 00:00:41,340 --> 00:00:44,590 The angels are the guardians of the heavens, 11 00:00:44,590 --> 00:00:49,969 and the scholars of hadith are the guardians of the earth. 12 00:00:49,969 --> 00:00:52,969 Just as the angels are guards in the heavens, 13 00:00:52,969 --> 00:00:54,969 whom Allah has chosen for that task, 14 00:00:54,969 --> 00:00:58,969 the earth likewise has its guardians and its soldiers. 15 00:00:58,969 --> 00:01:01,969 They are the scholars and the protectors of the Sharia, 16 00:01:01,969 --> 00:01:05,969 most notably the hadith scholars and the bearers of the traditions, 17 00:01:05,969 --> 00:01:08,969 their preservers and their critics. 18 00:01:08,969 --> 00:01:10,969 They exerted themselves in this field, 19 00:01:10,969 --> 00:01:12,969 and traveled far and wide for its sake. 20 00:01:12,969 --> 00:01:15,969 They distinguished the authentic from the weak, 21 00:01:15,969 --> 00:01:18,969 and mastered the science of narration and its conditions, 22 00:01:18,969 --> 00:01:22,969 until it reached us sound and secure. 23 00:01:22,969 --> 00:01:26,969 Among them are the famous preservers of Islam, 24 00:01:26,969 --> 00:01:29,969 the authors of the Six and Nine Books, 25 00:01:29,969 --> 00:01:31,969 and the compilers of the other Musnad collections, 26 00:01:31,969 --> 00:01:34,969 who distinguished themselves through their skill and craft, 27 00:01:34,969 --> 00:01:37,969 and through their critical analysis and verification. 28 00:01:37,969 --> 00:01:39,969 There is evidence for this, 29 00:01:39,969 --> 00:01:42,969 including their work and their classifications, 30 00:01:42,969 --> 00:01:44,969 and the books on the narrators and the principles of the science, 31 00:01:44,969 --> 00:01:49,969 which were written solely to guard and protect the Sunnah. 32 00:01:49,969 --> 00:01:55,060 Imam Al Dhahabi, may Allah have mercy on him, mentioned in Tadhkirat al-Huffaz 33 00:01:55,060 --> 00:01:59,060 that a heretic fabricator was brought 34 00:01:59,060 --> 00:02:01,060 before the Caliph Harun Al Rashid. 35 00:02:01,060 --> 00:02:03,060 He ordered his execution, 36 00:02:03,060 --> 00:02:05,060 so the man said to him: 37 00:02:05,060 --> 00:02:07,060 "Why would you strike my neck?" 38 00:02:07,060 --> 00:02:10,060 He replied, "To rid the servants of Allah of you." 39 00:02:10,060 --> 00:02:13,060 The man said, "O Commander of the Faithful, 40 00:02:13,060 --> 00:02:16,060 what will you do about the thousand hadiths 41 00:02:16,060 --> 00:02:20,060 —or in one narration, four thousand hadiths— 42 00:02:20,060 --> 00:02:22,060 that I have fabricated among you? 43 00:02:22,060 --> 00:02:24,060 In them, I have forbidden the lawful 44 00:02:24,060 --> 00:02:26,060 and permitted the unlawful, 45 00:02:26,060 --> 00:02:29,060 while the Prophet, peace be upon him, never uttered a single letter of them." 46 00:02:29,060 --> 00:02:32,129 Harun Al Rashid replied to him: 47 00:02:32,129 --> 00:02:36,129 "What will you do, O enemy of Allah, about Abu Ishaq Al Fazari 48 00:02:36,129 --> 00:02:39,129 and Abdullah Ibn Al Mubarak? 49 00:02:39,129 --> 00:02:41,129 For they will sift through them thoroughly, 50 00:02:41,129 --> 00:02:44,129 and extract them letter by letter." 51 00:02:44,129 --> 00:02:50,129 Imam Malik would not be deceived by a narrator’s piety or asceticism 52 00:02:50,129 --> 00:02:53,129 unless he was also a master of this craft and discipline, 53 00:02:53,129 --> 00:02:56,129 one who had perfected the narration of hadith. 54 00:02:56,129 --> 00:02:58,219 He, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 55 00:02:58,219 --> 00:03:00,219 "Indeed, this knowledge is religion, 56 00:03:00,219 --> 00:03:03,219 so be careful from whom you take your religion." 57 00:03:03,219 --> 00:03:06,319 "I met seventy men who would say, 58 00:03:06,319 --> 00:03:09,319 'The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said,' 59 00:03:09,319 --> 00:03:12,319 by these pillars," 60 00:03:12,319 --> 00:03:14,319 and he pointed to the mosque, 61 00:03:14,319 --> 00:03:17,319 "yet I did not take a single thing from them. 62 00:03:17,319 --> 00:03:20,319 Even if one of them were entrusted with a public treasury, 63 00:03:20,319 --> 00:03:22,319 he would be considered trustworthy, 64 00:03:22,319 --> 00:03:26,319 yet they were not people of this specific field." 65 00:03:26,319 --> 00:03:29,319 This was their standard in transmission and narration, 66 00:03:29,319 --> 00:03:32,319 in teaching and reporting. 67 00:03:32,319 --> 00:03:34,319 May Allah have mercy on them.