In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
“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)
The Splendor of Knowledge according to the Sages.
By Dr. Hamza Ibn Fayi' Al Fathi.
May Allah preserve him.
The Guardians of the Earth.
Sufyan Al Thawri said:
The jurist and mujtahid, may Allah have mercy on him,
who passed away in the year 161 AH.
The angels are the guardians of the heavens,
and the scholars of hadith are the guardians of the earth.
Just as the angels are guards in the heavens,
whom Allah has chosen for that task,
the earth likewise has its guardians and its soldiers.
They are the scholars and the protectors of the Sharia,
most notably the hadith scholars and the bearers of the traditions,
their preservers and their critics.
They exerted themselves in this field,
and traveled far and wide for its sake.
They distinguished the authentic from the weak,
and mastered the science of narration and its conditions,
until it reached us sound and secure.
Among them are the famous preservers of Islam,
the authors of the Six and Nine Books,
and the compilers of the other Musnad collections,
who distinguished themselves through their skill and craft,
and through their critical analysis and verification.
There is evidence for this,
including their work and their classifications,
and the books on the narrators and the principles of the science,
which were written solely to guard and protect the Sunnah.
Imam Al Dhahabi, may Allah have mercy on him, mentioned in Tadhkirat al-Huffaz
that a heretic fabricator was brought
before the Caliph Harun Al Rashid.
He ordered his execution,
so the man said to him:
"Why would you strike my neck?"
He replied, "To rid the servants of Allah of you."
The man said, "O Commander of the Faithful,
what will you do about the thousand hadiths
—or in one narration, four thousand hadiths—
that I have fabricated among you?
In them, I have forbidden the lawful
and permitted the unlawful,
while the Prophet, peace be upon him, never uttered a single letter of them."
Harun Al Rashid replied to him:
"What will you do, O enemy of Allah, about Abu Ishaq Al Fazari
and Abdullah Ibn Al Mubarak?
For they will sift through them thoroughly,
and extract them letter by letter."
Imam Malik would not be deceived by a narrator’s piety or asceticism
unless he was also a master of this craft and discipline,
one who had perfected the narration of hadith.
He, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
"Indeed, this knowledge is religion,
so be careful from whom you take your religion."
"I met seventy men who would say,
'The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said,'
by these pillars,"
and he pointed to the mosque,
"yet I did not take a single thing from them.
Even if one of them were entrusted with a public treasury,
he would be considered trustworthy,
yet they were not people of this specific field."
This was their standard in transmission and narration,
in teaching and reporting.
May Allah have mercy on them.