HADITH

Question:
Could you explain to me about al-Bukh�r�s book entitled al-Adab al-Mufrad. I have heard there are weak hadeeth in it. How can this be, when he is widely regarded as the pre-eminent scholar of hadeeth?

Answered by: Sheikh `Abd al-Wahh�b al-Turayr�

Indeed, there are quite a number of weak had�th in al-Adab al-Mufrad.

We must understand that al-Bukh�r� wrote a number of books. Only one of these � his most ambitious work � he gave the title al-Sah�h, meaning �Authentic�. He imposed upon himself the most rigorous conditions of authenticity in writing this book. He would not record in al-Sah�h any had�th unless it fulfilled those conditions.

To make sure he succeeded in his goal, he aimed far higher in his Sah�h than the minimum accepted conditions of authenticity. This ensured al-Bukh�r� that if he made a �mistake� � which is inevitable in any human endeavor � that would mean his recording in his Sah�h a had�th does not fully meet those extra-rigorous standards � however, it would still be an authentic had�th nonetheless.

He did not set these strict conditions for the other books he wrote or compiled. He did not even set the condition of the had�th having to be authentic. He would allow in his other books had�th that were only good (hasan). He would allow borderline cases. In some instances, he would allow weak had�th.

This is the case with al-Adab al-Mufrad. It is a book about �adab� � about good manners and virtuous behavior. It is not a book about Islamic beliefs or matters of law.

This is why al-Bukh�r� is willing to mention even weak had�th in al-Adab al-Mufrad. Weak had�th can be tolerated, because the book is talking about exhortations and virtues. The scholars used to tolerate the narration of moderately weak had�th regarding virtuous behavior, but they did not tolerate weak had�th for establishing legal rulings.

Please also know that of the had�th in al-Adab al-Mufrad that you might hear some critics describing as weak, not all of them are the same. Some of those are borderline cases. Some might be considered good or even authentic by al-Bukh�r� or other had�th scholars. In a book which is not written upon the most rigorous standards of authenticity, there is bound to be a number of had�th about which specialists will disagree regarding their quality.

Allah knows best