Undoubtedly, prejudiced schemers have sought to tarnish the teachings of Islam by fabricating false and slanderous hadiths in the name of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). Through this, they aimed to undermine and fragment the creed, and to introduce destructive ideas—such as ascribing corporeality to Allah, likening Him to created things, claiming that He is above, assigning Him a direction, and other such corrupt beliefs.
Just as they fabricated hadiths encouraging or discouraging actions regarding matters for which Allah has sent down no evidence... When asked: “Why do you falsely attribute to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) hadiths he did not say?”—even though the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) has stated regarding this: “Whoever deliberately attributes a lie to me, let him prepare his seat in the Fire,”[1]—they reply: “We are inventing lies in his favor, not against him.” Some have also fabricated hadiths to curry favor with judges and sultans, motivated by worldly desires and material gain.
However, Allah, in order to preserve and uphold the sunnah of His Messenger, has granted sincere and diligent scholars. They purified these fabricated hadiths from the authentic hadiths of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), distinguishing the weak from the sound, the fair from the fabricated, and the rare from the well-known. Among those who clarified this were figures such as al-Mizzī, Zayn al-ʿIrāqī, al-Dhahabī, Ibn Ḥajar (may Allah have mercy on them), and others.[2]
Notes
- Reported by Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) in al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, Book of Knowledge; Muslim, Book of Iman; al-Tirmidhī, Book of Knowledge; and Ibn Mājah, Chapters on the Sunnah.
- Indeed, some individuals and diligent scholars wrote books on the Prophetic hadiths, clarifying fabricated narrations. Among them are al-Suyūṭī (may Allah have mercy on him), al-Laʾālī al-Maṣnūʿa fī al-Aḥādīth al-Mawḍūʿa; al-ʿAjlūnī (may Allah have mercy on him), Kashf al-Khafāʾ; and Khuṭṭ al-Bayrūtī (may Allah have mercy on him), Asnā al-Maṭālib.