is outright unbelief, and Abū Ḥātim never meant anything of the kind—far be it from him. Admittedly, in his classifications one does come across some astonishing statements, far–fetched interpretations, and problematic reports; and he himself acknowledged that no one can locate a narration in his Ṣaḥīḥ except someone who has memorised it, just like a man who owns a muṣḥaf yet cannot find the verse he wants in it unless he already knows it by heart. (1)
He also said in his Ṣaḥīḥ: “Our condition for transmitting whatever we have placed in this book is that we do not rely on anyone unless each shaykh possesses five qualities:
- Uprightness in religion, evidenced by commendable discretion.
- Truthfulness in hadith, attested by public recognition of it.
- Sound intelligence with respect to the hadith he relates.
- Knowledge of what alters the meaning among the meanings of what he narrates.
- That his report be free of tadlīs (concealing breaks in transmission).
Whoever combines these five traits, we accept his narration.”
Abū Ismāʿīl al-Anṣārī said: “I heard Yaḥyā ibn ʿAmmār the preacher—after I had asked him about Ibn Ḥibbān—say: ‘We expelled him from Sijistān. He possessed a great deal of knowledge, but his religion was not correspondingly great. When he came to us he denied that Allah has a limit, so we drove him out.’ ”
I say: Your censuring him on that point is itself an innovation. Delving into such matters is something for which Allah has given no permission; no scriptural text establishes it or negates it. “Part of a person’s excellence in Islam is to leave what does not concern him.” (2) Exalted is Allah above being delimited or described except in the way He has described Himself, or taught