1202 – It is narrated from Buraidah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Judges are of three kinds: two will be in the Fire and one in the Garden. A man who learns the truth and rules according to it—he will be in the Garden. A man who learns the truth but fails to judge by it, acting unjustly in his verdict—he will be in the Fire. And a man who has no knowledge of the truth and, in his ignorance, passes judgment among the people—he too will be in the Fire.”
Reported by the Four Sunan, and al-Hākim declared it sound. (1)
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Grade of the ḥadīth
The ḥadīth is ṣaḥīḥ.
In al-Muḥarrar it is stated: “Its isnād is good,” and al-Hākim graded it ṣaḥīḥ, with al-Dhahabī concurring. Al-Ḥāfiẓ said in at-Talḫīṣ: “It has several chains which I have gathered in a separate treatise.” Among those chains are:
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The version transmitted by Abū Dāwūd, Ibn Mājah, and al-Bayhaqī through Abū Hāshim, from Ibn Buraidah, from his father. Abū Dāwūd remarked, “This is the most authentic report on the subject,” meaning the ḥadīth of Ibn Buraidah. I—al-Albānī—add: the isnād’s narrators are trustworthy, the same as those of Muslim, except that it contains Khalaf ibn Khalīfah, who experienced confusion in his later years, though he did not transmit this report alone.
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The chain cited by al-Hākim through Ḥakīm ibn Jubayr, from Ibn Buraidah, from his father; al-Hākim ruled it ṣaḥīḥ, but al-Dhahabī disputed this, saying: “I say: Ibn Bukayr al-Ghanawī is rejected in ḥadīth,” and he is one of the narrators in this isnād.
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The version recorded by al-Hākim and al-Bayhaqī through Sahl ibn ʿUbaydah, from Ibn Buraidah, from his father; al-Hākim judged it “ṣaḥīḥ according to Muslim’s conditions,” and al-Dhahabī concurred.