Then, as for the report itself, the fabricator may at times invent it outright, while at other times he may borrow (1) the words of someone else—whether of certain righteous predecessors, of early philosophers, or of the Israelite traditions—or he may take a ḥadith whose chain is weak and attach to it a sound chain so that it will circulate (2).
Motives for Fabrication
What prompts a person to forge a report is one of the following:
• A lack of religion, as with the heretics;
• An overwhelming ignorance, as seen among some devotees (3);
• Excessive partisanship (4), such as that of certain blind followers;
• The pursuit of the whim (5) of some leaders;
• Or the quest for novelty, merely to gain notoriety!
The Ruling on Fabrication and on Transmitting Forged Reports
All of the above is forbidden by the unanimous agreement of scholars deemed authoritative, except that some of the Karrāmiyyah (6) and a few Sufis are reported to have considered fabrication permissible when it pertains to encouragement (targhīb).
(1) MS D reads: “yaʾkhudhuhu min” (“takes it from”) instead of “yaʾkhudhu” (“he takes”).
(2) MSS B and J have: “liyurawwaǧ” (initial ya with ḍamma, ra with fatḥa, and a doubled wāw with fatḥa). ʿAlī al-Qārī, Sharḥ Sharḥ al-Nukhbah, p. 445, notes: “With a doubled wāw bearing kasra it refers to the isnad (chain of transmission); with fatḥa it refers to the hadith itself.” The adopted reading is that of MSS A and K.
(3) MS D adds: “lahum dīn” (“they have a religion”).
(4) MS H reads: “al-ʿuṣba” (“the clan”).
(5) MS J reads: “hadī” (“guidance”).
(6) MS W writes: “al-Karrāmiyya” with the kāf vocalised both with fatḥa and kasra; the preferred form follows MS K.
The Karrāmiyya are the followers of Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Karrām al-Sijistānī (d. 255 AH/869 CE). They belong to the Murjiʾa; their doctrine of īmān (faith) is that it is merely verbal profession, without inner assent or bodily deeds, so that even a munāfiq (hypocrite) is, in their view, a believer. They agree with the Jahmiyya and Murjiʾa in considering all people equal in faith, reject the practice of expressing reservation (“in-shāʾ Allāh”) about one’s faith, and maintain that the kalām (speech) of Allah is created after non-existence, though contingent on His will and power. See: al-Ashʿarī, Maqālāt al-Islāmiyyīn, p. 141; Ibn Ḥazm, al-Faṣl, 4:45, 204–205; Ibn Taymiyya, Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā, 7:141; Ibn al-Mawṣilī, Mukhtaṣar al-Ṣawāʿiq al-Mursala, p. 498.