as Imam al-Ḥaramayn decisively stated. Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ (12) voiced a similar judgment concerning a narrator faulted for an unspecified defect (13).
[The Narration of an Innovator and Its Ruling]
Next comes innovation (bidʿah), the ninth ground for impugning a narrator. Innovation is either (1) of the sort that entails unbelief—such as holding a doctrine whose implications are outright disbelief—or (2) of the sort that renders a person merely sinful.
As for the first category, the majority (3) do not accept the narration of its adherent. Others said (4) that it is accepted (5) without qualification, while still others said (6) that it is accepted (7) provided the man does not believe it lawful to lie in defense of his doctrine.
The accurate conclusion is that not everyone whom some brand an unbeliever on account of innovation should automatically be rejected (8); every faction claims that its opponents (9) are innovators, and some go so far (10) as to declare those opponents unbelievers (11). If such judgments were taken at face value, they would necessitate declaring all factions unbelievers (12).
The position to be relied upon is that the narration to be rejected (13) is that of the one who denies a matter that has reached us by mass-transmitted, indisputable evidence from the—
(1) MS T reads bi-kufr ("with unbelief").
(2) MS T reads bi-fisq ("with grave sin").
(3) Al-Nawawi records this as the unanimous position of the scholars; see al-Nawawi, al-Taqrib wa-l-Taysir, p. 50.
(4) Al-Khatib attributes it to a number of traditionists and mutakallimun (theologians); see al-Khatib, al-Kifaya, p. 121.
(5) MS T reads tuqbal ("is accepted").
(6) This is the view of Abu al-Husayn al-Basri and al-Razi; see al-Razi, al-Mahsul, 4:396.
(7) On the margin of D, in the author’s own hand, is the note: "thumma balagha kadhalik" ("then it likewise reached").
(8) MSS J, H, and L read bi-bidatihi ("because of his innovation").
(9) MS A has mukhalifaha; MSS H and K read mukhalifatiha; a marginal note on K gives mukhalifiha; MS L records both mukhalifiha and mukhalifatiha.
(10) MS K reads yubaligh ("he exaggerates").
(11) MSS B, J, D, T, Y, and L read mukhalifiha, whereas K has mukhalifatiha.
(12) A copy on the margin of L has radda ("rejected") in place of takfir ("declaring unbelief"); MS W reads la-stulzima takfiru ("it would have entailed declaring unbelief"). The accepted wording follows B, J, D, and H.
(13) In L, the scribe added in the margin the word bidatihi ("his innovation") before riwayatihi ("his narration") and approved the change; this is evidently erroneous.