there is all the more reason to say the same. The same [phenomenon] occurs in the works of jurists: the hadiths and reports they contain include sound, weak, and fabricated material. Likewise, the reports transmitted in books of spiritual exhortation and Sufism include sound, weak, and fabricated material.

This is a matter of agreement among all Muslims: they do not dispute that these books contain material of each kind. Indeed, even works devoted to hadiths and reports contain material of each kind, as do works of Quranic commentary. Although hadith scholars are better acquainted with transmitted reports, their books still contain material of each kind—so what of others?

The authors may be leading authorities in jurisprudence, Sufism, or hadith. Sometimes they transmit such material because they do not know that it is false. This is generally the case with religiously devout people, for they do not cite as evidence what they know to be false; and at other times