and it is among their most distinguished disciplines. A hadith may be narrated by a trustworthy transmitter with accurate retention who nevertheless makes an error in it. His error may be detected through clear evidence. For example, scholars established that “the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, married Maymūnah while not in a state of ritual consecration, and that he prayed two units of prayer inside the Kaaba.” They therefore regarded Ibn ‘Abbās’s reports that he married her while in a state of ritual consecration and that he did not pray inside the Kaaba as instances of error.

Likewise, they established that “he performed four ‘umrahs,” and recognized Ibn ‘Umar’s statement that “he performed ‘umrah in Rajab” as an error. They established that he combined ‘umrah and Hajj during the Farewell Pilgrimage while in safety, and that ‘Uthmān’s statement to ‘Alī, “We were afraid at the time,” was an error. They also recognized as an error the wording found in some transmission routes in al-Bukhārī: “The Fire will not be filled until Allah creates other beings for it.” There are many such examples.

People fall into two extremes in this matter. At one extreme are speculative theologians and others like them who are far removed from knowledge of hadith and its specialists. They cannot distinguish authentic reports from weak ones, so they doubt the authenticity of certain hadiths, or whether their authenticity can be established with certainty, even though specialists in hadith know them to be authentic with certainty.

At the other extreme are some who claim to follow hadith and act upon it. Whenever they find a wording in a hadith narrated by a trustworthy transmitter, or encounter a hadith whose chain of transmission appears authentic, they seek to place it on the same footing as reports whose authenticity the scholars have decisively established. Then, if it conflicts with an established authentic report, they resort to strained and unconvincing interpretations, or use it as evidence for their position on scholarly questions, even though hadith specialists recognize such a report as an error.