Minhaj as-Sunnah - Ibn Taimiya - (7/62)

Minhaj as-SunnahIbn Taimiya

And if he were asked, “Do you know that this actually occurred?” and replied, “I know that it did,” he would be lying. How (1) could he know that it occurred?

He would then be asked, “How did you come to know that this is true, when that [is something] (2) which can be known only through its chain of transmission (3) and knowledge of the narrators’ circumstances? Yet you possess no such knowledge; had you possessed it, you would have known that this is a lie.”

If he replies, “I do not know that,” then how is it permissible for you (4) to adduce as evidence something whose authenticity you do not know (5)?

Second: The hadith scholars unanimously agree that this is a lie. Al-Maghāzilī (6) is not a hadith scholar like Abu Nuaym and his peers. Nor is he even (7) among those scholarly compilers who include material that is mostly true but partly false, such as al-Tha'labī and his peers. Rather, hadith was not his field. He therefore gathered together whatever he found in people’s books concerning the merits of Ali, just as the foremost preacher of Khwārazm did. Neither of them knows hadith, and each includes in his compilation fabricated lies whose falsehood would be evident even to the least knowledgeable of the scholars of transmitted reports and hadith (8).

We do not know (9) that either of them deliberately (10) lies in what he transmits (11); rather, what

(1) S, B: “then where.” (2) “Something that” is omitted from N, S, and B. (3) N: “through a chain of transmission.” (4) B: “for him.” (5) M, B: “he knows.” (6) B: *al-maghāzī* (“military campaigns”). (7) N, S, B: “and these too.” (8) S, B: “transmitting hadith.” (9) M: “and he does not know.” (10) N, S: “he relies”; M: “you rely.” (11) 11) M: “in what he transmitted.”

وَهُوَ لَوْ قِيلَ لَهُ: أَتَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا وَاقِعٌ؟ فَإِنْ قَالَ: أَعْلَمُ ذَلِكَ، فَقَدْ كَذَبَ. فَمِنْ أَيْنَ (١) يَعْلَمُ وُقُوعَهُ؟ وَيُقَالُ لَهُ: مِنْ أَيْنَ عَلِمْتَ صِدْقَ ذَلِكَ، وَذَلِكَ [مِمَّا] (٢) لَا يُعْرَفُ إِلَّا بِالْإِسْنَادِ (٣) وَمَعْرِفَةِ أَحْوَالِ الرُّوَاةِ؟ وَأَنْتَ لَا تَعْرِفُهُ، وَلَوْ أَنَّكَ عَرَفْتَهُ لَعَرَفْتَ أَنَّ هَذَا كَذِبٌ. وَإِنْ قَالَ: لَا أَعْلَمُ ذَلِكَ. فَكَيْفَ يَسُوغُ لَكَ (٤) الِاحْتِجَاجُ بِمَا لَا تَعْلَمُ (٥) صِحَّتَهُ؟ . الثَّانِي: أَنَّ هَذَا كَذِبٌ بِاتِّفَاقِ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ بِالْحَدِيثِ. وَهَذَا الْمَغَازِلِيُّ (٦) لَيْسَ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْحَدِيثِ، كَأَبِي نُعَيْمٍ وَأَمْثَالِهِ، وَلَا هُوَ أَيْضًا (٧) مِنْ جَامِعِي الْعِلْمِ الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ مَا غَالِبُهُ حَقٌّ وَبَعْضُهُ بَاطِلٌ ; كَالثَّعْلَبِيِّ وَأَمْثَالِهِ، بَلْ هَذَا لَمْ يَكُنِ الْحَدِيثُ مِنْ صَنْعَتِهِ، فَعَمَدَ إِلَى مَا وَجَدَهُ مِنْ كُتُبِ النَّاسِ مِنْ فَضَائِلِ عَلِيٍّ فَجَمَعَهَا، كَمَا فَعَلَ أَخْطَبُ خُوَارِزْمَ، وَكِلَاهُمَا لَا يَعْرِفُ الْحَدِيثَ، وَكُلٌّ مِنْهُمَا يَرْوِي فِيمَا جَمَعَهُ مِنَ الْأَكَاذِيبِ الْمَوْضُوعَةِ، مَا لَا يَخْفَى أَنَّهُ كَذِبٌ عَلَى أَقَلِّ عُلَمَاءِ النَّقْلِ وَالْحَدِيثِ (٨) . وَلَسْنَا نَعْلَمُ (٩) أَنَّ أَحَدُهُمَا يَتَعَمَّدُ) (١٠) الْكَذِبَ فِيمَا يَنْقُلُهُ (١١) ، لَكِنَّ الَّذِي

(١) س، ب: فَأَيْنَ. (٢) مِمَّا: سَاقِطَةٌ مِنْ (ن) ، (س) ، (ب) . (٣) ن: بِإِسْنَادٍ. (٤) ب: لَهُ. (٥) م، ب: يَعْلَمُ. (٦) ب: الْمَغَازِيُّ. (٧) ن، س، ب: وَهَؤُلَاءِ أَيْضًا. (٨) س، ب: النَّقْلِ بِالْحَدِيثِ. (٩) م: وَلَيْسَ يَعْلَمُ. (١٠) ن، س: يَعْتَمِدُ، م: تَعْتَمِدُ. (١١) ١١) م: فِيمَا نَقَلَهُ.