are radiant; their virtues are widespread; their signs are resplendent; their doctrines are manifest; and their proofs are decisive. Every group aligns itself with a passion to which it returns and approves an opinion to which it clings—except the people of hadith: the Book is their provision, the sunnah their proof, the Messenger their party, and to him they trace their affiliation. They do not turn aside to vain desires, nor do they pay heed to opinions. What they narrate from the Messenger is accepted from them, for they are the trustworthy and upright custodians of it: preservers and treasurers of the religion, vessels and bearers of knowledge. Whenever there is disagreement concerning a hadith, recourse is made to them; whatever they rule is accepted and heeded.
Among them are every learned jurist, every eminent and discerning imam, an ascetic in every tribe, one distinguished by virtue, a precise Quran reciter, and an eloquent preacher. They are the great multitude, and their way is the straight path. Every innovator outwardly professes adherence to their creed, yet does not dare openly to declare a doctrine other than theirs. Whoever plots against them, Allah crushes; whoever stubbornly opposes them, Allah forsakes. Those who abandon them do them no harm, and whoever separates himself from them will not prosper. Whoever is concerned for his religion is in need of their guidance, while the gaze of one who looks upon them with ill intent is frustrated. And indeed Allah is fully capable of granting them victory.
(He then cited the hadith as narrated by Qurrah, and subsequently related through his chain from Ali ibn al-Madini, who said: “They are the people of hadith: those who uphold the teachings of the Messenger and defend knowledge. Were it not for them, you would find nothing of the sunnahs among the Mu'tazilah, the Rafidah, the Jahmiyyah, the advocates of irja’, and the partisans of personal opinion.”) Al-Khatib said:
The Lord of the worlds has made the victorious group the guardians of the religion and has warded off from them the schemes of those who stubbornly oppose it, because of their adherence to the firm Sacred Law and their following in the footsteps of the Companions and the Successors. Their occupation is to preserve the transmitted reports, traverse wastelands and deserts, and journey across lands and seas in pursuit of what the chosen Messenger prescribed. They do not turn away from it to opinion or vain desire. They accepted his Sacred Law in word and deed, and guarded his sunnah through preservation and transmission, until they firmly established its foundation and became its people, most entitled to it. How many a heretic seeks to introduce into the Sacred Law what does not belong to it, but Allah defends it through the people of hadith. They are the preservers