Hadith criteria part 2
The Zaydi scholar, Yusuf Abdul'ilah Ad-Dahyani al-Hassani, may Allah grant him success, addresses some points
concerning the science of Hadith within the Zaydi school in this post of his. The post addresses two assertions
which have been levelled against the madhab. The first is that the school does not have any early books of ‘ilm alRijal, and the second is that it does not have the necessary prerequisites to authenticate hadiths.
The Shaykh’s response is as follows:
As for the claim that the Zaydi school does not have any early books of ‘ilm al-Rijal, this is false. A lot of early
material was produced by Zaydi scholars on the subject of ‘ilm al-Rijal. Although some of these works have been
lost, the material contained in these works can still be located within other books. Moreover, a number of works are
still intact and are in print, such as:
1. Maqatil al-talibiyyin (which includes the biographies of those who gave their pledge of allegiance to an-Nafs azZakiyyah)
2. Tasmiyah man Rawa’an al-Imam Zayd min at-Tabi’een
3. Tasmiyah man Istash’hada ma’a al-Imam Zayd ibn Ali fil Amali al-Ithnayniyah
This is in addition to many other collections and books by our Imams. These works provide accounts of discredited
narrators (majrooh), those who have hatred for the Ahl al-Bayt (nawasib), and those who were liars. On that basis,
the Zaydi madhab possess enough biographical data on narrators and does not require the use of works produced
outside of the madhab. Praise be to Allah, we are capable of knowing who narrators are, and differentiating between
them. Those who call themselves Ahl al-Hadith have based their entire religion on every hadith they’ve ever heard,
resulting in them accepting hadiths from dozens of narrators who have only transmitted one single report, with
nothing else.
On the other hand, our Imams have relieved us from a huge burden by passing down entire hadith-related books
down to us, which have been narrated with a golden chain (Sanad as-Silsila ad-Dhahabiyya) on the authority of their
forefathers, such as:
1. The Musnad of Imam Zayd
2. The Amali of Ahmad ibn Isa
3. Al-Ja’fariyyat
4. Silsilat al-Ibreez
As for the claim that the Zaydi school is incapable of ascertaining the authenticity of hadiths, this is also false.
There are a number of good books and pieces of research which have been produced by our school which shed light
on this, such as:
1. Al-Falak ad-Dawwar
2. Al-‘Itissam
3. Lawami’ al-Anwar
4. Ulum al-Hadith ‘inda az-Zaydiyyah wa al-Muhadditheen
In addition to this, there are also other works produced on the subject by Abdullah Hamoud al-‘Azzi, as well as
others.
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