In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Blessings and peace be upon the noblest of the Prophets and Messengers, our Prophet Muhammad, and upon all his family and Companions.
This is a detailed summary of what was covered in this part of the explanation of Imam al-Shafi’i’s al-Risalah, focusing on the important points and clarifications, and supplemented with some additions and explanations that help in understanding the issue more deeply.
Paragraph 1244 onward: continuing the discussion of the authority of the solitary report, the conditions for accepting it, and excusing the imams:
In this section of al-Risalah, Imam al-Shafi’i continues to affirm the authority of the solitary report, to explain the conditions for accepting it, and to excuse the imams in their contradiction of some texts.
- Weighing between the manuscripts of al-Risalah: The commentator points to a problem in the manuscripts of al-Risalah: Shaykh Ahmad Shakir weighed between the manuscripts according to their agreement with the base manuscript (al-nuskhah al-umm), even though the base manuscript may at times be the weaker reading.
- The hadith “A Muslim does not inherit from a disbeliever”: Al-Shafi’i cites the hadith of ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn (the preferred form being “al-Husayn,” as the commentator mentioned), from ‘Amr ibn ‘Uthman, from Usamah ibn Zayd, that the Prophet ﷺ said: “A Muslim does not inherit from a disbeliever,” showing that this hadith establishes a Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ and that people establish it on the basis of his report.
- The importance of people following the people of knowledge: The commentator remarks on the phrase “and people establish it as Sunnah on the basis of his report,” saying that it shows that people follow the people of knowledge, and that the people of knowledge are the stars of the earth: when they establish something, people establish it after them.
- The variation in the chains of Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn: He explains that Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn sometimes raises his chain and sometimes lowers it, and that a chain becomes “high” (‘ali) when its narrators are few.
- Affirming that Sunnahs are established only by transmitted reports: The commentator stresses that Sunnahs are established only by transmitted reports (athar), and that no one can put a statement into effect as Sunnah unless it carries the light of a transmitted report.
- The merit of the Companions’ knowledge passing among their children: He points to a great merit: Allah the Exalted placed the Companions’ knowledge among their children, who received that knowledge from them and transmitted it.
- Further examples of the Successors’ narrations from the Companions: Al-Shafi’i mentions further examples of narrations by Successors from the Companions, from the people of Madinah, Makkah, Yemen, Syria, Basra, and Kufa, showing that all of them established the solitary report from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
- The meaning of “deferring to it” (al-intiha’ ilayh): He explains that “deferring to it” means accepting it, citing the statement of a Successor: “He has done well who stops at what he has heard.”
- Affirming that there is no disagreement among the jurists over establishing the solitary report: Al-Shafi’i stresses that he knows of no disagreement among the jurists of the Muslims over establishing the solitary report.
- Responding to the objection that there are statements contradicting hadiths: Al-Shafi’i shows that it is not permissible for a scholar to establish solitary reports many times and then reject one, unless he has a hadith that contradicts it, or the person from whom he heard is more reliable in his view than the one who narrated the contrary to him, or he has suspicion about someone above his informant in the chain, or the hadith bears two meanings and he interprets it accordingly.
- Explaining the phrase “or what he heard, and the one from whom he heard it, are more reliable in his view than the one who narrated the contrary to him”: He explains that what is meant is that a scholar may hear a hadith and then hear another that contradicts it, or hear a hadith from a trustworthy narrator and then hear another contradicting it from someone more trustworthy, so he rejects the first hadith and accepts the second. He explains that “what he heard” refers to the text (matn), and “the one from whom he heard” refers to the narrator.
- The meaning of “not a hafiz”: He explains that hafiz here does not mean the technical rank of hafiz among later scholars; rather, it means accuracy and precision.
- The importance of viewing the chain as a whole: He points out that the imams viewed the chain of transmission holistically, looking at the narrators and their teachers.
- Explaining the hadith that bears two meanings, and interpretation: He explains that if a hadith bears two meanings, interpretation (ta’wil) comes in to determine one of the two meanings or to resolve a difficulty in understanding the text, and he cites the issue of istiwa’ (Allah’s rising over the Throne) in the chapter on the Names and Attributes.
- A narrator’s explanation of a hadith is not binding: He stresses that if a narrator explains an ambiguous word in a hadith, that explanation does not bind others, because the word bears more than one meaning.
- The meaning of “a sensible jurist”: He explains that “sensible” (‘aqil) here is not the opposite of insane; rather, it refers to one who uses his intellectual abilities in precision, scrutiny, and reflection.
- Clarifying the grounds on which a scholar is excused for departing from a hadith: Al-Shafi’i summarizes the grounds on which a scholar is excused for departing from a hadith, of which there are three: interpretation, suspicion of the informant, and knowledge of a report that contradicts it.
- The importance of this paragraph for understanding Raf’ al-Malam ‘an al-A’immah al-A’lam: He points out that this is the paragraph on which Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah built his treatise Raf’ al-Malam ‘an al-A’immah al-A’lam.
- The meaning of narrating a statement to make it known rather than because it is a proof: He explains that a scholar may narrate a statement so that people know it, not to use it as proof, and that this is expressed by the saying “Whoever cites a chain has referred you onward” (man asnada faqad ahalak).
- A scholar has no excuse for contradicting the Sunnah for other reasons: He stresses that if a scholar contradicts the Sunnah for reasons other than these, he has no excuse.
We ask Allah the Exalted to grant us success in understanding His Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet ﷺ, and to make us among those who follow them.
All parts of Summary of the Explanation of al-Risala by Shaykh Dr. Ahmad al-Naqeeb