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 1256 onward: detailing the meaning of proof, and the discussion of the disconnected and mursal hadith and al-Shafi’i’s conditions for accepting it:
In this part, Imam al-Shafi’i details the meaning of “proof” (hujjah) and explains its kinds, then turns to the disconnected (munqati’) and mursal hadith and his conditions for accepting it.
- Detailing the meaning of proof: Al-Shafi’i answers a question as to whether the meaning of “proof” is subdivided, and replies in the affirmative, explaining that proof in the language means demonstration and evidence, and that it divides into:
- A clear text of the Book or a Sunnah agreed upon: This is a decisive proof, leaving no excuse once it has been conveyed; doubt about it is not permissible, and whoever refuses to accept it is called upon to repent.
- A report of the specialists in which the report may be differed over: This requires examination. It is a Sunnah from a solitary report, where the report may admit interpretation and has come through a single route. In al-Shafi’i’s view, the proof in it is that it binds the scholars who know it and are acquainted with it, so that they may not reject what is explicitly stated in it, just as they are bound to accept the testimony of upright witnesses. The people behind them also accept it, because this is a form of ihatah (that is, secure preservation), just as the text of the Book and the report of the generality from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ are. If someone doubts a solitary report, we do not tell him “Repent”; we say: “If you are a scholar, you may not doubt; rather, research and exert yourself,” just as you have no choice but to judge by the testimony of upright witnesses even though error is possible in them.
- The imagined questioner: The commentator points out that the questioner may be a real questioner, or this may follow the Arab custom of imagining a companion who speaks with one and debates with one.
- Discussion of the disconnected hadith: Al-Shafi’i moves on to the disconnected hadith, showing that it differs from the authentic, accepted solitary hadiths. A disconnected hadith is one whose chain is not continuous, meaning part of the chain is broken through the omission of one or more narrators. If two or more consecutive narrators are omitted, it is called mu’dal, which is weaker than the disconnected.
- Discussion of the mursal hadith: Al-Shafi’i brings in the mursal hadith as an example of the disconnected, explaining that the mursal is a man’s narration from someone he did not hear from. He points to the scholars’ disagreement over using the mursal as proof: some accepted it without qualification (such as Imam Malik, Abu Hanifah, and one narration from Ahmad), and some counted it among the types of weak hadith (the position of the majority).
- Al-Shafi’i’s position on accepting the mursal and its conditions (ways of strengthening the mursal): Al-Shafi’i explains his position of accepting the mursal hadith under conditions, which are ways of strengthening the mursal and making it acceptable:
- That trustworthy memorizers share its meaning and connect it to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: That is, a hadith with a connected chain comes with the same meaning as the mursal hadith. This shows the soundness and accurate memory of the one from whom it was accepted (that is, the narrator who narrated it as mursal).
- That it agrees with a mursal from someone else from whom knowledge is accepted, through other than the men from whom the first was accepted: That is, another mursal comes through another route, supporting the first mursal. This is weaker than the first way. This other mursal may be traced back to the Prophet ﷺ (marfu’) or stop at a Companion (mawquf).
- That a generality (that is, many) of the people of knowledge are found giving fatwas in line with the meaning of what is narrated from the Prophet ﷺ: That is, many of the people of knowledge concur on the meaning of the mursal hadith and give fatwas according to it.
- That the narrator, when he names those from whom he narrates, does not name someone unknown or someone whose narration is shunned: That is, the habit of the narrator who narrated the hadith as mursal is to narrate mursal only from trustworthy narrators, and when he names the narrators elsewhere they are trustworthy as well.
- That when he shares a hadith with one of the memorizers he does not contradict him, and if he does contradict him, his hadith is found to be the lesser: That is, the mursal hadith does not contradict an authentic connected hadith, and if a contradiction occurs, the connected hadith is more complete in meaning.
- The mursal is not accepted if none of these ways is met: Al-Shafi’i stresses that if none of these ways is met, the mursal hadith is not accepted.
- It is preferable to accept the mursal if there are indications of its soundness: Al-Shafi’i explains that if indications of the soundness of a narrator’s hadith are found in the way he described, he prefers that his mursal be accepted.
Some additional benefits:
- Detailing the meaning of proof and its kinds.
- Explaining the meaning of the disconnected, mu’dal, and mursal hadith.
- Clarifying al-Shafi’i’s position on accepting the mursal and its conditions.
- Explaining the importance of investigating contradictions between hadiths.
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