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The lone-narrator report (khabar al-wāhid) lexically means something narrated by only one person, and in hadith nomenclature, any report that does not reach the conditions of mass narration (tawātur), whether narrated by one, two, or more narrators.1
Ahl al-Sunna concur, unlike the Muʿtazila, that the lone-narrator reports that are authenticated - "acceptable" (maqbūl) in hadith nomenclature - are obligatory to believe and put into practice. Al-Qari relates, on this point, the consensus of the Companions and the Successors.2
Where scholars differ is whether the same hadiths convey certainty of knowledge (al-ʿilm al-yaqīnī) or only the compelling assumption of truth (al-zann al-ghālib). These two categories differ insofar as obligatory practice and belief based on certainty of knowledge cannot be denied except on pains of apostasy, while the denial of obligatory practice and belief based on reports compellingly assumed to be true do not constitute apostasy but constitute sin.
The scholars do concur that if one disbelieves in a sound lone-narrator report one commits a grave transgression (fisq) and is even considered misguided (dāll), but does not leave the fold of Islam.3 This is clearly unlike disbelief in a mass-transmitted report or in a verse of the Qur'an.
Ibn Khafif (d. 371) said in his Correct Islamic Doctrine (al-ʿAqida al-Sahiha):
89. Lone-narrator reports (āhād) make practice obligatory, but not knowledge (yūjib al-ʿamal lā al-ʿilm), while mass-narrated (mutawātir) reports make both knowledge and practice obligatory.
The meaning of the above position is that it is obligatory to integrate the content of an accepted lone-narrator report into one's Islamic practice and belief; however, such a report does not impose the certainty of knowledge of a mass-transmitted report.
The scholars classified the truth of acceptable reports into "definitive" (qatʿī) and "assumed" (zannī). All of them agree that a mass-narrated report is qatʿī al-thubūt - "definitely established," while a non-mass-narrated accepted hadith is zannī al-thubūt - "assumed to be established." However, the latter assumption carries various degrees of strength, the highest of which, according to Ibn Hajar and others, reaches definiteness.
For example, if a lone-narrated hadith is narrated in the
two Sahihs, has several (non-discrepant) chains of transmission, and counts among its narrators great Imams
such as Malik and al-Shafiʿi, "then it would not be far-fetched to declare it definitely true, and Allah knows
best."4
At the same time Ibn Hajar warned: "All the types of non-mutawātir hadith which we have mentioned do
not result in [certainty of] knowledge regarding their veracity except to the scholar of hadith who has reached the
level of expertise, knows the situations of the narrators, and is fully acquainted with the minute defects of
hadith."5
Thus certain indices or parallels (qarā'in) raise the accepted
lone-narrated hadith closer or up to the level of definitive, obligatory knowledge as already illustrated by Ibn
Hajar's words, and as stated by the scholars of usūl.6
Among them are those mentioned by Ibn Hajar - the
acceptance of the report by the entire Community, lack of discrepancy among its various narrations, and
soundness of their chains of
transmission. Examples of such hadiths are those that concern the punishment of the grave.7
All of the scholars further agree, as already stated, that a non-mass-narrated accepted hadith, although merely zannī al-thubūt, possesses the following properties:
* Belief in it is obligatory (al-tasdīq bihi wājib)
* Denying it is a grave transgression (inkāruhu fisq)
Beyond the above, the scholars disagreed on the point brought up by Ibn Khafif. Some have held that we are obliged
only to assume as true accepted lone-narrator reports, although they do make belief and practice obligatory since
such assumption is compelling (yufīd al-zann al-ghālib) and thus precludes doubt.
This is the position of Ibn
Khafif and the Ashʿaris, in conformity with the vast majority (al-jumhūr) of Ahl al-Sunna as stated by Ibn ʿAbd
al-Barr:
What the majority of the people of knowledge believe is as follows:
Some hold that the lone-narrated hadith make
practice obligatory but not knowledge (yūjib al-ʿamal dūna al-ʿilm).
This is the position of al-Shafiʿi and the
vast majority of the jurists and the scholars of principles. To them, the lone-narrated hadith does not make
knowledge obligatory except on oath, providing definite preclusion of falsehood, and if there is no disagreement
concerning it.8
An illustration for the acceptance of lone-narrated hadiths on provision of oath is given by ʿAli ibn Abi Talib -
Allah be well-pleased with him:
"When I heard something from the Messenger of Allah, Allah would benefit me
with it as He wished; but when someone other than him narrated it to me, I would make him swear to it; if he took
an oath, I would believe him."9
Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr goes on to say that part of the scholars of hadith and some of the
scholars of principles consider that lone-narrated hadiths make both external knowledge10 and practice
obligatory.
He concludes: "Our position is that they make practice obligatory but not knowledge... and that is the
position of most jurists and hadith scholars."11
It is also the position of al-Bukhari and Ahmad12 as well as later
scholars including al-Kawthari.13
Their position on doctrinal matters conveyed by āhād reports is given by
al-Bayhaqi:
The perspicuous scholars (ahl al-nazar) among our [Ashʿari or Shafiʿi] companions relinquish the use of lone-narrated reports as proofs in the divine Attributes if such reports do not have a foundation in the Qur'an or in scholarly consensus. Instead, they interpret them figuratively.14
Others dissented, such as Ibn al-Qayyim and, lately, al-Albani, claiming that not only are āhād-based belief and practice obligatory, but we are also obliged to know them as definitely true (yufīd al-ʿilm al-qatʿī) and they consider them part of obligatory doctrinal knowledge.15
The position that sound āhād impart definitive knowledge is a weak position since it blurs the unanimous, vital
distinction between mutawātir and Qur'anic reports on the one hand, and all other reports.
An additional
inconsistency of that position is its contradictory labeling of
lone-narrated reports as "assumed" in the veracity of their transmission chains and yet "definitive" in the
knowledge they impart. Some have reacted to these errors with another weak stand which consists in dismissing
any and all lone-narrator reports as something one is free to reject, especially in the chapter of doctrine.
Hence
Dr. Nur al-Din ʿItr characterized these contemporary positions with regard to āhād hadiths as straddling two
extremes: "Some exaggerate in accepting the sound lone-narrated hadith to the point that they seem to think none
but they put it into practice, while others exaggerate to the point that they seem to consider the lone-narrated
hadith as nothing binding."16
Finally, the Consensus of the scholarly Community of Ahl al-Sunna take precedence over the lone-narrated hadith
in the hierarchy of juridical sources in the Religion.
Al-Shafiʿi said: "Consensus is greater than an lone-narrated
hadith."17
Al-Khatib explained: "This means that when a consensus is opposed by a lone-narrated hadith, the
latter cannot be cited as proof.18
And Allah is Most Knowing.
NOTES
1Al-Qari, Sharh Sharh Nukhba al-Fikar (p. 209).
2Ibid. (p. 211).
3Al-Shafiʿi, al-Risala (p. 460-461): "If one disbelieves in them [āhād reports], we do not say to him: ʿRepent!'"
4Ibn Hajar, Sharh Nukhba al-Fikar (p. 232).
5Ibn Hajar, Sharh Nukhba al-Fikar (p. 230-231). The knowledge of the expert is named by by Dr. ʿItr al-ʿilm al-nazarī al-yaqīnī ghayr al-darūrī and he places it midway between al-ʿilm al-yaqīnī al-qatʿī al-darūrī which is absolutely binding, and ʿilm ghalaba al-zann, which is relatively binding. From the inaugural lecture to the Preparatory Class of Abu al-Nur Institute, Damascus, October 1997.
6Cf. al-Ghazzali, al-Mustasfa (1:135-136); al-Amidi, al-Ihkam fi Usul al-Ahkam, Part 1, section entitled Fi Haqiqa al-Khabar al-Wahid.
7Cf. al-Sarakhsi, al-Usul (1:329-330 Bab fi Qabul Akhbar al-Ahad); al-Pazdawi, al-Usul (1:696).
8Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Tamhid (1:7).
9Narrated by al-Tirmidhi (hasan), Abu Dawud with a sound chain, Ahmad with two chains in the Musnad and also in Fada'il al-Sahaba (1:159 #142), and Abu Yaʿla and al-Humaydi in their Musnads. It is cited in the books of Tafsir for the verse: {Yet whoso does evil or wrongs his own soul, then seeks pardon of Allah, will find Allah Forgiving, Merciful} (4:110).
10By external knowledge is meant knowledge of obligations and prohibitions as opposed to internal knowledge which concerns doctrine.
11Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Tamhid (1:7).
12Cf. Hasan al-Saqqaf, Sahih Sharh al-ʿAqida al-Tahawiyya (p. 141-142).
13Cf. al-Ghazzali in al-Mustasfa, Ibn al-Salah in ʿUlum al-Hadith, al-ʿIraqi in Sharh ʿUlum al-Hadith, Ibn Kathir in Mukhtasar ʿUlum al-Hadith, al-Nawawi in Sharh Muqaddima Muslim, al-Qasimi in Qawaʿid al-Tahdith, and the contemporary authorities such as Abu Zahra, Muhammad al-Khudari, al-Ghazzali, and al-Qaradawi, all as quoted from Samer Islambuli's al-Ahad, al-Naskh, al-Ijmaʿ (p. 27-30). Also see al-Khatib in al-Kifaya fi ʿIlm al-Riwaya (p. 34-48) and ʿAbd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi in Usul al-Din (p. 12). "Any proof in the chapter of doctrine can only be from the revealed Book or the well-known sound hadiths." Al-Kawthari, commentary on al-Subki's al-Sayf al-Saqil (p. 173 n.).
14Al-Bayhaqi, al-Asma' wa al-Sifat (Kawthari ed. p. 357, Hashidi ed. 2:201).
15Cf. Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Albani in his essay entitled "The Lone-Narrated Hadith is a Proof in Itself," and those who followed them.
16From the inaugural lecture to the Preparatory Class of Abu al-Nur Institute, Damascus, October 1997.
17Siyar Aʿlam an-Nubala' (10/20), Hilya (9:105), Ibn Abi Hatim's Adab al-Shafiʿi (p. 231) and others.
18Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Al-Faqih wa al-Mutafaqqih (1:132).
Allah bless and greet the Prophet ﷺ, his Family, and all his Companions. Wal-hamdu lillahi Rabb al-ʿalamin.
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[2000-06-14]
