The Hadiths Judged as Munkar or Bāṭil by Abū Ḥātim or Abū Zurʿa and Included by Imam Muslim in His Ṣaḥīḥ: A Critical Study

Abstract

Abstract:

This research aims to gather and critically study the hadiths that were judged as munkar (denounced) or bāṭil (invalid) by Abū Ḥātim or Abū Zurʿa, while their origins were included by Imam Muslim in his Ṣaḥīḥ. The study seeks to uncover the reasons that led these two scholars to criticize these hadiths and attempts to clarify their understanding of munkar and bāṭil through practical analysis. It also aims to extract Imam Muslim's methodology in including the origins of these hadiths in his Ṣaḥīḥ.

The study follows an inductive method to trace and gather these hadiths, then applies an analytical and critical approach to study them, including analyzing scholars' opinions on the narrators. A deductive method is also employed to derive Imam Muslim’s methodology in selecting these hadiths. The study examines twelve hadiths in total.

One of the key findings of the research is that the isolation of a narrator is one of the indicators that led scholars to judge a hadith as munkar. Another finding is that one of Imam Muslim's methods in his Ṣaḥīḥ is to prioritize reports that are free from defects, although he may follow them with reports that have some critique. Additionally, scholars do not accept combining narrations from different teachers by just any narrator. Abū Ḥātim and Abū Zurʿa used the term munkar to describe narrations isolated by a trustworthy narrator who has not reached the level of reliability required for isolated reports or narrations isolated by weak or unknown narrators.