When Sahihs Disagree

Many Sunni Muslims assume a Hadith is true if it is labeled as Sahih (authentic). So, irrespective of how absurd or contradictory to logic, reason, morality, or even the Quran a Hadith is, they will blindly accept such narrations if they are marked as Sahih.

This lack of discretion is particularly alarming because even the most imminent Hadith scholars disputed with each other regarding which Hadith should be deemed Sahih or not.

Two of the most revered Hadith Scholars among Sunni Muslims are Bukhari (d. 265 AH) and his student Muslim (d. 261 AH), yet they had different requirements for which Hadith they considered Sahih. For example, Bukhari believed that for a hadith to be considered “muttasil” (connected), it had to be proven that both the person who transmitted the tradition and the one who received it were living at the same time and had met each other. On the other hand, Muslim disagreed with this condition. Muslim believed that it was sufficient for the transmitter and recipient to have lived in the same time period, even if they hadn’t necessarily met. In Sahih Muslim, if a narration didn’t meet this criterion, Bukhari would reject it as “Sahih” (authentic) and consider it “maqtu” (with a broken chain in transmission). This means he would not accept it as a reliable source of information.¹

Abu Hanifa (d. 120 AH), the founder of the Hanafi Fiqh (school of law), required the people transmitting in a chain to have met and transmitted the Hadith, heard the hadith by the narrator with his own ears, and fully remembered it.²

Furthermore, besides the difference in their criteria, there were transmitters whom Muslim considered unreliable but Bukhari trusted, and vice versa, where Bukhari found some transmitters trustworthy while Muslim did not. The Hadith scholar Al-Hakim listed 625 transmitters of Hadith whose narrations were accepted by Muslim but rejected by al-Bukhari.³ Alternatively, Bukhari exclusively narrated from 435 transmitters whom Muslim did not transmit because he did not consider them reliable.⁴

Ibn Hajar, who wrote a highly respected commentary of Sahih al-Bukhari, titled Fath al-Bari questioned the authenticity of 110 of Bukhari’s narrations. He said, “The number of these [criticized hadiths] in Bukhari’s book is 110, some of which Muslim also included: Muslim included 32 of these hadiths while Bukhari exclusively narrated 78 hadiths.”⁶ Ibn al-Jawzi downgraded a number of traditions included in Sahih Bukhari and Muslim as hasan (good) and even daif (weak), not to speak of other compilations.⁷ This includes the Hadith regarding the height of Adam being 60 cubits tall and all humans since then getting progressively shorter.⁸

The Hadith reported by Bukhari that Abraham will pray to God on the Day of Judgment, saying, ‘O Lord, Thou hast promised me that Thou wilt not humiliate me on the Day of Judgment’ is criticized and rejected by al-Isma’ili, whose judgment is reported by Ibn Hajar.⁹

Ibn Majah and al-Tirmidhi, in their Sahihs, relate an exchange of remarks between Abu Hurayrah and Abdullah b. ‘Abbas about the tradition of the Prophet, which said, ‘Use a thing changed by fire voids ablution.” This is understood to mean that eating cooked meat voids ablution. Yet this tradition is rejected by Bukhari and Muslim.

It was narrated that ‘Aishah said: “The Messenger of Allah said: ‘Perform ablution after (eating) that which has been changed by fire.'”

حَدَّثَنَا حَرْمَلَةُ بْنُ يَحْيَى، حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ وَهْبٍ، أَنْبَأَنَا يُونُسُ بْنُ يَزِيدَ، عَنِ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ، عَنْ عُرْوَةَ، عَنْ عَائِشَةَ، قَالَتْ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ ‏ “‏ تَوَضَّئُوا مِمَّا مَسَّتِ النَّارُ ‏”‏ ‏.‏

Sunan Ibn Majah 486
https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah:486

Ibn Hajar, Tabari, and many scholars of yore accepted the narration that the prophet was duped by Satan and stated two satanic verses, thinking they were part of the Quran.

According to Ibn Taymiyyah:

“The early Islamic Scholars (Salaf) collectively considered the Verses of Cranes (the Satanic Verses) in accordance with Quran. And from the later coming scholars (Khalaf), who followed the opinion of the early scholars, they say that these traditions have been recorded with an authentic chain of narration and it is impossible to deny them, and Quran is itself testifying it.”¹⁰

Abu Hanifa, on the other hand, rejected this narration._¹¹ He also rejected the Hadith regarding the 73 sects of Islam found in Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah.¹²

One of the most influential figures in the development of Hadith Sciences was Al-Shafi’i (d. 204 AH). He founded the Shafi’i Fiqh. However, it’s interesting to note that despite his prominent status, he did not appear to be considered a reliable transmitter of Hadith. This is evident from the fact that neither Bukhari nor Muslim included any narrations from Al-Shafi’i not only in their Sahihs, but in any of their works. Even scholars like Ibn Majah (d. 273 AH), Abu Dawud (d. 275 AH), al-Tirmidhi (d. 279 AH), and al-Nasa’i (d. 303 AH), who collected Hadith, cited very few traditions with Al-Shafi’i in the chain of transmission._¹³

Lastly, it is worth noting that the rating that is typically associated with a Hadith, like the ones found on sunnah.com may be rated differently by other scholars, and it is not the least bit uncommmon to find some Hadith labeled as Sahih on Sunnah.com, but rated Hasan (Good) or even Daif (Weak) by others.

For example, the second Hadith from the first book of Abu Dawud, The Purification (Kitab Al-Taharah), is rated as Sahih (Authentic) by Sunnah.com by means of Al-Albani, while the physical book rates the same Hadith as Daif (Weak).

This demonstrates that Hadith Sciences falls short of being any kind of a real science because if it were a genuine science, it should be able to offer consistent, reliable answers, no matter the practitioner. When Hadith Sciences produces such contradictory results, it reveals itself as what it really is: a pseudo-science at best and a mockery at worst.

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1. Imam Abu Hanfiah Life and Work by Shibli Nomani p. 162
2. Imam Abu Hanfiah Life and Work by Shibli Nomani p. 138
3. Imam Abu Hanfiah Life and Work by Shibli Nomani p. 163
4. Imam Bukhari’s Life and Times by Mustafa al-Azami p. 35 & Hadith, Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World, Jonathan Brown p. 34
5. Imam Bukhari’s Life and Times by Mustafa al-Azami p. 35
6. Imam Abu Hanfiah Life and Work by Shibli Nomani p. 122
7. Imam Abu Hanfiah Life and Work by Shibli Nomani p. 160
8. Hadith Literature Its Origin, Development & Special Features by Muhammad Zubayr Siddiqi p. 115
9. Hadith Literature Its Origin, Development & Special Features by Muhammad Zubayr Siddiqi p. 115
10.  Ibn Taymiyyah. Majmu’ al-Fatawa. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
11. Imam Abu Hanfiah Life and Work by Shibli Nomani p.148
12. Imam Abu Hanfiah Life and Work by Shibli Nomani p. 116
13. Imam Abu Hanfiah Life and Work by Shibli Nomani p. 122