Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

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One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Asalaamulikum!!!!

Thank you very much for building such a site which guides people to the truth....

I have a question to ask here...

We read the books of Hadiths namely " Sihah-e-Sita" ... of six Imams ....

can u guide me please ... whether these books are authentic books....

if they are authentic what are the reasons for their authenticity. i mean these Hadiths Books were written two hundred years after the death of the Prophet(PBUH)... Is every word written in Sihah-e-Sita is hundred percent true Please answer my question as quikly as possible

THanks alot

Allah Hafiz

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Answer:

Are Hadith books true?

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Your Statement: Thank you very much for building such a site which guides people to the truth....

May Allah Subhanah reward you with the best of this world and the Hereafter for your kind comments of encouragement for our humble efforts in the propagation of the Truth. We humbly hope, beg, and pray the Merciful Lord accepts our humble and weak efforts, forgives us our shortcomings, and saves you, us, and all the believers from the torment of the Hell Fire. Ameen.

Your Question: We read the books of Hadiths namely " Sihah-e-Sita" ... of six Imams ....can u guide me please ... whether these books are authentic books.... if they are authentic what are the reasons for their

authenticity. i mean these Hadiths Books were written two hundred years after the death of the Prophet(PBUH)... Is every word written in Sihah-e-Sita is hundred percent true

It is indeed unfortunate that some people have gone to the two extremes when dealing with the ‘ahaadiths’ of the Messenger of Allah (saws). One extreme declares belief in each and every hadith of the Prophet (saws), without confirming whether the hadith is authentic or not! The other extreme declares their complete opposition and rejection of any and all ahaadiths, regardless of whether they are fabricated or not!

The true muslims must take a balanced view or the ‘middle way’ when dealing with anything. Just because someone calls a statement or a deed a hadith, we are not to completely submit to it, nor completely reject it; but the right and correct mode of conduct would be to do a thorough investigation to determine whether the Messenger of Allah (saws) indeed did do or say the thing claimed by the ‘raavi’ or narrator.

Some great and eminent scholars have spent their entire lives and done an exhaustive research and investigation in each of the hadiths to determine their authenticity, and only when they were completely satisfied, they recorded these hadiths in their ‘Sahih’ or Book of Authentic Hadiths. The most respected and accepted collections came to be recognized as the ‘Sihah Sitta’ or the ‘Six Authentic Collections’ of hadiths. These eminent scholars of hadith investigated each aspect of the saying or deed whether it was in conformity with the Quran or not, for it is inconceivable for a believer to assume that the Messenger of Allah (saws) would have done or said anything against the dictates of the Quran. Then they thoroughly checked and investigated the chain of narrators to see whether they were truthful people or not, or whether one who claimed to have heard it from the other was alive at the same time or not, and if alive, did they ever meet each other or not! If there was even a slight doubt in any event or chain of events, these eminent scholars refused to accept the hadith as authentic.

Even after all their exhaustive efforts and thorough investigations, it is impossible to claim, nor does anyone ever claim, that each and every hadith in their collection of ‘sahih’ is absolutely authentic; for after all, this is a work of man, and man is prone to shortcomings and error. For the believers, the only guaranteed authentic Book of Guidance has to be the Glorious Quran, whose authenticity is guaranteed until the end of time by none other than Allah Subhanah. For every aspect of guidance, ‘emaan, belief, faith, ‘aqeedah’, ‘tawheed’, ‘shirk’, etc., one need not look beyond the Quran. The hadiths, once they have been declared authentic by the scholars, will only be used when one finds the Quran silent on a particular subject.

My beloved brother in Islam, study the Glorious Quran in as much depth as you possibly can, and you will realize from the ‘noor’ of the Quran, how easy it is to determine the authentic hadiths from the fabricated ones. Just because one has heard that some hadiths are fabricated, it would not be construed as intelligence to reject each and every hadith, or reject the science of collecting authentic hadiths by the eminent scholars of Islam. Conversely, just because a hadith is included in the Sihah Sitta, would not automatically mean that it is an absolutely authentic hadith.

The most one should say regarding the ‘Sihah Sitta’ is that amongst the available books of hadiths, these books by the six eminent scholars are recognized and accepted by the believers to be the most authentic; and Allah Alone Knows Best. May Allah Subhanah bless and raise the honor and status of these eminent scholars who did a huge service to Islam and to the muslims of future generations in the science of collecting the various hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (saws).

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan