BENEFIT 452: I Am Not Obliged to Accept The Jarh!!

Question: Are the issues of Al-Jarh wa At-Ta'dil based on personal reasoning (ijtihad)? And how do we respond to those who claim that and say we are not obliged to follow the statements of such-and-such a scholar? Sheikh Rabee Al-Madkhali hafidahullah: A group of individuals who have infiltrated the Salafi manhaj and falsely wear the cloak of Salafiyyah have focused on the issue of Al-Jarh wa At-Ta'dil. They say: “We correct, but we do not criticise. We want a broad and inclusive manhaj that accommodates the entire Ummah. We correct but do not demolish.” May Allāh bless you. This implies there is no enjoining of good or forbidding of evil, no rectification of innovations, nothing at all—may Allāh bless you. They want to bring everyone into this broad, expansive manhaj, even the Rāfiḍah, calling them our brothers. May Allāh bless you. They began attacking the concept of Al-Jarh wa At-Ta'dil and those who practice it—may Allāh bless you—until some of them even claimed that there is no evidence for Al-Jarh wa At-Ta'dil in the Qur'ān and Sunnah. Allāhu Akbar! I said to the one who made this statement: "How can you say such a thing?" He replied, "It was a verbal slip." A verbal slip—after having published it in tapes and elsewhere? He claims it was just a verbal mistake. By Allāh, this is not a mere slip of the tongue. Al-Jarh wa At-Ta'dil is full of evidence. The Qur’an is full of it: criticism of Pharaoh, the people of Noah, the people of Hud, the people of Salih, the Quraysh, Abu Lahab, and many others—may Allah bless you. The Sunnah is also full of it—may Allah bless you. This is the methodology of the Salaf: Al-Jarh wa At-Ta'dil. It is the weapon against the people of innovation. They want to destroy this weapon and strip the Salafis of it, even though it is derived from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ. One person started warning against Al-Jarh wa At-Ta'dil, followed by a second, a third, a fourth, a tenth, and others followed them—those I have warned you about. They wear the cloak of Salafiyyah while using these principles to divide the Salafis—may Allāh bless you. If a man kills another, and two trustworthy witnesses testify before the Islamic judge, what is the ruling? The ruling is retribution, or else the judge would be opposing the Book of Allāh and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ: [Allāh said] {Bring two just witnesses from among you}—may Allāh bless you. The evidence for witness testimony and the evidence for Al-Jarh wa At-Ta'dil are the same. A person who is not upright—his testimony is not accepted, and his narration is not accepted. A liar or a treacherous person who cannot accurately convey information—his testimony is rejected, and his rulings of Jarh and Ta'dil are likewise rejected. But if a person is a scholar, precise, and competent, and he criticises someone by saying, “So-and-so is a liar,” then people must accept his statement. All of the Salaf followed this manhaj: “So-and-so is a liar”—then he is a liar. “So-and-so has a weak memory”—then he does. “So-and-so is a deviant: a Murji', a Khariji, a Mu'tazili,” etc.—that’s final. Imam Ahmad said, Ibn Ma'in said, Ibn Al-Madini said, Ibn Mahdi said, Al-Bukhari and others among our scholars said. Why? Because Allāh commanded us to accept the report of the upright: {O you who believe! If a sinful person comes to you with news, verify it.} You only verify the report of the sinner. You do not say it is a lie—because it might be true—so you investigate. But the report of the upright, as long as he is reliable and transmits from the Messenger of Allāh, must be accepted. The books of hadith are full of reports from trustworthy narrators—truthful and upright people narrating from others like them all the way back to the Prophet ﷺ. Our religion is built on this.