Jarh & Ta’dil Is Ijtihadi

Imam Abu Walid al-Baaji al-Maliki wrote 1,000 years ago:

يقول أبو الوليد الباجي [ت 474 هـ] في كتابه “التعديل والتجريح” (1/310): ((وقد أخرج البخاري أحاديث اعتَقَدَ صحَّتَها، تَرَكَها مسلم لما اعتقدَ فيها غيرَ ذلك. وأخرج مسلم أحاديث اعتقد صحَّتها، تركها البخاري لما اعتقد فيها غيرَ معتَقَدِه. وهو يدلُّ على أنَّ الأمر طريقُه الاجتهادُ لِمَن كان مِن أهل العلم بهذا الشأن، وقليلٌ ما هُم

“And Imam Bukhari narrated Ahadith (in his Sahih) which he deemed authentic, but Imam Muslim left them out (of his Sahih), because he believed otherwise.
Similarly, Imam Muslim narrated Ahadith (in his Sahih) which he deemed authentic, but Imam al-Bukhari left them out (of his Sahih), because he believed otherwise.
This shows that this matter (of jarh wa ta’dil) is ijtihadi.
The people of knowledge who specialise in this science can indulge in it – and how few they are in number!”

[“Al-Ta`dil wa al-Tajrih”, 1/310].

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Almost all ahadith in the Sahihayn are authentic, except a few.

There are certain Ahadith in the Sahihayn, about the authenticity of which ahlalhadith disagree – for more than 1000 years.

The margin of error is less than 0.1% … which is pretty good.

The Qur’an is the ONLY Book , about which can be said:

ذَٰلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ
“THIS is the Book which contains no doubt.” [Qur’an 2:2].

IMPORTANT NOTE: Hadith criticism is a SCIENCE, it should be left to its specialists. It’s not an open game for everyone. If anyone has any questions, they can ask the scholars. Don’t reject something you have no knowledge about. Follow the scholars.