One Must Take Upon the Narrations of Wicked Shi’a
One must take upon the narrations of Shi’a of wicked character, as long as these narrations conform to the Quran.
Thus, a wicked reputation such as lying, alcoholism, etc is not a prerequisite to critiquing a hadith (per our ahadith).
Rather, one should critique the content of a hadith to determine whether or not to take upon it. The reputation of the narrator simply corroborates a conclusion regarding not taking upon a hadith due to questionable content (check our article on “Dangers of Rejecting A Hadith as Fabricated” for some info on this topic).
(Tafsir al-Ayyashi, vol 1, page 8)
“Muhammad ibn Muslim narrated:
Abi Abdilah said:
‘O Muhammad - whatever comes to you from the narration of a righteous or wicked person conforming to the Quran, take upon it.
And what comes to you from the narration of a righteous or wicked person not conforming to the Quran, do not take upon it.”
عن محمد بن مسلم قال: قال أبو عبد الله عليه السلام: يا محمد ما جائك في رواية من بر أو فاجر يوافق القرآن فخذ به، وما جائك في روايةمن بر أو فاجر يخالف القرآن فلا تأخذ به
(Mukhtasar al-Basa’ir)
“On the authority of Sufyan bin al-Samt, he said: I said to Abi Abdilah (peace be upon him): May I be sacrificed for you. A man before you comes to us who is known to lie, and he narrates the hadith, so we disdain it.
Abi Abdilah (peace be upon him) said: “He tells you I said that the night is day, and the day is night.”
I said, “No.”
He [the Imam] said, “If he told you this, I said it. If you accuse him of lying, you are accusing me of lying.”
حدثنا أحمد بن محمد بن عيسى، عن الحسين بن سعيد ومحمد بن خالد البرقي، عن عبد الله بن جندب، عن سفيان بن السمط (3)، قال: قلتلأبي عبد الله (عليه السلام): جعلت فداك يأتينا الرجل من قبلكم يعرف بالكذب فيحدث بالحديث فنستبشعه.
فقال أبو عبد الله (عليه السلام): " يقول لك: إني قلت الليل إنه نهار، والنهار إنه ليل؟ " قلت: لا، قال: " فإن قال لك هذا إني قلته فلا تكذب به،فإنك إنما تكذبني "
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This person of taking the narrations of the wicked is restricted to Shi’i ahadith, as relying on the ahadith of the Mukhalifeen to form our theology, fiqh, etc is not permissible:
“Abu al-Hasan [Musa al-Kadhim] wrote to me while he was in prison:
As for what you mentioned, O Ali, from whom you take the teachings of your religion, do not take the teachings of your religion from anyone other than our Shiites, for if you transgress them, you take your religion from the traitors, who betrayed God and His Messenger and betrayed their trusts, for they were entrusted with the Book of God. , so they distorted it and changed it, so they are the curse of God, the curse of His Messenger, the curse of angels, the curse of my honorable fathers, and the curse of me and the curse of my Shiites until the Day of Resurrection
وعن حمدويه وإبراهيم ابني نصير، عن محمد بن إسماعيل الرازي عن علي بن حبيب المدائني، عن علي بن سويد السايي (1) قال: كتب إليأبو الحسن (عليه السلام) وهو في السجن: وأما ما ذكرت يا علي ممن تأخذ معالم دينك، لا تأخذن معالم دينك عن غير شيعتنا، فإنك إنتعديتهم أخذت دينك عن الخائنين، الذين خانوا الله ورسوله وخانوا أماناتهم، إنهم ائتمنوا على كتاب الله، فحرفوه وبدلوه فعليهم لعنة الله ولعنةرسوله ولعنة ملائكة، ولعنة آبائي الكرام البررة ولعنتي ولعنة شيعتي إلى يوم القيامة - في كتاب طويل -.
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Why is it permissible to take the ahadith of wicked Shi’a?
“I said to Abu al-Hasan Musa, peace be upon him: The man from among your followers is a sinner (3) who drinks alcohol and commits a reprehensible sin. Do we disassociate from him?
He said: Disassociate from his actions, and do not disassociate from his goodness, and hate his deeds [but not his person].
So I said: Can we say such a person is a wicked and immoral person?
He said: No, the immoral, fasiq, infidel one is the one who is defiant against us and our followers [i.e, he isn’t Shi’i].
God refuses for our follower to be deemed be an immoral fasiq, regardless of his action, thus you should say:
This person is of Immoral deed, evil deed.
He is believer in soul, but of evil deed, yet good soul and body.
No, by God, none of our guardians will come out of this world except by God and His Messenger, and we are satisfied with him. God will raise him up for the sins in him, his face will be white, his nakedness is hidden, his security and his splendor, there is no fear or sadness for him.”
قلت لأبي الحسن موسى عليه السلام: الرجل من مواليكم عاص (3) يشرب الخمر ويرتكب الموبق من الذنب نتبرأ منه؟ فقال: تبرأوا من فعله ولاتتبرأوا من خيره وأبغضوا عمله فقلت يسع لنا أن نقول: فاسق فاجر؟ فقال: لا، الفاسق الفاجر الكافر الجاحد لنا ولأوليائنا، أبى الله أن يكونولينا فاسقا فاجرا وإن عمل ما عمل، ولكنكم قولوا:
فاسق العمل فاجر العمل مؤمن النفس خبيث الفعل طيب الروح والبدن.
لا والله لا يخرج ولينا من الدنيا إلا والله ورسوله ونحن عنه راضون، يحشره الله على ما فيه من الذنوب مبيضا وجهه، مستورة عورته، آمنةروعته، لا خوف عليه ولا حزن.
