Verification (Tathabutt)

[Abu Talib]

Shaykh Muhammad bin Saalih al ‘Uthaimeen
Source: “The Book of Knowledge” published

From among the most important disciplines which are obligatory for the student of knowledge to possess is verification. Verification in transmitting news and verification in passing judgement. So, if information is transmitted, then it is imperative to verify it’s authenticity from the one whom it is being transmitted. So, if information is transmitted then it is imperative to verify it’s authenticity from the one whom it is being transmitted. If its is authenticated, and a religious verdict is issued, then quite possibly the information you have heard may be based upon a principle which you are unaware of, leading you to pass judgement that the religious verdict is a mistake whilst in reality it is not a mistake!

So what is the remedy for such a situation?

The remedy is that you must call the one to whom this news is attributed and say to him: “such and such has been transmitted on your authority, is this correct?” Then, discuss the issue with him. It could be that your disagreement and subsequent alienation of him was due to what you heard which was alarming, because you do not know the reason for that which has been transmitted.

It is said: “if the reason is known, then there is not alarm.” So, it is imperative to firstly verify the information and religious verdict, thereafter, call the one from whom it is being transmitted and ask him: “has this been authenticated or not?” Then discuss it with him; Either it will be that he is upon the truth and that which is correct, so you turn to it, or that which you are upon is the truth so he will turn to it.

…

Also tathabbut is an important matter because the transmitters sometimes have evil intentions. They deliberately transmit that which aims to discredit the transmission; sometimes they do not have evil intentions, but nevertheless they understand a matter contrary to that which was intended. Because of this it is obligatory to seek tathabbut. So if the chain of narration serves to verify that which is transmitted, you arrive at a level of discussion with the one from whom it is being transmitted, before you pass judgement on the statement that it is a mistake or not. This is because it may quite possibly become clear to you after the discussion, that the truth is really with the one from whom the statement is transmitted.

In conclusion if a statement is transmitted on the authority of such-and-such and you feel it is wrong, then follow the following three steps, in order:

1 – Verify the authenticity of the narration;

2 – Look into the issue to ascertain the correct ruling, and if it is correct then support and uphold the position of the one from whom the narration is transmitted. However, if you find it is wrong, then proceed to step 3;

3 – Telephone the one from whom the narration is transmitted and discuss the issue with him calmly and respectfully.

 

[abu'muhammad]

:salam2:

thanks brother for posting a benefecial read, MashaAllah ! further adding relevant 'read' to the thread as under

It is well known that verifying news is something of high importance according toShari`ah, as Allah Almighty says, [FONT=&quot]([/FONT]O ye who believe! If an evil person brings you tidings, verify it, lest ye smite some folk in ignorance and afterward repent of what ye did[FONT=&quot])[/FONT] (Al-Hujurat 49: 6).

The Lawgiver issued a stern warning against passing on all news that one hears. It was narrated that Hafs ibn `Asim said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said: “It is enough lying for a man to speak of everything that he hears.” (Reported by Muslim)

It was also narrated from abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “It is enough sin for a man to speak of everything that he hears.” (As-Silsilah as-Sahihah, 2025)

Commenting on the above hadith, imam an-Nawawi said:

"Usually a person hears truth and lies, so if he speaks of everything that he hears, he is lying by telling of things that did not happen, and lying by speaking of something other than the way it happened; and he does not have to do that deliberately (in order to be regarded as telling lies.)"

It was narrated that al-Mughirah ibn Shu`bah said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Allah has forbidden you to disobey your mothers, to bury your daughters alive, to not pay the rights of others and to beg from others. And He dislikes gossip for you, asking too many questions, and wasting money.” (Reported by Al-Bukhari)

In his commentary on the previous hadith, al-Hafiz ibn Hajar said: With regard to the words “and He dislikes gossip for you”, there are certain points that should be clarified concerning the meaning of this hadith:

1. It indicates that it is disliked (makruh) to speak too much because it leads to mistakes.

2. It refers to narrating differences of opinions concerning religious matters, such as saying, “This one said such-and-such and that one said such-and-such.” The reason why this is disliked is that speaking of such matters may lead to mistakes. This applies especially to those who transmit such views without verifying them, merely imitating those whom they hear without exercising caution. This is supported by the Prophetic hadith that states, “It is enough sin for a man to speak of everything that he hears.” (Reported by Muslim).

It was reported that ibn Mas`ud (may Allah be pleased with him) heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say, “How bad it is for a man to keep saying, ‘They (i.e. other people) say…” (As-Silsilah as-Sahihah)

The above may explain why our righteous ancestors were keen to establish proof and were wary of rumors. `Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Beware of temptation (fitnah), for a word at the time of fitnah could be as devastating as the sword.”

The following are some of the examples that show to what extent spreading rumors is dangerous among the Ummah:

1. When the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them all) migrated from Makkah to Abyssinia, they were safe, but then a rumor spread that the kuffar (disbelievers) of the Quraysh in Makkah had become Muslims. So some of those Companions in Abyssinia left it and traveled to Makkah. To their amazement, they found that the report was not true, and they met with persecution at the hands of Quraysh. All of that happened because of rumors.

2- During the Battle of Uhud, when Mus`ab ibn `Umayr (may Allah be pleased with him) was killed, there was a rumor that the one who was killed was the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), so the army of Islam withdrew because of a rumor, and some of them fled to Madinah and some stopped fighting.

Proper Shari`ah Methodology in Dealing with Rumors

There are certain ways which help one deal with rumors, especially those related to news. Here are some of them:

1. Deliberation

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Deliberation is from Allah and haste is from the Satan.” (As-Silsilah as-Sahihah)

It is worth stressing here that the one who deliberates may meet some of his needs while the one who is hasty may slip.

2. Verifying News

Allah Almighty says, [FONT=&quot]([/FONT]O ye who believe! If an evil person brings you tidings, verify it, lest ye smite some folk in ignorance and afterward repent of what ye did[FONT=&quot])[/FONT] (Al-Hujurat 49: 6).

What is meant by verifying is to make strenuous effort to find out the facts behind a certain issue so as to establish whether this can be proven or not. Verifying also means to be sure of the truth of a certain report and its circumstances. Al-Hasan al-Basri said: The believer reserves judgment until the matter is proven.

In conclusion, we advise everyone to verify matters and not to rush to pass on news until they are sure that it is true, even if the news is good because if it becomes apparent that the one who passed it on is mistaken, he will lose credibility before the people, and anyone who bears a grudge towards him will use it against him. Excerpted with modifications from www.islam-qa.com