Ihya� `Ulum al-Din and weak ahadith

Audio translation by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Alhamdulillahi Rabbil A�lameen.

Was salaatu was salaamu ala sayyidina Muhammadin wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma�een.

The reason that the scholars and others paid so much attention to Ihya� `Ulum id Din, �The Revival of the Religious Sciences� by Imam Ghazali is because he (may Allah have mercy on him and be well pleased with him) explained the realities of Islam in the most stunning way and with the most subtle of discourse.

So he followed therein what the scholars of ahl sunnah have explained in matters of belief. The imams of that science being the Ash�aris and the imams of the shafiis in fiqh in most issues except for some places where Imam Ghazali followed his own opinion and his own ijtihad, even when it went against the established position in shafii madhab. Likewise, he explained the opinions, views and methodology of the masters of the science of tasawwuf whom the Islamic community agreed upon being imams in matters of religion, such as, Sayyiduna Abi�l Qasim al-Junaid. Imam Ghazali explained all these matters and supported them with evidences from both the transmitted primary texts i.e. the Qur�an and the sunnah and sound reason.

He adorned all of that with subtle matters and spiritual illuminations related to matters of belief, worship, human dealings and the strong encouragement to purify ones heart, to make it attached to Allah Most High and to be absolutely sincere to Allah Most High in all one�s affairs.

With that Imam Ghazali also explained the diseases of hearts that destroy one on the Day of Judgment and explained the ways the shaytan enters upon one and how one may cure this.

And add to that is the section on saving graces and noble character traits of which the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said that, �I was sent to perfect noble character.� So the way of Imam Ghazali in his work, said shaykh Amjad, is a knowledge-based way that is practical and clear for anyone who seeks to be realized in the realities of Islam and to reach the ranks of the veracious, of the siddiqeen who are the foremost of the believers. One seeks to be among the foremost of the believers who realize in both the outward and the inward realities of the religion of Islam as explained in the great hadith Gibril then the greatest works that you could read and become realized in is Imam Ghazali�s Ihya Ulum id din. This is not something that is said by only the scholars of the shafii school but rather this is something the scholars of all the madhabs generally mention. In the hanafi school, for example, despite the hanafis strong attachment to their madhab and their Imams, they mention clearly that whoever seeks to become well versed in the path of the next life and how to heal one�s heart of these destructive vices then there is no book like the Ihya of Imam Ghazali. This is mentioned by the commentators of Imam Barqawi Tariqa al-Muhammadiya, by Nahlawi and others, by Hanbalis and Malikis, everyone agreed on this reality regarding Imam Ghazali�s work. To reach the ranks of the veracious by following the way of the master of Prophets, the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace). Why? Here Shaykh Amjad explained that the reality of following the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is not only in performing certain outward works. These certain outward works, which is the concern of the fiqh, are certainly of the utmost importance and there is no reality to one�s Islam at the practical level without these. However, this is not all that Islam is. Islam is not just outward forms rather the sunnah of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) has received very clearly in his life, his words, his person, his character is both these outward realities of the shari�ah and a heart attached to Allah Most High and free of the vile, despicable character traits that Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) came to guide humanity away from. So this is why in our time when people have become so focused merely on outward forms of Islam that the work of Imam Ghazali joins between the great concerns of the outward practical realities of the shariah with its inward meanings and its secrets and its subtlety and its depth are so important.

Shaykh Amjad said, as for the fabricated hadith that Imam Ghazali mentioned in the Ihya, the answer can be understood by few matters. It is important to note that Imam Ghazali did not base a principle or the issues of the principles that he laid down in his book upon a fabricated hadith. Rather Imam Ghazali followed in every principle and every issue that he discussed in his work, the methodology and principles and rulings laid down by the Imams of the sciences of faith and of the sciences of fiqh. These principles, issues and rulings were established by those Imams by sound reliable proofs. Then Imam Ghazali came and he may for some particular ruling that is already established, used a hadith that is weak or perhaps rarely fabricated. This simply means that this hadith is not a proof but it does not mean the ruling that has been established is thus no longer true. Why? Because these rulings are established by the Imams of the science of faith and the science of aqida with sound evidence.

The way that Imam Ghazali followed in his writing is that he first mentions in each section the relevant verses of the noble Qur�an and then Prophetic hadith and then transmission from companions and early Muslims and then the words of the foremost of the righteous, such as, the masters of the spiritual path.

The second point, that the hadith that are not rigorously established in the Ihya are of two types:

Weak Fabricated i.e. hadith that have no basis.

As for the weak hadith, the ulema of ahlus sunnah are agreed upon the fact that it is permitted to act upon the weak hadiths in virtuous deeds as long as the weakness of the hadith is not excessive as has been established in the relevant places. Shaykh Amjad has a very good answer on this that may be found on Sunni Path and there is a recording of that answer available.

Whoever reads through the Ihya realizes very clearly that the hadiths that Imam Ghazali mentions have not been mentioned for anything other than exhortation, reminder and encouragement towards virtuous deeds. Thus the possibility of criticism becomes yet narrower because Imam Ghazali did not mention these hadiths as a part of legal reasoning and to establish and deduce legal rulings.

The third point that is important to know is that the great hadith master Imam al-`Araqi did a critical analysis of the hadith of the Ihya pointing out which hadiths were established and which were not. This enables the reader to be protected from believing that certain words are from the words of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) when they are in fact not.

However, it is to be noted that a lot of hadiths that Imam al-`Araqi said have no basis were proven by Imam az-Zabidi in his commentary on the Ihya. Imam Az-Zabidi being a 13th Islamic century hadith master originally from India, grew up in Yemen and later on lived in Egypt. He has a commentary on the Ihya and he also has a commentary on Imam Ferozabadi�s great dictionary al-Qamus al-Muhit. So Imam Zabidi pointed out that many of the hadiths that al-`Araqi said that these hadiths have no basis show that they do have a basis.

Some of the hadith that Imam al-`Araqi said that they are weak Imam Zabidi showed that they are only weak from the chain of transmission studied by Imam `Araqi. However, they are in of themselves sound in other chains of transmission which Imam Zabidi often mentions. This is the point that was mentioned by the great Shaykh al-Azhar who passed away in late 70s or early 80s, Shaykh Abdul Halim Mahmud.

The fourth point: what remains is discussion regarding a small number of hadith that do in fact have no basis.

So after realizing the first and third point from what Imam Araqi did. We also realize that there is no danger upon the reader of the work despite the presence of some fabricated hadith. Why? Because Imam Ghazali did not build any legal rulings upon these fabricated hadiths rather he took his fiqh from the works of the shafii Imams. He took the matters of faith that he discusses from the masters of the science of aqida and he took his exposition of the spiritual way from the masters of the spiritual path whom the ummah of Islam agreed upon. Rather he only mentioned these fabricated hadith in matters related to virtuous deeds and leaving despicable matters which are already established to be praiseworthy and despicable by the verses of the Qur�an and from the established hadiths. Imam al-`Araqi�s work, his critical analysis of the hadith, is published in all copies of the Ihya and it points out what is from the established and what is not.

One also has to understand that there is no human action except that it will have some shortcoming or some imperfection from some angle and no one has ever claimed that Imam Ghazali was free of fault. That he was divinely protected from all faults. Imam al-Ghazali did not devote himself to the science of hadith as the hadith masters did. There is no problem with this whatsoever. For the overall majority of the scholars of Islam have varying ranks in the various sciences. So someone who is a master of one science, it is not a condition that they be a master of all the remaining sciences. This is the state of Imam Ghazali, for he was a master of the rational sciences, sciences of fiqh, and the sciences of usul ul fiqh, the fundamentals of jurisprudence. No one could compare to him in these sciences in his time and in later times. This is the way of most of the ulema that they mastered certain sciences and they weren�t at absolute level of mastery of certain other sciences. Given this Imam Ghazali relied in transmitting these hadith that turn out to be very weak or in some cases fabricated on what he found in certain books that he relied upon, such as, Qut ul qulub of Abu�l Talib al-Makki and other books. He mentioned these hadith because of what they contain of encouragement or admonition as we mentioned. He did not study their chains of transmission leaving the responsibility of that for those who he transmitted from. However, as we have established what is important is that Imam Ghazali did not base a principle or legal ruling that is not established by anything other than such a fabricated hadith, let alone use such hadith to oppose anything that is established by rigorously authentic hadith. And Allah (SWT) knows best.

This is why the scholars considered this matter to be inevitable that like any other book this is a weakness in the work of Imam Ghazali and the scholars realize this and they worked on it. Imam al-`Araqi and many others did critical editions of Imam Ghazali�s work and people who came after did the same, such as, Imam Az-Zabidi and his commentary on the Ihya. They analyze this hadith and the reader when they read Imam Ghazali�s work is able to see which hadiths are established and which are not. The ulema, such as, Sayyiduna Shaykh Nuh Keller, when they teach the work they point out the hadiths that are weak in this.

We ask Allah (SWT) for success and understanding the way of the sunnah of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) as understood and lived by the scholars of Islam. Wa akhro da�wana wal hamdulillahi Rabbil Aalameen.

[Transcribed by Sr. Huma Shah, Sunni Path Fiqh Staff]

Validity of weak hadith