A fatwa answered by Shaykh Zulfiker Ibrābaīm حفظه الله on the topic ofʿilal al-ḥadīth.

1. .
Question:
Shaykh in regards to the discipline of ʿilal al-
ḥadīth, why is it the most difficult category to
master in ʿulūm al-ḥadīth and in your opinion
who is the leading scholar of ʿilm al-ʿilal at the
present time?
SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
Answered by Shaykh Zulfiker
Ibrāhīm Memon ( )
1/18

2. SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
2/18
All Perfect & Complete Praise with Love and
Veneration is Exclusively for Allāh Alone.
May the Praise of Allāh be Exalted for His
final Messenger and seal, Muḥammad, in the
most Noble and Highest of Gatherings, and
may His Peace also descend upon him, his
noble wives and all of his companions.

3. SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
3/18
As to what proceeds:
In Sūrah al-Naḥl, Āyah: 44, Allāh says:
“And We have revealed to you the Reminder
that you may make clear to men what has
been revealed to them, perhaps they may
reflect.”
.

4. SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
4/18
It was narrated on the authority of Abū
Hurayrah, that The Messenger of Allāh said:
“The believer's soul is suspended by his debt
until it is settled for him.”
1
.

5. SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
5/18
I asked my father: “Who are the [real] people?”
He replied: “The [real] people are none
but those who say haddathanā and
akhbaranā (those who report ḥadīth).”
It is narrated that ʿAbd Allāh b. Aḥmad b.
Ḥanbal said:
2
.

6. .
Before I answer this question, we must
understand the definition of ʿilal al-ḥadīth as
Shaykh Waṣī Allāh ʿAbbās has written in his
book which is called, ʿIlm ʿIlal al-Ḥadīth wa
Dawrah fī Ḥifẓ al-Sunnah al-Nabawīyyah, Page:
15-16, in which the Shaykh says:
SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
6/18

7. .
7/18
SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
In the general sense: An ʿillah refers to any
reason that keeps a ḥadīth from being
designated as ṣaḥīḥ; whether the reason is
elusive or visible.”
Without a doubt there are numerous Scholars
who understand the category of ʿilal al-ḥadīth.
But, in my humble opinion, one of the leading
Imāms of our time in ʿilm ʿilal al-ḥadīth is my
teacher Shaykh Waṣī Allāh ʿAbbās. The
evidence for this is as follows:
Firstly, Shaykh Waṣī Allāh ʿAbbās is a master
of ʿilm al-ʿilal . He wrote his own book on this
subject entitled 'ʿIlm ʿilal al-ḥadīth wa Dawrah
Fī Ḥifẓ al Sunnah Al- Nabawiyyah.’

8. .
8/18
SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
Kitāb al-ʿIlal wa Maʿrifah al-Rijāl, by Imām
Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal [d.241 Ah], in four
volumes, published by Dār al-Qabas,
Riyadh, KSA, printed in 1427H.
Secondly, he has made taḥqīq (edited) with
‘ināyah (due diligences and carefulness)
of manuscripts such as:
1.
2. al-ʿIlal wa Maʿrifah al-Rijāl, by Imām Aḥmad
b. Ḥanbal with the transmission of Marwadhī,
Ṣāliḥ b. Aḥmad, al-Maymūnī in one volume,
published by Dār al-Salafīyyah, Bombay,India,
printed in 1407H.

9. .
9/18
SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
3. Kitāb Baḥr al-Dam by Imām Yūsuf b
Ḥasan b ʿAbd al-Hādī [d.744 Ah], in two
volumes, published by Dār al-Imām
Aḥmad, Cairo, Egypt, printed in 1427H,
and others.
Thirdly, by reading Shaykh Waṣī Allāh
ʿAbbās' works, one can tell that he’s an
erudite scholar in the subject of ʿilm al-ʿilal,
his verification on the issues are precise like
the ʿulamāʾ of old.

10. .
Fourthly, the Shaykh may Allāh protect him
from the evil eye and give him good health and
a long life in His obedience is a genius when it
comes to detecting a mistake of a trustworthy,
precise and honest narrator in his
transmission:
SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
9/18
‘al-thiqah, al-ṣadūq, al-ḍābiṭ’, and what the actual
defect and mistake is,
‘al-ʿillah wa al-ghalaṭ’

11. .
Apparently, many will consider this narration
due to the trustworthiness and preciseness of
the narrator to be authentic but the Shaykh
will point out its mistake and hidden defect
and this is only possible if you have an absolute
and comprehensive study of the narrators and
narrations following the examples of the
leading predecessors in this field such as Imām
ʿAlī b. al-Madīnī [d.234 Ah], Imām Muḥammad
b. Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī [d.256 Ah], and others .
SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
10/18

12. .
‘This is one of the most difficult issues to
champion in this discipline and the Shaykh
always exemplifies his expertise for those who
are connected to this discipline. Shaykh al-
Islām Ibn Taymīyyah [d.728 Ah] has discussed
this in detail in his principles of tafsir to which
you can refer.
SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
11/18

13. .
SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
Fifthly, for those who attend his lessons in
Masjid al-Ḥarām, Makkah, they would witness
how Shaykh Waṣī Allāh ʿAbbās incorporates
ʿilal al-ḥadīth in all his lessons particularly
when he talks about rijāl al-sanad (the
narrators of the chain of transmission) and
when he discusses ʿilal al-khafīyyah (hidden
defects).
By this ,we see that Shaykh Waṣī Allāh ʿAbbās
is deeply influenced by expertise of this field,
the likes of Imām ʿAlī b. al-Madīnī [d.234 Ah],
Imām Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī [d.256
Ah] and others.
12/18

14. .
SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
Sixthly, Shaykh Waṣī Allāh ʿAbbās became so
accustomed to ʿilm al-ʿilal that it has become a
part of his life and a way of life.
So much so that he naturally implements it.
One of the most outstanding qualities Shaykh
Waṣī Allāh ʿAbbās has, is that he is able to
detect forgery and plagiarism which is
equivalent to ʿilal al-khafīyyah when reading
MA, PhD thesis and other dissertations along
with illustrated and edited books, and this sort
of detection can only be highlighted due to his
wealth of experience of almost thirty plus
years, as he has done with many individuals.
13/18

15. .
14/18
SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
Furthermore, whenever the Shaykh is asked
about the knowledge and manhaj
(methodology)of certain individuals, he
scrutinises and analyses them based on
evidences and the principles of al-ʿilal which
hundreds would miss.
This is the mind of an accomplished expert
in this field. It is important to note that one
cannot master ʿulūm al-ḥadīth without
mastering ʿilm al-ʿilal al-ḥadīth.

16. .
Also the Arab muḥaddith, Shaykh Rabiʿ Hādī
al-Madkhalī has mastered ʿilm al-ʿilal due to his
tutorship and travelling to the sub-continent
specifically to seek knowledge of ḥadīth, from
Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Gondalwī [d.1405 Ah],
Shaykh ʿUbayd Allāh al-Mubarakpurī [d.1414
Ah], Shaykh Badī al-Dīn Shāh al-Rāshidī al-
Sindī [d.1416 Ah] and Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAlīm al-
Benghālī and others.
Seventhly, on this issue, an amazing quality of
our Shaykh which attests to his outstanding
knowledge is the reconciliation and reasons
when some of the great scholars of Ahl al
Ḥadīth.
SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
15/18

17. .
The likes of Shaykh al-Islām Nadhīr Ḥusayn
Dehlawī [d.1320 AH], al-ʿAllāmah Bashīr
Sahsawānī [d.1326 AH], al- ʿAllāmah Shams
al-Ḥaqq ʿAẓīm Ābādī [d.1329 AH], al-
ʿAllāmah Muḥammad Ḥussayn Batālwī
[d.1338 AH], al- ʿAllāmah ʿAbd al- Raḥmān
al-Mubārakpūrī [d.1353AH],ʿ al- ʿAllāmah
Abd Allāh Al Roipurī [d.1394AH] and others
talk about al-ʿilal in their books. If there is a
dispute the Shaykh is able to reconcile if
possible, otherwise he gives his analysis,
reviews the proofs and evidences and
clarifies the ambiguity for us, the students
of knowledge, in this discipline of al-ʿilal.
SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
17/18

18. .
This shows he is well versed in their fatāwā
and opinions in ʿilal al-ḥadīth and is a
reference point for us such that when we don’t
understand the profundity of it we refer back
to our teacher who makes it easy for us with
the tawfīq of Allāh.
SHAYKHZULFIKER
‫ذواﻟﻔﻘﺎراﻟﻤﻴﻤﻨﻲ‬
I b r ā h ī m M e m o n
ZULFIKERMEMON/MARKAZSUNNAHUK
1. Recorded in: Jāmiʿ Trimidhī, the Book of Janāʾiz (funerals), Section:
What Has Been Related About: The Believer's Soul Is Suspended By His
Debt Until It Is Settled For Him, Ḥadīth: 1078, Page: 449, Volume: 2, Isnād
Ḥasan.
2 . Recorded in: al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir al-ʿIlm, Article: 3438, Page: 121,
Volume: 8, Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ.
And Allāh knows best.
18/18