جہالت ِ راوی کے مصداق اور حکم میں محدثین و اصولیین کا منہج و اسلوب

Method and Style of Muḥaddithīn and Uṣūliyyīn regarding the Meaning and Ruling of Obscurity of the Narrator

Abstract

The obscurity of the narrator is one of the reasons for defamation in the narrator, on the basis of which the narrator is deprived of the status of acceptance. There is a difference of opinion among Muḥaddithīn and Uṣūliyyīn as to its meaning and there is also a difference of ruling on the basis of this. According to the Muḥaddithīn, the obscurity depends on the number of narrators narrating from a narrator, and according to the Ḥanafī Uṣūliyyīn, it depends on the number of narrations. Therefore, if two or more narrators narrate from a narrator, he will go out of obscurity, while according to the Ḥanafī Uṣūliyyīn, if only one or two narrators narrate from him, it is a sign that he is not associated with this science.

In the rule of obscure narrator’s narration, Ḥanafī Uṣūliyyīn consider the era, so basically, the narration of an obscure narrator at an early age is acceptable except that there is another reason of not considering it. On the contrary, the obscure narrator is unreliable from the point of view of the Muḥaddithīn unless there is some evidence to dispel his obscurity. The point of view of Mutakallimīn is close to that of the Muḥaddithīn in this regard.