Hadith 27

Commentary

Prophetic Ahâdîth are conclusive proofs in the Islamic law. That is why the Companions listened to them attentively and memorized them studiously. Ibn 'Abbâs ﷺ, as we know, was passing through the childhood phase during the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ. As such he could hear only a limited number of Ahâdîth from him. He nevertheless memorized a large number of Ahâdîth from the senior Companions, so much so, that he came to be regarded as one of the major narrators among the Prophet's Companions. Real Islam is the word of the Prophet ﷺ. Rulings given by others cannot take the place of Prophetic traditions. It is therefore, imperative that we seek the proof straightaway from the Qur'ân and Sunnah in all matters. Recourse to the words of Companions and the Followers can only be taken where we have no word of the Prophet ﷺ. The Followers sometimes even used to write the words of the Companions. Ibn 'Abbâs ﷺ did not like the idea of writing the words of others beside those of the Prophet ﷺ. That is why he counseled the people to memorize the Ahâdîth, not the sayings and rulings of others. The Arabic expression (As-sa'ba wadh-dhalul) literally means 'to tread the hard and soft ground'. In this Hadîth it figuratively means: "You cannot distinguish between an acceptable and unacceptable tradition." It could also be understood as in; 'riding both the arrogant and the docile animal but one would be well-advised to avoid the arrogant animal.' The total meaning of the phrase is thus the same, namely: "You must not accept the word of each and every narrator, but only of those narrators that are dependable and trustworthy, lest anything that the Prophet ﷺ has not said be unknowingly attributed to him."