Hadith 34

Sahih Muslim

Book 0: Introduction

Chapter 5

That Which is Related to the Statements ‘The Chain of Narration is from the Religion’; ‘Transmissions are not Taken Except from Trustworthy Narrators’; and ‘Criticism of the Narrators With What is Permissible Regarding Them, Even Obligatory and That It is not the Prohibited Kind of Backbiting, Rather it is the Defense of the Noble Sharī’ah’

باب فِي أَنَّ الإِسْنَادَ مِنَ الدِّينِ وَأَنَّ الرِّوَايَةَ لَا تَكُونُ إِلَّا عَنْ الثِّقَاتِ وَأَنَّ جَرْحَ الرُّوَاةِ بِمَا هُوَ فِيهِمْ جَائِزٌ بَلْ وَاجِبٌ وَأَنَّهُ لَيْسَ مِنْ الْغِيبَةِ الْمُحَرَّمَةِ بَلْ مِنْ الذَّبِّ عَنْ الشَّرِيعَةِ الْمُكَرَّمَةِ

Sahih Muslim Introduction 35
وَحَدَّثَنَا عَمْرُو بْنُ عَلِيٍّ أَبُو حَفْصٍ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ يَحْيَى بْنَ سَعِيدٍ، قَالَ سَأَلْتُ سُفْيَانَ الثَّوْرِيَّ وَشُعْبَةَ وَمَالِكًا وَابْنَ عُيَيْنَةَ عَنِ الرَّجُلِ لاَ يَكُونُ ثَبْتًا فِي الْحَدِيثِ فَيَأْتِينِي الرَّجُلُ فَيَسْأَلُنِي عَنْهُ ‏.‏ قَالُوا أَخْبِرْ عَنْهُ أَنَّهُ لَيْسَ بِثَبْتٍ ‏.‏
Amr bin Alī Abū Hafs narrated to us, he said I heard Yahyā bin Sa’īd, he said:

‘I asked Sufyān ath-Thawrī , Shu’bah, Mālik, and Ibn Uyaynah about a man who is not reliable (Thabt) in Ḥadīth, and someone comes and asks me about him, and they said: ‘Inform [others] against him that he is not reliable’.’