Hadith 45

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 46
حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا جَرِيرٌ، عَنْ مُغِيرَةَ، عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، قَالَ قَالَ عَلْقَمَةُ قَرَأْتُ الْقُرْآنَ فِي سَنَتَيْنِ ‏.‏ فَقَالَ الْحَارِثُ الْقُرْآنُ هَيِّنٌ الْوَحْىُ أَشَدُّ ‏.‏
Qutaybah bin Sa’īd narrated to us, Jarīr narrated to us, on authority of Mughīrah, on authority of Ibrāhīm [bin Yazīd an-Nakhā’ī], he said, Alqamah said:

‘I memorized the Qur’ān in two years’. Al-Hārith said: ‘The Qur’ān is easy; the revelation [i.e. the secret revelation to Alī in the belief of the Shī’ah] is more difficult ’.