Abdullah ibn Lahīʿah in the Balance of Hadith Criticism

Abstract

This research examines the status of a narrator of hadith regarding whom the imams of hadith criticism differ in their assessments of his reliability and credibility; this is a process an application of the rules laid down by the imams of hadith for dealing with those regarding whom the opinions of the imams of hadith criticism are contradictory in terms of criticism and validation. The study proceeds by categorising the opinions of the imams of hadith criticism according to their methodologies into strict, moderate and lenient, and by drawing conclusions regarding the proponents of each approach, followed by the for the scholars of criticism as a whole. The opinions of later scholars of criticism were also mentioned thereafter. The study concluded that ‘Abdullah ibn Lahia was himself a reliable scholar, the author of a sound book, and that his hadiths are generally weak but may be taken into consideration, except for those transmitted via one of the ‘Abadalah, which are sound.