The Light of Truth — Page 489
ASSESSING THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE ECLIPSE HADITH 489 Furthermore, know that the ultimate standard for [judging the veracity of] ahādīth which contain matters of the unseen and news of the future is not the formula established by the scholars of Hadith and implemented by the narrators. Rather, the true and ultimate standard is whether such aḥādīth correspond to the manifestation of predicted events and promised, decreed matters, and whether there remains no difference [between the prophecy and the event] in the estimation of those who reflect. Those who abrogate this standard and have no regard for the man- ifestations [of prophecies] are the most ignorant people with regard to the methods of investigation. The sum of their intelligence is to blindly follow speculative traditions and to abide by weak, doubtful reports, and they are not guided along the ways of the rightly guided. Those who act wrongfully allege that a daif [weak] hadith remains weak according to the Ahl-us-Sunnah even after its truthfulness becomes evident through direct observation, like those prophecies concerning future events whose truthfulness is made plain through observation [upon fulfilment] and it is established that they originate from the Best of Creators; and [even though] they read the hadith of the Best of Creation لَيْسَ الْخَبْرُ كَالْمُعَايَنَةِ ]i. e. hearsay is not like seeing'] and know that the Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, strengthened the manqūlāt¹ through [corresponding] observations. Further, as a warning, he told those who lie and turn away that one who [secondarily] reports is not like one who sees, and called on those who hear to give precedence to the testimony of those who witness. Among their weak delusions is that eclipsing the sun before its appointed days and decreed timing is not far removed from [the prac- tice of] Allah, Creator of the heavens and the earths. They say that Ibrahim, the son of the Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, died on the tenth day of the [lunar] month, and 1. Manqūlāt, derived from naql, refers to revealed knowledge transmitted by the Holy Quran and the Hadith. [Publisher]