Then appeared on the scene...

Then appeared on the scene, the relators and Zanadiqah, and people of too ancient akhbar (reports), 182 that were similar to superstitious traditions, causing so much distortion and corruption to the hadith out of all these practices, throughout different ages and times. Concerning the relators, they used to gain the hearts of the dignitaries among people, extracting from what they owned (of wealth) through disapproved, strange and falsified traditions.

Common people were of the habit of gathering around the relator whenever his hadith being supersensible and irrationally amazing, or being a heart-saddening touching one exciting the emotions and extracting tears from eyes, the arts in which those people had good experience, big lies and extremely abundant reports.

In regard of the Zanadiqah, they tried their best, by trickery means, to distort and blemish Islam, through foisting in it some abominably ugly and unbelievable traditions resembling the superstitions of the Greeks and Romans, and legends of the Indians and Persians. Their only aim behind these practices was to vilify Ahl al-Sunnah and pervert their narrations through inserting false traditions that no reason could accept or sight could imagine.

And concerning the people of ancient akhbar, they intended out of this to confirm and prove the superstitions that were prevalent in the Pre-Islamic era (Jahiliyyah), with imparting veracity upon them so as to use them in interpretation (tafsir) and alike purposes, the cases for which ample examples are there.

Stage of Committing Hadith to Writing: After the class of traditionists, among whom were the minor and senior Tabi’un (Followers) – lie the class of Ibn Abbas – hadith continued to be inflicted with symptoms of inadvertence, negligence and foisted suspicions and interpolations.