Whereas ta’dil and tajrih (sarcasm) used to be the...

Whereas ta’dil and tajrih (sarcasm) used to be the considered criterion for determining the veracity of legal reports, since most of them being originating impositions, which the legislator obligated to perform them till they were believed to be true, and the means to attain reality being having confidence in the narrators, in respect of reliability and precision.

736 When talking about longevity of the world he said: During the first epoch of Islam it was depended in this regard upon the traditions reported from the Sahabah, particularly those who embraced Islam from among the Children of Israel, like Ka’b al-Ahbar and Wahb ibn Munabbih and their likes.

In his statement about exegesis of the Qur’an he wrote: The antecedents have compiled books and were engaged in this job, but their books and reported traditions contained the poor and authentic, the accepted and rejected things.

That was because the Arabs were not educated or knowledgeable, but mostly bedouins and illiterate, and when desiring to know anything, among what all the human souls love much including causes of beings, initiation of creation, and secrets of existence, they would inquire people of the book who preceded them and learn from them. These people include the followers of the Torah, among the Jews and those who adopted their religion, of the Christians.

And people of the Torah were that time bedouins like the Arabs, knowing nothing except what common people of the Book were aware of, most of whom were from Himyar, who embraced the Jewish religion.

On embracing Islam, they kept on believing in things that had nothing to do with the legal rules for which they would take precautions such as reports on commencement of creation, and what is related to misfortunes of life and epics, and alike, among whom we can mention Ka’b al-Ahbar, Wahb ibn Munabbih and Abd Allah ibn Salam and their likes.

The books of tafsir (exegesis) became then filled with these traditions reported by such people, since the exegetes showed leniency in this regard, filling their tafsir books with these reports brought by people of the Torah, the fact that made them acceptable among people since time immemorial. 737 Research on Sciences of Hadith 738 In this regard he said: The mujtahid leaders (imams) differed in opinion regarding being prolific or unprolific in this art.