At a glance
Contested: This record includes matters on which scholars differ. The speaker's views are labelled as his, and other views are marked where no cited source yet exists.
The question
Ibn al-Salah divides the sound hadith into seven classes:
- what al-Bukhari and Muslim both report;
- what al-Bukhari alone reports;
- what Muslim alone reports;
- what meets the conditions of both but neither reports;
- what meets al-Bukhari's conditions;
- what meets Muslim's conditions;
- what others hold sound but meets the conditions of neither.
The highest is the first, of which hadith scholars say "sound, agreed upon". They mean the agreement of al-Bukhari and Muslim, not of the community. Yet the community's agreement follows from it, because the community received what the two agreed on with acceptance. 1 2
The views
Ibn al-Salah describes the view he rejects as that of those who argued as follows: a hadith in itself yields only probability; the community accepted these reports only because it must act on probability; and probability can err. 2
Opinions on the question
The question: Single-chain reports in the two Sahihs: do they yield knowledge or probability?
First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni: Ibn al-SalahMain reference
More opinions (1)
Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni: al-Nawawi, as the editor Itr quotes himMain reference
People and things also explored
Dreams (ahlam)· Shama'il Muhammadiyya· Ghanima (spoils of war)· Sacred hadith (hadith qudsi)· Seeking knowledge· Isnad· Criticism and vindication of narrators (jarh wa-ta'dil)· The jinn
Sources
- Ulum al-Hadith by Ibn al-Salah — edited and annotated by Nur al-Din Itr (edition not stated in the scan) , p. 27
- Ulum al-Hadith by Ibn al-Salah — edited and annotated by Nur al-Din Itr (edition not stated in the scan) , p. 28
- Ulum al-Hadith by Ibn al-Salah — edited and annotated by Nur al-Din Itr (edition not stated in the scan) , p. 29
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Does what al-Bukhari and Muslim agree on yield certainty of its soundness?”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/questions/ifadat-ma-ittafaqa-alayhi-al-shaykhan-al-qat/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-04.
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