How should we understand the following hadith: "Tell people the hadiths that they can understand. Do you want Allah and the Prophet to be denied"?

The Details of the Question

- Is it wrong to tell people about all hadiths?

The Answer

Dear Brother / Sister,

The following is reported from Hz. Ali:

"Tell people the things that they can understand. Do you want Allah and His Messenger to be denied?" (Bukhari, Ilm, 4)

Ibn Mas'ud reports something similar. Imam Muslim includes it as follows in his Sahih with a sound chain of narrators:

"If you tell a group of people something that they cannot understand, it will be mischief for some of them." (Muslim, Muqad­dima, 3; see Ajluni, 1/196)

Knowledge can be useful as well as harmful based on by whom, where and how it will be used. As a matter of fact, Imam Malik did not want ambiguous narrations related to divine attributes to be reported to everybody carelessly; similarly, Abu Yusuf did not want gharib hadiths to be reported to everybody carelessly. (Ibn Hajar, Fathul-Bari, X/225)

Many scholars did not want the statements that are difficult to understand and to interpret and ambiguous statements to be reported to everybody. When they are reported, it is necessary to explain what is meant by them. It is especially necessary to be careful while explaining ambiguous and metaphorical hadiths. Some people may call them fabricated when they do not understand the wisdom, metaphor or simile in them; some people may even have doubts about religious issues.

Accordingly, if it is necessary to report the hadiths and verses that might be misunderstood, they must be explained after they are reported.

Questions on Islam

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