Rejecting Ahadits from ash-Shaykhayn

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

It is not universal in Sunni Islam that we all accept every hadits from Swahih al-Bukhari.  For example, Imam Abu Manswur Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Maturidi (r.a.) rejected any ahadits that the Prophet (s.a.w.) was affected by black magic since it is inconceivable that he could be touched by Satan and the jinn. 

Various Maliki and Hanafi scholars have also rejected, amongst others, the ahadits on drinking camel urine, of Sayyidatin ‘Aishah bint Abu Bakr (r.a.) being six years old when she was married, the saliva of dogs being najis al-mughalazhah, the missing verses on rajm, and so forth.  And all of these are found in Swahih al-Bukhari, and some of them are even muttafaq ‘alayh. 

It is not an article of faith we must accept something simply because it is from the Shaykhayn.  Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Isma’il al-Bukhari (r.a.) was a great Shafi’i scholar who had differences of opinions with the teachings of Imam Abu Hanifah Nu’man ibn Tsabit (r.a.), who came before his time, and was critical of the rationalist positions of the Hanafi madzhab.  The Shafi’i madzhab emphasised the corpus of ahadits over ra’yy. 

This strained relationship between the Shafi’i madzhab and the Hanafi madzhab, which began when Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi’i (r.a.) differed with his teacher, the Hanafi scholar, Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ash-Shaybani (r.a.), and others, continued down to the rivalry between Imam al-Maturidi (r.a.) and Imam al-Bukhari (r.a.).  They all sniped at each other in their various books, and some even indulged in outright takfir.  That being said, Imam ash-Shafi’i (r.a.) himself, who was born on the day Imam Abu Hanifah (r.a.) passed away, had great affection for him, and would visit his maqam for tawaswswul.  This is also found in his Manaqib. 

Any hadits that contradicts our ‘aqidah and established facts, can be rejected without the need to examine the matn and the sanad.  That was the position of the scholars of kalam, and it should apply to our fiqh as well.