Treating Everything Like Narrations

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

When someone quotes a scholar, or mentions a hadits, people will ask for a dalil, evidence, down to the page of the book. This, even though they might not even be able to understand the sciences of verification of chains and transmitters.  But when it comes to spreading stories about people, unverified “scientific facts”, conspiracy theories, and insane pronouncements by this or that shaykh, nobody cares about verifying anything. 

If we treated what we hear about other people the way we treated ahadits, asking for the actual words said, and the context in which it was conveyed, asking for the chain of transmission and then verifying the narrators and their character, the Muslim ummah would have a whole lot less fitnah, and not be beset with stupid. 

We talk about a time when a Muslim said something or made a promise, it was considered a sacred oath.  Now, when a Muslim says something, we would all double check it.  Even written contracts are treated with caution.  If we cannot trust what other Muslims say, can we trust what they pass on?