The Devils Deception by Imam Ibn AL-Jawzi

T H E D E V I L ' S
D E C E P T I O N S
'Abdullah Ibn Imam AJ:imad said: "Abu Turab al-Nakhshabi once
went to my father, so my father began saying: "This narrator is weak
and that narrator is reliable." So Abu Turab said: "O Shaikh! Do not
backbite the scholars!" So my father turned to him and said: "Woe
to you! this is counsel, not backbiting."
MuJ:iammad Ibn al-Faql al-'Abbasi said: "We were with 'Abdu'l­
RaJ:iman Ibn Abu I:fatim who was reading out to his "Book of Discrediting
and Approving, " and said: I shall reveal the characters of the
learned, showing which of them is trustworthy, and which untrustworthy.
Yusuf Ibn al-I:lusayn said to him: I am ashamed of you,
Abu MuJ:iammad; how many of these people a century or two centuries
ago have come to rest in Paradise, while you, here on earth,
malign their names! 'Abdu'l-RaJ:iman burst into tears, and said: Abii
Ya'qub, had I heard this saying before I composed this book, I should
never have composed it."
May Allah forgive Ibn Abu I:latim. Had he been more knowledgeable,
he would have answered in the same way that AJ:imad did to
Abu Turab. Had the science of al-Jarb wa'l-Ta'dil ( creditation and discreditation
of narrators) not been there, how would we have known authentic narrations
from unauthentic ones?
Further, the fact of these people being in Paradise does not prevent
our mentioning them with their appropriate qualities; to call
this backbiting is improper language. Besides, if a man does not
know the principles of "al-Jarb wa'l-Ta'dil, " how can his words give a
certificate of reliability?
Abu'l-'Abbas Ibn 'Ata' said: "He who knows Allah will not ask
Him for anything, because he should know that Allah is the One
who knows about his affairs."
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