Seadet-i Ebediyye - Endless Bliss Second Fascicle

He was skilled in every science, he was an authority in every usûl,
and was known as authentic, firm and was praised by the early
savants as well as by later ones. It is so daring to say that there are
mawdû’ hadîths in such a profound savant’s tafsîr; it is identical
with tearing a deep gap in the religion. It would be fit if the
tongue that uttered such words, the heart that believed them, and
the ears that listened to them caught fire. Was that greatly learned
sage unable to distinguish mawdû’ hadîths from sahîh ones? What
should we call people who would say, “Yes, he was”? Or, did he
lack religious faith or fear of Allah to such an extent as to make
up hadîths or disignore the heavy punishments which our Prophet
had reported about those who would do so? It would be very
base, very heinous to say he did. Because the meanings in these
hadîths are too vast for the narrow comprehension and the thick
head of the person who says so, he will look for a way out; then,
finding no other way, he calls them mawdû’. For this reason, it
will be pertinent here to explain mawdû’ hadîths.
The word (mawdû’) has one lexical meaning and one istilâh
(technical) meaning, [that is, a different meaning peculiar to the
concerned branch of knowledge.] In other words, it has a meaning
given by the knowledge of Usûl-i hadîth. In the dictionary,
mawdû’ means that which has been put somewhere afterwards,
that is, made-up. That is, it was not uttered by the blessed mouth
of the Sarwar-i ’âlam ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ but was
introduced in the name of a hadîth by a zindiq, by a munâfiq, or
by a liar, for slanderous purposes. There are two ways to
determine it. The first way is with a statement from Fakhr-i Rusul
‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’, who is the owner of the hadîth:
“This is not my hadîth.” In other words, his saying that he did not
utter it. The second way is with the absence of this mawdû’ hadîth
among the hadîths that were recorded by those who were with
our master Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ from the first
day of his prophethood until he honoured the Hereafter with his
presence. This second way requires some conditions to be
fulfilled. For instance, the people involved (in the recording of the
so-called hadîths) must have paid strict attention to each and
every statement made by the Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa
salam’ and they must have observed closely all his blessed
manners and habits. Accordingly, this second way also is
impracticable. Then, how could a hadîth ever be called mawdû’ in
this sense? No one would pay heed to an assertion of this sort.
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