Qarinah # 1
When a weak hadith is supported by another weak one it is elevated to the rank of a sound narration. This is what the muhadditheen call “hasan li ghairihi”. Sometimes many supporting chains may even elevate a weak hadith to the status of an authentic one.
Imam Abu Esa at-Tirmithi states in his “E’lalus Sagheer”:
“Every hadith that does not comprise of a narrator whom is accused of lying in its chain, nor is the hadith shaaz (anomalous), and it is transmitted by another chain of the same level then this is a hasan hadith according to us.”
Imam Baihaqi states in his “Dalaa-ilun Nubuwwah” (7/269):
“Even though these two isnaads are weak they support one another and indicate that it (the hadith of Ja’far) has a basis.”
After Imam Hakim narrated a hadith with three weak chains of transmission in his “Mustadrak” (4/342-343) he concluded by saying:
“The hadith of Abdullah ibn Ja’far has been authenticated by these supporting chains (shawaahid, attestations).”
Ibn Hajr Asqalini mentions this accepted principle of the muhadditheen in his “Nuzhatun Nadhar” (91-92) in the following manner:
“When a person with a weak memory (sai-yi-ul hifz) is supported by a reliable narration i.e. the narration is stronger or at least of the same level but not weaker, similarly a senile (mukhtalit) whose case is unclear, a mastoor (unknown), a mursal (interrupted) chain, a mudallas when the omitted person is unknown, the hadith becomes hasan, not in itself but it is attributed with that (grade of hasan) due to the combination of the mutaaba and the mutaabi (parallelism).”
Hafiz Ibn Hajr goes on to explain the reason a weak hadith becomes strong (92):
“Since any of the weak narrators or chains (mentioned above) have the equal possibility of being accurate and inaccurate, when a reliable narration confirms it then one of the above possibilities is preferred and this indicates that the hadith was correctly retained, so it is elevated from the status of ‘pending-approval’ to ‘accepted’. And Allah knows best.”
NB. From the above it becomes clear that a person should not consider a text of a hadith weak merely based on the weakness of one of its chains. Sometimes parallelisms and attestations strengthen the hadith, rather at times there may even be a separate and completely sound or authentic chain for that particular text.
Hafiz Ibn Salah has warned in his “Muqaddimah” (80):
“When you see a hadith with a weak chain, you should say, “This is weak,” and mean that it is weak with that chain. You should not say, “This is weak,” and merely on the basis of the weakness of that particular chain mean by this that the text is weak. For sometimes a hadith is also related with an authentic chain of the kind which establishes a hadith as authentic.”
NB. It is not that in all cases a supporting chain will elevate the rank of a hadith, rather sometimes it is of no help.
Ibn Kathir states in his “Ikhtisaar Uloomil Hadith” (39-40):
“It is not necessary that a hadith becomes hasan if it is transmitted by many chains. This is because weakness has different levels. Some levels of weakness cannot be eliminated by mutaa-bi-aat (parallelisms) for instance the narrations of liars and those whom were abandoned. Other levels of weakness are removed by supporting chains as is the case with the narration of a transmitter with a weak memory or a hadith with an interrupted chain. In such cases the parallelisms benefit and lift the hadith from the low level of weakness to the pinnacle of soundness or authenticity.”
