Mutawātir According to Ḥanafiyyah: Extracted From Uṣūl al-Bazdawī

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Definition

Linguistically: It comes from the word wa-ta-ra which refers to “the coming of things consecutively with small intervals”. ʿAllāmah Bazdawī has put the qayd (qualification of) “from you until the Prophet (ṣal Allāhu ʿalayhī wa-sallam)” because he intends it in the context of the sunnah. Otherwise, this qayd is not necessary for the essence of mutawātir.

Technically: The report of a group of people which gives one the benefit of knowledge due to its truthfulness.

Conditions

It is related by such amount of narrators that it is impossible for them to collude on a lie, accidentally or purposely.
The report should be based on the senses, as opposed to logic for example.
The number of narrators should be equal on both sides, as well as in the middle, and it should fulfill the above conditions in each level.

Examples of this can be the transmission of the Qurʾān, the five ṣalawāt, amount of zakāh and diyyāh, and the units of ṣalāh.

Minimum narrators required

Scholars have differed regarding the minimum number of narrators that are required in mutawātir. Some have said five, some have said twelve, some forty, some seventy, etc. All of these opinions are probabilities and do not seem to have appropriate evidence to back them up. The correct view according to the Ḥanafiyyah is that there is no specific number for the minimum amount of narrators required in mutawātir, rather, the criterion is that whatever the amount may be, it should give one the benefit of ʿilm yaqīnī ḍarūrī (compelling undeniable knowledge).

Those who have said لا يحصى regarding the narrators that: ‘they should be countless’ have said so in order to indicate the condition of it being impossible for the group of narrators to collude on a lie. However, jumhūr are of the opinion that this is not a real condition, rather as long as it is impossible for the group of narrators to collude on a lie, it is enough even if their amount may be enumerable.

ʿAdālah (uprightness)

Some have stated that it is necessary for the narrators of mutawātir to be Muslim and upright because infidelity and sinfulness give the doubt of the lying of such narrators. The general scholars have not set these conditions.

Buʿd amākinihim (far distances between the narrators)

ʿAllāmah Bazdawī has mentioned this to further emphasise his condition of it being impossible for the narrators to collude on a lie, thus “residential distance” is not an actual condition, but rather just an example or elaboration.

Al-Muʿāyan al-masmūʿ minh

The outcome of mutawātir is that it is as if the one who received the report actually witnessed the mutakallim (the Prophet ṣal Allāhu ʿalayhī wa-sallam) making the statement. Like the number of ṭawāf and the standing at ʿarafāt.

Ruling

Jumhūr is of the opinion that mutawātir gives the benefit of ʿilm yaqīnī ḍarūrī. This means that it is understood without any research or prior knowledge, and by all sane, mature people. ʿAllāmah Bazdawī says that the one who denies this type of knowledge is like a foolish man who does not know himself, his dīn, or his dunyā; as all of these things are understood through khabar (tawātur).

Other groups

Some from the Muʿtazilah and ʿAbdullāh al-Thaljī from the fuqahā say that mutawātir gives the benefit of ʿIlm Ṭumaʾnīnah. According to them, Ṭumaʾnīnah is such a knowledge that, along with conviction, it has some doubt in it. Others say that mutawātir gives the benefit of ʿIlm Ẓannī. Both groups can be considered as one because Ṭumaʾnīnah according to them is only a little bit closer to yaqīn, which is still in the realm of Ẓann. Their main reasoning is that mutawātir is established through many āhād reports, and in the same way āhād reports are doubtful, so is the mutawātir, so it cannot give the benefit of ʿilm yaqīnī ḍarūrī, rather it will give ʿIlm Ṭumaʾnīnah.

They also say that there were many big groups that transmitted information, but it was false, like the Jews who claimed that Jesus was killed. However, this is incorrect because they came up with such a report based on logic. It was around 6-7 people who entered the room of Jesus to kill him, and once they assumed that they killed him (because our belief is that in reality, they killed someone who resembled him), they spread the news based on their assumption. However, mutawātir cannot be established by such a group who even had doubts about whether they killed him, or killed someone else.

Sources:

.كشف الأسرار على أصول فخر الإسلام البزدوي ج١ ص ٥٢٢-٥٣٣ دار الكتب العلمية

.الكافي شرح البزدوي ج١ ص ١٢٤١-١٢٥١ مكتبة الرشد