Mashhūr According to Ḥanafiyyah: Extracted From Uṣūl al-Bazdawī

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Definition

Linguistically: Mashhūr comes from the word shahara – yashharu – shahran – wa shuhratan meaning when something is revealed or manifested such as شَهَرَ سَيْفَه: “He drew his sword” or “He revealed it” which is in the meaning of salla.

Technically: It is that report which is originally from the category of āhād (solitary-narrated reports) but then spreads afterward in the second [or third] century after the era of the Ṣaḥābah (raḍī Allāhu ʿanhum), and reaches the rank of mutawātir. So much so that Imām Jaṣṣāṣ has said that it is one of the types of mutawātir.

Originally, the ittiṣāl (connection) in mashhūr is such that there is still some form of doubt in it apparently, not in reality. Once the ummah accepted it and transmitted it through tawātur, it reached the rank of mutawātir.

Regarding eras, the Ḥanafiyyah only take into consideration the 2nd and 3rd eras, not after that; because the majority of the āhād narrations had already become mashhūr after the first three eras. Therefore, it is not permissible to do ziyādah upon the Qurʿān through any of the reports that become mashhūr after the 3^rd century, such as the report of the tasmiyah in wuḍūʾ.

Ruling

Imām Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ

Some of the Shawāfiʿ are of the opinion that in terms of knowledge, mashhūr is included in the category of āhād and therefore gives the benefit of Ẓann. Imām Jaṣṣāṣ from the Ḥanafī scholars was of the opinion that it is like mutawātir in this regard and gives the benefit of yaqīn (undeniable knowledge). However, through istidlāl (research) not ḍarūrah (natural conviction). Some Shawāfiʿ have also agreed with this and have given examples like the example of Abū Hurairah’s narration on the impermissibility of marrying a woman and her maternal or paternal aunt at one time.

Imām ʿĪsā ibn Abān

Imām ʿĪsā ibn Abān is of the opinion that it gives the benefit of Ṭumaʾnīnah not ʿIlm Yaqīn. As such, it will be higher than ʿIlm Ẓann but lower than ʿIlm Yaqīn. It will still be permissible to make ziyādah through it upon the Qurʾān. This is the opinion of Abū Zayd, Shaykhain, and the mainstream mutaʾakhkhirrūn.

The ruling of its denier

Imām Sarakhsī

According to the scholars that hold the first opinion – that it gives the benefit of al-ʿIlm al-Yaqīnī – its denier will be labeled a kāfir, and according to the scholars of the second opinion, its denier will not be labeled a kāfir. Imām Sarakhsī has stated that its denier will not be labeled a kāfir, with ittifāq (consensus). This is because according to the first opinion, even though the report has become like mutawātir in the era of the Tābiʿūn; and it is known that Tābiʿūn do not collude on a lie, it still has not become like al–mushāhid al-masmūʿ (as if the person is hearing it from the Prophet ṣal Allāhu ʿalayhī wa-sallam himself). Thus, even if he rejects it, he is not rejecting the Prophet (ṣal Allāhu ʿalayhī wa-sallam) but rather saying that the scholars were wrong. Even though it is a bidʿah and wrong, one is not considered a kāfir.

Imām ʿĪsā ibn Abān

Imām ʿĪsā ibn Abān states that the deniers of mashhūr can be classified into three types:

The denier will be labelled as astray but not kāfir like the denier of rajm; because the scholars of the first two centuries have agreed upon it.
The denier will not be labelled as astray due to the differences of opinion that existed in the first era like wiping over the khuffayn but it will be said that he made a mistake and it is feared that he is sinful; due to the consensus of the 2nd and 3rd-century scholars.
The denier will not be considered to be sinful but rather to have committed an error, like the differences that are present in the aḥādīth of aḥkām (laws) because there have been differences from the very first centuries. This is what Imām Sarakhsī has mentioned.

Imām ʿĪsā ibn Abān says that the denier of mashhūr will be regarded as astray but not as a kāfir like the ḥadīth of wiping on leather socks and stoning. It will, therefore, be permissible to elaborate/interpret (i.e. make ziyādah) on the Qurʾān through these narrations like the continuity in the fasts of kaffārah, which is a ziyādah upon the aṣal of fasting, and wiping over leather socks which is ziyādah upon the aṣal which is washing. However, due to mashhūr originally being from the category of āhād, it will not give the benefit of al-ʿilm al-yaqīnī. Instead, mashhūr will give the benefit of ʿIlm Ṭumaʾnīnah.