MCC Tucson Lectures
Muslim Community Center of Tucson
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August 8, 2026·Safar 25, 1448 AH·9:01 PM·22m·Saturday-Isha

Three Levels of Knowledge—What Can We Share?

The Parameters of Transmitting Religious Knowledge in Islam

hadith authenticationknowledge transmissionpeople of the booksocial media Islamfalse narrationsscholarly authorityIslamic knowledge
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Summary

Sh. Ali Mashhour discusses the parameters and permissibility of transmitting religious knowledge, particularly focusing on three categories: that which is definitively from Allah and His Messenger (obligatory to spread), that which is definitively not from Allah (forbidden to spread), and that which might be from Allah (permissible but not obligatory). He emphasizes the importance of accurate transmission of hadith and warns against spreading unverified narrations, especially in the age of social media. Sh. Ali Mashhour uses the example of stories from the People of the Book, explaining that while certain narratives may be permissible to mention, Muslims should not actively seek knowledge from non-Islamic sources or use them to interpret the Quran. He stresses that spreading any narration attributed to the Prophet without scholarly authentication is prohibited.

Transcript

Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.

Alhamdulillah. for.

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Real.

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Forch. This narration here deals with the transference of knowledge. Transferring knowledge from one person to another. What are the parameters of that? What kind of knowledge is permissible for us to spread amongst one another? There are three things. Number one, that which is definitely from Allah. Number two, that which might be from Allah. Number three, that which is definitely not from Allah. three levels. So we have number one that which we know for sure Allah said or the messenger Muhammad sallall.aii wasallam said this we are commanded to spread it is an obligation upon us. The second is that which we know for sure is not from Allah or his messenger. That is categorically haram to spread. Number three, that which possibly is from Allah and his messenger. that which might be from Allah and his messenger and that is permissible to articulate without certainty that it is from Allah or his messenger. So we look at this narration through that lens. The prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam says exactly spread and convey from me any meaning anything that you know to come from me even if only one verse convey on my behalf even if only one verse even if it's only one verse of the Quran that you know convey it he says and it It is okay to tell the stories of Benny is the stories of the people of the book. It is okay. He says, "And you can tell those stories. There's no blame upon you for doing so." He says, "And whoever attributes something to me that I have not said purposely, then let him take his place in the fire." So these are three levels. That which we know to be from Allah, convey on my behalf, even if only one verse. that which we know not to be from Allah and his messenger. Then so the first we know came from Allah we are commanded to spread it. Second, that which might be from Allah. We know the people of the book Benu, they were not very trustworthy over the books that Allah entrusted them with. They added, they misconstrued, they took away, they erased things, they changed things for a multitude of reasons. There's not one or two reasons. There's many reasons and this is why Allah sent a prophet amongst them at all times. He said they were constantly overwatched by the prophets themselves. Every time a prophet would pass away, Allah would raise up another amongst them as a prophet. They couldn't be trusted with their books. And even in the verses from Bakar that we listen to tonight in speaks about this that some groups, some of their scholars would change and meddle with the books and verses of Allah. Why? For many reasons. Maybe he wants to appease a king or a ruler. Maybe he wants to gain a greater following. You know, when different companies compete with each other, they sell the same product. So, they're competing. How do they get customers from one another? Well, they play with the prices, right? They play with the prices, the quality. The same thing would happen amongst their scholars in those previous nations. If a certain people were disgruntled by something, he would change a little thing here and then people would come and follow him or they would get paid to give certain fata etc. Sometimes it's a unanimous change that they make out of a out of envy for the rest of the nations. something that Allah gave to someone else, they wish that it was theirs. what for instance? Does anyone know an example of this? our prophets. Okay, you're close. So, they believe they're the gentile. They're the they're the chosen ones, right? Their beliefs about being the chosen people are so are so psychopathic that they believe that they were buil they were created from a special mud and dirt and the rest of humanity was created from a lower type of dirt. Those are the Gentiles and we are the chosen. But Allah subhanahu wa tala rose two children of Ibraim up. Correct? Is and to each of those two nations Allah distributed gifts. One of those gifts was that is with his father. He was the eldest and he was the caretaker of the Ka and he was a messenger to the Arabs, the Gentiles. How could Isah be the one chosen to be the offering and the slaughtered of his children? No, it was his. We can't let them have that. So they agree that is Isaiah was the one who was who Ibraim was told to sacrifice and not is and the scholars of Islam agree that it was is he was a what happened this has changed in those books out of a a kind of pride for their own lineage and their own. And so it goes, many things were changed, but not everything was changed. Correct? not every single verse from the Torah which we have today is changed. Some of it is from Allah. And some of the gospels that we have today is from Allah. And some of the psalms of David as zabul is from Allah. And so when they tell us something from their books, is it from Allah or not from Allah? Well, there's three types. There's that which we know for sure is from Allah. We don't need their books to tell us that. We already have it in ours. The second is that which we know categorically is not from Allah the trinity and any verses misconstrued that articulate that anyone is the son or daughter of Allah that which we know to be categorically a lie. It is haram to narrate these things from them. Then there's that which we're not sure. It could be from Allah but it might not be. This is usually stories, anecdotes, right? Something happened, someone went out. The prophet sallallah.aii wasallam told us many stories this. And when they moved to Medina in the time of the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam, there were three Jewish tribes there. Wabanua these three Jewish tribes would intermingle with the Arabs and tell them stories from their books. So the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam instructed the companions and Bkari listen to what his instructions are. He said He said, "If if the people of the book, the Jews of Medina or anyone else, if they relate to you a story from their books, do not reject it as falsehood and do not accept it as truth. We're uncertain of it. We don't know. Is it possible?" Yes. Is it definite? No. And this is usually like we said anecdotes things that you know a man something happened to a particular man and this occurred Allah said and he said and this happened this is something that is possible. So if it is something that is possible it's permissible for us to hear it. It's permissible for us to tell it to each other if there is some need for that. But does that mean that just because he says that we should use their books as a an explanation of the Quran? Huh? Of course not. Absolutely not. And this is one of the mistakes that is considered to be something that many of the imams and scholars of the Muslim have rejected throughout the years and that is a tap that is written and it is filled with with stories of beni is to fill in some of the details of the stories mentioned in the Quran. This is something that is highly discouraged. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave us details in the Quran that we needed and he left out whatever we don't need. Knowing those details is inconsequential. How many people were with when he was on the on the ark? How many people Allah? If I told you it was 40 people, would that change anything? What about if I told you it was 43 people? Does that change anything for you? What about Misam, his staff that would turn into a snake? What if I told you it was made out of it was made out of cherry, cherrywood? Does that change anything for us? What if I told you it was made of walnut? What if I told you it was made of oak? Who cares? What about the number of the young men that went into the cave in surah? If I told you they were seven and their dog was their eighth or if I told you they were 700 and their dog was their 701st, would it change anything for us practically? Absolutely not. And so Allah scrubbed those details from the stories that he tells us in the Quran and gave us exactly what we need. Not a drop more and not a drop less. But the people of the book, they were obsessed with this type of knowledge. They were obsessed with it. Musam tells them, "Slaughter a cow." He said, "A cow? Huh? What kind of cow? A cow. Well, how old is this cow? It is medium. It's not too old. It's not too young. What color is this cow? What does this cow do for a living? Is it a cow that's used to till? Is it a cow that's used to All you're doing is making things more difficult on yourself. If if you had a son or a daughter, you said, "Go get me a glass of water." They turn to you and they say, "A tall glass or a short glass, a big glass or a small glass, a fancy one or a regular one? Do you want this glass made out of glass or is glass metaphorical and you mean plastic? Would you this water to be lukewarm or slightly cold or slight? What do you understand from this exchange? You understand that they don't want to go get it? They're stalling. They're trying to make you give up on them. And this is what the people of the book before us did. And all of that extra knowledge that they have is not actually knowledge. It's just details that only serve to bog down and take away from the take away from the ethos of the great and the grandeur and the gravity of these stories that Allah tells us in the Quran and Sunnah. So this this is the type of knowledge that it is permissible for us to articulate to each other. It's not obligatory. It's not necessarily even encouraged. It's permissible. Now when the prophet tells us it's permissible to narrate from beni does that mean we should go out and buy a bible or go out and buy the old testament or the new testament and then read it in detail is that and then use this narration as an evidence to do that absolutely not there's a difference between being approached with something something that you hear incidentally and actively going to seek knowledge with these types of people or from these books. That is a very different kettle of fish. The last thing he tells us is whoever ascribes to me that which I have not said purposely then let him assume his place in the hellfire. And then comes along WhatsApp and Facebook, right? The Muslim were so safe for so long. And then you'll wake up and you'll find narrations coming to you from all over. And then it's Ali's job to now research and look for these narrations. Right? So for instance when the moon landing occurred, the moon landing it turned into there was a narration floating around. The day of judgment will not commence until two men walk around on the moon. Ya Allah. And then they say, "Is this authentic or inauthentic? Could you look for this narration for us?" Right? It is haram to spread a narration without knowing that the scholars of Islam have approved and authenticated this narration. I will repeat what I said. It is haram to spread a narration ascribed to the prophet sallall.aii wasallam without knowing for certain that at least one major scholar of Islam has authenticated this narration. So for instance a narration from Sah Bkari do we know that that's authentic or not? Yes. Muslim. Yes. No, that's not a book that was written for the general masses. It has in it about a fourth of its narrations are authentic and the rest is all kinds of stuff. And so it goes. A person before they say they need the authority to do that. What is the authority? A major scholar of Islam has authenticated this narration. They have said this is authentic. Who are major scholars? Albkari, Muslim, Abu Dani, , Ibuza, Iban, , Abdi, Abu Hati, Ahmed, Ibn Helb of the later scholars and right these are major scholars Ib etc etc. If we have a narration that we got from them and they said this narration is authentic then spread it otherwise you are just being part of the problem.

[Arabic recitation]