What to Look for Before Accepting Reports

[8] So look — may Allah have mercy upon you — at everything you hear from the people of your time in particular: do not be hasty, and do not enter into any of it until you ask and examine: did any of the Companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم speak regarding it? Or any of the 'Ulama? If you find a narration from them concerning it, then hold firmly to it, do not go beyond it for anything, and do not prefer anything over it, lest you fall into the Fire.

The author رحمه الله directs whoever reads his words or receives them to exercise deliberateness and to distance himself from haste in snatching up speech without turning to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger and what the Sahabah were upon of sound guidance and adherence to the Book and the Sunnah, and what they were upon of aversion to falsehood and Bid'ah — such that one who traces their biography will not find a single one of them who fell into Bid'ah. And from the recognition of the Salaf al-Salih and the Imams of guidance of the station of the Sahabah — that they are upon the truth, and the truth revolves with them wherever they turn — and from the author's knowledge of their radiant reality, he warned the Sunni Muslim against entering into anything he hears from the people of his time until he asks the 'Ulama, reflects, and investigates. Then, if it becomes clear to him that this statement was held by the Sahabah, or that a text from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger points to it, he takes it.

And among their foundational principles is what Imam Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i said: "If my statement contradicts the statement of the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم, then strike my statement against the wall."

And the statement of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal: "Do not follow me blindly, nor follow Malik ibn Anas blindly, nor Al-Awza'i blindly — rather, take from where they took."