Tuesday, 26 May 2026 (10 Dhuʻl-Hijjah 1447 AH)
Question: The scholars of uṣūl have said: the report of a single narrator does not yield more than presumption, so it is not acted upon except in subsidiary matters; and matters such as the obligation of prayer and the like—among the matters of widespread affliction in knowledge and practice—are not accepted therein except by a report that yields knowledge.
However, the Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) sent to Yemen Imām ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Muʿādh ibn Jabal to call the people to Islam, and he commanded them that if the people embrace Islam, they are to teach them the obligation of prayer upon them, and zakāh, and the like. The people of Yemen acted upon their statements despite the fact that their reports were presumptive. What is the reason for that?
The answer—and Allah is the One who grants success—is that the Prophet (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) used to send individuals; however, those individuals would recite the Qur’an to the people, and the people were Arabs who understood the miracle, and through it they attained knowledge of tawḥīd and the negation of any partner, justice and wisdom, the Names of Allah, Exalted is He, faith, the angels, the prophets and messengers, the books, the resurrection after death, the reckoning, Paradise and Hellfire, and knowledge of the obligation of prayer and zakāh, and so on.
This is in addition to the fact that the matter of the Prophet (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) had become well known in the lands, and his religion which he called to had become famous—that he commands five prayers in the day and night and commands such-and-such, and so on.
Accordingly, knowledge of the sum total of the religion and its fundamentals was attained by the people either from the Qur’an or from fame and tawātur. Nothing remained except detailing what was known in summary, and that is among what the report of a single narrator is accepted in.
This is in addition to the possibility of the existence of contextual indicators and corroborating signs that testify for those sent by the Prophet (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace), such as their recitation of the inimitable Qur’an, the appearance of piety, the marks of righteousness, and the light of Islam upon their faces, and that what they were sent with of the religion only commands good and forbids obscenity and evil, and the testimony of those who accompanied them and traveled with them, and other than that.
As for the solitary report by itself, it does not yield knowledge and certainty. This is what has appeared to me—and Allah knows best.
Source: Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.3