The Salafi Approach to Discrediting and Acceptance of Narrators Based on Denomination and Creed

Most of the scholars of ḥadīth focus entirely on the foundational principles related to the contents and chains of traditions while trying to establish the reliability of narrators. In order to approve or discredit an individual narrator, they examine attributes like reliability, honesty, strong memory, precision etc. This was the approach of some of the foremost Sunni scholars, including the authors of the Saḥīḥayn. However, most of the Salafis go beyond these accepted principles and yardsticks to include the denomination and creed of the narrator as one of the factors to be considered when accepting or rejecting his narrations. Some of the evidence that the Salafis present for discrediting the narrators who ascribe to different schools of thought include: discrediting by accusation of Shiʿism, discrediting due to criticism of [some] Companions, discrediting because of narration of merits of the Ahl al-Bayt (a), and discrediting narrators who believe in rajʿah. In this way, some of their biographers have discredited Shiʿi narrators for one of the aforementioned reasons and have accused them of being liars despite the fact that many of these same narrators have been deemed honest and trustworthy by many of the renowned Sunni scholars.