أَخْبَرَنَا عَبْدُ السَّلَامِ بْنُ عَبْدِ الْقَيُّومِ، قَالَ: سَأَلْتُ الْمَنْصُورَ الْهَاشِمِيَّ الْخُرَاسَانِيَّ عَنِ الْأَخْذِ بِالرِّوَايَةِ، فَكَرِهَهُ وَقَالَ: مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ مِنْ رِوَايَةٍ إِلَّا مَا تَوَاتَرَ عَلَيْهَا الْأَلْسُنُ، وَذَلِكَ لِأَنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُعْبَدُ بِالظَّنِّ وَإِنَّمَا يُعْبَدُ بِالْيَقِينِ! قُلْتُ: وَمَا حَدُّ التَّوَاتُرِ؟ قَالَ: مَا يَسْتَيْقِنُ بِهِ عُقَلَاءُ النَّاسِ، قُلْتُ: وَكَمْ ذَا؟ قَالَ: أَرْبَعَةُ رِجَالٍ ذَوِي عَدْلٍ إِذَا لَمْ يَخْتَلِفُوا، كَمَا قَالَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ: ﴿لَوْلَا جَاءُوا عَلَيْهِ بِأَرْبَعَةِ شُهَدَاءَ ۚ فَإِذْ لَمْ يَأْتُوا بِالشُّهَدَاءِ فَأُولَئِكَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ هُمُ الْكَاذِبُونَ﴾![1] قُلْتُ: رُبَّمَا يَخْتَلِفُونَ فِي أَلْفَاظِهِمْ وَالْمَعْنَى وَاحِدٌ، قَالَ: لَا بَأْسَ بِهِ، وَلَا يَكُونَ بَعْضُهُمْ قُرَنَاءَ بَعْضٍ فَيُتَّهَمُوا فِي رِوَايَتِهِمْ! ثُمَّ مَكَثَ هُنَيَّةً، ثُمَّ قَالَ: إِنَّ السَّلَفِيَّةَ تَرَكُوا الْعَقْلَ فَشَاهَتْ وُجُوهُهُمْ!
Translation of the saying:
Abd al-Salam ibn Abd al-Qayyum al-Balkhi informed us, he said: I asked Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani about acting upon narrations, so he considered it detested and said: “Allah has not sent down any narration except for that which has reached (the level of) tawatur by tongues, and this is because Allah is not worshipped by conjecture, but rather He is worshipped only by certainty!” I said: “What is the level of tawatur?” He said: “That by which the intellectuals among people become certain!” I said: “How many is that?” He said: “Four just men if they have not disagreed with each other; as Allah Almighty has said: ‘Why did they not bring four witnesses to (prove) it?! Since they did not bring four witnesses, they are liars in the sight of Allah.’” I said: “Perhaps they have disagreed in their words, but the meaning is the same!” He said: “There is nothing wrong with it, and some of them shall not be companions of some others so that they would be accused (of taking from each other or colluding with each other) in their narration!” Then he remained silent for a while and then said: “Indeed, the Salafists abandoned the intellect, so their faces were deformed!”
Explanation of the saying:
From this saying and other pure sayings of His Eminence, it is understood that a mutawatir hadith is a hadith narrated by a number of narrators whose agreement on lying or error is not reasonable due to their abundance and dispersion, and therefore, it causes intellectuals to have certainty about its issuance, and its narrators are not limited to a specific number; as he did not set a limit for it initially when he was asked about it, but he said: «مَا يَسْتَيْقِنُ بِهِ عُقَلَاءُ النَّاسِ»; “That by which the intellectuals among people become certain,” but when the questioner repeated his question, he set a limit for it, and it is four men; because this is the number that Allah Almighty has specified in His Book for the most important testimonies before Him, and He has considered anything less than that as a lie and said: ﴿لَوْلَا جَاءُوا عَلَيْهِ بِأَرْبَعَةِ شُهَدَاءَ ۚ فَإِذْ لَمْ يَأْتُوا بِالشُّهَدَاءِ فَأُولَئِكَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ هُمُ الْكَاذِبُونَ﴾; “Why did they not bring four witnesses to (prove) it?! Since they did not bring four witnesses, they are liars in the sight of Allah.” This is what senses affirm as well if the four men are just, do not have a significant disagreement with each other, and are not companions of each other so that they would be accused of colluding with each other in their narration. Therefore, a mutawatir hadith has four conditions:
Its narrators are not less than four men at each level.
Its narrators are just if there are not more than four men at each level, but if they are more than that, this condition is removed.
Its narrators do not disagree in a way that they contradict each other in terms of meaning, even if they disagree in their wording.
There is no kinship or special relationship between its narrators that would make them be accused of colluding with each other.
As for His saying about the Salafists who do not use the intellect to know Allah and His religion, it can have two meanings: one is praying against them due to this great failure that has led them to great deviations in beliefs and deeds; as the Messenger of Allah 
on the day of Badr, took a handful of dust, threw it at the faces of polytheists, and said: «شَاهَتِ الْوُجُوهُ»; “May their faces be deformed,” that is, become ugly, and the second is informing of what has deformed the faces of many of their leaders and elders who have led them astray without knowledge, and this is something that is not hidden from observers. Therefore, abandoning the intellect is what has done that to them, and the attestation to that is what one of our companions informed us, he said:
«قُلْتُ لِلْمَنْصُورِ: إِنِّي رَأَيْتُ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ رَجُلًا كَأَنَّ رَأْسَهُ رَأْسُ حِمَارٍ، فَكَلَّمْتُهُ فَإِذَا هُوَ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ الْحَدِيثِ! قَالَ: أَعَجِبْتَ مِنْ ذَلِكَ؟! أَلَا وَاللَّهِ إِنِّي لَأَظُنُّ أَنَّهُ لَوْ كَانَ فِي هَذِهِ الْأُمَّةِ مَسْخٌ لَكَانَ فِي أَصْحَابِ الْحَدِيثِ! قُلْتُ: لِمَ ذَلِكَ؟! قَالَ: لِأَنَّهُمْ فُتِنُوا بِالْحَدِيثِ، فَتَرَكُوا كِتَابَ اللَّهِ وَتَرَكُوا عُقُولَهُمْ، وَلَوْ أَنَّ عُمَرَ بْنَ الْخَطَّابِ أَدْرَكَهُمْ لَأَلْحَقَهُمْ بِجَزَائِرِ الْبَحْرِ!»; “I said to Mansoor: ‘I saw in the mosque a man whose head was like a donkey’s head. Then I talked to him and realized that he was one of the Ahl al-Hadith!’ He said: ‘Were you surprised by that?! Know that, By Allah, I think that if maskh[2] happens in this nation, it will happen among the Ahl al-Hadith!’ I said: ‘Why?!’ He said: ‘Because they are bewitched by hadith, so they have abandoned the Book of Allah and abandoned their intellects, and if Umar ibn al-Khattab had caught up with them, he would have exiled them to the islands of the sea!’”
