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From the important characteristics that a student of knowledge must adorn himself with is: verifying the information that he narrates and also to ascertain the [correctness of the] judgements he passes. When information is narrated, it must be first verified whether the statement has been correctly attributed to that person. If the ascription is correct, then the ruling must also be scrutinised. It is possible that this ruling that you have heard is actually due to a principle that you are ignorant of; so you hold it to be an error and in reality it is not an error. How do we solve this problem in such instances? The solution is that you contact the person to whom this information has been attributed and say to him: certain information has been narrated from you is it correct? After this, you discuss and debate it with him. Maybe the fact that you censured him and distanced yourself from him is due to merely hearing his statement and not knowing the reason behind which this statement was made. It is said, if the reason is known, astonishment [at the statement is removed]. So you must first verify with regards to the information and the ruling, and then after this you should contact the one to whom the statement has been attributed and ask him: is it correct what has been narrated? Then you discuss and debate with him; either he is upon the truth and therefore you agree with him, or the truth is with you and he agrees with you. Also, verifying is a very important matter. This is because those who narrate may have evil intentions whereby they deliberately distort the statement they have heard. Sometimes however, they may not have evil intentions but they have misunderstood something which was not intended [by the one who said it]. Therefore it is obligatory to verify. When the transmission of information has been verified, then the next stage is to discuss and debate the one from whom the statement has been narrated. This is before you pass a judgement on the statement; whether it is a mistake or not. After discussing and debating, maybe you will realise that the truth is with the one from whom the statement has been narrated. In conclusion: if something is narrated regarding a particular individual and you see it to be an error then you should deal with it in three stages: Firstly: to verify whether this information is correct Secondly: to investigate the correctness of the ruling. If it is correct then help him and defend him. If, however you see it to be incorrect then: Thirdly: to contact the one to whom this statement has been attributed and then to discuss and debate with him. This should be done calmly and with respect.
Have you read the other articles in this series? The Importance of Verifying Information 2 The Importance of Verifying Information 3 The Importance of Verifying Information 4 The Importance of Verifying Information 5
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