Al-ʿAllāmah Rabīʿ ibn Hādī al-Madkhalī said:

“And the time of narrations ended in the third generation. So why did Ibn Taymīyyah raise the banner of criticism (an-naqd) and the banner of al-Jarḥ wa-al-Taʿdīl?! Likewise, so did al-Dhahabī, Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn Kathīr, Ibn Hajr and others and they will continue until the Day of Judgement!

As long as there is this fight between the truth and falsehood and between the guidance and misguidance and between the people of the truth and falsehood and between the people of guidance and the misguidance, then it is inevitable that the swords of criticism and al-Jarḥ wa-al-Taʿdīl be unsheathed against the people of falsehood!”.¹

Endnotes:

[1] Refer to Asʾilah Abī Rawāḥah al-Manhajiyyah (p. 26).
Does Jarh wa tadeel still exist today?

Translated by Rashīd Barbee