In our view, it was the spirit of goodwill towards the Muslims that motivated them to take this step, and Allah knows best. One should not think about these Imams that they criticized people or backbit them.

In our opinion, they mentioned the weakness of the narrators so that people would be aware of them, because: 1- some weak narrators were among the people of innovation, 2- and some were accused of lying in the matter of narrating hadith, 3- some were negligent and made many mistakes. These Imams described the conditions of these narrators out of religious zeal, because testimony regarding religion deserves more investigation and verification than testimony regarding rights and wealth.

Yahya bin Saeed Al-Qattan says: I asked Sufyan Thawri, Shu’bah, Malik bin Anas, and Sufyan bin ‘Uyaynah about a narrator who is accused of lying or has weakness, should I remain silent or mention it? All of them said: Mention it.

Yahya bin Adam says that it was said to Abu Bakr bin Ayyash: Some people sit to give lessons, and people come and sit with them, but they are not qualified to teach. So Abu Bakr bin Ayyash said: Whoever sits to give lessons, people will sit with him. When a person of Sunnah (one with correct belief) dies, Allah makes his mention widespread, and the mention of an innovator is erased.