How to Determine if a Report is Truthful

Shaykh Al-Islām ibn Taymiyyah (May Allāh have mercy upon him) said:

"When a report is transmitted through two channels, and each of the narrators has taken knowledge from the teachers of the other, this is an indication of its truthfulness. This is because it is not conceivable, according to customary experience, that such a case would involve identical errors or intentional falsehood. Thus, this is among the means by which its truthfulness is known. A narrator’s report may be impugned either due to intentional lying or due to error. So, when the account is of a nature that it is known the two narrators did not collude, customary experience precludes their identical agreement in both intentional lying and error. For example, if it is a lengthy account containing numerous statements, and this narrator relates it exactly as that narrator does, it is known to be true. This is among the ways by which the truthfulness of Muhammad and Musa (peace be upon them) is known. Each of them reported about Allah, His angels, His creation of the world, the story of Adam, Yusuf, and other stories of the prophets (peace be upon them) in a manner identical to what the other reported, while it is known that neither of them derived this from the other. It is impossible, according to customary experience, for two false reports to align in such detail. If someone reports numerous, detailed, and precise accounts about a specific narrator and his report is false, his account would differ, as it is impossible for a fabricator to maintain such consistency without variation—especially in matters that human intellects cannot naturally arrive at. Rather, this demonstrates that each of them reported with knowledge and truthfulness.

This is something people recognize from their own circumstances. If a man came from one land to another and reported detailed incidents that occurred there, encompassing various statements and actions, and then another person—whom we know did not collude with him in falsehood—came and narrated the same, it would be known with certainty that the matter was indeed as reported.

Falsehood may occur in such cases, but it would be through collusion or one receiving from another, as the people of falsehood pass down false doctrines to one another, such as the doctrines of the Christians, the Jahmiyyah, the Rafidah, and their like. Although it is known by rational necessity that these are false, they were transmitted from one to another. Thus, when they colluded upon them, their agreement on falsehood became possible.

A large group of people may agree to deny self-evident truths through collusion, either intentionally lying or erring in belief. However, their agreement in denying self-evident truths without either of these factors is impossible."

- Minhāj Al-Shunnah 7/435-6