News are divided into:

(1) News that must be believed.

(2) News that must be denied.

(3) News that need to be checked for authenticity.

News that must be believed are divided into types:

1- News that met the conditions of Tawatur; in this case these news must be believed even if there is no other proof.

2- News informed by Allah; these news are truthful because Allah cannot tell lies.

3- News reported by the Prophet (peace be upon him) because the Prophet (peace be upon him) cannot tell lies.

4- News reported by the entire nation because the Prophet (peace be upon him) affirmed the truthfulness of the narration reported by the entire nation.

5- News that are in harmony with the ordinances of Allah, the Prophet, or the entire nation.

6- News that were authentically reported to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and he heard them then approved them by silence.

7- News reported before a group of people without denying them because it is normal if the news are incorrect, people deny them.

The second is news that must be denied:

They are divided into types:

1- News that are not true because they contradict reason, examination, feeling, or the news of Tawatur such as combining two contradictory matters.

2- News that contradict the precise text of the Qur'an, the Sunnah, or the consensus.

3- News that are denied by a group of people who cannot tell lies.

4- News that are not reported by a group of people although the incident is well-known and it is impossible to keep silent about because the incident has to be reported as if a person informs people that the emir was killed in the city market and the people were watching, but the people of the market did not speak about the matter, in this case the news are incorrect.

The third is news that need to be checked for authenticity:

The other news and narrations that are not included in the two mentioned sections and need to be checked for their truthfulness or falsehood.

* Another division

News that are known as true, such as:

- What is known for sure such as: The sky is above the earth.

- What is known by reason such as: Informing people of Allah's Wisdom.

- What is known by hearing such as: The obligation of Salah, fasting, and others.

- What is known by a trustworthy narrator who cannot lie, and that is divided into two types:

1- Lies cannot be attributed to him, such as Allah and the Prophet (peace be upon him) because the Prophet is sustained by miracles and the consensus of the nation confirms his truthfulness.

2- Lies are not permissible to be attributed to him but it is permissible to be attributed to others such as: When a person or a group of people do not have a reason for lying.

- What is known by the confirmation of a listener such as: A person says that so and so (while so and so is present and listening) said or did such and such without any denial from the listener provided that the listeners must be a group of people who are not forced to listen without denial because it is normal for them to deny the news if they are untrue.

News that are known as lying, such as:

- What is known for sure as falsehood either by reason or hearing as we said about the true news.

- What is known to be false due to the news and its way of transmission such as reporting an incident secretly while it should be reported publically such as reporting the ordinances of the Shari`ah or a great incident happened in the town or the miracles of Prophets.

News that need to be checked for their truthfulness, such as narrations that were reported by a single way of transmission. These news are not all true or false because it is impossible that all news are false despite the frequent narrations. It is also impossible that all news are true because the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Lies shall be attributed to me after my death," and because the nation accused some people of lying, and they omitted many Hadiths that were known as false without acting according to them.

* A third division

A section of news that must be believed, a section that must be disbelieved, a section that is probably true or false, and a section that may incline to either truthfulness or falsehood.

The first and the second were mentioned previously.

The third is the news reported by a lewd person, so they probably be true or false; therefore if they are reported by his sound reason, they shall be truthful but if they are reported by his whims, they shall be false.

The fourth is the news reported by a trustworthy narrator whose truthfulness is more likely than his whim, but the news are uncertain.

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