METHODOLOGY

Why you should trust the process — then still check the text

Standard answers are retrieved from a closed corpus, validated against that text, and shown with expandable sources. Scholar Mode can go wider, and says so.

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Retrieved, then shown

Answers are built from what was actually retrieved in the corpus — not from an unconstrained model reciting whatever sounds Islamic.

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Fail-closed citations

If a reference cannot be verified against retrieved text, Tabayyun withholds it. An incomplete answer is preferred over an invented one.

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Trust is not flattened

Bukhari and Muslim are treated as canonical ṣaḥīḥ collections. The four Sunan often carry mixed grades; those grades are surfaced when the record has them. Tafsir is labeled as interpretation, not as Qur'an.

  1. ١

    Ask

    Type a question the way you would ask a teacher — worship, daily life, or belief — in English or Arabic.

  2. ٢

    Search the corpus

    Tabayyun searches 70,972 indexed passages: the Qur'an, six hadith collections, and multiple classical tafsir works. It does not scrape the open web for Standard answers.

  3. ٣

    Validate, fail-closed

    Candidate citations are checked against retrieved text before they are shown. If a citation cannot be confirmed, it is withheld rather than displayed anyway.

  4. ٤

    Read a sourced answer

    You get a clear answer with expandable sources. Tabayyun is a research and learning tool — not a replacement for a qualified scholar.

FAIL-CLOSED

Incomplete is better than invented.

Fail-closed means an answer may be withheld or narrowed when a citation cannot be confirmed. That is deliberate. Completeness is not worth an invented reference.

Scholar Mode does not turn those checks off. It may introduce outside, unverified sources and derived or bounded analysis, labeled as such. It remains a research aid — not a more accurate ruling.

Standard Mode

Available

Closed corpus only. Citations must match retrieved text before they are shown.

Scholar Mode

Beta

Opt-in broader research. Outside sources are labeled unverified. Derived or bounded analysis may appear, labeled as such — not as a more accurate ruling. Still not a mufti.

Khutbah Builder

Beta

Same retrieval discipline. Unverified requests are reported instead of fabricated quotes.

Collection trust

Sahih al-Bukhari

Canonical ṣaḥīḥ collection. Tabayyun treats it as a primary hadith source.

Sahih Muslim

Canonical ṣaḥīḥ collection. Tabayyun treats it as a primary hadith source.

Jami' at-Tirmidhi

Mixed authenticity. Where the corpus includes a grade, Tabayyun shows it rather than flattening every report to “sahih.”

Sunan Abu Dawud

Mixed authenticity. Individual grading is preserved when present in the indexed record.

Sunan an-Nasa'i

Mixed authenticity. Individual grading is preserved when present in the indexed record.

Sunan Ibn Majah

Mixed authenticity. Individual grading is preserved when present in the indexed record.