The Science of Hadith
According to Quran and Sunnah
Verily We: It is We Who have
sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the Qur'ân)
and surely, We will guard it (from corruption).
(Qur'an 15:9)
The above ayat (verse) is
obviously fulfilled in the undisputed purity of the Qur'anic
text throughout the fourteen centuries since its revelation. However, what is
sometimes forgotten is that the divine promise also includes, by necessity, the
Sunnah of the Prophet . The Sunnah is the practical example of the implementation of
the Qur'anic guidance, the wisdom taught to the
Prophet along with the scripture, and neither the Qur'an
nor the Sunnah can be understood correctly without
the other.
Allaah, subhana watala,
says in His Book (An-Nûr 24:54):
Say: "Obey Allah and obey the Messenger, but if
you turn away, he (Messenger Muhammad saaws) is only
responsible for the duty placed on him (i.e. to convey Allah's Message) and you
for that placed on you. If you obey him, you shall be on the right guidance.
The Messenger's duty is only to convey (the message) in a clear way (i.e. to
preach in a plain way)."
Allah (SWT) preserved the Sunnah
by enabling the companions and those after them to memorize, write down and
pass on the statements of the Prophet (PBUH), and the descriptions of his way,
as well as to continue the blessings of practicing the Sunnah.
From al-Irbaad ibn Saariyah [radiy'Allaahu
anhu] who said:
Allaah's Messenger gave us an admonition which caused the eyes to shed
tears and the hearts to fear, so we said, "O Messenger of Allaah, this is as if it were a farewell sermon, so with
what do you counsel us?" So he said: "I have left you upon clear proof , its night is like its day, no one deviates from it
except one who is destroyed, and whoever lives long from amongst you will see
great controversy. So stick to what you know from my Sunnah
and the Sunnah of the orthodox, rightly-guided
caliphs - cling to that with your molar teeth, and stick to obedience even if
it is to an Abyssinian slave, since the believer is like a submissive camel,
wherever he is led, he follows" [Ahmad (4/126), Ibn
Maajah (no. 43), al-Haakim
(1/96) and others - Hasan]
Later, as the purity of the knowledge of the Sunnah became a concern, Allah (SWT) caused the Muslim Ummah to produce individuals with exceptional memory skills
and analytical expertise, who travelled tirelessly to
collect thousands of narrations and distinguish the true words of prophetic
wisdom from those corrupted by weak memories, from forgeries by unscrupulous
liars, and from the statements of the large number of Ulama
(scholars), the companions and those who followed their way. All of this was
achieved through precise attention to the words narrated,
and detailed familiarity with the biographies of the thousands of reporters of hadith.
The methodology of the expert scholars
of hadith in assessing the narrations and sorting out
the genuine from the mistaken and fabricated, for ms the subject matter of the
science of hadith.
Below is a brief discussion of the terminology and classifications of hadith.
Components of Hadith
A hadith is composed of three
parts (see the figure [below]):
Matn
(text), isnad (chain of reporters), and taraf (the part, or the beginning sentence, of the text
which refers to the sayings, actions or characteristics of the Prophet (PBUH),
or his concurrence with others action). The authenticity of the hadith depends on the reliability of its reporters, and the
linkage among them.
Classifications of Hadith
A number of classifications of hadith
have been made. Five of these classifications are shown in the figure [below],
and are briefly described subsequently.
According to the reference to a particular authority
Four types of hadith can be
identified.
Qudsi - Divine; a revelation from Allah (SWT); relayed with the words
of the Prophet (PBUH).
Marfu - elevated; a narration from the Prophet (PBUH), e.g. I heard
the Prophet (PBUH) saying ...
Mauquf- stopped: a narration from a companion only, e.g., we were
commanded to ...
Maqtu' - severed: a narration from a successor.
According to the links of Isnad
- interrupted or uninterrupted
Six
categories can be identified.
Musnad - supported: a hadith which is
reported by a traditionalist, based on what he learned from his teacher at a
time of life suitable for learning; similarly - in turn - for each teacher
until the isnad reaches a well known companion, who
in turn, reports from the Prophet (PBUH).
Mutassil - continuous: a hadith
with an uninterrupted isnad which goes back only to a
companion or successor.
Mursal - hurried: if the link between the successor and the
Prophet (PBUH) is missing, e.g. when a successor says "The Prophet said...".
Munqati - broken: is a hadith whose
link anywhere before the successor (i.e., closer to the traditionalist
recording the hadith) is missing.
Mu'adal - perplexing: is a hadith
whose reporter omits two or more consecutive reporters in the isnad.
Mu'allaq - hanging: is a hadith
whose reporter omits the whole isnad and quotes the
Prophet (PBUH) directly (i.e., the link is missing at the beginning).
According to the number of reporters involved in each
stage of Isnad
Five categories of hadith can be
identified:
Mutawatir - Consecutive: is a hadith
which is reported by such a large number of people that they cannot be expected
to agree upon a lie, all of them together.
Ahad - isolated: is a hadith which
is narrated by people whose number does not reach that of the mutawatir.
It is further classified into:
Mash'hur - famous: hadith
reported by more than two reporters.
Aziz - rare, strong: at any stage in the isnad,
only two reporters are found to narrate the hadith.
Gharib - strange: At some stage of the Isnad,
only one reporter is found relating it.
According to the nature of the text and isnad
Munkar - denounced: is a hadith
which is reported by a weak narrator, and whose narration goes against another
authentic hadith.
Mudraj - interpolated: an addition by a reporter to the
text of the hadith being narrated.
According to the reliability and memory of the
reporters
This provides the final verdict on a hadith
- four categories can be identified:
Sahih - sound. Imam Al-shafi'i
states the following requiremetts for a hadith, which is not mutawatir,
to be acceptable "each reporter should be trustworthy in his religion; he should
be known to be truthtul in his narrating, to
understand what he narrates, to know how a different _expression can alter the
meaning, and to report the wording of the hadith
verbatim, not only its meaning".
Hasan - good: is the one where its source is known and its
reporters are unambiguous.
Da'if - weak: a hadith which fails
to reach the status of hasan. Usually, the weakness
is: a) one of discontinuity in the isnad, in which
case the hadith could be - according to the nature of
the discontinuity - munqati (broken), mu'allaq (hanging), mu'dal
(perplexing), or mursal (hurried), or b) one of the
reporters having a disparaged character, such as due to his telling lies,
excessive mistakes, opposition to the narration of more reliable sources,
involvement in innovation, or ambiguity surrounding his person.
Maudu' - fabricated or forged: is a hadith
whose text goes against the established norms of the Prophet's sayings, or its
reporters include a liar. Fabricated hadith are also recognized by external evidence related to
a discrepancy found in the dates or times of a particular incident.
Home - Quran & Hadith Charity - Family & Health Islam Miscellaneous Matrimonials
Human Rights - Women Newscenter Boycott Chechnya Palestine - Links