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In
the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate the Most
Merciful
We have,
Without doubt, sent down the message: and we will
assuredly guard it (from corruption). (Qur'an 15:9)
The
promise made by Allah (SWT) in Qur'an 15:9 is obviously
fulfilled in the undisputed purity of the Qur'anic text
throughout the fourteen centuries since its revelation.
However, what is often forgotten by many Muslims is that
the divine promise also includes, by necessity, the Sunnah
of the Prophet (PBUH), because the Sunnah is the
practical example of the implementation of the Qur'anic
guidance, the wisdom taught to the Prophet (PBUH) along
with the scripture, and neither the Qur'an nor the Sunnah
can be understood correctly without the other.
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.
Later, as
the purity of the knowledge of the Sunnah became
threatened, 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. In this article a brief
discussion is given 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.
Other
Resources
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