Dr. Suhaib Hasan
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The Muslims are agreed that the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (S) is
the second of the two revealed fundamental sources of Islam, after the
Glorious Qur’an. The authentic Sunnah is contained within the vast body
of Hadith literature.
A hadith (pl. ahadith) is composed of two
parts: the matn (text) and the isnad (chain of reporters). A text may
seem to be logical and reasonable but it needs an authentic isnad with
reliable reporters to be acceptable; ‘Abdullah bin Al-Mubarak (d. 181
AH), one of the illustrious teachers of Imam al-Bukhari, said:
“The isnad is part of the religion: had it not been for the isnad, whoever wished to would have said whatever he liked.”
During the lifetime of the Prophet (S)
and after his death, his Companions (Sahabah) used to refer to him
directly, when quoting his saying. The Successors (Tabi’un) followed
suit; some of them used to quote the Prophet (S) through the Companions
while others would omit the intermediate authority – such a hadith was
.later known as mursal. It was found that the missing link between the
Successor and the Prophet (S) might be one person, i.e. a Companion, or
two people, the extra person being an older Successor who heard the
hadith from the Companion. This is an example of how the need for the
verification of each isnad arose. Imam Malik (d. 179) said, “The first
one to utilize the isnad was Ibn Shihab al Zuhri” (d. 124). The other
more important reason was the deliberate fabrication of ahadith by
various sects which appeared amongst the Muslims, in order to support
their views (see later, under discussion of maudu’ ahadith). Ibn Sirin
(d. 110), a Successor, said, “They would not ask about the isnad: But
when the fitnah (trouble, turmoil, esp. civil war) happened, they said:
Name to us your men. So the narrations of the Ahl al¬Sunnah (Adherents
to the Sunnah) would be accepted, while those of the Ahl al-Bid ‘ah
(Adherents to Innovation) would not be accepted. “
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Foreword:
All Praise be to Allah, Lord of the
Worlds. Peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and
on his family and companions. We have undoubtedly sent down the
Reminder, and We will truly preserve it. (Al-Qur’an, Surah al-Hijr,
15:9)
The above promise made by Allah 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 above divine promise also
includes, by necessity, the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (S) for it is
the practical example of the implementation of the Qur’anic guidance,
the Wisdom taught to the Prophet (S) along with Scripture, and neither
the Qur’an nor the Sunnah can be understood correctly without recourse
to the other.
Hence, Allah preserved the Qur’an from
being initially lost by the martyrdom of its memorizers, by guiding the
Rightly-Guided Caliphs, endorsed by the consensus of the Messenger’s
Companions (R) to compile the ayat (signs, miracles, “Verses”) of the
Qur’an into one volume, after these had been scattered in writing on
various materials and in memory amongst many faithful hearts. He
safeguarded it from corruption by its enemies: disbelievers, heretics,
and false prophets, by enabling millions of believers to commit it to
memory with ease. He protected its teachings by causing thousands of
people of knowledge to learn from its deep treasures and convey them to
the masses, and by sending revivers of His Deen at the beginning of
every century.
Similarly, Allah preserved the Sunnah by
enabling the Companions and those after them (R) to memorize, write down
and pass on the statements of the Messenger (S) 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 caused the Muslim nation to produce outstanding individuals of
incredible memory-skills and analytical expertise, who journeyed
tirelessly to collect hundreds of thousands of narrations and
distinguish the true words of precious wisdom of their Messenger (S),
from those corrupted by weak memories, from forgeries by unscrupulous
liars, and from the statements of the enormous number of ‘ulama’, the
Companions and those who followed their way, who had taught in various
centers of learning and helped to transmit the legacy of Muhammad (S) –
all of this achieved through precise attention to the words narrated and
detailed familiarity with the biographies of the thousands of reporters
of Hadith. Action being the best way to preserve teachings, the
revivers of Islam also revived the practice of the blessed authentic
Sunnah. [continued on page 5]
A brief history of Mustalah al-Hadith
As time passed, more reports were
involved in each isnad, and so the situation demanded strict discipline
in the acceptance of ahadith; the rules regulating this discipline are
known as Mustalah al-Hadith (the Classification of Hadith).
Amongst the early traditionists
(muhaddithin, scholars of Hadith), the rules and criteria governing
their study of Hadith were meticulous but some of their terminology
varied from person to person, and their principles began to be
systematically written down, but scattered amongst various books, e.g.
in Al¬-Risalah of al-Shafi’l (d. 204), the Introduction to the Sahih of
Muslim (d. 261) and the Jami ‘ of al-Tirmidhi (d. 279); many of the
criteria of early traditionists, e.g. al-Bukhari, were deduced by later
scholars from a careful study of which reporters or isnads were accepted
and rejected by them.
One of the earliest writings to attempt
to cover Mustalah comprehensively, using standard (i.e.
generally-accepted) terminology, was the work by al-Ramahurmuzi (d.
360). The next major contribution was Ma’rifah ‘Ulum al-Hadith by al
¬Hakim (d. 405), which covered fifty classifications of Hadith, but
still left some points untouched; Abu Nu’aim al-Isbahani (d. 430)
completed some of the missing parts to this work. After that came
Al-Kifayah fi ‘lim al-Riwayah of al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463) and
another work on the manner of teaching and studying Hadith; later
scholars were considered to be greatly indebted to al-Khatib’s work.
[continued on page 8]
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Contents:
* Foreword
* SECTION A: INTRODUCTION
* A brief history of Mustalah al-Hadith
* Mustalah al-Hadith (the Classification of Hadith)
* Rijal al-Hadith (the study of the reporters of Hadith)
* SECTION B: THE CLASSIFICATION OF HADITH
* According to the reference to a particular authority
* According to the links in the isnad
* According to the number of reporters in each stage of the isnad
* According to the manner in which the Hadith is reported
* According to the nature of the text and isnad
* According to a hidden defect found in the isnad or text of a Hadith
* According to the reliability and memory of the reporters
* SECTION C: FURTHER BRANCHES OF MUSTALAH AND RIJAL
* APPENDIX: Verdicts on the Ahadith mentioned in the Foreword
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