Dr. Mahmoud At-Tahhaan
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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 b. al-Mubarak (d. 181 AH) is reported to have
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 (SAS)
and after his death, his Companions (Sahabah) used to refer to him when
quoting his sayings. The Successors (Tabi’un) followed suit; some of
them used to quote the Prophet (SAS) through the Companions while others
would omit the intermediate authority – such a hadith was known as
mursal (loose). It was found that the missing link between the Successor
and the Prophet (SAS) might be one person, i.e. a Companion, or two
persons, 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. Malik (d. 179) said,
“The first one to utilise the isnad was Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri” (d. 124 AH).
Mustalah al-Hadith and Rijal
As time passed, more reporters 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 Science of Hadith).
Mustalah books speak of a number of
classes of hadith in accordance with their status. The following
classifications can be made, each of which is explained later:
1. According to the
reference to a particular authority, e.g. the Prophet (SAS), a
Companion, or a Successor; such ahadith are called marfu’ (elevated),
mauquf (delayed) and maqtu’ (severed) respectively .
2. According to the
nature of the chain of reporters, i.e. whether interrupted or
uninterrupted, e.g. musnad (supported), muttasil (continuous), munqati”
(broken), mu’allaq (suspended), mu’dal (perplexing) and mursal (loose).
3. According to the
number of reporters involved in each isnad, e.g. mutawatir (consecutive)
and ahad (isolated), the latter being divided into gharib (rare), ‘aziz
(scarce), and mash-hur (widespread) .
4. According to the way
in which a saying has been reported such as using the words ‘an ( – “on
the authority of”), haddathana ( – “he narrated to us”), akhbarana ( –
“he informed us”) or sami’tu ( – “I heard”). In this category falls the
discussion about mudallas (concealed) and musalsal (connected) ahadith.
5. According to the
nature of the matn and isnad, e.g. an addition by a reliable reporter,
known as ziyadah thiqa, or opposition by a lesser authority to a more
reliable one, known as shadh (aloof). In some cases a text containing a
vulgar expression, unreasonable remark or an apparently erroneous
statement is rejected by the traditionists outright without
consideration of the isnad. Such a hadith is known as munkar
(denounced). If an expression or statement is proved to be an addition
by a reporter to the text, it is declared as mudraj (added).
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