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Introduction
to Ahadith
It goes
without saying that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has left us with two
powerful sources for the improvement of the individual, the society and for the
nations, those are: the Holy Quran and ahadith. The Quran was revealed to the
Last Messenger (peace be upon him) through the angel Gabriel. The ahadith show
us the diversities a single person can have, and the ways these diversities may
be used to produce an optimal performance, where the performance is exemplary
for future generations. This was one of the main tasks of the Last Messenger
(peace be upon him), to guide humanity on the right path.
Muhammad
(peace be upon him) was a son, a husband, a father, an advisor, a warrior, a
leader, a judge and most important of all, he was the Seal of the Prophets - the
last messenger of Allah. A man with such a character and such a vast field of
responsibility is indeed deserving of biographical study, and through the ages,
biographical researches have been carried out. The collection of ahadith is the
result of these researchers. The study of ahadith is a science itself. To
mention some branches within the study of ahadith, there is the science of
Asma'ul Rijal (the science of study of the life-history of 500,000
narrators), the science of Mustalih al-Hadith (the science of classifying
a hadith as authentic or weak), the science of Gharib al-hadith (the
study of the linguistic origins of the difficult words used in ahadith). I have
mentioned only three different sciences though this list can extend to over 100.
This again indicates the immense importance of ahadith and the importance of
understanding them.
The main
source of ahadith can be found in six sahihs. These six sahihs are:
| Sahih al-Bukhari | (d. 256 A.H. = 870 A.D.) |
| Sahih Muslim | (d. 261 A.H. = 875 A.D.) |
| Sunan Ibn Majah | (d. 273 A.H. = 887 A.D.) |
| Sunan Abu Dawud | (d. 275 A.H. = 888 A.D.) |
| Jami al-Tirmidhi | (d. 279 A.H. = 892 A.D.) |
| Sunan al-Nisai | (d. 303 A.H. = 915 A.D.) |
A.H. = After Hegira A.D. = Anno Domini
"In preparing
their collections, these Traditions obviously used a critical technique to
decide what they would include and what they should reject. Bukhari, for
example, examined 600,000 traditions of which he excepted only 7,397. There
purpose was to assemble a body of traditions which would serve as a rule of life
for practising Muslims, so their primary interest was in selecting such
traditions as would give clear guidance concerning what Muslims belief and
practice should be, what things were permissible and approved, and what were not
permissible and disapproved."
(Shariah: The Islamic Law. by Abdur Rahman I. Doi:54)
It should be
quite evident from the above cited paragraph that the task of compiling ahadith
was by no means simple. Although the most painstaking techniques had been
employed to decide which ahadith should be included and which should be rejected
there were found grounds for classification of ahadith. The ahadith are
therefore classified in the following manner:
1.Sahih:
These are the genuine Traditions so declared after applying all tests.
2.Hasan: These are the fair Traditions although inferior in the matter of
authenticity to the Sahih.
3. Daif: These are the weak traditions which are not so very reliable."
(Ibid:57).
Before I
proceed, I wish to explain the meanings of isnad and matn as the
understanding of these words is considered profitable for the reader. A hadith
consists of two parts. The chain of transmitters comprises one part while the
message within the hadith completes it. The former is known as isnad
while the latter is matn. Continuing with the classification of ahadith,
the daif ahadith are divided further:
a The
Mu'allaq Traditions: These are those Traditions in which one or two
transmitters are omitted in the beginning of the Isnad.
b. The Maqtu Traditions: These are those Traditions which are reported by
a Tabi'i, a man of second category after the Prophet.
c. The Munqati Traditions: These are the broken Traditions.
d. The Mursal Traditions: These are the incomplete Traditions in the
Isnad of which a companion (Sahabi) is omitted, e.g. A Tabi'i says, the Prophet
said....
e. The Musahhaf Traditions: These are the traditions which have a mistake
in words or letters of the Isnad or the Matn e.g. Hasan is written as Hashan.
f. The Shadh Traditions: These are the traditions with a reliable chain
of reporters but their meanings are contrary to other similarly attested
Traditions narrated by the majority of the contemporary transmitters.
g. The Maudu Traditions: These are the fabricated and untrue Traditions."
(Ibid:57).
I have now
presented a very short introduction to the background of ahadith. I would most
strongly recommend the interested reader to read the book "Shariah: The Islamic
Law" by Abdur Rahman I. Doi. It is a book which I have used extensively and
found most interesting and informative. The same author has also published a
book which is titled "Non-Muslims under Shariah", another informative book which
I would recommend.
