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The Development and Function of the Ijaza

Heba Gaafar

Student Number: 800191558

Course Number: ARIC510102

20-December, 2021
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The questions of origin and authenticity have dominated the field of hadith for the

first three centuries until the establishment of the hadith corpus. After the prophet’s death, his

companions transmitted his narrations to the next generation, and the next generation

transmitted their chain of isnad to the next generation, and so on. However, in the first half of

the second century, the process of citation the chain of isnad was uncompleted yet. The

majority of narrations were cited through incomplete chains of isnad. It was until the late of

the second century when al-Shafi’i privileged hadith with complete chains of isnad over all

sources of evidence. His approach influenced the scholars, especially the hadith scholars,

who insisted on the complete chain of transmission. 1 By the second half of the third century,

this informal process of transmission became more formal, accurate, and organized. Hadith

scholars developed the chain of isand as a tool to preserve the oral mode of hadith. Even after

the establishment of a stable written hadith corpus, hadith scholars defended the continuation

of hadith transmission by developing a complex idealogy to give meaning to its preservation.

While the original function of hadith transmission was ended by the establishment of the

hadith corpus, the chain of isnad has been the tie that connects the Muslim community to the

prophet. 2 It is used to draw a distinctive line between the Muslims and Jews and Christians

who did not preserve their chains of transmission.

However, tension had arisen between the authority of the writing hadith canon and the

practicing and transmitting hadith on the oral way. Jurists were interested in hadith as

evidence in the legislation process. Then, they cited hadith directly without an oral chain of

transmission, which was the transmission-based culture of the hadith scholars. For the

scholars of hadith, the authority of the canonical books could be activated only through a

1
Jonathan Brown, Muhammad’s legacy in the Medieval and Modern World, (Oxford: One
World Publication, 2009), 1:31.
2
Joel Blecher, Said the Prophet, Hadith Commentary across a Millennium, (California:
University of California, 2018) 1:3
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connected chain of isnad (unbroken) to their compilers. Influential figures like al-Juwayni

and al-Ghazali argued that it was permissible to cite a reliable hadith directly from a reliable

source like al-Sahihayn without a personal chain of isnad. It was the question of what was the

benefit from a continued oral chain of isnad after the establishment of the canonical books of

hadith? To solve this problem, Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili suggested the use of the license of

transmission (ijaza), which allowed the scholar to license his student to transmit all his works.

It was a solution to easing the burden of transmission and at the same time preserve the chain

of isnad. 3Then, this paper is going to present how ijaza has become an essential feature in the

hierarchy of Islamic scholars' culture by analyzing the approach of eminent scholars like al-

Tirmidhi, al-Ramhurmuzi, al-Khatib, and al-Silafi.

The ijaza is one of seven ways of carrying and transmitting hadith that was developed

by the scholars of hadith as an accepted method to transmit hadith, or as an analogy to the

oral transmission. It is permission from a scholar to a person to transmit his texts of hadith

through granting him his personal chain of isnad. Then, ijaza allowed scholars to preserve

their chain of isnad when factors like distance made oral transmission impossible. It was a

reconciliation between the hadith scholars and the jurists whose main concern was citing the

hadith as evidence in the process of legislation. However, the acceptance of ijaza was a

gradual process, which took two to three centuries to be adopted by the majority of hadith

scholars.

By the middle of the third century, Abu Isa al-Tirmidhi mentioned in his book al-Ilal

al-saghir, which is an introduction to his Sunan, the chains of isnad that he had received from

eminent jurists like al-Shafi’i. He mentioned that he received the majority of al-Shafi’i’s

works from al-Buwayti through a direct oral chain of transmission, but he received the

3
Ibn Khayr al-Ashbili, Fihrist ma rawahu ‘an shuyukhih, (Cairo: Maktabat al-Khanji, 1997),
1: 41
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section of prayer and ablution in al-Shafi’i’s works from al-Buwayti through oral

transmission and also through an ijaza from al Rabi’. He said: “wa qad ajaza lana al-Rabi

dhalikah wa kataba bihi ilayna”4 Abu Isa was living in Tirmiz in Asia, and al-Rabi was

living in Egypt. This vast distance between them made oral transmission impossible, and

ijaza was a means to cite such authoritative sources without spending time in auditing.

However, ijaza here was in its first stage of development, and it was not appreciated by all

the scholars. Although al-Tirmidhi has considered the ijaza as a valid way of transmission, he

mentioned it only once in his book al-Ilal in transmitting al-Shafi’i’s legal opinion. In fact,

al-Tirmidhi’s ijaza was not the first mode to transmit al-Shafi’i’s legal opinion, but it was to

complement his oral transmission. The condemnation of the majority of scholars to the ijaza

in the third century was enough to prevent the majority of scholars from using it. 5

By the beginning of the fourth century, the bias against the ijaza slowly decreased due

to the increasing confidence in the written books of hadith. The scholars started to accept that

it was unrealistic to insist on oral transmission with the presence of the written corpus of

hadith. In this era, al-Ramhurmuzi discussed in his book al-Muhaddith al-Fasil the protocol

of hadith transmission, especially ijaza validity. He did not consider the ijaza as an

independent subject, but he presented it among other non-oral ways of transmission. In total,

he presented forty-seven reports through non-oral transmissions, ten of which were about the

ijaza.

while the debate during the time of al-Tirmidhi was around the validity of the Ijaza as

a way of transmission, for al-Ramhurmuzi, the debate shifted from the problem of al-ijaza as

a non-oral way of isnad to how to cite the materials transmitted through the ijaza. The

4
Al-Tirmidhi, al-Jami’ al-Kabir, ed. Bashshar Awwad Ma’ruf (Beirut: Dar al-Gharb al-
Islami, 1996) 6:229-246.
5
Garrett A. Davidson, Carrying on the Tradition, (Leiden, Brill, 2020) 1:110-117.
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standard terminology used to cite an oral chain of isnad was haddathana (he said to us) or

akhbarana (he informed us). Then, according to the majority of scholars to using these

terminologies to cite a non-oral chain of transmission was a serious problem. Al-Ramhurmuzi

presented the different opinions of the scholars regarding the correct terminology that should

be used. For instance, his shaykh, Musa b. Harun used the term idhn for the ijaza, and al-

Awza’i preferred the term akhbarana. Other scholars in the latter days used both haddathana

and akhbarana for the ijaza. 6 To solve this problem, al-Ramhurmuzi suggested using the term

kataba ilayya ( he wrote to me). He claimed that using this term can solve the problem of

ambiguity of other terms used in the citation of the material transmitted through ijaza. 7

Despite the effort of al-Ramhurmuzi to put a specific term for the non-oral way of

transmission, scholars continued to use a variety of terminologies. By the end of the fourth

century, ijaza became a standard feature of the culture of hadith although the problem of

terminologies was not solved. 8

By the middle of the fifth century, the growing acceptance of the ijaza was shown by

the number of independent treatises that were written on it. Al-Khatib in his book al-Kifaya

devoted a long chapter to the ijaza. He dealt with the ijaza as a resolved issue and expressed it

more assertively compared to the previous scholars. He argued that the prophet himself had

engaged in non-oral transmission to give the ijaza a prophetic precedent. Also, the

companions Abu Bakr and Ali had used a mode of transmission that he considered analogous

to the ijaza. To support his approach he mentioned a list of scholars who considered the ijaza

a valid way of transmission like al-Hasan al-Basri.9 He also refused the idea that ijaza created

a break in the chain of isnad. He said:

6
Al-Ramhurmuzi, al-Muhaddith al-Fasil, (Cairo: Dar al-Zakha’ir, 1980), 1:430-439.
7
Ibid, 448.
8
Garrett A. Davidson, Carrying on the Tradition, (Leiden, Brill, 2020) 1:1120-125.
9
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, al-Kifaya fi Ma’rifat ‘lm al-Riwayah, (Cairo: Dar Ibn al-Jawzi,
2001) 1: 348-350.
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“As for the claims of those who have objected to the ijaza on the grounds that it

constitutes a break in the chain of transmission (irsal) and transmission on the authority of

unknown individuals, this is false. The authority issuing the ijaza is known, as is his

reliability and trustworthiness, so how can it be argued that ijaza is analogous to transmission

from an unknown transmitter? This is obvious and ambiguous.”10

After refuting the idea that ijaza constituted a break in the chain of transmission, he discussed

the anxieties of some scholars that ijaza would cause social disruption. For instance, the

practice of traveling to collect hadith from the mouths of scholars as a main theme in the

hadith culture would end with the ijaza as a non-oral way of transmission. He said: “ the ijaza

would no more cause the rihla to be abandoned than the existence of a stable hadith canon

had caused the practice of hadith transmission to be abandoned.”11 In short, Al-Khatib’s

approach to the ijaza was inspiring for the discussion of the ijaza for generations.

Like al-Khatib, al-Silafi devoted his book Kitab al-Wajiz fi Dhikr al-Mujaz wa al-

Mujiz to prove the authority of the ijaza, and to include all the scholars who sent him ijazah

although they did not meet him. His main argument was that isnad is the basis of the shari’ah.

Then, “every means should be taken to preserve it.” 12 Although the sama’, qira’ah, and

munawalah have the highest grade, the chains of transmission could not survive by these

means only. He employed every possible means to obtain ijaza from scholars by asking the

help of his fellows or writing letters to his mujizin. He transmitted all the materials he

received by ijaza to other people. For instance, he transmitted them to three of his

contemporaries namely, Qadi ‘iyad, Ibn Asakir, and al-Sam’ani. 13 By the beginning of the

10
Ibid. 354.
11
Ibid., 355
12
Al-Silaf, al-Wajiz, (United Kingdom: University of Glascow, 1989), 1:54
13
Farahat Nasim Hashimi, al-Wajiz, Ph.D in Kitab al-Wajiz from the University of Glascow.
1989.
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seventh century, Ibn al-Salah in his Muqaddimah approved the ijaza and presented all the

methods of transmission in a more systematic and organized way. People who came after him

contributed nothing new to his book, they just explained it.14

In conclusion, scholars developed the ijaza as a means to preserve the isnad and to

create vast networks of transmission. It is also allowed the scholars to preserve the social

hierarchy inherent in the chain of transmission. By the sixth century, ijaza became a key

element in the scholarly culture, where many scholars like al-Silafi invested time requesting

and collecting it.

Bibliography

Brown, Jonathan. Muhammad’s legacy in the Medieval and Modern World. Oxford: One

World Publication, 2009.

Blecher, Joel. Said the Prophet, Hadith Commentary across a Millennium. California:

University of California, 2018.

14
Ibid., 1:37
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Ibn Khayr al-Ashbili. Fihrist ma rawahu ‘an shuyukhih. Cairo: Maktabat al-Khanji, 1997.

Al-Tirmidhi, al-Jami’ al-Kabir, ed. Bashshar Awwad Ma’ruf Beirut: Dar al-Gharb al-Islami,

1996.

Davidson, Garrett A. Carrying on the Tradition. Leiden, Brill, 2020.

Al-Ramhurmuzi, al-Muhaddith al-Fasil. Cairo: Dar al-Zakha’ir, 1980.

Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, al-Kifaya fi Ma’rifat ‘lm al-Riwayah. Cairo: Dar Ibn al-Jawzi, 2001.

Farahat Nasim Hashimi, al-Wajiz, Ph.D in Kitab al-Wajiz from the university of Glascow.

1989.