What is hadith?

‫هو اقوال النبي و افعاله و تقريراته و احواله و صفاته‬

The statements, actions, approvals and the conditions and the qualities of Rasulullah ‫ﷺ‬
Three words are used for hadith: Hadith, Khabr and Athar. Khabr are those statements
which were directed to Sahab or Tabi’een but not to Rasulullah ‫ ﷺ‬and some ulama say khabr
and hadith are the same, and others say that khabr is from Rasulullah, sahaba and Tabi’een
and hadith is from Rasulullah ‫ ﷺ‬alone.
The word athar comes in the meaning of khabr according to some ulama, and others say
that it is restricted to what comes from Sahaba and Tabi’een

What is the subject matter of hadith?

‫الرسالة‬ ُ
ِ ‫حيث‬ ٌّ ‫ذاتٌ النب‬
‫ي من‬
It is Rasulullah ‫ ﷺ‬himself as a Nabi
Some would argue saying that to study Nabi ‫ ﷺ‬is the same as being a doctor, meaning to
study the body. However the response given is that in the science of medicine, the jism,
actual physical body is studied, while in this study of hadith, we study Rasulullah as a
person, and his actions as a Rasool not as a human.