Session 5 notes pre reading.

Muftī Muḥammad Taqī Uthmānī, The

Authority of Sunnah, 78-82, 115-126.

Hadith being reported since time of prophet

Types of Hadith:

1. Mutawatir: Narrated by large number of people. Mutawatir by words: same words. Mutawatir
by meaning: different words but same concept.
2. Mashhoor: Not mutawatir in time of companions but after them. Has no less than three
narrators in any generation. Falls under second category of mutawatir.
3. Khabarul wahid: Has less than three narrators in any given generation.

Authenticity:

1. Mutawatir: No doubt in authenticity as they have similar sources of narration as Quran. Large
number of people can not collectively lie on same thing.
2. Mashhoor: Authenticity lower than mutawatir but still three trustworthy narrators in every
generation can prove correctness.
3. Khabarul Wahid: If the narrators are trustworthy it can be accepted but even if a single narrator
is doubtful, the entire report is discarded.

“Whoever attributes a lie to me, he should prepare his seat in fire”. This hadith created a fear and
responsibility among narrators, and they preserved ahadith with maximum precaution.

Second century books were compiled subject wise but first century books were not.

The criticsms of Ahadith.

Systematic science of criticism developed by scholars of hadith to verify correctness of each tradition.

Relative to their authenticity, Ahadith are divided in four categories:

1. Sahih (Correct)
2. Hasan (Good enough)
3. Daif (weak)
4. Maudu (coined)

Only the first two are reliable. The other two have little to no value in islam especially in legal or
doctrinal matters.

Tests applied before declaring a hadith Sahih or Hasan:

1. Scrutiny of Narrators: Credibility of narrators. Scrutiny carried out on two scores: examination of
integrity and honesty of narrator; examination of his memory power. Scholars used to go to
narrator’s place and enquire about him from neighbors, pupils, friends etc. Ilm al Rijal
(Knowledge of men) – science of narration to distinguish authentic vs non authentic hadith, by
establishing credibility of narrators by using historical and religious knowledge.
 2. Scrutiny of constancy of chain of narrators: Even if all narrators are reliable, chain should be
constant and no narrator has been missed in between. If missed, tradition is unreliable. Munqati
(broken) tradition when found that narrator has not heard the hadith directly from the one he is
ascribing it.
3. Comparison of its chain and text with other available ways of narration in same matter:
Comparison with what is narrated by other pupils of the same teacher. Turuq (different ways) of
tradition, when tradition reported by several narrators. When all reports in a particular way, but
one of them is different, that report is Shadh and not Sahih even if narrator is reliable.
4. Examination of chain and the text of the hadith in the light of other material available on the
subject, and to ensure that there is no defect in the chain or in the text: Tradition is analyzed in
light of the other relevant material available on the subject. Different angles; whether the
tradition is possible at all? If after this scrutiny there is doubt, there is ‘illah (doubt), so not
Sahih. Sahih hadith is without any shudhudh (rareness) and illah.

Jonathan Brown, Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World, 16-34.

Religious authority: from God through his Prophet. In formative times, Muslims seek guidance from
authoritative legacy of prophet directly. From Prophet to pious members of the community – the
authoritative legacy was transmitted (Prophetic reports/methods of legal reasoning).

Diverse environment of Kufa: ancient doctrines and practices foreign to early muslim community.
Legitimized by spurious hadiths falsely attributed to prophet.

In Sunni Islam, dependance is on Quran, Ahadith and companions. When no clear answer is provided,
scholars relied on their own interpretations of these sources. They were known as ahl al-ra’y (partisans
of legal reasoning). Ahl al-hadith – the partisans of hadith – preferred interpretation of members of early
Islamic community to their own. “unreliable narration of prophet is dearer to me than use of reason”.
Hence, the two schools of sunni hadith tradition emerged.

Sahifas – small notebooks consisted of papyrus, parchment, palm fronds to record memorable
statements of prophet. They were private notes of companions, not public documents. Younger
companions compiled the most.

Certain companions demonstrated particular interests and expertise and certain subjects.

The generation who learned islam from the companions and in turn inherited from the mantle of the
prophet’s authority become known as successors. They too recorded the Prophet’s teachings. Some
early isnads seem to be a record of Sahifas being handed over from teacher to student or from father to
son. Arabian society of seventh and eighth had a tradition of oral poetry and prophet’s memories were
in oral form only by companions often.

Prophet had forbidden his followers to write down his words in a fear that they may confuse it with
Quran, which was being set and written down in his life time. However, allowing new muslims visiting
from outside Medina to record lessons he gave in his sermons. Early periods vs later periods.

Focus on orality, Arabic alphabets were primitive, many letters written identically and could only be
distinguished with context, lack of vowels. Sahifas were only memory aids, cant be simply picked up and
read. Serious flaw if hadith transmitted without hearing them read by teacher.
Issue of repeating hadith word to word – some even repeated grammatical mistakes they heard. It was
difficult though. Muslims arrived at the compromise that one could paraphrase a hadith, provided one
was learned enough to understand its meaning properly.

The first organized work of Islamic Scholarship: Musannaf (books organized topically), were transcripts
of the legal discourse as it had developed during the first two centuries of islam.

In many ways musannaf genre predates the emergence of classical hadith literature than being a part of
it. If hadith collections are characterized by a predominant focus on reports from prophet that include
isnads as a means for critics to verify their authenticity then they are not technically hadith collections.

Musannafs have an important function in law, hadith literature and criticism. But if Muhammad was the
ultimate interpreter of God’s will, why would a scholar infrequently rely on his words in musannaf
collection.

Musnad: all hadith narrated by certain companion in one chapter.

Limiting hadith collections to material that had an isnad was a solid first line of defense against hadith
forgery.

Sahih and Sunan Movement: Early ninth to early tenth century, ahl al hadith jurists combined musannaf
and musnads in from of sahih/sunan books. They were topical books with full isnad.

Compilation with hadith only with full isnad that were authentic – Sahihayn (two sahihs) – bukhari and
muslim.

Bukhari: Law, legal and ritual topics, implication of technical terms in hadith.

Muslim: Raw collection of Hadith