[Uloom Al-Hadeeth] Introduction

[boriqee]

Inal Hamdulillah Rabbil Alameen, wa salatu wa salamu 'ala ashraafil anbiyaa i-wal-mursaleen, wa salatu wa salamu ana Nabi wa ala aalihi wa sahbihi ajma'een.
Bismillahi arahmani rahim
asalamu alaikum warahmatullah

I wanted to start a tread for a people who have a thirst for knowledge fo the religion and elve into some of its sceinces and I thought what greater sceince than into the mustalah of hadeeth.

So I hope that all the issue of the athaar and taleeqaat can be adressed here inshallah.

I will start out with some ilmu-nafi (beneficial knowledge) inshallah fort he tulaab wal talibaatu-ilm.

For a short introduction then I would like to starty off by saying that
1. this realm of knowledge is gig and great. the areas of this knowledge encompass jarh wa t'adeel (praise and criticism of narrators), uloomu-rijaal (knowledge of the narrators), and the mustalaah of isnaad.

2. In this feild of knowledge, like all fields, then one must rely upon the people of this knowledge instead of coming or formulating our opinion on the matters unless we attain a position of being a mujtahid Imaam.

3. fom the hadeeth, the religion is extracted from. The sunnah is from it, and the muslims are to realize this and know it and that Allah azawajal keeps us firm upon this haq and allows not for the shaytaan to stir us away from it.

4. through this effort, inshallah the muslims will come to know knowledge and its people and truely understand the manhaj of he muslim in matters pertaining to the religion inshallah

[boriqee]

A Brief History of the Science of Hadeeth
By Shaykh Ahmad Muhammad Shaakir


So here I would like to point out the benefit of this knowledge humbly called, 'mustalahahul hadeeth' (the science of hadeeth), and its effect upon the divinely-revealed, and historical sciences, and other than them from the various types of sciences which are established from the authentic texts, and which rely upon it.

So verily the Muslims - from the first generation - had a great concern for memorization of the chains of narration in their Revelation from the Book and the Sunnah, the like of which no nation from before them had. So they memorized the Qur`aan, and they reported from the Messenger of Allaah (saw) frequently, sentence by sentence, and word by word, and letter by letter. They preserved it in their chests, and they confirmed it upon pages of their writings, and they authored books about it with exhaustive detail. They also memorized much about their Prophet (saw), everyone of his statements or actions or conditions.

He (saw) was a teacher from his Lord, and an explainer of His Revelation, and a commander of the establishment of His Religion. All of his (saw) statements and actions and conditions are an explanation of the Qur`aan. He is the infallible Messenger and the good example.

Allaah the Exalted says in describing him:

"He does not speak from desire. Verily it is not but Revelation revealed to him."

Allaah says:-

"And We revealed to you the Reminder for you to explain to the people what has been revealed to them, in the hopes that they may become thoughtful."

Allaah also says:-

"Indeed there is a good example for you in the Messenger of Allaah."

'Abdullaah Ibn 'Umar Ibnul 'Aas used to write everything he heard from the Messenger of Allaah (saw), so the Quraysh forbade him from that and it was mentioned to the Prophet (saw). So he (saw) said:

"Write. So by the One in Whose Hand my soul is, nothing emanates from me except truth."

The Prophet (saw) commanded the Muslims in the farewell pilgrimage to teach about him as a general command. So he (saw) said:-

"So let the one who is present teach the one who is absent. So it may be that the one who is being taught may be more heedful than him."

He (saw) also said:-

"So let the one who is present teach the one who is absent, for the one who taught may be more heedful than the one who heard directly."

So the Muslims understood that all this was obligatory upon them. They memorized everything about the Prophet (saw) and they acted upon that, and they went to great lengths to fulfil this trust, and they related hadeeths from him; either as well known (mashhoor), or with authentically established chains of narrations. According to the scholars, this is named an authentic hadeeth (hadeeth saheeh) or a good hadeeth (hadeeth hasan).

The scholars of hadeeth took great care to make sure they collected everything that was narrated from him as a narration, even if it was not authentic. Then they strove to authenticate every hadeeth, and every letter narrated in a narration. So they criticized their conditions and their narrations and they took the most extreme care in quoting. So they would rule a hadeeth to be weak due to a little doubt in the biography of a narrator's character which affected his reliability according to the people of knowledge.

So if they doubted in his truthfulness and they knew that he had lied about something in his statements, then they would discard his narrations and they would call his hadeeth fabricated (mawdhoo') or lies (makdhoob), even if he was not particularly known for lying in narrating hadeeths and even though they knew the liar could have been telling the truth.

Likewise, they used to check the memorization of every narrator and read his narrations with other ones. So if they found many mistakes from him and his memorization was not good, they would declare his narrations weak, even if he had not been disparaged in his character or his truthfulness. It was feared that his memory might be unreliable in his narrations.

Indeed they wrote and compiled the fundamental principles that were required for the acceptance of hadeeth, so these are the fundamental principles of this field of study. So they refined them with as close examination as humanly possible, so as to preserve their Religion. So the fundamental that they established became the soundest fundamentals for confirming historical accounts and the finest and the most delicate, even though it is despised - in these later times - by most of the people since they do not have adequate knowledge about it or clarification.

So the scholars of many different sciences followed them in this. So the scholars of language and the scholars of literature and the scholars of history and other than these imitated them. So they made efforts to relate everything of their sciences with a chain of narrators, as you will see in the older books. So the foundations of this knowledge were used with the intention of authenticating narrations in anything that involved narrating. So this knowledge is the basis for any narration-based science.

Along with this however, there were some people who innovated a vile innovation. They alleged that hadeeths could not be used as proofs because, in some conventions, it was called 'uncertain affirmation' (dhanniyyatuth thuboot). This means that it was not affirmed with concurrency (tawaatur) requiring absoluteness in narrations. So they concluded that such narrations do not provide conclusive knowledge.
This group did not realize that the term 'definitive knowledge' was just a convention among some scholars to be applied to some sciences only. In the case of hadeeth however, the most authentic reports were declared authentic by any scholar who had studied hadeeth, even if it was not concurrent (mutawaatir). If they were to reject every non-recurrent narration, then they should first eliminate every science that relies upon narration; including history. However, at that time, the group that went with such a bad opinion was small, overwhelmed, and they did not have any influence upon Islaamic sciences.

However in this century, there has appeared a new group who alleged the same old allegations and more. They claim that all hadeeths are unauthentic and baseless, so it is not allowed to use them as proofs in matters of the Religion. Some even went to the point of rejecting all the rules and fundamental set for hadeeth checking; and started authenticating hadeeths according to desires and feelings, without any particular rule or proof. For these people, there is no cure except if they learn Islaamic knowledge and have respect for it, and Allaah guides whomever He wills.

So as for the attack upon authentic hadeeths, and the doubt in their attribution to the Prophet (saw), then this is nothing less than an announcement of war against the Muslims for those who do it despite knowledge. It is also due to ignorance and lack of study for those who blindly follow the first group. So the meaning of this doubt and attack is that all the reliable narrators from amongst the Salafus-Saalih were untrustworthy liars. It necessitates accusing them of either telling lies and misleading the people, or of ignorance and stupidity. Indeed Allaah rescued them from these things, and they knew the reality of the statement of the Messenger of Allaah (saw):

"Whoever lies upon me deliberately, then let him take his seat in the Fire." [5]

He (saw) also said:-

"Whoever relates a hadeeth from me and thinks that it is a lie, then he is one of the liars."

So the one who accuses them of lying has passed a judgement which is free of any good quality and which will cause him to dwell in the Fire. This is because lying is from the greatest of major sins, then it is from the most evil of qualities and the worst of them. No nation shall succeed if lying is common among its people, even if it is in small matters. So what about telling lies in the Religion and about the best of the Messengers (saw)? Indeed the people of the first generation of Muslims - and in the first three generations - were the best of the people and the highest in character and they were the most fearful of Allaah. So due to that, Allaah aided them and gave them victory and opened many counties to them and they came to rule many nations in a few years. This was because of their Religion and beautiful character before it was due to their sword and spear.

Shaykh al-Albaanee has declared it to be an authentic concurrent hadeeth, he records 63 different routes for it. See: Mukhtasar Saheeh Muslim (no. 1861-1862), Rawdhun Nadheer (no. 707), and Saheehul Jaami' (no. 6519).
Related by Abu Dardaa', reported by Ahmad, Muslim, and Ibn Maajah. Shaykh al-Albaanee has declared it authentic in Saheehul Jaami' (no. 6199), and from Samoorah and Mugheerah (no. 1863), also see ad-Da'eefah (1/12).

[boriqee]

A Letter Regarding Al-Jarh And At-Ta`deel: A Fatwa (Ruling) Regarding Hadith Terminology
From Al-Hafiz Al-Munthiri

[Taken from the third treatise in: “The narrators that al-Hafiz al-Munthiri mentioned al-Jarh and at-Ta`deel about in his book at-Targheeb wat-Tarheeb” compiled by Abu Sima’ Majid bin Muhammad bin Abu al-Layl.]


[A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF AL-HAFIZ AL-MUNTHIRI
In Tathkiratul-Hufaaz, Al-Hafiz Ath-Thahabi, may Allah have mercy with him, said:

“Al-Munthiri: ‘Abdul-‘Azim Ibn ‘Abdul-Qawwi, Ibn ‘Abdullah, Ibn Salaamah, Ibn Sa‘d. Al-Hafiz al-Kabir, al-Imam ath-Thabit, Shaykh al-Islam, Zaki ad-Deen, Abu Muhammad al-Munthiri, ash-Shaami, then, al-Misri.

He was born during the beginning of Sha‘baan in the year 581H. He learned to recite the Qur’an, Arabic studies, fiqh and then he sought knowledge in this field (hadith) and became proficient in it. He heard from …”

Then he listed a number of Shaykhs and the various cities in Muslim lands to which he traveled to listen to them and learn from them, as well as mentioning some of his books. Among the most famous were his abridged Sahih Muslim and abridged Abu Dawud.

Then he listed some of the important Hufaaz who learned from al-Hafiz al-Munthiri, and that he held an important teaching position in Cairo.

Ath-Thahabi said: “Ash-Sharif ‘Izz ad-Deen said: ‘Our Shaykh Zaki ad-Deen was unequalled in ‘uloom al-hadith regarding its various branches, knowledgeable of the sahih, the weak, the deficient, and the various routes. He was profound in knowing its rulings, meanings, and conflicting issues. He was proficient in the rare narrations of hadith, precise pronunciation of hadith, and their various wordings. He was an Imam, a proof, firm, cautious, precise in speech and reliable in narration, who when an excerpt was read before him, he could expound on its may benefits.’” End quote.

Al-Hafiz al-Munthiri is reported to have passed away in the year 656H, may Allah have mercy with him and exalt his rank.

Then it should be mentioned, that al-Hafiz al-Munthiri, with all of his great attributes as mentioned above, was know to be lenient in his grading of hadiths. This is most noted in his great and invaluable precious work: At-Targheeb wat-Tarheeb. For those interested in researching this last point further in Arabic, it is recommend that they read the details that Shaikh Nasir, may Allah have mercy with him, mentioned in his introduction to Saheeh at-Targheeb wat-Tarheeb.]

What follows is the translation of the text, the headings were added and bracketed.

In then Name of Allah, the Beneficent the Merciful, and may Allah mention our master Muhammad, his family and his Companions.

[The Questions]

What do the master scholars, and the noble Imams, say about these expressions– which are used by the Imams of hadith regarding narrators – for example:

Yahya bin Ma`in, may Allah have mercy upon him says: “He is salih in hadith.” And Abu Hatim says: “His hadiths are written, but he is not used as a proof.” And the saying of Ahmad bin Hanbal: “He is trustworthy.” Another says: “He is truthful.”

So is their saying: “Trustworthy” the same as their saying: “His hadiths are written.”?

And what is the meaning of their saying: “His hadiths are written, but he is not used as a proof.”?

And what is the distinction between their saying: “He is not used as a proof” and “He is abandoned in hadith.”?

And, when one of them says: “So-and-so is trustworthy” and another says: “He is nothing” whose saying is taken among them?

If it is said that: “He is nothing” is taken over one who said: “He is trustworthy”, then we have seen narrators in the Six Books upon which the scholars of Islam depend about whom such disagreement occurred.

For example: Muhammad bin Ishaq. For Shu`bah and Sufyan said about him: “The Commander of the Believers in Hadith” – according to what Ibn Mahdi reported from them. And Malik bin Anas and Yahya bin Sa`id have both criticized him.

Yahya bin Ma`in was asked about him, and he said: “Trustworthy, and he is not a proof” and another time he said: “He is truthful, but he is not a proof. The proof is only in `Ubaidullah bin `Umar, and Malik bin Anas.”

Ahmad bin Hanbal said about him: “If a man said: ‘Indeed Muhammad bin Ishaq is a proof’ then he is not correct, but he is trustworthy.’”

And Ya`qub bin Shaibah said: “I asked Yahya bin Ma`in, saying: ‘How is Muhammad bin Ishaq according to you?’ He said: ‘He is not that in my view’ and he did not indicate that he was reliable, he indicated that he was weak. But he did not say that he was very weak. So I said: ‘So you feel something in yourself regarding his truthfulness? He said: ‘No. He was truthful.’”

So how should these statements be understood considering that he is in reports in the depended upon books? And Ibn `Adi said:

“If Ibn Ishaq did not have any virtue except that he turned the kings away from preoccupation with books that are of no benefit to preoccupation with the Maghazi (military expeditions) of the Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu alayhi wa alaa aalihi wa sallam) and his advent and the beginning of creation, this would be a virtue in which Ibn Ishaq preceded others. Then, those who came after him authored (concerning the Maghazi,etc.) and they did not reach the station of Ibn Ishaq in it. And I searched his many hadiths and I did not find any that could be certainly graded as weak, and maybe he erred or made a mistake in one thing then another. And the reliable ones and the Imams did not hold back from relating from him, and there is no harm in him.”

These are the expressions used by Ibn `Adi about him. And this disagreeing causes confusion.

Similarly, with Shabaabah bin Sawwaar. Al-Bukhari, Muslim and others among the Imams recorded narrations of his in their books. While Abu Hatim said about him: “He is truthful, his hadiths are written, and he is not used as a proof.”

‘Abdur-Rahman bin Yusuf bin Khiraash said: “Ahmad bin Hanbal was not pleased by him.”

It was said to Yahya bin Ma`in: “Is Shabaabah liked more to you, or al-Aswad bin ‘Aamir?” So he said: “Shababah.” And he also said: “He is truthful.”

Ibn Sa`id said: “He was trustworthy, salih al-amr in hadith, except that he was a Murji’.”

This Shabaabah has been reported from, by Ishaq bin Rahuyah, Ahmad bin Hanbal, Yahya bin Ma`in, Abu Khaithamah, Ahmad bin Sinan Al-Qattaan, and personalities other than them.

So what does this disagreement about him mean? Upon whose saying does one depend? How is criticism of a person accepted without explanation, and when is such criticism without explanation cut off? What is the reason for accepting the criticism of these Imams without explanation while leaving [the opinion of] other than them?

And is the differences among these Imams the same as differences among the fuqaha’? If the answer is yes, then it is said that disagreement results from ijtihaad, while this contains nothing but reports, for a person can not be truthful and a liar at the same time. And it is said about a group of reporters that “they are nothing” while we find their hadiths in al-Bukhari, Muslim and others. So what is the meaning of their saying: “So-and-so is nothing”? And do these expressions have some meaning other than the apparent one? And is their saying: “So-and-so is a proof” the same as their saying: “He is truthful”?

Like Shujaa` bin al-Waleed Abu Qais as-Sakuni [this is a mistake from the publisher or copier, it should be Shujaa` bin al-Waleed bin Qais as-Sakuni]. Abu Hammaam al-Waleed bin Shujaa`, Ahmad bin Hanbal, Muslim bin Ibrahim, Yahya bin Ma`in, Abu `Ubaid Al-Qaasim bin Sallaam, Muhammad bin ‘Abdullah bin Numayr, Ishaq bin Rahuyah, ‘Ali bin Al-Madini, and others among the Imams report from him.

Abu Hatim said concerning him: “`Abdullah bin Bakr as-Sahmi is more beloved to me than Shujaa` bin al-Waleed, and he is a shaykh, he is not that strong, and his hadith is not used as a proof.”

Abu Bakr Al-Marwazi said: “I asked Ahmad bin Hanbal: ‘Is Shujaa` bin al-Waleed trustworthy?’ He said: ‘I hope that he is truthful, for some of the righteous have sat with him.’”

Waki‘ said: “I heard Sufyan saying: ‘There is no one in al-Kufah who worships more than him.’”

Hanbal bin Ishaq said: “Abu ‘Abdullah [al-Imam Ahmad] said: ‘He was a righteous shaykh, truthful, we write from him.’ He said: ‘Yahya bin Ma`in met him one day so he said: ‘O liar! So the shaykh said to him: ‘Either I am a liar, or Allah will destroy you.’”

And it has been reported that Yahya bin Ma`in also said about him: “He is trustworthy.”

And Ahmad bin Hanbal said: “No harm in him.”

So look at these differences about him, yet al-Bukhari, Muslim, at-Tirmithi, Abu Dawud, an-Nasa’i, and Ibn Majah record narrations from him.

How can this be done by these Imams who are taken as an example while it has been stipulated regarding hadith that it be “a report of a just precise narrator from a just, precise narrator reaching to Allah’s Messenger (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam)” as Ibn as-Salah, may Allah have mercy upon him, said in his book on ‘Ulum al-Hadith, as well as others besides him.

And if this stipulation is not that which is treaded upon by those who know the condition of the two Shaykhs [al-Bukhari and Muslim], and perhaps you – may Allah reward you – may explain the condition of the two Sahihs [of al-Bukhari and Muslim] so that the benefit may be complete – if Allah wills – by your blessing. So provide clarity with what you have of knowledge. May Allah benefit the Muslims by you. And may he grant you the company of the pure and righteous. Amin, Amin.

And may Allah make mention of Muhammad, the Unlettered Prophet, and his family and all his Companions. And may he grant the most complete, abundant peace.

[The Answers]

So the Shaykh, the Imam, al-Hafiz, al-`Allamah Zaki ad-Deen, Abu Muhammad `Abdul-`Azim bin Abdul-Qawwi bin `Abdullah al-Munthiri ash-Shafi`i, may Allah be pleased with him, wrote in response to the questions mentioned:

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful, and may Allah make mention of Muhammad and his family and grant complete peace.

As to what follows, praising Allah, the High, the Great, and sending salah upon the best of his creation Muhammad, the Noble Prophet, and his family and his Companions and his followers who are worthy of preference and eminence.

[The Levels Of al-Jarh and at-Ta`deel According to Ibn Abi Hatim]

I have seen what you have indicated – may Allah make the benefit taken from you all to be continuous and may He guard you in the most excellent manner, and may He cause you to always take the most beautiful of positions. And I have besought from Allah (subhaanahu wa ta’aalaa) earnestly that He encompass all of us with the blessings from the Chief of the Messengers, may Allah make mention of him and his family and grant him peace as well as them.

So here I mention before that, what shall be an answer to some of what you have mentioned, and a facilitation for some of it, hoping from Allah for firmness upon what is correct in speech and action, and seeking refuge in him from errors and slips, for whatever He wishes, He does.

Al-Hafiz Abu Muhammad al-Qasim bin al-Hafiz `Ali bin al-Hasan ad-Dimashqi informed us in his letter to me in which he said: “Al-Hafiz Abu Tahir Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Ahmad informed us in his letter to me from the port of Alexandria saying: ‘`Abu Maktum `Isa bin al-Hafiz Abu Tharr `Abd bin Ahmad al-Harawi informed us, by permission, saying: “My father related to me, saying: ‘Abu `Ali Hamd bin `Abdullah al-Asbahaani related to us saying: “Al-Imam Abu Muhammad `Abdur-Rahman bin Abu Hatim Muhammad bin Idris al-Hanzali said: ‘I found that the expressions about al-jarh and at-ta`deel are of different levels:

A. Levels of at-Ta`deel
When they say about someone that he is trustworthy, or mutqin, thabt (precise, reliable), then he is one whose hadiths are used as a proof.
When they say “he is truthful” or, “his place is truthfulness” or “no harm in him” then he is one whose hadiths are written, and he is to be looked into, this is the second rank.
When they say: “Shaykh” then he is of the third rank, his hadiths are written, and he is looked into, but he is lower than the second.
When they say: “salih al-hadith” then his hadiths are written for i‘tibaar (the expressions they contain).

B. Levels of al-Jarh
When they reply about a man: “feeble in hadith” then he is among those whose hadiths are written and looked into for i`tibaar.
When they say: “he is not strong” then he is like the first level regarding writing his hadiths, yet he is lower than him.
When they say: “weak in hadith” then he is less than the second, his hadiths are not disregarded, rather they are used for i`tibaar.
When they say: “abandoned in hadith” or “thaahib al-hadith” or “liar” then his hadiths are dropped, his hadiths are not written, and this is the fourth level.’”
This is what Ibn Abi Hatim mentioned about what he found regarding their expressions.

[Is Their Saying: “A Proof” Stronger Than Their Saying: “Trustworthy”]

Yahya bin Ma`in said about Muhammad bin Ishaq: “Trustworthy, but he is not a proof” it appears that his view is that being trustworthy is less than being a proof. And this contradicts what is mentioned from most of them about that.

[The Response of Ad-Daraqutni About Their Saying: “So-and so- is feeble” and about one who has many mistakes]

Abu Hafs ‘Umar bin Muhammad bin Ma`mar al-Baghdadi informed us in ad-Dimashq saying: “Al-Wazeer al-Ajl Abu al-Qaasim `Ali bin Naqeeb an-Nuqabaa’ Abu al-Fawaaris Tiraad bin Muhammad az-Zainabi informed us, saying: ‘Abu al-Qasim Isma`il bin Mas`adah al-Jurjani informed us – and ash-Shaykh Abu al-Fadhl Ja`far bin `Ali al-Muqri’ informed us, and the wording is his, saying: “Al-Hafiz Abu Taahir Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Ahmad informed us saying: ‘Al-Hafiz Abu Nasr Al-Mu’taman bin Ahmad as-Saaji informed us saying: “Abu al-Qaasim Isma`il bin Mas`adah informed us saying: ‘I heard Abu al-Qaasim Hamzah bin Yusuf as-Sahmi al-Hafiz saying: “I asked Abu al-Hasan ad-Daraqutni, saying to him: ‘When it is said: “So-and-so is feeble” what is meant by that?’ He said: ‘He is not dropped and abandoned in hadith, but he was criticized with something that does not drop his attribute of being just.’ And I asked him about one who has many mistakes. He said: ‘If they told him about that and he returned from that, then he is not dropped, and if he did not return, then he is dropped.’”

Al-Aseel Abu al-Muzaffar `Abdur-Raheem bin al-Hafiz Abu Sa`d `Abdul-Karim bin al-Hafiz Abu Bakr Muhammad bin al-Imam Abu al-Muzaffar Mansur bin Muhammad as-Sam`aani informed us in his letter to me from Khurasaan saying: “Al-Imam Abu Bakr ‘Ubaydullah bin Ibrahim at-Taftazaani informed me in Nasa’ in Shawwal of the year 544H saying: ‘Abu Ishaq Ibrahim bin Muhammad bin Ibrahim al-Jurjaani informed me saying: “Abu Shurayh Isma`il bin Ahmad ash-Shaashi informed us: ‘Abu al-Hasan `Ali bin Muhammad al-Maydaani informed us saying: “Abu Sa`d Abdur-Rahman bin al-Hasan bin Alayyik informed us” – so he mentioned issues which he asked the Ustaath, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim bin Muhammad al-Isfaraa’eeni about, among them:

“When one hears from his shaykhs that a person is not trustworthy in hadith, or he sees that in the books of the Huffaz, is he to judge by their criticism in taqleed of them? And is he of those who backbite or not.”

The reply: “When he hears it from his shaykhs then that is jarh, and not taqleed in his jarh. Because this is his proof and his evidence. He does not judge by something that he finds in the books, unless that is something he heard from individuals among the people of hadith.”

[The Disagreements of The People Of Knowledge About the Ta`deel of Men And Grading them Weak]

The Shaykhs Abu Hafs `Umar bin Ma`mar bin Muhammad al-Baghdadi, and Abu al-Hasan `Ali bin Nasr al-Waasiti, and Abu al-Fadhl Muhammad bin Yusuf an-Nu`maani – and the wording is his – informed us saying: “Abu al-Qaasim `Abdul-Malik bin Abu Sahl related to us saying: ‘Abu `Aamir Mahmud bin al-Qaasim and Abu Bakr al-Ghawrja informed us saying: “Abu Muhammad al-Jaraahi informed us: ‘Abu al-Abbas bin Mahbub informed us:

“Al-Imam Abu `Isa Muhammad bin `Isa at-Tirmithi informed us saying: ‘The Imams among the people of knowledge differed in grading men weak, just like they differed in other areas of knowledge.’” This is the end of his statement.

1. Their Disagreements About Accepting The Report Of an Innovator
The people of knoweldge differed in the case of the people of innovations like the Qadariyyah, the Rawaafidh, and the Khawaarij.

A group of them said: “Their hadiths are not used as a proof altogether.”
Some of them held the view of accepting the reports of the people of desires who were not known to consider as lawful lying or bearing witness for those who agreed with them for what they did not witness.
A group followed the view of accepting the non-caller among the people of desires. As for the caller, then his narrations are not to be used as a proof.

Some of them [followed the view] that his hadiths are accepted when they do not contain anything that supports their innovation.

2. Their Differences Over The Necessary Number For Verification Or Disparagement

They also differed over setting conditions on the number of those praising and disparaging, and witnesses and reporters.

A. So some of them made a number of them a condition.
B. Some of them said they are not subject to a condition, even though when bearing witness, it is better to give precedence to the number of those who praise.
C. Some of them said: It is a condition for testimony, but not for narrators. Because the number is not a condition for accepting information. So it can not be a condition for narrators, contrary to testifying witnesses, for in the case of accepting testimony and judging accordingly there are conditions. So it is a condition in testimony.
3. Their Differences over accepting Explanative and Vague Criticism
They also differed over the criticism, when what the criticism is not explained.

Among them are those who said: The crticism is not accepted without explanation.

Among them are those who said: The critic does not need to explain except when it is general and the criticism would not be recognized. But when the criticism is known then it does not need to be explained.
Muhammad bin Ishaq in the View of the People of Knowledge
The Imams have discussed him a great deal in two ways: praise and censure. As for al-Bukhari and Muslim, they did not use him as a proof at all in their Sahihs. Muslim only recorded some hadiths of his as follow up narrations, not foundational narrations.

In this way al-Bukhari also did not record anything it all from him as a foundation. He only mentioned him in supporting narrations, following their custom regarding those whose hadiths are not used as a proof. As al-Bukhari did with Abu Az-Zubair Al-Makki, Suhail bin Abi Saalih and their like. And as Muslim did with `Ikrimah the freed slave of Ibn `Abbas, Shareek bin `Abdullah al-Qaadhi and their like.

Abu Bakr Ahmad bin ‘Ali al-Khateeb said: “More than one of the scholars have refrained from using narrations of Ibn Ishaq as proof for various reasons: Among them that he was accused of Shi‘i tendancies and the topic of qadr, and he committed tadlees in his narrations. As for his truthfulness, it is not enough to defend him.”

Sulaiman bin Dawud said: “Yahya bin Sa`id Al-Qattaan said to me: ‘I testify that Muhammad bin Ishaq lies.’” He said: “I said: ‘How do you know?’ He said: ‘Wuhaib bin Khaalid said to me: “Indeed he lies.” He said: ‘I said to Wuhaib: “How do you know?” He said: “Malik bin Anas said to me: ‘I testify that he lies.’ I said to Malik: How do you know? He said: Hishaam bin ‘Urwah said to me: “I testify that he lies.” I said to Hishaam: “How do you know?” He said: “He narrated from my wife Faatimah bint al-Munthir. But she came to me when she was nine years old, and no man saw her until she met Allah.”

`Abdullah bin Ahmad bin Hanbal said: “So my father narrated hadiths of Ibn Ishaq and said: ‘As for Hishaam’s rebuke of him, perhaps he came and sought persmision from her and she permitted him’ – and I think he said – ‘and did not inform him.’”

Imam Ahmad said another time: “It is possible that such hearing occurred when she went out to the Masjid or, she went out and he heard her. And Allah knows best.”

‘Ali bin al-Madeeni said: “What Hishaam said is not a proof. Perhaps he visited his wife when he was a boy and heard from her.”

So whoever avoided using the narrations of Ibn Ishaq it is to be understood that he abandoned him due to the issue of qadr or Shi’i tendencies, or due to tadlees in the case of those who held the view that this was disparaging. Or, it could have been due to this or other criticisms concerning him, even though this may not be a proof to him for rejecting his hadiths. But it may have created a doubt which prevented him from using him as a proof, and this has been indicated by the two Hafiz’s Ahmad bin Ibrahim al-Jurjaani and Ahmad bin ‘Ali al-Khatteeb.

For those who used his narrations as proof, then it implies that he did not see that innvoation was a preventive factor, nor tadlees. As for the story of Hishaam, it has been replied to. And, [they would have determined] that the criticism regarding him is not clarified and is not of consequence in his view. And also, that which came from one person – while he made the number a condition – then it was not of consqeunce in his view. And Allah azza wa jall knows best.

Shabaabah bin Sawwaar in the View of the People of Knowledge
Al-Bukhari and Muslim used his narrations in their Sahihs and three of the Imams narrated from him, and some of them criticized him. Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal said: “I have abandoned him, I do not report from him due to irja’.” They said: “O Abu ‘Abdullah! What about Abu Mu‘aawiyah?” He said: “Shabaabah was a caller.”

The narration of Shabaabah that he reports from Shu‘bah concerning ad-dubba’ [gourd: but it means a type of container made from gourd used for khamr] was mentioned to ‘Ali bin al-Madini, so he said: “What are we able to do about this one – meaning Shabaabah – he was a shaykh, truthful, except that he expressed the view of irja’, and a man who heard from another man a thousand or two thousand [hadiths] is not to be rejected because he narrated a [single] gharib hadith.”

Abu Bakr Ahmad al-Jurjaani said: “That which is that rejected regarding him is the error, perhaps he narrated it from memory.” [In al-Kaamil, al-Jurjaani, who is Ibn `Adi, said: “Just as `Ali bin al-Madeeni said: ‘That which is rejected regarding him is the error…’”]

They said to Abu Zur‘ah about Abu Mu‘aawiyah: “He had the view of irja’?” He said: “Yes! He used to call to it.” They said: “The same for Shabaabah bin Sawwaar?” He said: “Yes.” They said: “He recanted from that?” He said: “Yes! He said: Faith is speech and action.’”

So this is Imam Ahmad making it clear that he only abandoned him because he was a caller to irja’. And this is ‘Ali bin al-Madeeni who did not see that his saying of irja’ and his lone narrations were applicable in his case, and error is something that almost no one is exempt from. So whoever used his narrations as a proof, then he saw that irja’, calling to it, and having lone narrations, were things that did not destroy him, especially when it has been reported that he recanted from irja’.

Whoever did not use his narrations as proof, then it is because he saw that these were barriers against using him, and this resulted in his doubt about him, and halting from using him as a proof, as preceded. And Allah azza wa jall knows best.

[Are the Disagreements of the Muhaditheen in Jarh and Ta`deel Similar to The Disagreements of the Fuqaha’ in Issues of Fiqh?]

The disagreement of these people is like the disagreement of the fuqaha’, all of that is determined through ijtihaad. So in the case of the judge, when he is given damaging testimony about a person, he makes ijtihaad with whether that is applicable or not. Like that, the muhaddith, when he wants to use the narrations of a person as proof, and criticism about him is conveyed to him, he makes ijtihaad with it, determining whether it is applicable or not. The criticisms about him may be a disparagement in his view, depending on the explanation of the criticism or the lack thereof, or depending upon the condition of the numbers, as is the case with the faqih. There is no difference whether the criticizer is informing the muhaddith himself or reporting to him from someone else by his route, and Allah azza wa jall knows best.

Shujaa` bin al-Waleed In The View of the People of Knowledge
As for Shujaa` bin al-Waled Abu Badr, al-Bukhari and Muslim in their Sahihs, and a group of authors used him as proof. His condition with respect to worship and righteousness is well known.

Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal said, in a story mentioning him: “He would only say to us: ‘Sulaiman bin Mihraan mentioned it’ and he did not say: ‘Al-A`mash’ and ‘Mugheerah mentioned it’ and “Sa‘eed bin Abi ‘Arubah mentioned it’ and he would almost never say to us: ‘It was narrated to us’ Then after that he used to say: ‘So and so narrated to us, and Musa bin ‘Uqbah informed us.’ While earlier he would not say anything to us but ‘he mentioned it.’”

Waki‘ bin al-Jarraah was asked about Abu Badr Shujaa` bin al-Waleed, so he said: “He was our neighbor here. We do not know of him to be with ‘Ata’ bin as-Sa’ib nor with al-Mugheerah.” While others besides him mentioned that he narrated from them. He was criticized for the narration of the hadith of Salman al-Farsi, may Allah be pleased with him, about hatred of the ‘Arabs and it is a munkar hadith. [“O Salmaan! Do not hate me and leave your religion” “And how would I hate you O Messenger of Allah! While it is by you that Allah has guided us?” “By hating the ‘Arabs you would be hating me.” Musnad At-Tayalisi, Ahmad At-Tirmithi, al-Hakim]

And the hadith of Shareek from Abu Husain about the pebbles and their munaashidah [“Indeed the pebbles supplicate to Allah against the one who removes them from the Masjid” Abu Dawud, al-Bayhaqi and others.] is taken from him in marfu‘ form while it is mawquf.

So for the one who used his hadiths as a proof, he did not see that any of this prevented using his narrations as a proof. It is possible that it be said that he mentioned his hearing [a narration] after that, so he is clear in narrating the hadith, or that a reporter may be being zealous one time, so he gave a chain, and not as concerned another time, so he did not give a chain, and he did not mention a person one time, while he mentioned him another, as circumstances dictated.

Whoever refrained from using his narrations as proof, then that was a result on his part of that shortcoming, even if the criticism was not affirmed in his case. Still, he stopped short of using him because of that. And Allah azza wa jall knows best.

What Is the Meaning of Their Statement: “So And So Is Nothing”?
As for their saying: “so-and-so is nothing” and they say another time: “His narrations are nothing” then he is to be looked into. So if the one that this is said about has been graded trustworthy and used as a proof by some one other than the one saying this, then it implies that he means that none of his narrations are used as a proof, but to him, his narrations are written for i`tibaar, as supporting witnesses, and other than that.

If the one they say that about is well know to be weak and there is none among the Imams found to consider his case as good, then that implies that his hadiths are not to be used as a proof nor for i`tibaar nor as supporting witnesses. This is akin to matrook [abandoned]. And Allah azza wa jall knows best.

[The Criteria of the Two Shaykhs]

As for the criteria of the Two Shaykhs, it has been mentioned by the Imams about al-Bukhari and Muslim that it has not been reported from either one of them that he said: “I stipulated that I record in my book what agrees with such and such criteria,” that is only known from probing into their books and pondering over what they recorded.

There are various replies to this matter from the Imams, some of them said it is the musnad hadith whose chain is connected by the report of a just, precise narrator from a just, precise narrator until its end.

And if it is said to him: “He reported in the Sahih from so-and-so” and, “such and such has been said about him?” He says: He is a just, precise narrator in the view of the one who used him as a proof in his Sahih, and what has been said concerning him is responded to with similar to that which we have previously mentioned, and Allah azza wa jall knows best.

The last of it is: praise to Allah as He deserves to be praised, and His Salawaat upon His chosen one from His creation, Muhammad, His Prophet and His worshipper, and upon his family and his Companions after him, and may He grant them peace most abundantly. And Allah is the one who suffices us, and He is the best Disposer of Affairs.

[boriqee]

'Ilm ur-Riwayah: Jarh Mufassar and Ta'deel
By Ahmad Shaakir from al-Baa’ith al-Hatheeth

P. 96 of al-Baa'ith al-Hatheeth
Note: al-Baa'ith al-Hatheeth is the name of the comments of Ahmad Shaakir on Ikhtisaar 'Uloom al-Hadeeth which is a summary by ibn Katheer on the book 'Uloom al-Hadeeth of Abu 'Amr ibn as-Salaah.

Al-Haafidh ibn Katheer says:
Ta'deel is accepted if the reason is mentioned (or not mentioned) because listing all the reasons would be lengthy, so it is accepted in general form in contrast to jarh, because it is not accepted except if it is explained. This is because people differ over the reasons for one being sinful. So one Jaarih sees something as a cause for someone being sinful therefore he makes him weak because of that, however it may not really the case in reality or it may not be the case in the opinion of someone else. So it has been made a condition that the reason for jarh be explained.

Shaykh Abu ‘Amr (ibn as-Salaah) said:

"Most of what is found in the books of Jarh and Ta'deel is: “So and so is weak,” or “ matrook ,” or similar to that. So if that did not suffice us, then a huge door would be closed in this matter."

So the response to him is the fact that: even if we don't suffice with it we do hesitate about his situation, because of some doubt about him that it causes.

I ( ibn Katheer) say: As for the words of those imams who are firmly established in this science then it is fitting that it be accepted without mention of the reason, and that is because of our knowing their knowledge, their ability, and their excellence in this science, and because of their possessing the attributes of justice, piety, understanding, and sincerity not to mention if they give a ruling that a man is weak, or matrook , or a liar, or similar to that. So the muhaddith who is well grounded does not hesitate a bit in agreeing with them because of their truthfulness and their trustworthiness and their sincerity. So for this reason ash-Shaafi'i says in much of his discussion about hadeeths :

“The people of the science of hadeeth do not place him in a position of strength"

and he will reject him, and not use him for proof, simply because of that. And Allaah Knows best.

__________________________
Footnote by Shaykh Ahmad Shaakir:
( They differed over Jarh and Ta'deel: should they both be accepted in unexplained form without mention of their cause? So some of them made it a condition for acceptance that the cause be mentioned in both of them, and some of them made it a condition that the cause for ta'deel be mentioned to the exception of jarh . And some of them accepted the ta'deel without mention of its cause. And they made it a condtion for jarh that the cause be explained in detail. And that is what ibn as-Salaah and an-Nawawi and others viewed, and it is well-accepted amongst many of the people of knowledge.
And ibn as-Salaah responded to that by using the books of Jarh and Ta'deel as an example because they usually do not mention the cause for the jarh . He argued that making such a condition would close the doors of jarh . However, he was answered with the fact that the benefit of such jarh is that one hesitates regarding the one they made jarh of. So if we research his affair and the doubt is removed, and he is deemed trustworthy, then we accept his hadeeths .
And some of them viewed that it is not necessary to mention the cause for jarh or ta'deel , because the one who made the jarh or ta'deel is well-informed of the causes for jarh and ta'deel – and the differences regarding that – and has insight and is pleasing in his understanding and in his actions. As-Suyooti said in at-Tadreeb (p.122):

“It is the view of al-Qaadhi Abu Bakr, and the majority quoted it and Imaam al-Haramayn, al-Ghazaali, ar-Raazi, and al-Khateeb held it as their opinion, and al-Haafidh Abu al-Fadhl al-'Iraaqi and al-Balqeeni affirmed it in Mahaasin al-Islaah. And Shaykh al-Islaam-meaning ibn Hajr-held a pleasing opinion:

'So if the jarh is unexplained and someone from the imaams of this science have given him tawtheeq then the jarh is not accepted from anyone no matter who he is, unless it is explained, because he has been affirmed as holding the level of thiqah , so he is not removed from that except by a clear matter, because the imaams of this science do not give tawtheeq except to someone whose affair they examine, firstly in regards to his religion, and then in regards to his hadeeths. And they judge him accordingly, and they are the most insightful of people. Therefore the ruling of one of them is not rejected except by a clear matter. But if he has no ta'deel then the jarh is accepted even if it should be unexplained, if it has come from one who is well-informed, because if he is not given any ta'deel then he is amongst those who are majhool, and acting upon the statement of the one giving jarh is better than disregarding it.'

And adh-Dhahabi said about criticism of narrators-and he is from those who had read and researched extensively-

'No two people from the scholars of this science agreed upon giving tawtheeq to a weak person, nor upon making tadh'eef of a thiqah.'

And this is why the madh-hab of an-Nasaa'i was such that he would not leave narrating the hadeeth of a man until they all agreed upon leaving him.”

And the opinion which ibn Hajr chose is that which the researcher into ta'leel and jarh and ta'deel feels comfortable with, after refering to the sciences of hadeeth and its books.)
_______________________
P. 98

Ibn Katheer says:
As for if the jarh and ta'deel are contradictory, then the jarh must be explained: but is it given precedence? Or do we give precedence to what is most prevelant or what is most confirmed? There is a well-known debate regarding this from the issues of Usool al-Fiqh and its branches and the science of hadeeth. And Allaah Knows Best.
_______________________
Footnote by Ahmad Shaakir:
(If jarh , in which the cause is clear, and ta'deel are both present regarding a narrator, then the jarh is given precedence, even if those who gave ta'deel are many because the one giving jarh has extra knowledge which those who gave ta'deel did not have, because he is agreeing with the one who gave ta'deel in that which he informed of regarding his apparent situation, but he is informing of a matter which is not apparent and is hidden. And the Fuqahaa' restricted this to scenarios where the one giving ta'deel does not say: I know the cause mentioned by the one giving jarh , but he repented and his situation got better, or if the one giving jarh mentioned a specific reason for the jarh , and the one giving ta'deel rejected it with something that absolutely proves the falsehood of such a reason. As as-Suyooti said in at-Tadreeb .)
P. 184 of Irshaad al-Fuhool of ash-Shawkaani:

“The third issue: the conflict between jarh and ta'deel and combining between them
There are numerous opinions about it:
1. The first: that the jarh takes precedence over the ta'deel, even if those making ta'deel are more than those making jarh, and most of the people held this opinion as al-Khateeb quoted, and al-Baaji, and al-Qaadhi quoted consensus about it. Ar-Raazi and al-Aamudi and ibn as-Salaah said:

'It is correct, because the one making jarh has more knowledge that the one making ta'deel didn't have.'

Ibn Daqeeq al-'Id said:

'This is only correct from the perspective of those who say that jarh is not accepted unless it is explained, and the companions of ash-Shaafi'i have excluded from this the situation in which he is made jarh of for a sin, and another has witness that he repented from it, because in this case the ta'deel is given precedence because he (the one giving ta'deel) has more knowledge.'

2. The second opinion: that the ta'deel takes precedence over jarh because the one making jarh could make jarh for something that is not really jarh, and the one making ta'deel, if he is ‘ adl, will not make ta'deel except after knowing that which caused him to have jarh made of him. This was stated by at-Tahaawi from Abu Hanifah and Abu Yusuf, and this must be restricted to when the jarh is unexplained, because if the jarh is explained then the problem that one making jarh is possibly making jarh due to something that isn't really jarh, is not present.
3. The third: that the majority is accepted whether from those making jarh or those making ta'deel. In al-Mahsool, he said:

'If the number of those making ta'deel increases then it is said that it takes precedence over those making jarh,'

and that is weak because the reason for giving jarh precedence is the fact that the one making jarh has some extra knowledge, and that is not negated by greater numbers.
4. The fourth: they contradict each other, so neither of them is given precedence over the other except with a deciding factor. This opinion was quoted by ibn al-Haajib. And in at-Taqreeb ”\ al-Qaadhi made the issue pertaining to the case in which the number of those making ta'deel is more, so if they are equal then the jarh takes precedence by consensus, and al-Khateeb said similarly in “al-Kifaayah”, as well as Abu al-Husayn bin al-Qattaan, and Abu al-Waleed al-Baaji, and Abu Nasr al-Qushayri differed with them and said: the issue is regarding when the number of those making ta'deel and those making jarh are equal. He said:

'So if the number of those making ta'deel are more and those making jarh are few then it is said: his having ‘ adaalah in this case is more rightful.'

End of his statements.
And the truth which deserves to be accepted is that this is an issue of ijtihaad for the mujtahid, and we have already mentioned that the best opinion is that there should be some explanation in jarh and ta'deel, so when the one making jarh explains why he made jarh and the one making ta'deel explains why he made ta'deel, then the better of them and the worst of them will not be hidden from the mujtahid. As for the opinion that the jarh and the ta'deel which are not explained are accepted from someone who is well aquainted with jarh, then the jarh takes precedence over the ta'deel because the one making jarh can not be attributing this jarh to what is obvious from his situation, in contrast to the one making ta'deel because he may attribute his ta'deel to what is obvious from his situation. Similarly the hadeeths of those, about whom the unexplained jarh and ta'deel may have some weight, are not accepted.”

Al-Albaani said in ad-Durur (p. 222) after being asked:

“There is a famous principle in the science of jarh and ta'deel and it is that the explained jarh takes precedence over ta'deel, however, with this principle-like the others- if we look at the practice of al-Haafidh in at-Taqreeb we see that he tries to make reconciliation between the ta'deel and the tajreeh even if it is explained as if he says, for instance, about a man: thiqah. However there is someone who said about him: weak in memory. And that is explained jarh. So he may say, for example: sadooq lahu awhaam (“truthful, he has mistakes”). So he combines both statements. Or sometimes he will say: sadooq rubbamaa waham (“truthful, sometimes he makes mistakes”). So is the principle that we see in the books of Mustalah “the explained jarh takes precendence over ta'deel” to be taken absolutely or do we not use this principle in some cases, and the researcher must combine between the jarh and the ta'deel, even if it is explained jarh?”

So he said:

“It is like this, May Allaah bless you. It is the last one you said at the closing of your words. And it is what the practice of al-Haafidh seems to center around in his book at-Taqreeb, even though sometimes the correct opinion eludes him. But the principle is that we combine between the words of the one giving ta'deel, this is of course if he is trustworthy in his tawtheeq (grading people as trustworthy), and between the words of tadh'eef, if both of these statements can be reconciled into tawtheeq. Because it isn't hidden from you that if the jarh is, for example, that he is accused of lying, then there is no room for tawtheeq in this case. However, so long as the statement which we see to be jarh, moreover we see it to be explained jarh, moreover we see it to be jarh that is acceptable, then in that case alone do we try, and so does al-Haafidh ibn Hajr try, and we are with him, to combine between the words of the one giving tawtheeq, or those giving tawtheeq, and the words of the one making tadh'eef, or those making tadh'eef, as much as we can."

Then he was asked:

“So is this which you have said to be considered as guidelines?”

He said:

“Yes but it is not set in stone like what we say about much that is similar to these guidelines.”

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[boriqee]

The Knowledge of Narrators and Its Importance
(A lecture delivered by the Shaykh, the 'Allaamah, 'Abdur Rahmaan bin Yahyah al-Mu'allimi.)[/

In the Name of Allaah the Most Beneficient the Most Merciful,

All praise is due to Allaah and may He send peace upon His chosen slaves.

It has been established in the minds, and there is no need to bring proofs for the fact, that knowledge is noble and virtuous, and it is the way towards man rising up-in the same sense that he rose in physique-above the beasts.


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The Nobility of Knowledge:

And from that which there is no debate about, is the fact that the sciences differ in levels of this nobility. Some of them are noble and others are the most noble, and there are those that are important and those that are the most important.

Furthermore, no matter how much one imagines the sciences of philosophy, and nature, and math, and literature, and manufacturing, and other than that from the sciences of the worldly things-no matter how much they are imagined to possess nobility and virtue and a lofty rank- then they do not meet up to this knowledge- which, although it has similarities with the others in raising the intellect and brightening the minds- it is singled out from the rest in correcting the manners, and obtaining eternal happiness; and it is the knowledge of the religion.

No matter how much man excels in manufacturing and the knowledge of the worldly matters, and in making forms of comfort easier, then even if that raises him above the animals from one perspective, then it lowers him beneath them from another perspective- so long as it does not purify his manners, and as long as he does not exhibit kindness, mercy, love, pardoning, humility, truthfulness, trustworthiness, uprightness, goodness, and other than that from noble character.


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Knowledge and Character

Whoever has looked at the nations and the individuals of this time, knows that it should rightfully be called the era of knowledge, however he will see that, despite this, it also deserves to be called- in looking at the diminishment of character- another name.

The earth-bound souls are dirt. Furthermore, from this dirt’s attributes, is the fact that dispraised behavior grows from it if it is not watered with the pure water of belief, and if the sun of authentic religious knowledge does not shine upon it, and if the winds of wise remembrance do not blow over it.
So whatever land is free of that water, and is shielded from the rays of that sun, and those winds are cut off from it, then its plants are as the angels (AS) said:
“Shall you place in it those who will cause corruption in it and spill blood?” (Baqarah: 30)


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The Sources of Islaam

The religion- and it is Islaam- has two great sources: the Book of Allaah 'Azza wa Jall, and the Sunnah of Allaah's Messenger (S).


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Defining the Sunnah:

The Sunnah is an expression for what is authentically confirmed from the Prophet (S) from statements, actions, and other than that from that which: clarifies the Quraan, and explains the legislations, and teaches conduct, and other than that from the good of this life and the hereafter.


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The Companions and the Sunnah:

The first to receive the Sunnah were the noble Companions. They memorized it and understood it, and they learned its generalities and its specifics, and they passed it down-as they have been ordered- to those after them.

Then it was received by the Taabi’een, and they passed it down to those after them and so on. So the Companions would say I heard Allaah's Messenger (S) say such and such, and the Taabi’i would say I heard so and so, the companion, say: I heard the Prophet (S) say. And the one after him would say: I heard so and so say I heard so and so, the companion, say: I heard the Prophet (S) say, and so on.


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The Need for Guarding the Sunnah:

Whoever knows that Muhammad (S) is the seal of the Prophets, and that his legislation is the last of the legislations, and eternal life lies in following it, then he knows that mankind is more in need of guarding the Sunnah then they need food and drink.


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The Obligation of Knowing the Affairs of Narrators:

Narration has been performed by narrators, who’s narrations must be accepted, as well as narrators, who’s narrations must be rejected and those who’s must be hesitated about. So how is it possible to know “what is the truth”-which was delivered by the seal of the prophets on behalf of his Lord ‘Azza wa Jall? And how is it possible to know “what is the falsehood”-which Allaah and His Messenger are free of? The only way is by knowing the affairs of the narrators.

And History is similar. Rather knowing the affairs of its narrators is more necessary, because of the extreme lack of concern in quoting it. Moreover, the knowledge of the affairs of the narrators is from the most important branches of history. So, if it is necessary to know the affairs of the narrators, then it is necessary to explain it. And that is to be accomplished by everyone who knows the affair of a narrator. He should inform of his affair so that the people will know of him. And the Ummah has fulfilled that obligation as was expected of them.


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The First to Speak About the Affairs of the Narrators:

The first to speak about the affairs of the narrators was the Quraan, then the Prophet (S), then the Companions. And the verses about the praise of the Companions, in a general sense, are many just as the verses for the censure of the hypocrites, in a general sense, are many. And there have come verses praising individuals from the Companions-as is known to those who write the books of virtues- just as there are verses clarifying the hypocrisy of some individuals and verses that censure others. And the most famous of those is the statement of Allaah (T):
“If a sinful person comes to you with news then seek clarification,” (al-Hujuraat: 6).
It was revealed about a specific man, as is discussed in its proper place, and despite this it is a general principle.


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The Hadeeths of Virtues:

Many hadeeths praising the Companions in general have been authentically confirmed from the Prophet (S), as have those that praise individuals from them, as is known from the books of virtues. And there are other reports censuring some groups in general like the Khawaarij, as well as those that specify hypocrites and censure individuals, like Uyaynah bin Hisn, and al-Hakm bin Abu al-Aas. Furthermore, many reports have been authentically confirmed from the Companions about the praise of some of the Taabi’een, just as they are reports that censure individuals from them.


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The Taabi’een and al-Jarh wat Ta'deel (i.e. Censure and Praise)

As for the Taabi’een, then their statements of ta’deel (praise) are many, and there are no statements of jarh (censure) narrated from them, except for very little. And that is because of their being so close to the shining lamp- may the choicest of salaah and peace be bestowed upon him and his family. Therefore, none of the Muslims would approach lying about Allaah and His Messenger. Furthermore, the majority of those who are weakened from the Taabi’een were only weakened due to a madh-hab like the Khawaarij or due to their weak memory or their not being known.

Then there came the era of the Atbaa’ at-Taabi’een, and those after them. So the weak people were many, as were those who were careless, and the liars and the heretics. Therefore, the Imams began clarifying the affairs of the narrators and rejecting that which is not authentic. So there was no land from the lands of the Muslims except there was a group of the Imams testing the narrators, and researching the affair of their narrations, and following after their actions and their places of residence, and they would announce to the people their judgments about them.


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The Books of Narrators:

This continued until the tenth generation, such that you will not find a book of hadeeth that contains the name of a narrator except that you will find in the books of narrators the explanation of his situation. And this is the fulfillment of the Godly oath.
It was said to ibn al-Mubaarak: ‘Are these hadeeths made up??’ He said: ‘The well-grounded scholars live for them.’ And he recited Allaahs (Subhaanuhu wa Taaala) statement:
“Indeed We have revealed the Remembrance and We shall protect it."


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Traveling to Verify Knowledge

The struggling of the Imams is a sign (i.e. miracle) from the many signs. From the examples of this is that al-Iraaqi said in Sharh Muqadimah ibn Salaah: It is reported from Muammil that he said: 'A shaykh narrated to me this hadeeth-meaning the hadeeth of the virtues of the Qur'aan chapter by chapter- so I said to the shaykh: 'Who narrated this to you?' He said: 'A man narrated it to me in Madaain and he is alive.' So I traveled to him and I said: 'Who narrated this to you?' He said: 'A shaykh in Waasit narrated it to me and he is alive.' So I traveled to him. He said: 'A shaykh narrated it to me in Basrah'. So I went to him and he said: 'A shaykh narrated it to me in Baghdaad.' So I went to him, and he took me by the hand and took me into a house. In it was a group of Sufis and with them was a shaykh. So he said: 'This shaykh narrated it to me.' I said: 'Oh shaykh who narrated this to you?' He said: 'No one narrated it to me but I saw the people had abandoned the Qur'aan, so I made this hadeeth for them so that their hearts would turn to the Quraan.'' And it is possible this man traveled for three months to verify the narration of this one hadeeth.


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The Different Means of Testing the Narrators:

The imams have different means of testing the narrators. From them is looking into the situation of the narrator in his guarding over his acts of obedience and staying away from sins, and by asking the people who know about him.

Al-Hasan bin Saalih bin Yahyah said: If we wanted to write from a narrator we would ask about him until it was said: 'Do you want to marry him to someone??'

And from them is that the narrator would narrate hadeeths from a shaykh that is alive, so then they would ask the shaykh about those hadeeths. An example is the statement of Shu'bah: Al-Hasan bin Umaarah said that al-Hakm narrated to us, from Yahyah bin al-Jazzaar from 'Ali, seven hadeeths. So I asked al-Hakm about them and he said: 'I have not heard anything of them.'

And from them is that a narrator would narrate from a shaykh that is dead, so it would be said to the narrator: 'When were you born?' 'And when did you meet the shaykh?' 'And where did you meet him?' Then whatever he said would be compared with what is known about the death of the shaykh he narrated from and his place of residence and his history of traveling. An example of this is what has been narrated from 'Ufayr bin Madaan that 'Umar bin Musaa bin Wajeeh narrated from Khaalid bin Ma'daan. 'Ufayr said: I said to him: 'What year did you meet him?' He said: 'The year one-hundred and fifty-eight during the battles of Armeeniyah.' I said: 'Fear Allaah Oh shaykh, do not lie. Khaalid died in the year one-hundred and fifty-four, and Ill add to that that he did not participate in the battles of Armeeniyah.'

And from them is that they would hear some hadeeths from a narrator which he narrated from different shaykhs which have died. So then they would compare those hadeeths to what the thiqaat (trustworthy narrators) narrated from those shaykhs. Then they would look and see if this narrator was alone in narrating something, or if he opposed others, or if he added or deleted. So they would then say, in making jarh: 'He is singled out in narrating from the thiqaat that which he is not followed up in,' and 'His hadeeths contain oddities,' and 'He makes mistakes and opposes others,' and similar to that.


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The Memory of the People of Hadeeth

And from these methods is that they would hear many hadeeths from a narrator, so they would memorize them or write them, then ask about them after a period of time. Sometimes they would repeat the question many times to see if anything changed or if anything was switched or deleted.

One of the leaders called Abu Hurayrah and asked him to narrate- and the leader had hidden a scribe in a place where Abu Hurayrah could not see him. So Abu Hurayrah began to narrate and the scribe wrote. Then after a year the leader called Abu Hurayrah, and he had a man look at the scroll, and he asked Abu Hurayrah about those hadeeths. So he began to narrate while the man looked at the scroll, and he did not add, or delete, or move anything.

And one of the khaleefahs asked ibn Shihaab az-Zuhri to narrate to one of his sons, and he called for a scribe. So he narrated to him four-hundred hadeeths. Then the khaleefah said to az-Zuhri after some time: 'That scroll has been lost.' So he called for a scribe and he narrated to him. Then he compared the second scroll with the first, and nothing was different.

Many times they would take so much caution that it was said to Shu'bah: 'Why did you leave the hadeeths of so and so?' He said: 'I saw him riding a mule.' Jareer said: 'I saw Simaak bin Harb urinate while standing so I did not write from him.' It was said to al-Hakm bin Utaybah: 'Why dont you narrate from Zaadhaan?' He said: 'He spoke a lot.'


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Mixing With the Leaders

Furthermore, they would censure those who mixed with the leaders, or took their gifts, or magnified them. Rather, sometimes they would go very far with that as occurred with Muhammad bin Bishr az-Zanbari al-Misri, despite his great knowledge. He would narrate hadeeths to the people of his land and one day the king left for battle, so az-Zanbari began to cheer him on. So when he left, and then sat, on Jumu'ah, in his usual place, the people of hadeeth went to him and removed him from his spot, and they censured him and were harsh with him, and they tore up his narrations. Then ibn Yunus mentioned him in Taareekh Misr and said: 'He did not resemble the people of knowledge.'

They would only allow this behavior from those who had reached a noble status such that it was known that he only mixes with the leaders that he may order them with good and forbid them from evil, and to keep them from falsehood as much as possible, like az-Zuhri and Rajaa' bin Hayaah. And ash-Shaafii narrated that Sulaymaan bin Yasaar entered upon Hishaam bin 'Abdul Malik so he said to him: 'Oh Sulaymaan, who is the one who took upon himself the greater portion?' Meaning in Allaahs (Ta'aala) statement:
"And he who took upon himself the greater portion from them, then he shall have a great punishment." (an-Noor: 11)
He said: ''Abdullaah bin Ubay.' He said: 'You have lied. He is so and so.' He said: 'The Ameer al-Mu'mineen knows best what he says.' Then az-Zuhri entered and he said: 'Oh ibn Shihaab who is the one who took upon himself the greater portion?' He said: 'Ibn Ubay.' He said: 'You have lied, he is so and so.' So az-Zuhri said to Hishaam: 'I am lying? You have no father! By Allaah if a caller from the heavens said: Allaah has made lying permissible, I still would not lie. 'Urwah narrated to me from Sa'id and 'Ubayd Allaah and 'Alqamah from Aaishah that the one who took upon himself the greater portion is 'Abdullaah bin Ubay.' And he mentioned the entire story. And there is found therein Hishaam's humility before az-Zuhri and his seeking after his pleasure.

And another story has come about az-Zuhri which is similar to this one regarding al-Waleed bin 'Abdul Malik. In it al-Waleed said to him: 'Oh Abu Bakr! Who is it thattook upon himself the greater portion was not it so and so?' az-Zuhri said: 'No!' So al-Waleed banged his fists on the pillow and said: 'So then who? So then who?' Until he repeated that many times. Az-Zuhri said: 'It is 'Abdullaah bin Ubay.' Furthermore, in the response of Sulaymaan to Hishaam is a delicate point, in that he did not say: 'The Ameer al-Mumineen knows best,' and then remain quiet. Rather he said: 'He knows best what he says.' Which means: he knows best what he himself says, not that he knows the reality of the situation. However the scenario was not one that called for such a response, and it is for this reason that Allaah (Ta'aala) raised up az-Zuhri and granted him the ability to said what he said. And his statement to Hishaam-and he was the king- 'You have no father,' was a huge offense.


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The Piety of the People of Hadeeth

Furthermore, they had a significant deal of piety and lack of decietfulness, such that Zayd ibn Abu Aneesah said: 'My brother Yahyah lies.'

And Jareer bin 'Abdul Hameed was asked about his brother Anas so he said: 'He heard from Hishaam bin 'Urwah, but he would lie in his conversations with people so nothing should be written from him.'

And 'Ali ibn al-Madeeni narrated from his father then he said: 'And the hadeeths of the shaykh contain what they contain.' Abu Dawood said: 'My son 'Abdullaah is a liar.'

And Imaam Abu Bakr as-Sibghi would forbid from listening to his brother Muhammad bin Ishaaq.


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The Scholars of the Salaf Protecting the Biographies of the Narrators

It was considered that a man was not to be called an 'Aalim until he knew the situations of the narrators of hadeeth. In Tadreeb ar-Raawi ar-Rafaa'i, and others, said: 'When the scholars are spoken of then those who heard the hadeeth without having knowledge of their routes and the names of the narrators do not enter in to that.' And az-Zurkashi said: 'As for the Fuqahaa then the word Muhaddith is not used with them except for the person who has memorized the texts of the hadeeths, and knows the trustworthiness of their narrators and how they have been censured.' At-Taaj as-Subki said: 'The Muhaddith is only the one who knows the asaaneed and the 'ilal and the names of the narrators.' And al-Mizzi mentioned that he was asked about the one deserving of the word al-Haafidh so he said: 'At the very least, the narrators that he knows, along with their biographies and situations and lands of residence, are more than those he doesn't know; such that the ruling is placed based on what is more.'

So the 'Aalim knew the situations of those he met, either by testing their situation himself, or by the thiqaat informing him, and he knew the situations of those who preceded him by the information of the thiqaat, or by the thiqaat informing from the thiqaat and so on. And he would memorize all of that as he memorizes the hadeeths with their asaaneed. It was to such an extent that one of them would memorize thousands, and some of them would memorize tens of thousands, and some of them would memorize hundreds of thousands of hadeeths with their asaaneed. Similarly they would memorize the biographies of the narrators with their asaaneed. So one of them would say so and so narrated to me that he heard so and so say: so and so said: 'Do not write from so and so, because he is a liar,' and so on.

:w:

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

:sl:

May Allah swt bless you for this great resource, br. Al-Izaaree.

Maybe you might want to clarify the definitions of some of the terms used in hadith classification eg. maudu, marfu, hasan, daeef, etc.

JazakAllah khair.

btw, I formatted your post, to make it more reader friendly.
:w:

[boriqee]

jazakallahu khair akhee

I would have to use the brother Suhaib hasan as he has the best article on the mustalaah of hadeeth

asalamu alaikum

[boriqee]

الشيخ صهيب حسن عبد الغفار
An Introduction to the Science of Hadeeth
Shaykh Suhaib Hasan Abdul-Ghaffaar

Lecture No. 1 - Introduction

General overview of the Sciences of Hadeeth.
1) al-Mutoon (Matn) – The Texts of Ahaadeeth
2) ash-Shurooh (Sharh)– Explanations of the Ahaadeeth
3) al-Mustalah – Technical Classifications of the Hadeeth
4) at-Takh-reej/ar-Rijaal – Extraction and Identification of the Sources of Hadeeth;

Identification and Critical Classification of the Narrators of Hadeeth (Rijaal).

Preliminary Definitions:

Ilm al-Mustalah
The knowledge of the principles and rules by which the condition/state of the Isnaad (chain of narrators) and the Matn (Text) may be known, in reference to its acceptance or rejection.

Its Subject Matter
The Sanad (chain of narrators) and the Matn (Text) as regards its acceptance or rejection.

Its Benefit
The distinction between the hadeeth which are authentic and those which are weak.

Al-Hadeeth
(1) Linguistically: Something new
(2) Technically: That which is attributed to the Prophet – from his words, actions or approvals.

Al-Khabar
(1) Linguistically: News/Information
(2) Technically:
(a) It is the same as al-Hadeeth
(b) Something reported from other than the Prophet
(c) Including that which is reported from the Prophet or others

Al-Athar
(1) Linguistically: Remains/Remnants of something
(2) Technically:
(a) It is the same as al-Hadeeth
(b) The sayings and actions reported from the Sahaabah and Taabi’een.

Al-Isnaad
(a) Attributing or ascribing the Hadeeth to the one who said it – by way of a chain or narrators
(b) The actual chain of narrators which extends back to the text; and this meaning is the same as Sanad.




As-Sanad
(1) Linguistically: The Support/Prop (upon which something rests)
(2) Technically: The actual chain of narrators which extends back to the text.

Al-Matn
(1) Linguistically: Something solid, which is raised up from the earth.
(2) Technically: The actual speech/words which the chain of narrators ends with.

Al-Musnad
(1) Linguistically: That which has been attributed to someone.
(2) Technically:
(a) Every book whose narrations are separately arranged according to the Sahaabee who reported it.
(b) That hadeeth which is traced back to the Prophet (marfoo’) with an unbroken chain (muttasil)
(c) It may also refer to the Sanad (chain).

Al-Musnid
The one who narrates the hadeeth with its chain of narrators.

Al-Muhaddith
One who is engaged with the science of hadeeth – Riwaayatan (classification of the hadeeth and the narrators) and Diraayatan (the texts of the hadeeth and its explanations) – having knowledge of a great many texts of hadeeth and narrators.

Al-Haafidh
(a) The same as al-Muhaddith
(b) One who is of a higher standard – such that what he knows at every level of narrators is more than what he does not know.

Al-Haakim
He who has knowledge comprehending almost all of the ahaadeeth, whereas only a few might escape him.

Lecture No. 2

1. Mustalah is one of the branches of Uloom al-Hadeeth. The others are:
Al-Mutoon (Texts), ash-Shurooh (Explanations), at-Takh-reej (Identification of the Sources for a particular hadeeth), ar-Rijaal (Identification and grading of the narrators in a chain; Biographies).

2. Outline of what we will cover in Mustalah
-Relating to the number of narrators/reporters at each level of the chain
a. Al-Khabar al-Mutawaatir (consecutive)
b. Al-Khabar al-Aahaad (single, isolated): al-Mash-hoor (famous), al-Azeez (rare, strong), al-Ghareeb (scarce, strange)

-Relating to the Acceptance or Rejection of a particular hadeeth
a. al-Khabar al-Maqbool (acceptable reports): as-Saheeh (sound, authentic), al-Hasan (good); Saheeh Li-Ghairi-hi (due to the support of other narrations), Hasan Li-Ghairi-hi (due to the support of other narrations)
b. al-Khabar al-Mar-dood (rejected reports): ad-Da’eef (weak)…
c. Reasons why a hadeeth may be rejected: ---A Break in the chain of narrators: al-Mu’allaq (hanging, suspended), al-Mursal (hurried), al-Munqati’ (broken, cut off), al-Mu’dal (weakened)
Critical remarks concerning the narrators [Dabt (accuracy) or ‘Adaalah(character)]: al-Mawdoo’ (fabricated, forged), al-Matrook (abandoned), …
Al-Jahaalah bi-l-Raawee (A narrator whose credibility is not confirmed)

–Relating to the Source or Authority from whom the Hadeeth is related
al-Hadeeth al-Qudsee (reported from Allah), al-Marfoo’ (elevated, raised up), al-Mawqoof (stopped, suspended), al-Maq-too’ (severed, cut off)

-Other Categories of Hadeeth which may be Acceptable or Rejected
al-Musnad (supported); al-Muttasil (continuous)


Lecture No. 3
Authors Introduction

Is the authentic Sunnah considered as Revelation?
The Sunnah (including the sayings, actions and approvals of the Prophet) is the second of the two revealed Fundamental Sources of Islam (along with the Qur'an).

What are the primary parts of a Hadeeth?
Every Hadeeth has two parts: Matn (text, or words which are reported) Isnaad (chain of narrators/reporters through whom the text is transmitted).

Why is the Isnaad Important?
"The Isnaad is part of the Deen; had it not been for the Isnaad, whoever wished to would have said whatever he liked." [Abdullah ibn al-Mubaarak (d. 181AH)]

Why is there a need for Verification of the Isnaad?
(a) Due to omission of a reporter (link) in the chain (for one reason or another)
(b) Due to deliberate fabrication of Ahaadeeth by various sects which appeared amongst the Muslims, in order to support their deviations.

Acceptance or Rejection of a Hadeeth based upon its Narrators:
"They would not ask about the Isnaad. But, when the fitnah (trouble, turmoil...) happened, they said: Name to us your men. So, the narrations of the Ahlus-Sunnah would be accepted, while those of the Ahlu-l-Bid'ah would not be accepted. [Muhammad Ibn Seereen (d. 110AH)]

Brief History of Mustalah al-Hadeeth
The First Stage (Oral Transmission)
As time passed, more reporters were involved in each Isnaad, and hence the need for a more systematic approach to the acceptance or rejection of Hadeeth. This system or science related to the rules and principles of classification of Hadeeth is what is known as Mustalah al-Hadeeth. In the initial stage this information was transmitted by the scholars orally.

The Second Stage (Scattered Writtings)
Later these rules and principles were written down (systematically), but in scattered writings - along with other sciences such as al-Fiqh, Usool al-Fiqh, Hadeeth... - in such books as ar-Risaalah and al-Umm [Imaam ash-Shaafi'ee (d.204AH)], the Introduction to Saheeh Muslim [Imaam Muslim ibn al-Hajjaaj (d.261AH)], and al-Jaami' [Imaam at-Tirmidhee (279AH)]


The Third Stage (Independent/Specialized Works)
As time went on and the various sciences developed - in the 4th Century of the Hijrah - the scholars began to author books for each science independently. One of the first to author a comprehensive book on the subject of al-Mustalah was Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Abdur-Rahmaan ar-Raama-hur-muzee (d.360AH), with his book al-Muhaddith al-Faasil baina ar-Raawee wa-l-Waa'ee.

Many important books were written during this stage, including the books of al-Haakim an-Naisaabooree (d.405H), al-Khateeb al-Baghdaadee (d.463H), al-Qaadee 'Iyaadh (d.544H), etc. Then, in the 7th Century of the Hijrah, a book was written which came to be the standard reference for thousands of scholars and students of Hadeeth until today: Uloom al-Hadeeth (which is known today as Muqaddimah Ibn Salaah) by Abu 'Amr 'Uthmaan ibn Abdur-Rahmaan ash-Shah-razooree [known as Ibn Salaah (d.643H)]

Many notable works were produced later - based upon the Muqaddimah of Ibn Salaah
Including: Taqreeb an-Nawaawee [an-Nawawee (d.676H)]; Tadreeb ar-Raawee [as-Suyootee (d.911H)]; Ikhtisaar Uloom al-Hadeeth [Ibn Katheer (d.774)]; at-Taqyeed wa-l-Eedaah [al-'Iraaqee (d.806H)]; an-Nukat ala Kitaab Ibn Salaah [Ibn Hajar al-Asqalaanee (d.852H)];

Mustalah al-Hadeeth
The various book of al-Mustalah primarily deal with the classification of Hadeeth based upon various considerations, including:
Reference to a Particular Authority: [Marfoo' - Mawqoof -Maqtoo']
Reference to the Links in the Isnaad: [Muttasil, Munqati', Mu'allaq...]
Reference to the number of reporters in every stage: [Mutawaatir, Aahaad]
Reference to the manner in which the Hadeeth is reported: ['An, Haddathanaa..]
Reference to the Nature of the Text or Chain: [Ziyaadah ath-Thiqah, Shaadh, Mudraj]
Reference to the Hidden Defects in the Text or Chain: [Mu'allal: Maqloob, Mudtarib]
Reference to the Reliability and Memory of the Reporters: [Saheeh, Hasan, Da'eef...]


Lecture No. 4

Rijaal al-Hadeeth
'Ilm ar-Rijaal deals with examination, inspection and scrutinizing the Biographies of the reporters/narrators of Hadeeth for authenticating/favorable remarks (Ta'deel), or disparaging/unfavorable remarks (Jarh) about the character ('Adaalah) of the narrators and their accuracy (Dabt) in reporting - in order to determine the reliability and acceptability of what they have reported from the Prophet.

Examples of such remarks, in descending order of authentication, are:
Imaam (leader), Haafiz (preserver) (Saheeh - Authentic)
Thabt - Thiqah (reliable, trustworthy) (Saheeh - Authentic)
Yukh-tee (makes mistakes) (Da'eef or Hasan Li-Ghairi-hi -...)
Da'eef (weak) (Da'eef - Weak)
Matrook (abandoned by the scholars of Hadeeth) (Da'eef Jiddan - Very Weak)
Khadh-dhaab (liar, used to fabricate ahaadeeth) (Mawdoo' - Fabricated)

Note: In the case of conflicting remarks – from the same scholar or from two or more different scholars – all remarks have to be reviewed carefully with consideration of: the reason given for the unfavorable remark; the seriousness of the particular criticism; the authenticity of the chain by which the critical remarks are transmitted; the eras of the critics whose remarks conflict; differences in the usage of the various technical terms by different scholars; the strictness or leniency of the scholar or scholars whose comments are under consideration…etc.

The scholars have been classified into three general categories here: Muta’annit, Muta-thabbit (extremely critical, strict) Mu’tadil, Munsif (balanced, fair) Mutasaahil (lenient, easy going).

Classification of Hadeeth With Reference to a Particular Authority
Marfoo’
Linguistically: Raised up, Elevated
Technically: That which has been ascribed or attributed to the Prophet

Mawqoof
Linguistically: Stopped, suspended
Technically: That which has been ascribed or attributed to the Sahaabah; it may also be used to refer to those after the Sahaabah, if restricted by such saying as: Mawqoof az-Zuhree (a saying of Ibn Shihaab az-Zuhree).

Some types of narrations appear to be mawqoof, while, in fact, they take the ruling of marfoo’ [raised up to the Prophet].

Maqtoo’
Linguistically: Severed, cut off
Technically: That which has been ascribed or attributed to the Taabi’een or those who came after them.

Lecture No. 5

Classification of Hadeeth With Reference to the Links in the Isnaad
[In consideration of whether the chain is broken (munqati’) or unbroken (muttasil)]

Musnad
Linguistically: That which has been attributed to someone.
Technically:
(a) That hadeeth which is traced back to the Prophet (marfoo’) with an unbroken chain (muttasil).
(b) Every book whose narrations are separately arranged according to the Sahaabee who reported it.
It’s Ruling (Hukm): It could be Saheeh, and it could be Da’eef.

Munqati’
Linguistically: Cut off, detached, non continuous
Technically: The (hadeeth) whose Isnaad is not connected (non-continuous), without consideration of how or where the break(s) occurs. This definition includes all types of broken chains. However, many of the scholars use it to refer specifically to broken chains other than: Mursal (a break at the end), Mu’allaq (a break at the beginning) or Mu’dal (two consecutive missing links) [full definitions follow].

It’s Ruling (Hukm): It is Da’eef (weak).

Mursal
Linguistically: Set free, hurried
Technically: The (hadeeth) whose narrator(s) is missing – at the end of the Isnaad, after the Taabi’ee; for example, a Taabi’ee says: ‘Qaala Rasoolu-llah…’

It’s Ruling (Hukm): There are three (3) opinions:
(a) Da’eef Mardood (weak, rejected). This is the opinion of the majority of scholars or Hadeeth, as well as many of the scholars of Fiqh (Jurisprudence) and Usool (Fundamentals of Jurisprudence) - due ignorance of the status of the missing link who could very well be other than a Sahaabee (companion).
(b) Saheeh Hujjah (authentic, proof), with the condition that the narrator who reports from the Prophet (at the point of the missing link) is Thiqah (reliable), and that he is known not to leave out the person he reports from except that the missing person is Thiqah (reliable) also. The is the opinion of Abu Haneefah, Maalik, and the more well known opinion of Ahmad. They say that it is not possible that a reliable Taabi’ee would attribute something to the Prophet unless they heard it from a reliable source.
(c) Maqbool (acceptable), if supported by other factors [The opinion of ash-Shaafi’ee ..]
Factors Related to the Narrator (Raawee)
-That he is one of the Major Taabi’een (who only narrated from Sahaabah)
-Whenever he identifies the missing link, it is a reliable person (thiqah)
-Whenever the Trusted Memorizers (Huffaadh) of Hadeeth share with him in reporting a hadeeth, they do not contradict what he has reported

Factors Related to the Narration (Marwee)
-It should be reported through a different chain which is connected (musnad)
-It should be reported through a different chain which is broken (mursal)
-It is in agreement with the saying of a Sahaabee (companion)
-Most of the scholars make a fatwa (legal ruling) in accordance with its meaning.

Mursal as-Sahaabee
It is the ahaadeeth reported from the Companions, which they have not heard directly from the Prophet nor witnessed – due to their young age, late acceptance of Islam, or being absent from the Prophet.

It’s Ruling (Hukm): Saheeh Hujjah (authentic, proof), according to the majority of scholars – since a Sahaabee rarely narrates from other than another Sahaabee, and if they narrated from a Taabi’ee they would say so clearly; otherwise, the failure to mention the name of the Sahaabee whom he heard from is not detrimental since all of the Sahaabah are reliable trustworthy reporters.

Mu’allaq
Linguistically: Hanging, suspended
Technically: The (hadeeth) which has one or more consecutive narrators deleted from the beginning of it’s Isnaad (chain) [from the point of the collector, like al-Bukhaaree, etc.].
It’s Ruling (Hukm): Mardood (rejected), since it is missing one of the conditions of Qubool (acceptance), i.e. a connected chain of narrators (ittisaal as-sanad), due to the deletion of one or more narrators, whose condition (or reliability) is unknown.

Mu’dal
Linguistically: Perplexing, weakened, disabled
Technically: The (hadeeth) which has two or more consecutive narrators deleted from it Isnaad (chain of narrators) – at any point of the chain, except the beginning (Mu’allaq) or the end (Mursal).

It’s Ruling Hukm): Da’eef (weak). It is weaker than the Mursal and Munqati’- due to the increase in the number of missing narrators from the Isnaad.
Lecture No. 6

Classification of Hadeeth According to the Number of Reporters at each Stage of the Chain

Mutawaatir
Linguistically: That which is consecutive, or comes in succession.
Technically: That which is reported by such a large number of people that it would be impossible – under normal conditions – to conspire to forge or fabricate it.

Its Conditions (Shuroot):
(a) That it be reported by a very large number of people (which is not agreed upon)
(b) That is large number of reporters is found in every level of the chain
(c) That under normal circumstances, it would be impossible to conspire to forge the report
(d) That its basis be derived from something known by the senses: sight, hearing, feeling…

It’s Ruling (Hukm): al-Ilm ad-Darooree (Yaqeenee) Certain knowledge is derived from it, about which a person is obligated to accept just as if he/she had actually witnessed it. There is no need to seek out the status of the chain of reporters.

Its Divisions (Aqsaam):
(a) al-Mutawaatir al-Lafzee (in the actual wording); the one whose wording and meaning are Mutawaatir,
(b) Al-Mutawaatir al-Ma’nawee (in the meaning only); like the hadeeth of raising the hands in supplication, punishment in the grave, the fountain of the Prophet on the Day of Resurrection, building a masjid for the sake of Allah…

Khabar al-Aahaad
Linguistically: It is the plural of one (ahad)
Technically: That which does not fulfill all the conditions of the Mutawaatir.

Its Ruling (Hukm) al-Ilm an-Nadharee Knowledge which requires investigation [to confirm its authenticity or its indications].

Al-Mash-hoor:
Linguistically: Well-known, famous
Technically: That which is reported by three or more people at every level in the chain, while not fulfilling the conditions for Mutawaatir.

Its Ruling (Hukm): Neither of the two types of Mash-hoor is necessarily described as Saheeh (authentic) or Da’eef (weak); it may be Saheeh, Hasan, Da’eef or even Mawdoo’

al-Azeez
Linguistically: Rare or Strong
Technically: That which is reported by no less than two narrators at every level of the chain [even if it exceeds two at some of the levels in the chain or narrators]. An example of a Hadeeth Azeez: None of you is a believer (perfectly) until I am more beloved to him than his father, his child and all of mankind. [Bukhaaree, Muslim].

Its Ruling (Hukm): It is not necessarily described as Saheeh (authentic) or Da’eef (weak); it may be Saheeh, Hasan, Da’eef or even Mawdoo’





Ghareeb
Linguistically: Single, Alone; or far from one’s relatives
Technically: That which has been reported by a single narrator at one or more levels of the chain or narrators. Another Name or the Ghareeb Hadeeth is al-Fard
Its Ruling (Hukm): It could be Saheeh or Da’eef, though more often than not, it is weak.

Lecture No. 7

Classification of Hadeeth According to the Manner In Which the Hadeeth is Reported

Al-Mudallas
Linguistically: It is derived from at-Tadlees, i.e.: hiding the defect of a product from the
purchaser.
Technically: Hiding the defect in the chain of narrators to improve its appearance.

(a) Tadlees al-Isnaad: It has a number of definitions from the earlier scholars, including:
--The narrator reports from his teacher [whom he has heard some hadeeth from]
other hadeeth which he has not heard directly from his teacher;
but he has actually heard it through a third party –
and he uses an expression (such as Qaala: he said or ‘An:from)
which gives the impression – without actually saying it –
that he has heard it directly from his teacher.

--The narrator reports from a contemporary scholar [whom he may or may not have met]
Hadeeth which he did not hear from him,
Using an expression (such as Qaala: he said or ‘An: from so-and- so)
Giving the impression – without actually saying it –
That he has actually heard it directly from that contemporary scholar.
[Some scholars view this second definition as al-Mursal al-Khafee]

Tadlees at-Tasweeyah: It is a sub-type, of Tadlees al-Isnaad.
It is when a narrator reports a hadeeth from a weak reporter – who is the link in the chain between two reliable reporters, and both of the reliable reporters have met each other [leaving open the possibility of one of them narrating from the other]. Here, the first narrator deletes the weak reporter – who is in between the two reliable ones – and reports the hadeeth as though one of the reliable reporters heard it directly from other, which gives the appearance that the chain of narrators is Saheeh. While in fact, the reliable reporter heard it from a weak reporter, who in turn heard it from a reliable reporter. Therefore, the chain would be considered Da’eef.

(b) Tadlees ash-Shuyookh
This is when a narrator reports a hadeeth which he as actually heard from his teacher, then mentions his teacher with a name, Kunyah, title, description which he is not well known by, in order to hide his true identity.

The Ruling (Hukm) Concerning the Reports from those who practiced at-Tadlees:

First Opinion: All of their narrations are rejected, even if they make it clear that they heard that particular hadeeth from the teacher whom they are reporting from.

Second Opinion: There should be a distinction made between the reports or narrations which the Mudallis makes clear that he has heard it from his teacher [to be accepted]; and those which he uses expressions which do not make it clear [to be rejected]. This is the correct opinion.

Lecture No. 8

Classification of Hadeeth According to the Nature of the Text and Isnaad

Shaadhdh [see also Mah-fooz]
Linguistically: it means infiraad: the odd one in the group
Technically: That which is narrated by a reliable (maq-bool) narrator, in contradiction to what is narrated by those who are more reliable than him.

Its Ruling (Hukm): It is classified as a weak hadeeth – rejected.
Its opposite is Mahfooz (the preserved or correctly memorized narration), that which is narrated by a more reliable narrator in contradiction to a less reliable narrator.

Munkar [see also Ma’roof]
Linguistically: That which is rejected or repudiated, as opposed to that which is accepted.
Technically: It has been defined in a number of ways. The following are two:
(a) The hadeeth whose chain of narrators contains a narrator who makes serious mistakes (Fah-sha al-Ghalat), innumerable instances of unmindfulness (Kath-ratu al-Ghaf-lah), or openly displays evil or immoral behavior (Zuhoor al-Fisq).
(b) The hadeeth which is reported by a weak (da’eef) narrator – in contradiction to that which is reported by a reliable narrator (thiqah).

Its Ruling (Hukm): It is classified as a very weak hadeeth (da’eef jiddan) – rejected.
Its opposite is Ma’roof (the approved or accepted narration), that which is narrated by a reliable (thiqah) narrator in contradiction to what is narrated by a weak (da’eef) narrator.

Mudraj
Linguistically: that which has been entered into something else and joined to it.
Technically: That isnaad (chain of narrators) whose order has been changed; or the matn (text) which has had something added to it - which is not part of it - without any indication of separation.

Its Ruling (Hukm): It is forbidden to do it (Idraaj), except in the case of explaining a word as az-Zuhri used to do.

Lecture No. 9
Classification of Hadeeth According to a Hidden Defect in the Isnaad or Text of a Hadeeth

Mud-tarib
Linguistically: it is derived from id-tiraab: disturbance (of a system), disorder, confusion; shaking.
Technically: That which has been reported in (a) contradictory narrations [which do not allow for reconciliation], while each narration is (b) of equal strength [such that no one of them can be given preference over the other(s)]. Both of these factors must be present for a hadeeth to be considered Mud-tarib.

Maq-loob
Linguistically: reversed, turned upside down
Technically: Exchanging an expression for another in the isnaad or matn, by advancing or putting back.





Lecture No. 10
Classification of Hadeeth According to the Reliability and Memory of the Reporters

Saheeh
Linguistically: The opposite of sick/defective: Healthy, Sound.
Technically: That which has been reported with (1) a connected chain of narrators (Ittisaal as-sanad); through narrators – from the beginning of the chain until the end - who are known to be (2) trustworthy/of good character (‘Adl) and (3) accurate/precise memory (Daabit); being free of (4) contradicting those who are more reliable (Shaadhdh); and free of any (5) hidden defect (‘Illah Qaadihah) which affects the authenticity of the hadeeth - though it appears to be free of any defect.

Its Ruling: It is Obligatory to act upon it according to the consensus of the scholars …

Hasan
Linguistically: Good, handsome, beautiful.
Technically: That which fulfills the five (5) conditions of a Saheeh Hadeeth, i.e.:(1) Ittisaal as-sanad; (2) ‘Adl and (3) Daabit; not being (4) Shaadhdh; nor having any (5) ‘Illah Qaadihah - except that the accuracy/precision of one or more of its narrators is of a lesser standard than the narrators of a Saheeh Hadeeth.

Its Ruling: It is the same as for the Saheeh, except that it is less than the Saheeh in strength.

Lecture No. 11
The Sub-divisions of Saheeh and Hasan
As-Saheeh li-Ghairi-hi (Raised up to Saheeh, due to support from other narrations)
This is a hadeeth which is Hasan on its own merit, and then is reported by another chain of narrators similar to it in strength – or stronger – which supports it and raises it to the level of Saheeh.

Its Ruling It may be used as a proof in religious matters.

Al-Hasn li-Ghairi-hi (Raised up to Hasan, due to support from other narrations)
This is a hadeeth which is originally Da’eef, but due to other chains of narrators reporting the same matn (text) literally or in meaning – it is strengthened and considered Hasan li-Ghairi-hi.
Its Ruling It may be used as a proof in religious matters.

Da’eef
Linguistically: Opposite of the strong: Weak
Technically: That which does not fulfill the conditions of the Saheeh nor the Hasan hadeeth – due to the absence of one or more of its conditions. And just as there are levels of the Saheeh, there are levels of the weak – the weaker the narrators, the weaker it becomes, ranging through: Da’eef (Weak), Da’eef Jiddan (Very Weak), Waahee (Baseless) Munkar (Weak and contradicting something more authentic), Mawdoo’ (Fabricated), the worst of the rejected reports.

Its Ruling: Some of the great scholars, amongst them Imaams al-Bukhaaree, Muslim, Ibn Ma’een and Ibn Hazm, hold that the weak hadeeth is rejected outright and not to be acted upon as it is not knowledge.
--Others hold that it may be acted upon if conditions are met – and then only with regards to encouragement for doing good or avoiding evil. The conditions, as explained by Ibn Hajr are:
(a) That its weakness is not severe
(b) That it falls under something general already established in the Sharee’ah, and
(c) That it is not considered to be something established or as having come from the Prophet

Lecture No. 12

Classification of Hadeeth According to the Reliability and Memory of the Reporters (cont’d)

Mawdoo’
Linguistically: That which is put down. It is named as such due to its lowly status.
Technically: It is Kadhib (a lie), Mukh-talaq (invented), Mas-noo’ (manufactured) which is then attributed to the Prophet.

Its Ruling: Scholars have agreed that it is not permissible to narrate it except that it is accompanied with clear mention of it being a fabrication. This is due to the hadeeth reported by Muslim in the introduction to his book (Saheeh Muslim): Whoever narrates from me that which he thinks (knows) that it may be a lie, then he is one of the two liers [one has fabricated it, and the other passes it on to others].

How is the Fabricated Hadeeth Known?
(a) Al-Iqraar: Confession
(b) That which is equivalent to a confession:
(c) Qareenah fi ar-Raawee: An indication in the Narrator
(d) Qareenah fi al-Marwee: An indication in the narration

Reasons For Fabrication and the Types of People Who Did It
(a) Seeking Nearness to Allah (at-Taqarrub ila Allah) [and His Reward].
(b) To Support their Madh-hab (al-Intisaar lil-Madh-hab)(School of Thought).
(c) To Disgrace/Attack Islaam (at-Ta’an fi al-Islaam).
(d) Seeking to Flatter/Earn the Favor of the Rulers (at-Tazalluf ila al-Hukkaam).
(e) Seeking to Earn a Living (at-Takassub wa Talab ar-Rizq) (Livelihood).
(f) Seeking Fame, Notoriety (Qasd ash-Shuh-rah).

[boriqee]

Note: All translations of Arabic are approximate meanings only.

Hadeeth & It’s Terminology
[Explaining Imaam adh-Dhahabee’s (Rahimahu ‘Llah) book “Muqaddimah al-Muqidha”]
Shaykh Saleem Al-Hilaalee (Hafidhahu ‘Llah)
[Notes from the August 2002 Seminar in Luton]

Dars One
Monday 05/08/02

Hadeeth are of three types:

1.SaHeeH (authentic)
2. Hasan (good)
3. Da’eef (weak)

Hadeeth SaHeeH

What is Hadeeth SaHeeH? The 5 conditions for a Hadeeth to be classed as SaHeeH are:

1) Al-ADAALAH – That all of it’s narrators are ‘adl (just): ie Muslim, of age (baaligh), sane (‘aaqil), not an open sinner (faasiq), and not having bad manners and habits (makhroomul maroo’ah)

2) DAABIT (Precise). That all of it’s narrators are daabit, which is of two kinds:
a) DABTUS-SADR (precision of heart)
b) DABTUL-KITAAB (precision of writing)

3) ITTISAALUS-SANAD – That it’s isnaad (chain) is connected. That every one of its narrators heard it directly from the person he is narrating from, from the start of the isnaad to the end.

4) ADAMUSH-SHUDHOODH – That it is not shaadh (odd). The shaadh is where the reliable narrator contradicts one who is more reliable than him.

5) ADAMUL-’ILLAH – That it does not contain ‘illah (hidden weakness). The ‘illah is a non-apparent factor which affects the authenticity of the Hadeeth, whilst the isnaad appears to be free from it, eg. a hidden gap in the isnaad.

If any of these five conditions are not fulfilled then the isnaad will not be SaHeeH. When all five are present the Hadeeth is SaHeeH. It is then obligatory to act upon it according to the consensus of the scholars of Hadeeth and all those whose word is counted from the scholars of usool and fiqh. It is a proof in the Shari’ah and it is not permissible for anyone to leave off acting upon it.

The Qur’an and Hadeeth are both on the same level in terms of following. The Prophet (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said: “I have left you two things………”

A SaHeeH Hadeeth is of different degrees. They are in order:

1) A Hadeeth reported in both Bukharee and Muslim
2) A Hadeeth reported by Bukharee alone
3) A Hadeeth reported by Muslim alone
4) A Hadeeth with the conditions of Bukharee & Muslim but not reported by them
5) A Hadeeth with the conditions of Bukharee but not reported by him
6) A Hadeeth with the conditions of Muslim but not reported by him
7) A SaHeeH hadeeth found elsewhere

Then adh-Dhahabee mentioned the most authentic chains of narration. To say about any single chain of narration is the most authentic is incorrect, rather it is to be specified by the companion or by the town or country.

Meaning Of Terms

a) Agreed upon: Bukharee and Muslim both agree upon this Hadeeth
b) Related by the two Shaykhs: related by Bukharee and Muslim
c) Related by the 6: Bukharee, Muslim, Abu Dawood, at-Tirmidhi, an-Nasai, Ibnu Majah
d) Related by the 7: same as related by 6 including Imaam Ahmad (Musnad)
e) Related by the People of the Sunan: Abu Dawood, Ibnu Majah, at-Tirmidhi, an-Nasaai


Dars Two
Tuesday 06/08/02

Hadeeth Hasan

A Hasan Hadeeth is of two types:

1) Hasan li dhaatihi (hasan by itself)
2) Hasan li ghairihi (hasan due to support)

There is a difference with the scholars about it’s definition due to it falling in between SaHeeH and Da’eef.

Imaam adh-Dhahabee (Rahimahu ‘Llah) defined it: “rises above the Da’eef but does not reach SaHeeH”

This is because it has some authenticity that brings it above Da’eef but has some weakness which drops it below SaHeeH.

Depending on the authenticity of Hadeeth, a Hadeeth is either accepted or rejected:

SaHeeH & Hasan are accepted.
Da’eef (has different levels) are rejected

Ibnu Taymiyyah (Rahimahu ‘Llah) said that at-Tirmidhi (Rahimahu ‘Llah) divided the hadeeth into 3 types as before him they were only 2.

The only difference between SaHeeH and Hasan is the precision of narrators are slightly less precise with Hasan. All the other four conditions have to be present. The slightly less precise narrator is called sadooq (truthful) and not thiqah (trustworthy or reliable).

The best definition for the Hasan Hadeeth is by Ibnu Hajr (Rahimahu ‘Llah). He explains it to be that which fulfils the conditions of the ‘SaHeeH’ except that the precision of one or more of it’s narrators is of a lesser standard, ie it fulfills all the conditions (1) to (5) above except that condition (2) is met to a lesser degree, therefore the isnaad falls from the standard of SaHeeH to that of being Hasan. This is the definition of Hasan li dhaatihi.

Adh-Dhahabee (Rahimahu ‘Llah) talked about Hasan chains. There are 2 chains:

1) Bahz bin Hakeem, from his father, from his grandfather
2) Amr bin Shuhayb, from his father, from his grandfather

The Hasan Hadeeth in itself constitutes proof in every aspect of Islam just as SaHeeH does. It is never rejected.

The Ulama differed as to the terminology of at-Tirmidhi’s Sunan. Generally his terminology is understood as follows:

At-Tirmidhi’s Terminology Ulama’s Understanding
Hasan SaHeeH ghareeb Equivalent to SaHeeH li dhaatihi
Hasan SaHeeH SaHeeH li ghairihi
Hasan ghareeb Hasan li dhaatihi
Hasan Hasan li ghairihi
ghareeb (strange) Equivalent to weak

Hasan li dhaatihi (less precision than for SaHeeH)
Hasan li ghairihi (rises to Hasan due to support)


Dars Three
Wednesday 07/08/02

Hadeeth Da’eef

A Hadeeth that is slightly less in authenticity than a Hadeeth that is Hasan. It does not possess the qualities of a Hadeeth that is SaHeeH or Hasan.

The Da’eef is not acceptable, not used as a proof and cannot be attributed to the Prophet (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam).

The Ulama differed in using Da’eef Hadeeth for fada’il al-amaal (virtues of actions). [Note: this does not mean the Jama’atut-Tabligh book.]. The truth is it is not permissible, as it is knowledge and regarding recommended acts of worship.

When we want to mention a Da’eef, how do we present it? We imply all things that imply it’s weakness ie. “it is said…” etc. We present it in this way because it may be strengthened so we describe it in this way until it is strengthened.

Different types of Da’eef

Matrook (abandoned) – in whose chain there is someone who is very weak (Da’eef jiddan)

Maudu (fabricated) – This is the worst type of weak Hadeeth. It may be done intentionally or by mistake.

With regards intentionally fabricating aHadeeth there is the Hadeeth of the Prophet (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam): “Whoever narrates a Hadeeth knowing that it is a lie then he is one of the people who has lied upon me.”

With regards mistakingly fabricating aHadeeth there is the Hadeeth of the Prophet (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam): “My Ummah has been forgiven for it’s mistakes or forgetfulness or being forced.”

Kitaabu Mauduat by Ibnul Jawzi (Rahimahu ‘Llah) is a famous book listing maudu aHadeeth.

Mursal

Adh-Dhahabee (Rahimahu ‘Llah) defined the mursal Hadeeth as: “Hadeeth where a companion is omitted from the chain and a tabiee narrates it from the Prophet (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam)”

The correct definition is: “a tabiee says ‘the Prophet (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said:….” but does not mention the SaHabah who told him.

We do not need to know the name of the SaHabi as all the SaHabah are trustworthy and reliable narrators.

Ulama differed on 3 opinions of Hadeeth mursal:

1) It is a Hadeeth narrated or attributed to the Prophet (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) by a junior or senior tabiee.

2) It is a Hadeeth narrated or attributed to the Prophet (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) by a senior tabiee only.

3) It is a Hadeeth narrated or attributed to the Prophet (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) by a tabiee or generation after them.

We do not differentiate between a senior or junior tabiee.

Imaam Muslim and the majority of scholars (Rahimahu ‘Llahu ‘anhum) are of the position: “We do not use a Hadeeth that is mursal for a proof in anything.”

Note: There is something called maraseel (plural of mursal). They are narrated by SaHabah. A young SaHabah who could not have witnessed him/herself, such as Aaishah (Radiya ‘Llahu 'anha) who narrated about the beginning of revelation, but she wasn’t born then, or Ibnu Abbass (Radiya ‘Llahu 'anhu) who narrated something that happened in Makkah. Ulama agreed we accept all of the maraseel.

Ulama differed with regards to a ‘mursal supported by a mursal.’ The correct opinion is that mursal always remains a mursal no matter how many.

A Hadeeth that is mursal but is supported by a Da’eef Hadeeth which is the same narration is strengthened to the level of hasan li ghairihi.

Hadeeth SaHeeH Hadeeth Hasan
SaHeeH li dhatihi (SaHeeH by itself) Hasan li dhatihi (Hasan by itself)
SaHeeH li ghairihi (SaHeeH by support) Hasan li ghairihi (Haan by support)


Hasan li dhatihi + 2 or more chains = SaHeeH li ghairihi
Da’eef Hadeeth + 2 or more chains = Hasan li ghairihi

Mu’dal

This is in the group of Da’eef Hadeeth. 2 or more narrators are missing in succession (one after the other).

Munqati

This is a weak Hadeeth. In it’s chain one or more narrators are omitted in the middle. Does not have to be in succession.

Dars Four
Thursday 08/08/02

Terminology

Marfu’ (Elevated)– A Hadeeth that goes back to the Prophet (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam).

Mauqoof – A Hadeeth that goes back to the Companion (Radiya ‘Llahu 'anhu).

Al-Maqtu’ – A Hadeeth that goes back to the tabiee.

Muttassil or Mawsool (Connected) – Free from any missing links.

Musnad – Sanad is connected (Muttassil) throughout and goes back to the Prophet (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam). Combination of Mawsool and Marfu’.

Ash-Shaadh – When a certain narrator in some point in the chain differs with someone who is stronger than him in another chain either by number or quality.

Munkar – Where a weak narrator produces a different narration than that of someone who is stronger.

Gharib – Narrated on the authority of only one companion. It may be authentic or it may be weak. A famous authentic Hadeeth which is gharib is “Actions are by intentions”.

Aziz - 2 Companions narrate a Hadeeth.

Mash-hur – 3 or more companions narrate this Hadeeth but their number does not reach tawatur.

Mutkiq – Someone who is precise in narration Ahadeeth.

Dars Five
Friday 09/08/02

Terminology Cont.

Musalsal - The chain has a certain feature or description throughout the whole chain such as “I heard-I heard-I heard” etc. The Hadeeth “Have mercy upon the ones on the earth and Allah will have Mercy upon you.” is of this type.

Muanan – In the chain, the narrators say: “‘An-‘An-‘An” (on the authority of - on the authority of - on the authority of).” If it is free from tadlees (see below) then it is acceptable.

Mudallas – Where tadlees occurs. A person has not met that person whom he narrates from but intentionally makes out that he did.

Mursal khafi (hidden mursal) is different from mudallas because:

1) in mudallas a person says in such a way that he makes you believe that he heard it ie it is intended.
2) In mursal khafi he has not met that person

Mubtarib (Confusion or not being clear) – People narrate on authority of one shaykh different ways. This Hadeeth is not possible to reconcile.

Mudraj – An addition from one narrator of the Hadeeth and it looks like it is part of the Hadeeth such as Abu Hurairah (Radiya ‘Llahu 'anhu) in the hadeeth: “They will come on the day of judgement with their parts of wudhu shining.” where he (Radiya ‘Llahu 'anhu) says at the end: “So whoever can extend his ghuna then let him extend it.”

SubHaanaka Allahumma wa biHamdika Ash-hadu allaailaha illah anta astagfiruka wa atoobu ilaika.

END

[boriqee]

HADITH: RULES FOR ACCEPTANCE AND TRANSMISSION

I. THE CONDITION FOR THE ACCEPTANCE OF HADITH
A Hadith must meet the following five criteria in order to be accepted in Islamic law as a source of legal ordinance:
1. Continuity of the chain of transmitters (ittisal assanad):
This chain of transmitters has to be unbroken in order for the Hadith to be acceptable. That is, none of the transmitters must be missing from the chain of narrators. Furthermore, each transmitter must also have heard the Hadith in question directly from the transmitter before him. Knowledge of this is verified with the help of the biographical sciences of the science of Hadith.
2. The integrity ('adalah) of the transmitters:
The integrity of the transmitters is established in terms of their out- ward observance of Islam. In other words, it is ascertained that they practice what is required of them by Islam and they are not known to engage in the doing of things which are forbidden. Again this precondition is verified through the biographical sciences of Hadith.
3. Soundness of memory of the transmitters:
It must be verified through the biographical sciences of Hadith that each transmitter has a sound memory or that his books were accurate and that he only transmitted directly from his books.
4. Conformity of the Hadith:
It is important that the Hadith conform with similar Hadiths on the same topics which are stronger than it. This conformity should be both in the chain of transmitters and the text. Non-conformity in the chain of transmit- ters for example, might be if one of the transmitters in the chain is differ- ent than in a stronger version of the same Hadith. Non-conformity in text would imply divergence in the meaning of this Hadith with one which is stronger.
5. The absence of defects ('illah) in the Hadith:
A defect ('illah) in Hadith is defined as a hidden defect in the Hadith which takes away from its authenticity. A Hadith which has such a defect is one which appears to be free from defect at first while after investiga- tion it is discovered that it has a certain defect which would not be apparent without investigation. The defect can be in the chain of transmitters or in text or both.
II. CLASSIFICATION OF HADITH
There are two distinct types of Hadith:
A. The recurrent Hadith (al-Hadith al-mutawatir):
This type of Hadith is decisive in its certainty (qat'i thubut). There is no doubt that it actually came down from the Prophet (peace be upon him). There are four conditions which must be present for a Hadith to be of this category:
1. At least four different persons must have narrated the Hadith.
2. It must have been impossible for these four or more to have concurred on a lie.
3. They must have narrated the Hadith from similar people (the first two conditions being applicable) from the beginning of the chain of transmit- ters until the end of it.
4. Their narration of Hadith must rely on the mind and the senses not the mind only because the mind might be mistaken (as imagining something to have happened).
B. The non-recurrent Hadith (al-Hadith al-ahad): Any Hadith which is not recurrent (mutawatir) is called non-recurrent ('ahad). This category is divided into three sub-groupings according to the number of narrators of the Hadith:
1. The well-known Hadith (al-Hadith al-mashhur). This is a Hadith which has been narrated by three or more people in the chain of transmitters but did not arrive at the rank of recurrent Hadith.
2. The strong Hadith (al-Hadith al-aziz). This is a Hadith in which there are no less than two narrators in each part of the chain of narrators.
3. The rare Hadith (al-Hadith al-gharib). This is a Hadith which is narrated by a single person at one point in the chain of transmitters.
** The non-recurrent Hadith is sub-divided into three more classifications regarding the beginning of the chain of transmitters:
1. The Elevated Hadith (al-Hadith al-Marfu). This is a Hadith the chain of narrators for which begins with the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
2. The Suspended Hadith (al-Hadith al-mawquf). This is a Hadith the chain of narrators for which does not trace back to the Prophet (peace be upon him) but traces back instead to a Companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
3. The Cut-off Hadith (al-Hadith al-maqtu'). This is a Hadith the chain of narrators for which traces back only to a successor of the Companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
** The non-recurrent Hadith is broken into three classifications regarding their acceptance as a source of Islamic Law:
1. The authentic Hadith (al-Hadith as-sahih). This is a Hadith which satisfies the five criteria for accepting a Hadith.
2. The good Hadith (al-Hadith al-hasan). This is the Hadith which, like the authentic Hadith, also satisfies these five criteria except the third criteria of the soundness of memory of the transmitters is only slightly satisfied.
3. The weak Hadith (al-Hadith ad-da'if). This is a Hadith which does not satisfy all the five criteria for accep- ting Hadith. The weak Hadith is classified in different categories regarding which of these five criteria is not met:
A. Weakness in the Hadith due to lack continuity in the chain of transmitters.
1. The continuity is missing at the end of chain of transmitters the Hadith is called "hanging" (mu'allaq).
2. If the continuity is missing in the middle of the chain of transmitters, the Hadith is known as "interrupted" (munqati').
3. If two successive transmitters or more are missing in the middle of the chain of transmitters, the Hadith is called "problematic" (mu'dil).
4. If the first transmitter, a Companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him), is missing from the chain of transmitters, the Hadith is called "incom- pletely transmitted" (mursal).
B. Weakness in the Hadith due to lack of integrity ('adalah) in narrators.
1. A Hadith whhich has been fabricated is known as "fabricated" (mawdu').
2. If the Matn (text) of a Hadith came down through one channel of trans- mission only and the transmitter of that Hadith does not satisfy the criteria for integrity or his memory is not good then the Hadith is said to be "rejected" (munkar).
3. If a Hadith is transmitted by somebody who is charged with lying and that Hadith is known only through his transmission then the Hadith is said to be "abandoned" (matruk).
4. Three subgroupings of weak Hadith are classified as:
4.1. Mudallas is the chain of "forged" transmitters.
This is a Hadith which the transmitter has transmitted from some other transmitter whom he has met but under whom he did not study, yet regarding whom he transmitted the Hadith in a way implying that he heard from him.
4.2. Forged regarding teachers (mudallas ash-shuyukh).
This is a Hadith in which the transmitter calls his teacher (shaikh) by nicknames other than the names by which he is well known.
4.3. Forged regarding the naming of transmitters (mudallas at-tasiyah).
This is a Hadith which is transmitted by a weak transmitter between trustworthy transmitters who met each other with the weak transmit- ter between them having deleted, so as not to be deleted.
5. If one of the transmitter of the Hadith is not named then the Hadith is called "obscure" (mubham).
6. If something has been added to a Hadith, then that Hadith is known as "interpolated" (mudraj), interpolation might be in the chain of narra- tors or in the text (matn).
C. Weakness due to the inaccuracy of the memories of the transmitters:
1. If a Hadith has been transmitted by different weak channels, non of them being stronger than the others, then the Hadith is called "shaky" (mud- tarib).
2. If there is a change in the wording of the Hadith then the Hadith is called either "distorted" (musahhaf) or "interpolated" (muharaf).
3. If there is inversion in the words of the chain of narrators (sanad) or text (matn) of the Hadith, then the Hadith is called "inverted" (maqlub).
D. If the weakness is due to non-conformity of a Hadith then it is called "odd" (shadhdh).
E. Weakness in a Hadith because of a "defect" ('illah).
In this case the Hadith is called "defective" (mu'all).
It has to be stressed that in Islamic Law only authentic (sahih) and good (hasan) Hadiths are used in deriving ordinance.

[boriqee]

Here is some mroe detial to the classifications of hadeeth terminology


Introduction to the Science of Hadith Classification
by Shaikh (Dr.) Suhaib Hassan,
Foreword

The Definition of Hadeeth

The Structure of Hadeeth
-> The Sanad
-> The Matn

The Recording and Preservation of Hadeeth
-> The Writing down of Hadeeth
-> The Memorizing of Hadeeth

The Significance of the Sanad (the chain of narrators of Hadeeth)

The Fabrication of Hadeeth
Mustalahal-Hadeeth (the Classification of Hadeeth)
Classification according to the beginning of the Sanad (chain of narrators):
-> Marfu’ (elevated)
-> Mauquf (stopped)
-> Maqtu’ (Severed)

Classification according to the link in the isnad
-> Musnad (supported)
-> Mursal - Munqati’’- Mu’dal - Mu’allaq
Classification according to the number of reporters involved in each stage of isnad
-> Mutawatir (consecutive)
-> Ahad (isolated)
Classification according to the manner in which the Hadeeth has been reported
-> Mudallas Hadeeth and Tadlis
-> Musalsal
Classification according to the nature of the matn and isnad
-> Shadhdh irregular & Munkar denounced.
-> Mudraj
Classification according to a hidden defect found in the isnad or text of a Hadeeth
-> Mudtarib
-> Maqlub
-> Ma’lul or Mu’allal
Classification according to the Reliability and Memory of the Reporters
-> Saheeh
-> Hasan
-> Da‘if
-> Maudu’ An Important Argument regarding the Ahad Hadeeth
Authenticity of a Mursal Hadeeth
Rijal al-Hadeeth (the study of the reporters of Hadeeth)
Who Fabricated Hadeeth?
-> Political Differences
-> Factions based on issues related to faith:
-> Zandaqa
-> Story-tellers
-> Ignorant Ascetics (Soofis)
-> Prejudice for town, race or one’s Imam
-> Inventions for personal motives
-> Sayings of wisdom turned into Hadeeth

Brief Biographies of the eminent Scholars of Hadeeth
Foreword
All Praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. And may the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon Prophet Muhammed and upon his Family and his Companions.
“We have undoubtedly sent down the Reminder, and We will truly preserve it.” [ Al-Qur'aan, Soorah al-Hijr (15):9 ]
Allah’s promise in the above verse will be fulfilled, and the pure religion will be available for all those who seek it until the last day, as Allah asks His Messenger to proclaim “...this Qur'aan has been revealed to me that I may therewith warn you and whoever it may reach.” Soorah al-An’am (6):19
The fulfillment of Allah’s promise is obvious by the undisputed purity of the Qur'aan. However, what is often forgotten by many Muslims is that, Allah has promised not only to protect the words of the Qur'aan, but also its explanation and understanding - the Sunnah. It being the perfect and divinely-guided lifestyle of the Prophet and the best example of the implementation of the Book of Allah. The Sunnah is the Wisdom that the Prophet taught along with the Scripture (the Qur'aan), as Allah says: “And We sent to you a Messenger from among yourselves, reciting to you our signs, purifying you, and teaching you the Book and the Wisdom (Sunnah), and that which you did not know.” Soorah al-Baqarah (2):151
Allah preserved the Qur'aan from being initially lost by the martyrdom of its memorizers, by guiding the Khulafaa Raashidoon and the other Companions to compile the ayat (verses) of the Qur'aan into one volume, since before they had been scattered in writing on various materials and in memory amongst many faithful hearts. Allah safeguarded it from corruption by its enemies: disbelievers, heretics and false prophets, by enabling millions of believers to commit it to memory with ease. He preserved its teachings by causing thousands of people of Knowledge to learn from its deep treasures and convey them to the masses, and by sending revivers of his Deen at the beginning of every century.
Similarly, Allah preserved the Sunnah by enabling the Companions and those after them (may Allah be pleased with them all) to memorize, write down and pass on the statements of the Messenger and descriptions of his Way, as well as to continue the blessings of practicing the Sunnah, as the Prophet said to his Companions, “You hear from me, and others will hear from you; and people will hear from them, who heard from you.” Sunan Abu Dawood (english trans.) vol.3, no.3651 and authenticated by al-Albaanee in Saheeh Sunan Abu Dawood no. 3107
Later, as the purity of the Knowledge of the Sunnah became threatened, Allah caused the Muslim nation to produce outstanding individuals of incredible memory-skills and analytical expertise, who journeyed tirelessly to collect hundreds of thousands of narrations and distinguished the true words of precious wisdom of their Messenger from those that were forged by unscrupulous liers. The Companions and those who followed their way, the Muhadithoon (the Scholars of Hadeeth) worked hard to transmit the legacy of Muhammed. They paid precise attention to the words narrated and recorded minute biographies of the thousands of reporters of Hadeeth. Action being the best way to preserve teachings, the revivers of Islam also revived the practice of the blessed authentic Sunnah.
Unfortunately however, statements will continue to be attributed to the Prophet although the person quoting them may have no idea what the people of Knowledge of Hadeeth have ruled regarding the fabricated Hadeeth. Quoting Hadeeths carelessly without checking for its authenticity is undoubtedly a grave sin punishable with hell-fire, as the Prophet said: “Whoever lies about me will find his sitting place in the hell-fire.” Sunan Abu Dawood (english trans.) vol.3, no.3643. A similar Hadeeth has been collected in Sahih al-Bukhari (english trans.) vol.1, no.109
This booklet is an effort to explain in brief the classification and preservation of Hadeeth. The Hadeeth are like pearls, in order to acquire them one has to dive deep, and the more you study them the more you appreciate their importance. The Prophet Muhammed explained matters of great importance to the believers, both in this life and the hereafter, in very few and simple words. Those who understood the message of the Messenger, then this
Knowledge of theirs brought a revolution into their lives, for the Hadeeth have in them the Wisdom, that awaken sleeping minds, revive dead hearts and invigorate weak souls.
Then why should not a Muslim devote some of his time for the study of Hadeeth and become the beneficiary of the Duaa (supplication) of the Prophet Muhammed , who said: “May Allah bless any man who hears a saying of mine, memorizes it and understands it, then conveys it just as he heard it.” Sunan Abu Dawood (english trans.) vol.3, no.3652 and Sunan at-Tirmidhee. authenticated by al-Albaanee in Saheeh Sunan Abu Dawood no.3108]
The Definition of Hadeeth: 'Hadeeth' literally means a saying or conversation, as in the following Qur'aanic verses:
“Let them then produce a saying (Hadeeth) like unto it.” [Soorah at-Tur (52):34]
“And when the Prophet spoke (Hadeeth) secretly to one of his wives.” [Soorah at-Tahrim (66):3]
But in Islaamic Terminology, Hadeeth is synonymous with Sunnah, though the word ‘Hadeeth’ is generally used to refer to only the sayings of the Prophet Muhammed . The Hadeeth have been recorded by the Companions and collected in the books of Hadeeth.
If the word ‘Hadeeth’ is used without any adjective, it always means the Hadeeth of the Prophet, but if any Companion or Successor (Taabiee) is meant, clarification is needed by adding Mauquf for the Companion and Maqtu for the Successor.
The following is an example of what a Hadeeth looks like:

Musaddad told us that Yahyaa informed him from Shu’bah, from Qataadah from Anas from the Prophet that he said: “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.” Collected by al-Bukhari
This means that the Hadeeth scholar Muhammed ibn Ismaa’el al-Bukhari recorded in his book of the collection of Hadeeth called Sahih al-Bukhari the statement: “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”, which he heard from his Hadeeth teacher Musaddad, who heard it from his teacher Yahyaa, who was informed by his teacher Shu’bah that he heard it from his teacher Qataadah, a student of the Prophet’s Companion, who heard it quoted by the Sahabee (Companion) Anas ibn Maalik from the Prophet Muhammed (May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him).
The Structure of Hadeeth A Hadeeth consists of two main parts: (a) the Sanad and (b) the Matn
The Sanad: Sanad or Isnad, is the chain of narrators that leads to the text of the Hadeeth. The Sanad consists of all those who narrated the text, starting with the last narrator (who records the Hadeeth in his book) and ending with the Prophet. Following is the Sanad of the Hadeeth mentioned before...
Al-Bukhari > Musaddad > Yahyaa > Shu’bah > Qataadah > Anas > Prophet Muhammed (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam)
The Matn: The text of the Hadeeth or what the Prophet actually said or did is called the Matn. In the Hadeeth mentioned before, the Matn is “None of you truly believes until...”

The Preservation of Hadeeth:

The Writing down of Hadeeth [1] There are many authentic narrations collected by the Scholars of Hadeeth, that prove that Hadeeth were recorded in writing even during the time of the Prophet.
Imaam Abu Dawood gives a few examples in his Sunan
Abdullah bin Amr said: “I used to write everything which I heard from the Messenger of Allah . I intended (by it) to memorize it. The Quraish prohibited me, saying ‘Do you write everything that you hear from him, while the Messenger of Allah is a human being (Bashr), he speaks in anger and pleasure?’ So I stopped writing, and mentioned it to the Messenger of Allah. He pointed with his finger to his mouth and said: ‘Write, by Him in whose hand my soul lies, only right (Haqq) comes out from it.’
Sunan Abu Dawood vol.3, no. 3639 and authenticated by al-Albaanee in Saheeh Sunan Abu Dawood no.3099. The collection of Hadeeth of Abdullah bin Amr is known as ‘Sahifah Sadiqah'
Abu Hurairah said: "When Meccah was conquered, the Holy Prophet stood up. He (Abu Hurairah) then mentioned the sermon of the Holy Prophet . A man from Yemen, called Abu Shah got up and said, “O Messenger of Allah! Write it for me.” The Messenger of Allah said, “Write it for Abu Shah.”
Sunan Abu Dawood vol.3, no. 3641 and authenticated by al-Albaanee in Saheeh Sunan Abu Dawood no.3100
“Al-Walid said, I asked Abu Amr - “What are they writing? He said, “The sermon which he heard that day” [Sunan Abu Dawood vol.3 no.3642 and authenticated by al-Albaanee in Saheeh Sunan Abu Dawood no.3101]
Imaam Bukhari mentions a few more examples in his Saheeh in the “Book of Knowledge”, chapter “The writing of Knowledge”:
The Prophet’s Companion, Abu Hurairah has narrated an incident in which a man from Yemen came to the Prophet, while the Prophet was addressing his Companions about the sanctity of Mecca, and asked the Prophet to get what he said written. The Prophet ordered his Companions to write that for him.”
Sahih al-Bukhari, vol.1, no.112
“From Abu Qabeel who said: We were with 'Abdullaah ibn 'Amr ibn al 'Aas and he was asked which city will be conquered first Constantinople or Rome? So 'Abdullaah called for a sealed trunk and he said, “Take out a book from it”. Then 'Abdullaah said, “Whilst we were with the Messenger of Allaah writing, The Messenger of Allaah was asked, “Which city will be conquered first, Constantinople or Rome?” So Allaah's Messenger said: “The city of Heracilius will be conquered first " meaning Constantinople.”
Saheeh: Related by Ahmad (2/176), ad-Daarimee (1/126) and al Haakim (3/422).
The Prophet approved and encouraged the writing down of the Hadeeth when he said to his Companions, during the last few days of his life, “Bring for me a paper and I will write for you a statement after which you will not go astray.”
Sahih al-Bukhari, vol.1, no.114
The Memorizing of Hadeeth:
Narrated by Abu Hurairah, “...I used to stick to Allah’s Messenger contended with what will fill my stomach and I used to attend that which they (the emigrants to Madeenah) did not attend and I used to memorize that which they used not to memorize.”
Sahih al-Bukhari, vol.1, no.118
Abu Huraira said, "You people claim that Abu Huraira narrates many narrations of Allah's Apostle. (Anyhow) with Allah will be our appointment. I was a poor man, and used to stick to Allah's Apostle contented with what will fill my stomach, and the Muhajirin (emigrants) used to be busy trading in the markets, and the Ansar used to be busy looking after their properties. One day I heard Allah's Apostle saying, 'Who will spread his Rida' (a garment covering the upper part of the body) till I finished my speech and then fold it, (i.e. wrap it over your body), in which case he will never forget anything he had heard from me." So I spread my garment which I was wearing; and by Him Who sent Muhammad with the Truth, ever since, I have never forgotten whatever I heard from him (the Prophet)."
Sahih al-Bukhari, vol.9, no.452
Narrated by Jabir bin Abdullah, "The Prophet (p.b.u.h) used to teach us the way of doing Istikhara (Istikhara means to ask Allah to guide one to the right sort of action concerning any job or a deed), in all matters as he taught us the Soorahs (chapters) of the Quran...."
Sahih al-Bukhari, vol.2, no.263

FOOTNOTES
[1] Imaam Abu Dawood has collected the Hadeeth in “Kitaab al-Ilm - the book of Knowledge” in the chapter “Writing the Knowledge”. There are four narrations, three of which are mentioned above. The fourth narration [no.3640] has a weak (Da’if) isnad. see Da’if Sunan Abu Dawood no.787
The Significance of the Sanad (the chain of narrators of Hadeeth):
Even though the text (Matn) of a Hadeeth may seem to be logical and reasonable, it needs an authentic Sanad with reliable reporters to be acceptable. The Sanad is thus the most important part of the Hadeeth, as it is the bridge leading to the Hadeeth itself. Abdullah bin al-Mubarak (d. 181 AH), one of the illustrious teachers of Imam al-Bukhari, said:
The Isnaad is from the Deen (religion), if it wasn’t for the Isnad anyone would say anything he wished
Related by Imaam Muslim in the introduction of his Sahih - see Sahih al-Muslim (ed. M.F. ‘Abdul Baqi. 5 vols., Cairo 1374/1955), [1:15] & Sahih al-Muslim bi Sharh an-Nawawi (18 vols. in 6, Cairo,1349) [1:87].
During the lifetime of the Prophet and after his death, his Companions (Sahabah) used to refer to him directly, when quoting his sayings. The Successors (Tabi’un) followed suit, some of them used to quote the Prophet through the Companions, while others would omit the intermediate authority (such a Hadeeth is called Mursal). During the time of the Successors they either one of two narrators between them and the Prophet. But from then on the need for verification of each isnad rose, as Imaam Malik (d. 179) said: “The First one to utilize the isnad was Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri(d.124).”
Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi, Al-Jarh wal-Ta’dil (8 vols., Hyderabad, 1360-1373), 1:20
The need to verify the Hadeeth rose because various sects appeared among the Muslims who fabricated Hadeeth, in order to support their deviant views and heretical philosophies (later such Hadeeth were classified as Maudu or fabricated)
Ibn Sirin (d.110) a Successor said, “They would not ask about the Isnad. But when the fitnah (turmoil/civil war) happened, they said, ‘Name to us your men. So the narrations of the Ahlus-Sunnah (Adherents to the Sunnah) would be accepted, while those of Ahlul-Bidah (Adherents to Innovations) would not be accepted”
Sahih al-Muslim bi Sharh an-Nawawi (Introduction) Chapter : The Isnaad is from the Deen, p.257 [Maktaba Nazaar Mustafa al-Baaz - Riyadh [1st edition]
The Fabrication of Hadeeth
Incidents of fabrication of Hadeeth were almost non-existent at the time of the Prophet for the Muslims of his time understood well the consequence of lying about the Prophet. The Prophet’s Companions took the sayings of their Prophet very serious, and no hypocrite would dare to ascribe to the Prophet that which he did not say. Even if someone lied about the Prophet, he did not survive long enough, as this following incident suggests:
Ibn ‘Adi transmitted on the authority of Buraida b. Hussaib al-Aslami, that in the pre-Islamic era a man wanted to marry in the tribe of Bani Laith which had been living a mile away from Madina. But the tribe did not concede to his will. Later he visited them dressed in a fine garment. He told them: ‘The Prophet gave me this garment and authorized me to judge among you in all issues regarding money and soul.’ Then he came to the woman who he wanted to marry. The people of the tribe sent someone to the Prophet who instantly said: ‘The enemy of Allah has lied.’ Then the Prophet deputized a man and instructed him: ‘Kill him if you find him alive and burn him if you find him dead.’ The man came to the spot and discovered that he had already met his death by the bite of the snake. So he burnt him. Suyuti, Tahdhib aliKhawas min Akadhib al-Qussas [Beirut-1972] page 32-33

Beware O Muslims ... Beware !!!
If this is the verdict of the Prophet about the one who lies about him in matters of this world, what will be the fate of one who lies about the Prophet in matters of the Religion ???
As previously mentioned under ‘The Significance of the Sanad’, the Fitnah starting from the death of the Caliph Uthman (May Allaah be pleased with him) and leading to the conflict during the Caliphate of Ali (May Allaah be pleased with him), was the period much blamed for the fabrication of Hadeeth. Fabricated Hadeeth in favor Ali and his family on one side and those those denouncing Muawiya and his supporters on the other side and vice versa found their place among Muslims.
Needless to say that the traditionalists were much worried about this situation. The Fitnah turned out to be a turning point when questioning about the isnad first started, as implied by Ibn Sirin’s saying.
But what did they mean by asking about Isnad?
The Isnad consists of the names of the reporters. Once the name of the reporter has come to light it was quiet possible to investigate whether he was trustworthy or not and whether he actually heard the person from whom he claimed the report. Criticism of this nature later came to be known as ‘Ilm al-Jarh wal-Ta’dil (Disparaging and authenticating).
Since a number of spurious (fabricated) Hadeeth found their way into the Hadeeth literature, the science of Hadeeth known as Mustalah or Ilm Usul al-Hadeeth developed to distinguish between the authentic Hadeeth and the fabricated ones. The Scholars of Hadeeth have dealt with each Hadeeth as an independant case, subjecting both its individual Isnad and Mastn (text) to extensive verification according to the principles laid down in this science. This is how separate collections of authentic Hadeeth and those of fabricated ones came into being.
[More details on the delibrate fabrication of Hadeeth will be discussed later on under the chapter - “Who Fabricated Hadeeth?” ]
Mustalah al-Hadeeth (the Classification of Hadeeth)

There are many books about the science of Hadeeth that one can refer to, the best of which is Ikhtisar Ulum al-Hadeeth by ibn Katheer. The best print for this book is the Egyptian print, corrected and reviewed by Ahmed Shaker called “Al-Ba’ith al-Hathith, Sharh Ikhtisar Ulum al-Hadeeth
The books on this subject speak of a number of classes of Hadeeth in accordance with their status. The following broad classifications can be made, each of which is explained in the later sections. This section serves as an introduction to the science of Hadeeth and gives a general prospective to the common reader.
Classification according to the beginning of the Sanad (chain of narrators), they are ....
1. marfu (elevated) i.e. Sanads that go up to the Prophet
2. mauquf (stopped) i.e. a Sanad that goes up to a successor (Tabi’ee)
3. maqtu (severed) i.e. a Sanad that goes up to at-Tabaa at-Tabi’een
1- Marfu’ (elevated) It is a narration from the Prophet, that is when the narrator (a Sahabee, a Taabiee or other) says, “The Messenger of Allaah said …”
For Example : The very first Hadeeth in Saheeh al-Bukhari is as follows al-Bukhari --- Al-Humaidi ‘Abdullah bin al-Zubair --- Sufyan --- Yahya b. Sa’id al-Ansari --- Muhammed b. Ibrahim al-Taymi --- Alqamah b. Waqqas al-Laithi, who said: I heard Umer bin al-Khattab saying, while on the pulpit, “I heard Allaah’s Messenger saying, ‘The reward of deeds depends on the intention. …”
i.e. Sanads that go up to the Prophet

2-Mauquf (stopped) A narration from a Companion only, i.e. his own statement; e.g. al-Bukhari reports in his Saheeh in Kitaab al-Fara’id (Book of the Laws of Inheritance), that Aboo Bakr, Ibn Abbas and Ibn al-Zubair said, “The grandfather is (treated like) the father.”
It should be noted that certain expressions used by a Companion generally render a Hadeeth to be considered as being effectively marfu’ although it is mauquf on the face of it, e.g. the following expressions …..
• “We were commanded to …”
• “We were forbidden from …”
• “We used to do …”
• “We used to say/do …. while the Messenger of Allaah waws amongst us.”
• “We did not used to mind such and such …”
• “It is from the Sunnah to …”
• It was revealed in the following circumstances …”, speaking about a verse of the Qur'aan.
i.e. a Sanad that goes up to a successor (Tabi’ee)

3- Maqtu’ (Severed) A narration from a Successor, e.g. Imaam Muslim reports in the introduction to his Sahih that Ibn Sirin (d.110) said, “This knowledge (i.e. Hadith) is the Religion, so be careful from whom you take your religion.”
i.e. a Sanad that goes up to at-Tabaa at-Tabi’een

The authenticity of each of the above three types of Hadeeth depends on other factors such as the reliability of its reporters, the nature of the linkage amongst them, etc. However, the above classification is extremely useful, since through it the sayings of the Prophet can be distinguished at once from those of Companions or Successors; this is especially helpful in debate about matters of Fiqh.
Imaam Malik’s, al-Muwatta’, one of the early collections of Hadeeth, contains a reletively even ratio of these types of Hadeeth, as well as Mursal Hadeeth (which are discussed later). According to Aboo Bakr al-Aohari (d.375), al-Muwatta contains the following ...
600 Marfu’ Hadeeth
613 Mauquf Hadeeth
285 Maqtu Hadeeth
228 Mursal Hadeeth ; a total of 1726 Hadeeth
Muhammed Adib Salih, Lamahat fi Usul al-Hadeeth (2nd ed., al-Maktaba al-Islami, Beirut, 1389) p.143
Classification according to the link in the isnad
(i.e. whether the chain of reporters is interrupted or uninterrupted) They are.....

• 1-Musnad (supported)
• 2-muttasil (continuous)
• 3-Munqati’ (broken)
• 4-mu’allaq (hanging)
• 5-Mu’dal (perplexing)
• 6-mursal (hurried).

1- Musnad (supported)
Al-Hakim defines a Musnad (supported) Hadeeth as follows:
“A Hadeeth which a narrator reports from his teacher from whom he is known to have heard Hadeeth at a time of life suitable for learning, and similarly in turn for each teacher, until the Sanad reaches a well-known Companion, who in turn reports from the Prophet .
Muhammed b. Abdullah al-Hakim, Ma’rifah ‘Ulum al-Hadeeth (Cairo - 1937) p.17
Al-Hakim gives the following definition of a Musnad Hadeeth:
We reported from Abu ‘Amr ‘Uthman b. Ahmed al-Sammak al-Baghdadi --- Al-Hasan b.Mukarram --- Uthman b. Amr --- Yunus --- al-Zuhri --- Abdullah b. Ka’b b. Malik --- from his father, who asked Ibn Abi Hadrad for a payment of a debt he owed to him, in the mosque. During the ensuing argument, their voices were raised until heard by the Messenger of Allaah , who eventually lifted the curtain of his appartment and said, “O Ka’b! Write off a part of your debt” - he meant remission of a part of it. So he agreed and the man paid off.
Al-Haakim then remarks,
“Now my hearing from Ibn al-Simak is well-known, as is from Ibn Mukarram; al-Hasan’s link with Uthman b. Amr and the latter’s with Yunusb. Zaid are known as well. Yunus is always remembered with az-Zuhree, and the latter with the sons of Ka’b b. Malik, whose link to their father and his companionship of the Prophet are well-established.”
Muhammed b. Abdullah al-Hakim, Ma’rifah ‘Ulum al-Hadeeth (Cairo - 1937) p.17
The term musnad is also applied to those collections of ahadith which give the Hadeeth of each Companion separately. Among the early compilers of such a Musnad were Yahya b. ‘Abd al-Hamid al-Himmani (d. 228) at Kufah and Musaddad b. Musarhad (d. 228) at Basrah. The largest existing collection of ahadith of Companions arranged in this manner is that of Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal (d. 241), which contains around thirty thousand ahadith. Another larger work is attributed to the famous Andalusian

Mursal - Munqati’ - Mu’dal - Mu’allaq
If in the Sanad of a perticular Hadeeth, the link between the Successor (Tabi’ee) and the Prophet is missing, the Hadeeth is Mursal (hurried), eg. when a Successor (Tabi’ee) says, “The Prophet said .....”
However, if a link anywhere before the Successor (i.e. closer to the Muhaddith recording the Hadeeth) is missing, the Hadeeth is Munqati’ (broken). This applies even if there is a apparent link (e.g. The Sanad is continuous but one of the narrators is known to have never heard Hadeeth from his immidiate authority, even though he may be his contemporary). The term Munqati’ is also applied by some scholars to a narration such as, where a reporter says, “a man narrated to me ....”, without naming his authority.
Jalal ad-Din al-Suyuti, Tadrib al-Raawi (Cairo - 1379/1959). 1:197
If the number of consequtive missing reporters in the Sanad exceeds one, the Sanad is Mu’dal. If the reporter omits the whole Sanad and quotes the Prophet directly the Hadeeth is called Mu’allaq (hanging) It is sometimes known as balaghah (to reach); eg. Imaam Maalik sometimes says in al-Muwatta’, “It has reached me that the Messenger of Allaah said ......”.
To Summarize

The Muhaddith > Link A 2 >
Link B 3 >
Link C 4 >
Link D A Sahabee >
Link E The Prophet
If Link E is missing, the Sanad (chain) is Mursal.
If Link B or C is missing, the Sanad (chain) is Munqati’.
If both Link B and C are missing, the Sanad (chain) is Mu’dal.
If Links B, C, D and E all are missing, the Sanad (chain) is Mu’allaq
Example of a Munqati’ Hadeeth
Al-Hakim reported from Muhammad b. Mus’ab --- al-Auza’i --- Shaddad Abu ‘Ammar --- Umm al-Fadl bint al-Harith, who said: I came to the Messenger of Allaah and said, “I have seen in a vision last night as if a part of your body was cut out and placed in my lap.” He said, “You have seen something good. Allah Willing, Fatimah will give birth to a lad who will be in your lap.” After that, Fatimah gave birth to al-Husain, who used to be in my lap, in accordance with the statement of the Messenger of Allah . One day, I came to the Messenger of Allah and placed al-Husain in his lap. I noticed that both his eyes were shedding tears. He said, “Jibril came to me and told me that my Ummah will kill this son of mine, and he brought me some of the reddish dust of that place (where he will be killed).”
Al-Hakim said, “This is a sahih Hadeeth according to the conditions of the Two Shaykhs (i.e. Bukhari & Muslim), but they did not collect it.” Al-Dhahabi says, “No, the hadith is munqati’ and da’if, because Shaddad never met Umm al-Fadl and Muhammad b. Mus’ab is weak.”
Al-Dhahabi, Talkkis al-Mustadrak (printed with Mustadrak ai-Hakim 4 vols. Hyderabad), 3:176
Example of a Mu’dal Hadeeth
Ibn Abi Hatim --- Ja’far b. Ahmad b. Al-Hakam Al-Qurashi in the year 254 --- Sulaiman b. Mansur b. ‘Ammar --- ‘Ali b. ‘Asim --- Sa’id --- Qatadah --- Ubayy b. Ka’b, who reported that the Messenger of Allah said, “After Adam had tasted from the tree, he ran away, but the tree caught his hair. It was proclaimed: O Adam! Are you running away from Me? He said: No, but I feel ashamed before You. He said: O Adam! Go away from My neighbourhood, for By My Honour, no-one who disobeys Me can live here near Me; even if I were to create people like you numbering enough to fill the earth and they were to disobey Me, I would make them live in a home of sinners.”
Ibn Kathir rernarks, “This is a gharib hadith. There is inqita’, in fact I‘dal, between Qatadah and Ubayy b. Ka’b, may Allah be pleased with them both.”
Abu 'I-Fida' 'Imad al-Din Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur’aan al-Azim (4 vols., Cairo, N.D.). 1:80
Classification according to the number of reporters involved in each stage of isnad

1-mutawatir (consecutive)
2-Ahad (isolated).
The Ahad Hadeeth is further devided into
• 1-Gharib (strange)
• 2-Aziz (rare)
• 3-Mashhur (famous).
1-Mutawatir (consecutive)
A Mutawatir Hadeeth is one which is reported by such a large number of people that they cannot be expected to agree upon a lie, all of them together.
al-Jaza’iri, p.33
Al-Ghazali (d.505) stipulates that a mutawatir narration be known by a sizeable number of its reporters equally in the begining, in the middle and in the end. He is correct in this stipulation because some narrations or ideas, although known as mutawatir among some people orignally have no tawatur. There is no precise definition for a large number of reporters, although the numbers four, five, seven, ten, twelve, fourty, seventy, among others, have been suggested as a minimum, the exact number is irrelevant because some reporters, eg. Scholars of Hadeeth carry more weight than others who are their contemporaries. The important condition is that the possibility of coincidence or “organized falsehood” be obviously negligible.
Ibn Hajr al-Askalani, Sharh Nukhbah al-Fikr (ed. M. Aud & MG Sabbagh, Damascus. 1410/1990] p.8-9
Examples of Mutawaatir practicres are the five daily Prayers, Fasting, Zakaah, the Hajj and the recitation of the Qur'aan. Among the verbal Mutawatir Hadeeth, the following has been reported by at least sixty-two Companions from the Prophet , and has been wiely-known amongst Muslims throughout the ages:
“Whoever invents a lie and attributes it to me intentionally, let him prepare his seat in the Fire.”
Also the Hadeeth related to the description of Haud Kauthar (the Basin of Abandant Goodness) in the Hereafter, raising the hands at certain postures during the prayer, rubing of wet hands on rubber socks during ablution, revelation of the Qur'aan in seven modes, and the prohibition of intoxicants are further examples of verbal Mutawatir Hadeeth.
al-Jaza’iri, p.49; Muhammed b. Isma’il al-Amir al-San’ani, Taudih al-Afkar (2 vols./Cairo/1366 (2:405)
2- Ahad (isolated).
A Hadeeth Ahad or a Khabr Waahid is one which is narrated by people whose number does not reach that of the Mutawatir case. Ahad is further classified into:
1- Gharib (strange), 2- Aziz (rare) & 3-Mashhur (famous).
A Hadeeth is termed Gharib (scarce, strange) when only a single reporter is found relating it at some stage of the Sanad. For Example the saying of the Prophet ,
“Travel is a piece of punishment” is Gharib; the Sanad of this Hadeeth contains only one reporter in each stage:
Maalik --- Yahya b. Abi Salih --- Abu Hurairah --- The Prophet (sallahu alaihe- wa-sallam)
With regard to this Sanad, the Hadeeth is Saheeh, although most Gharib Hadeeth are weak. Imaam Ahmed said, “Do not write these Gharib Hadeeth because they are unacceptable, and most of them are weak.”[al-Sanani 2:409]
A type of Hadeeth similar to Gharib is “fard” (solitary) and is known in three ways:
1 - It is similar to Gharib, i.e. a single person is found reporting it from a well-known Imaam.
2 - The people of one locality only are known to narrate the Hadeeth.
3 - Narrators from one locatity repor the Hadeeth from narrators of another locality, such as the people of Makkah reporting from the people of Medina.
al-Haakim, p.96-102
If at any stage in the Sanad, only two reporters are found to narrate the Hadeeth, it is termed as “Aziz” (rare, strong). For eg, Anas reported that the Messenger of Allaah said,
“None of you truly believes until I become more beloved to him than his father, his son, and all the people.”
The reporters Qatadah and Abdul Aziz b. Shu’aib, report this Hadeeth from Anas , ans two more reporters narrate from each of them: Shu’bah and Said report from Qatadah, and Isma’il b. Ulayyah and Abd al-Warith from Abd al-Aziz, then a group of people report from each of them. [al-San’ani, 2:455]
A Hadeeth that is reported by more than two reporters is known as Mashhur (famous). According to some scholars, every narrative that comes to be known widely, whether or not it has a authentic orign, is called Mashhur. A Mashhur Hadeeth might be reported by only one or two reporters in the beginning but becomes widely-known later, unlike Gharib or Aziz, which are reported by one or two reporters in the beginning and continue to have the same number even in the times of the Successors and those after them. For example, if only one or two reporters are found narrating Hadeeth from a reliable authority in Hadeeth such as al-Zuhree and Qatadah, the Hadeeth will remain either Gharib or Aziz. On the other hand, if a group of people narrate from them, it will be known as Mashhur. al-Iraqi, p.268
According to al-’Ala’i (Abu Sa’id Khalil Salah al-Din, d.761) a Hadeeth may be known as Aziz and Mashhur at the same time. By this he means a Hadeeth which is left with only two reporters in its isnad at every stage while it enjoys a host of reporters in other stages, such as the saying of the Prophet ,
“We are the last but (will be) the foremost on the Day of the Resurrection.”
The Hadeeth is Aziz in its first stage, as it is reported by Hudaifah b. al-Yamman and Abu Hurairah only. It later becomes Mashhur as seven people report it from Abu Hurairah (May Allaah be pleased with him) .
Classification according to the manner in which the Hadeeth has been reported
such as by using the words: haddathana (he narrated to us), akhbarana (he informed us) or sami’tu (I heard) and ‘an (on the authority of), In this catagory fall the discussion about mudallas (concealed) and Musalsal (uniformly-linked) Hadeeth.
The first three ways of reporting, i.e. indicate that the reporter personally heard from his teacher, whereas the mode can denote either hearing in person or through another reporter.
1- Mudallas Hadeeth and Tadlis
A Mudallas (Concealed) Hadeeth is one, which is weak due to the uncertainty caused by Tadlis. Tadlis (concealing) refers to an isnad where a reporter has concealed the identity of his teacher. Ibn al-Salah describes two types of Tadlis:
a) Tadlis al-Isnad :
A person reports from a teacher (whom he met) but reported that which he did not hear from him, or a person reports from a contemporary of his whom he did not meet, in such a way as to create the impression that he heard the Hadeeth in person. A Mudallis (one who practices Tadlis) here usually uses the mode An (on the authority of) or (he said) to conceal the truth about the Sanad.
b) Tadlis al-Shuyukh.
The reporter does not mention his teacher by name, but uses a less well-known name, by-name, nick-name, etc., in order not to disclose his teacher’s identity. al-Iraqi, p.96
c) Tadlis al-Taswiyyah
Al-Iraqi (d.806) in his notes on Muqaddimad Ibn al-Salah, adds a this type of Tadlis. To explain it let us assume a Sanad which contains a trustworthy reporter reporting from a weak authority, who in turn reports from another trustworthy authority. Now the reporter of this Sanad omits the intermediate weak authority, leaving it apparently consisting of reliable authorities. He plainly shows that he heard from the trustworthy authority but uses the mode, “on the authority of”, to link his immidiate chain to the trustworthy one. To an average student, this Sand seems free of any doubt or discrepancy. This is known to have been practiced by Baqiyyah b. al-Walid, Walid b. Muslim, al-A’mash and al-Thauri.
Reliable Authority Reliable Authority
Ibn Hajar classifies those who practised Tadlis into five groups in his essay Tabaqat al-Mudallisin:
• Those who are known to do it occationally, such as Yahya b. Sa’id al-Ansari
• Those who are accepted by the Muhaddithoon, either because of their good reputation and reletively few cases of Tadlis, eg. Sufyan ath-Thauri (d.161) or because they reported from authentic authorities only, eg. Sufyan Ibn Uyainah (d.198).
• Those who practised it a hgreat deal, and the Muhaddithoon have accepted such Hadeeth from them which were reported with a clear mention of hearing directly. Among these are Abul’ Zubair al-Makki, whose Hadeeth narrated from the Companion Jabir b. Abdullah have been collected in Saheeh al-Muslim. Opinions differ as to whether they are acceptable or not.
• Similar to the previous category, but the Muhaddithoon agree that their Hadeeth are to be rejected unless they clearly admit of their hearing, such as by saying, “I heard”; an example of this category is Baqiyyah b. al-Walid.
• Those who are disparaged due to other reasons apart from Tadlis, their Hadeeth are rejected, even thoughthey claim of hearing them directly. Exempted from them are reporters such as Ibn Lahi’ah, the famous Egyptian Judge, whose weakness is found to be of a lesser degree. Ibn Hajar gives the names of 152 such reporters Ibn Hajar, Tabaqat al-Mudallisin (Cairo - 1322), p.7f.
Tadlis especially of those in the last three categories, is so disliked that Shu’bah (d.170) said, “Tadlis is the brother of lying” and “To commit adultery is more favourable to me than to report by way of Tadlis.” [al-Iraqi, p.98].
2- Musalsal
A Musalsal (uniformly -linked) Sanad is one in which all the reporters, as well as the Messenger of Allaah use the same mode of transmission such as ‘an, haddathana, etc., repeat any other additional statement or remark, or act in a particular manner while narrating the Hadeeth.
Al-Haakim gives eight examples of such Sanads, each having a different characteristic repeated feature:
• use of the phrase sami’tu (I heard)
• the expression “stand and pour water for me so that I may illustrate the way my teacher performed ablution
• haddathanna (he narrated to us
• amarani (fe commanded me)
• holding one’s beard
• illustrating by counting on five fingers
• the expression, “I testify that ....”
• interlocking of fingers.
al-Haakim, p.30-34
Knowledge of Musalsal helps in discounting the possibility of Tadlis
Classification according to the nature of the matn and isnad
eg. additional words added by a reliable narrator, known as ziyadatu thiqah; or opposition by a lesser authority to a more reliable one, known as Shadhdh (irregular), In some cases a text containing an unreasonable remark or obviously-erroneous statement is rejected by the Muhaddithoon outsight without consideration of its Sanad: such a Hadeeth is known as Munkar (denounced). If an expression is proved to be an addition by a reporter to the text, it is declared as Mudraj (interpolated).
Shadhdh irregular & Munkar denounced.
According to al-Shafi'i, a shadhdh ("irregular") Hadeeth is one which is reported by a trustworthy person but goes against the narration of a person more reliable than him. It does not include a Hadeeth which is unique in its contents and is not narrated by someone else (al-Haakim, p.119). In the light of this definition, the well-known hadith,
"Actions are (judged) according to their intentions” ... is not considered shadhdh since it has been narrated by Yahya b. Sa'id al-Ansari from Muhammad b. Ibrahim al-Taimi from 'Alqamah from 'Umar, all of whom are trustworthy authorities, although each one of them is the only reporter at that stage.
Ibn Kathir, Ikhtisar 'Ulum al-Hadith (ed. Ahmad Shakir, 2nd imp., cairo, 1951), p.57
An example of a shadhdh Hadeeth according to some scholars is one which Abu Dawood and al-Tirmidhi transmit, through the following isnad:
'Abdul Wahid b. Ziyad --- al-A'mash --- Abu Salih --- Abu Hurairah --- the Prophet
"When one of you offers the two rak’ahs before the Dawn Prayer, he should lie down on his right side.”
Regarding it, al-Baihaqi said, “'Abdul Wahid has gone against a large number of people with this narration, for they have reported the above as an act of the Prophet , and not as his saying; 'Abdul Wahid is alone amongst the trustworthy students of al-A'mash in narrating these words.” al-Suyuti, 1:235; M. A. Salih. p. 260
According to Ibn Hajar, if a narration which goes against another authentic Hadeeth is reported by a weak narrator, it is known as munkar (denounced) al-San’ani, 2:3.
Traditionists as late as Imaam Ahmad used to simply label any Hadeeth of a weak reporter as munkar
al-San’ani., 2:6.
Sometimes, a Hadeeth is labelled as munkar because of its contents being contrary to general sayings of the Prophet .
Al-Khatib (d. 463) quotes al-Rabi' b. Khaitham (d. 63) as saying, "Some Hadeeth have a light like that of day, which we recognise; others have a darkness like that of night which makes us reject them."
He also quotes al-Auza'i (d. 157) as saying, "We used to listen to Hadeeth and present them to fellow traditionists, just as we present forged coins to money-changers: whatever they recognise of them, we accept, and whatever they reject of them, we also reject." al-Khatib, p. 431
Ibn Kathir quotes the following two Hadeeth in his Tafsir, the first of which is acceptable, whereas the second contradicts it and is unreliable:
(i) Ahmad --- Abu Mu’awiyah --- Hisham b. 'Urwah --- Fatimah bint al-Mundhir --- Asma' bint Abi Bakr, who said, "My mother came (to Madinah) during the treaty Quraish had made, while she was still a polytheist. So I came to the Prophet and said to him, 'O Messenger of Allah, my mother has come willingly: should I treat her with kindness?” He replied, 'Yes! Treat her with kindness'."
(ii) Al-Bazzar --- 'Abdullah b. Shabib --- Abu Bakr b. Abi Shaibah --- Abu Qatadah al-'Adawi --- the nephew of al-Zuhri --- al-Zuhri --- 'Urwah --- 'A'ishah and Asma', both of whom said, "Our mother came to us in Madinah while she was a polytheist, during the peace treaty between the Quraish and the Messenger of Allah . So we said, 'O Messenger of Allah, our mother has come to Madinah willingly: do we treat her kindly?' He said, 'Yes! Treat her kindly'."
Ibn Kathir then remarks: "This (latter) hadith, to our knowledge is reported only through this route of al-Zuhri --- 'Urwah --- 'A'ishah. It is a munkar Hadeeth with this text because the mother of 'A'ishah is Umm Ruman, who was already a Muslim emigrant, while the mother of Asma' was another woman, as mentioned by name in other Hadeeth " Ibn Kathir, Tafsir. 4:349
In contrast to a munkar Hadeeth, if a reliable reporter is found to add something which is not narrated by other authentic sources, the addition is accepted as long as it does not contradict them; and is known as ziyadatu thiqah (an addition by one trustworthy)
Ibn Kathir, Ikhtisar, p. 62
An example is the Hadeeth of al-Bukhari and Muslim on the authority of Ibn Mas'ud : "I asked the Messenger of Allah , “Which action is the most virtuous?' He said, 'The Prayer at its due time'." Two reporters, Al-Hasan b. Makdam and Bindar, reported it with the addition, "... at the beginning of its time"; both Al-Hakim and Ibn Hibban declared this addition to be sahih.
al-Suyuti, 1:248
Mudraj
An addition by a reporter to the text of the saying being narrated is termed mudraj (interpolated)
al-Haakim, p.39
. For example, al-Khatib relates via Abu Qattan and Shababah --- Shu'bah --- Muhammad b. Ziyad --- Abu Hurairah --- The Prophet , who said,
"Perform the ablution fully; woe to the heels from the Fire!"
Al-Khatib - rahimahullaah - then remarks, "The statement, 'Perform the ablution fully' is made by Abu Hurairah , while the statement afterwards, 'Woe to the heels from the Fire!', is that of the Prophet . The distinction between the two is understood from the narration of al-Bukhari, who transmits the same hadith and quotes Abu Hurairah as saying, "Complete the ablution, for Abu’l-Qasim said: “Woe to the heels from the Fire!” al-Iraqi, p.129f
Such an addition may be found in the beginning, in the middle, or at the end, often in explanation of a term used. Idraj (interpolation) is mostly found in the text, although a few examples show that such additions are found in the isnad as well, where the reporter grafts a part of one isnad into another.
A reporter found to be in the habit of intentional idraj is generally unacceptable and considered a liar - al-Suyuti, 1:274
However, the traditionalists are more lenient towards those reporters who may do so forgetfully or in order to explain a difficult word.
Classification according to a hidden defect found in the isnad or text of a Hadeeth
Although this could be included in the previous categories, a Hadeeth mu’allal (defective Hadeeth) is worthy to be explained separately.
Sheikh ul-Islaam, Ibn Taimeeyah, “They (the scholars of Hadeeth) have even considered some ahaadeeth reported by reliable (thiqah), true (sideeq) and correct narrators (al-dhabt) to be weak in which they are able to find out some defects. The science that discusses these reasons is called ‘ilm ilal al-hadeeth, the science of the hidden defects of hadeeth, which is one of their noblest disciplines. A hadeeth which is reported by a reliable and correct narrator sometimes has errors which can be easily detected. It is for instance, known that the Prophet married Maymoonah (radiyallaahu ‘anha) when he was putting on ihraam, and prayed two rak’ahs in the Haram. Hence the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas would be regarded as incorrect which says that the Prophet married Maymoonah (radiyallaahu ‘anha) when he had put off the ihraam, and did not pray two rak’ahs’
For the ahadeeth on the subject see Sunan at-Tirmidhi , Hajj, 23, 24; Sunan Abu Dawood, Manaasik, 21, 38; Ahmad, Musnad, vol 6:393; , Sunan al-Daarimee, 21; Sunan an-Nass'ai Manaasik, 90; Saheeh al-Bukhari , Sayd, 12, Nikah, 30, Maghaazee, 43; Saheeh al-Muslim, Nikah: 46,47,48.” Sheikh ul-Islaam, Ibn Taimeeyah in Muqadamah fee Usool at-Tafseer, p.38
Before discussing ma’lul (defective) Hadeeth, a brief note on mudtarib (shaky) and maqlub (reversed) Hadeeth would help in understanding ma’lul.
Mudtarib
According to Ibn Kathir, if reporters disagree about a particular shaikh, or about some other points in the isnad or the text, in such a way that none of the opinions can be preferred over the others, and thus there is uncertainty about the isnad or text, such a hadith is called mudtarib (shaky). Ibn Kathir, Ikhtisar, p. 72
For example with regard to idtirab in the isnad, it is reported on the authority of Abu Bakr that he said, “O Messenger of Allah! I see you getting older” He replied, “What made me old are Surah Hud and its sister surahs.”
Al-Daraqutni says, “This is an example of a mudtarib hadith. It is reported through Abu Ishaq, but as many as ten different opinions are held about this isnad: some report it as mursal, others as muttasil; some take it as musnad of Abu Bakr, others as musnad of Said or ‘A’ishah. Since all these reports are comparable in weight, it is difficult to prefer one above another. Hence, the hadith is termed as mudtarib.”
As an example of idtirab in the text, Rafl’ b. Khadij said that the Messenger of Allah forbade the renting of land. The reporters narrating from Rafi’ give different statements, as follows:
1. Hanzalah asked Rafi’, “What about renting for gold and silver?” He replied, “It does not matter if it is rent for gold and silver.”
2. Rifa’ah --- Rafi’ --- the Prophet , who said, “Whoever owns a piece of land should cultivate it, give it to his brother to cultivate, or abandon it.”
3. Salim --- Rafi’ --- his two uncles --- the Prophet , who forbade the renting of farming land.
4. The son of Rafi’ --- Rafi’--- the Prophet who forbade the renting of land.
5. A different narration by Rafi’ from the Prophet, who said, “Whoever owns a piece of land should either cultivate it or give it to his brother to cultivate. He must not rent it for a third or a quarter of the produce, nor for a given quantity of the produce.”
6. Zaid b. Thabit said, “May Allah forgive Rafi’! I am more aware of the Hadeeth than he, what happened was that two of the Ansar (Helpers) had a dispute, so they came to the Prophet , who said after listening to their cases, ‘If this is your position, then do not rent the farms.’ Rafi’ has only heard the last phrase, i.e., ‘Do not rent the farms’.”
Because of these various versions, Ahmad b. Hanbal - rahimahullah - said,
“The ahadith reported by Rafi’ about the renting of land are mudtarib. They are not to be accepted, especially when they go against the well-established Hadeeth of Ibn ‘Umar that the Messenger of Allah gave the land of Khaibar to the Jews on condition that they work on it and take half of the produce.”
Ibn ‘Abdul Barr, Al-Tamhid, 3:32, as quoteo by Luqman al-Salafi, Ihtirnam al-Muhaddithin bi Naqd al-Hadith, p. 381f.
Maqlub
A hadith is known as maqlub (changed, reversed) when its isnad is grafted to a different text or vice versa, or if a reporter happens to reverse the order of a sentence in the text.
As an example relating to the text, in his transmission of the famous hadith describing the seven who will be under the shelter of Allah on the Day of Judgment, Muslim reports one of the categories as, “a man who conceals his act of charity to such an extent that his right hand does not know what his left hand gives in charity.” This sentence has clearly been reversed by a reporter, because the correct wording is recorded in other narrations of both al-Bukhari and Muslim as follows: “... that his left hand does not know what his right hand gives ...”
Ibn Kathir, Ikhtisar, p. 88
The famous trial of al-Bukhari by the scholars of Baghdad provides a good example of a maqlub isnad. The traditionists, in order to test their visitor, al-Bukhari, appointed ten men, each with ten Hadeeth. Now, each hadith (text) of these ten people was prefixed with the isnad of another. Imam al-Bukhari listened to each of the ten men as they narrated their Hadeeth and denied the correctness of every hadith. When they had finished narrating these ahadith, he addressed each person in turn and recounted to him each of his ahadith with its correct isnad. This trial earned him great honour among the scholars of Baghdad
Ibn Kathir, Ikhtisar, p. 87
Other ways in which Hadeeth have been rendered maqlub are by replacement of the name of a reporter with another, e.g. quoting Abu Hurairah as the reporter from the Prophet although the actual reporter was someone else, or by reversal of the name of the reporter, e.g. mentioning Walid b. Muslim instead of Muslim b. Walid, or Ka’b b. Murrah instead of Murrah b. Ka’b
Shams al-Din Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sakhawi, Fath al-Maghith Sharh Alfiyyah al-Hadith li l-lraqi (Lucknow, N.D.), 1:278..
Ma’lul orMu’allal
Ibn al-Salah says, “A ma’lul (defective) hadith is one which appears to be sound, but thorough research reveals a disparaging factor.” Such factors can be:
1. declaring a Hadeeth musnad when it is in fact mursal, or marfu’ when it is in fact mauquf;
2. showing a reporter to narrate from his shaikh when in fact he did not meet the latter; or attributing a Hadeeth to one Companion when it in fact comes through another.
‘Uthman b. ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Dimashqi Ibn al-Salah, ‘Ulum al-Hadith (commonly known as Maqaddimah ed. Al-Tabbakh. Halab, 1350), p. 116
Ibn al-Madini (d. 324) says that such a defect can only be revealed if all the isnads of a particular Hadeeth are collated. In his book al-’llal, he gives thirty-four Successors and the names of those Companions from whom each of them heard Hadeeth directly. For example, he says that al-Hasan al-Basri (d. 110, aged 88) did not see ‘Ali (d. 40), although he adds that there is a slight possibility that he may have seen him during his childhood in Madinah
Ali b. ‘Abdullah b. Ja’far Ibn al-Madini, Kirab al- llal p.58.
Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani mentions that the Imams of Hadith have agreed that al-Hasan al-Basri did not hear a single word from ‘Ali.
Such information is very important, since for example, many Sufi traditions go back to al-Hasan al-Basri, who is claimed to report directly from ‘Ali .
Being a very delicate branch of Mustalah al-Hadith, only a few well-known traditionists such as Ibn al-Madini (d. 234), Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi (d. 327), al-Khallal (d. 311) and al-Daraqutni (d. 385), have compiled books about it. Ibn Abi Hatim, in his Kitab al-‘llal, has given 2840 examples of ma’lul Hadeeth about a range of topics.
An example of a ma’lul hadith is one transmitted by Muslim on the authority of Abu Hurairah , who reports the Prophet as saying, “Allah created the land on Saturday; He created the mountains on Sunday; He created the trees on Monday; He created the things entailing labour on Tuesday; He created the light (or fish) on Wednesday; He scattered the beasts in it (the earth) on Thursday; and He created Adam after the afternoon of Friday, the last creation at the last hour of the hours of Friday, between the afternoon and night.”
Sahih Muslim, (english trans.) vol.4, no.1462, Sharh Nawawi, 17:133
Regarding it, Ibn Taimiyyah says, “Men more knowledgeable than Muslim, such as al-Bukhari and Yahya b.Ma’in, have criticized it. Al-Bukhari said, ‘This saying is not that of the Prophet , but one of Ka’b al-Ahbar’
Sheikh ul-Islam Ibn Taimiyyah, Majmu’ Fatawa (37 vols., ed. ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Qasim & his son Muhammad Riyad, 1398), 18:18f.
Ibn Taimiyyah mentions that Imam Muslim’s authentication of this hadith is supported by Abu Bakr al-Anbari & Ibn al-Jauzi, whereas al-Baihaqi supports those who disparaged it.
Al-Albani says that it was Ibn al-Madini who criticized it, whereas Ibn Ma’in did not (the latter was known to be very strict, both of them were shaikhs of al-Bukhari). He further says that the Hadeeth is sahih, and does not contradict the Qur’an, contrary to the probable view of the scholars who criticized the hadith, single what is mentioned in the Qur’an is the creation of the heavens and the earth in six days, each of which may be like a thousand years, whereas the hadith refers to the creation of the earth only, in days which are shorter than those referred to in the Qurtan (Silsilah al-Ahadith as-Sahihah, no. 1833)
Classification according to the Reliability and Memory of the Reporters
The finally classification is according to the reliability and memory of the reporters; the judgment on a Hadeeth depends crucially on this factor. Verdicts such as Saheeh (sound), Hasan (good), Da’if (week) and maudu’ (fabricated) rest mainly upon the nature of the reporters in the isnad.
Among the early traditionists, mostly of the first two centuries, Hadeeth were classified into two categories only: Saheeh and da‘if; al-Tirmidhi was to be the first to distinguish Hasan from da ‘if. This is why traditionists and jurists such as Ahmad, who seemed to argue on the basis of da’if Hadeeth sometimes, were in fact basing their argument on the Hadeeth which were later to be known as Hasan.
Ad-Dhahabi, p. 27

We now examine in more detail these four important classes of Hadeeth.
Saheeh
Imaam Al-Shafi’i - rahimahullah - states the following requirement in order for a Hadeeth which is not mutawatir to be acceptable, he says .....:
“Someone has asked me: Will you state what the minimum proof for a narrative related by a few [transmitters] (i.e. a Ahad Hadeeth) should be in order to be binding upon scholars?
[Shafi’i] replied: [The minimum proof] is that the narrative must be related by one person from another [before him] back to the Prophet , or to one next to the Prophet. Such a person might be one of the Prophet's companions
The proof for such a tradition is not established unless certain conditions are fulfilled:
He who relates a tradition must merit confidence in his religion, and be known as reliable in his transmitting, comprehending what he transmits, aware of any pronunciation that might change the meaning of the tradition, capable of transmitting the tradition word for word as he heard it, not merely transmitting [in his own words] its meaning; for if he transmits only the meaning and is unaware of what might alter its sense, he might unknowingly transmute the lawful into the unlawful and vice-versa so if he transmits word for word there remains no ground for fearing a change of the meaning. [Furthermore], he should have learned the tradition by heart, if he relates it from memory, and shots have memorized the written text [of traditions] if he relates it in its written form; when he participates with others in relating a tradition from memory, that which they relate must agree. He must not be an interpolator* attributing to someone whom he has not met that which he has not heard from him, or attributing to the Prophet something different from that which reliable authorities relate from him. The same [qualifications] must be possessed by transmitters preceding him until the transmitter relates back to the Prophet or to him who carries it back closest to him, for each of them vouches for the tradition as he received it and verifies it for him to whom he passes it. So none of them should lack [the qualifications] I have just described.”
Ar-Risaalah, by Imaam Shafi’i (english trans.) p.239-240 (374f)

*Tadlis literally means "deceit," which consist either of interpolating the name of a trustworthy authority or eliminating the name or names of discreditable transmitters from the isnad or the chain of authorities. See Ibn Hajar, Maratib al-Mudallisin (Cairo, 1322/1904), pp. 2-4; 1
Ibn al-Salah, however, defines a Saheeh Hadeeth more precisely by saying:
“A Saheeh Hadeeth is the one which has a continuous isnad, made up of reporters of trustworthy memory from similar authorities, and which is found to be free from any irregularities (i.e. in the text) or defects (i.e. in the isnad).“
By the above definition, no room is left for any weak Hadeeth, whether, for example, it is munqati’, mu’dal, mudtarib, maqlub, shadhdh, munkar, ma’lul, or contains a mudallis. The definition also excludes Hasan Hadeeth, as will be discussed under that heading.
Of all the collectors of Hadeeth, al-Bukhari and Muslim were greatly admired because of their tireless attempts to collect Saheeh Hadeeth only. It is generally understood that the more trustworthy and of good memory the reporters, the more authentic the Hadeeth.
The isnad:
al-Shafi’i --- Malik --- Nafi’ --- ‘Abdullah b. ‘Umar --- The Prophet (sallalahu alaihe wa-sallam)
is called a “golden isnad” because of its renowned reporters
al Dhahabi, p.24

Some traditionists prefer Saheeh al-Bukhari to Saheeh Muslim because al-Bukhari always looked for those reporters who had either accompanied or met each other, even if only once in their lifetime. On the other hand, Muslim would accept a reporter who is simply found to be contemporary to his immediate authority in reporting.
al-Nawawi, Muqaddimah, p.14
The following grading is given for Saheeh Hadeeth only:
1. those which are transmitted by both al-Bukhari and Muslim;
2. those which are transmitted by al-Bukhari only;
3. those which are transmitted by Muslim only;
4. those which are not found in the above two collections, but which agree with the requirements of both al-Bukhari and Muslim;
5. which agree with the requirements of al-Bukhari only;
6. which agree with the requirements of Muslim only; and
7. those declared Saheeh by other traditionists.
al-Tibi, al-Husain b. ‘Abdullah, al-Khulasah fl usul al-Hadith (ed. Subhi al-Samaira’i, Baghdad, 1391), p. 36

Hasan
Al-Tirmidhi means by Hadeeth Hasan: a Hadeeth which is not shadhdh, nor contains a disparaged reporter in its isnad, and which is reported through more than one route of narrations
ibid, p.38
Al-Khattabi (d. 388) states a very concise definition, “It is the one where its source is known and its reporters are unambiguous. “
By this he means that the reporters of the Hadeeth should not be of a doubtful nature, such as with the mursal or munqati’ Hadeeth, or one containing a mudallis.
Ibn al-Salah classifies Hasan into two categories:
1. one with an isnad containing a reporter who is mastur (“screened”, i.e. no prominent person reported from him) but is not totally careless in his reporting, provided that a similar text is reported through another isnad as well;
2. one with an isnad containing a reporter who is known to be truthful and reliable, but is a degree less in his preservation/memory of Hadeeth in comparison to the reporters of Saheeh Hadeeth.
In both categories, Ibn al-Salah requires that the Hadeeth be free of any shudhudh (irregularities)
al-Nawawi, Muqadditnah, p. 43.
Al-Dhahabi, after giving the various definitions, says, “A Hasan Hadeeth is one which excels the da’if but nevertheless does not reach the standard of a Saheeh Hadeeth.”
al-Dhahabi, p. 26
In the light of this definition, the following isnads are Hasan according to al-Dhahabi:
1. Bahz b. Hakam --- his father --- his grandfather;
2. ‘Amr b. Shu’aib --- his father --- his grandfather;
3. Muhammad b. ‘Amr --- Abu Salamah --- Abu Hurairah
Reporters such as al-Harith b. ‘Abdullah, ‘Asim b. Damurah, Hajjaj b. Artat, Khusaif b. ‘Abd al-Rahman and Darraj Abu al-Samh attract different verdicts: some traditionists declare their Hadeeth Hasan, others declare them da’if.
Ibid., pp. 32-33
Example of a Hasan Hadeeth
Malik, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi and al-Hakim reported through their isnads from ‘Amr b. Shu’aib --- his father --- his grandfather, that the Messenger of Allaah said,
“A single rider is a devil (i.e. disobedient), two riders are two devils, but three makes a travelling party.”
Al-Tirmidhi declares this Hadeeth to be Hasan because of the above isnad, which falls short of the requirements for a Saheeh Hadeeth. al-Albani, Silsilah al-Hadeeth as-Saheehah, no. 62.
Several weak Hadeeth may mutually support each other to the level of Hasan
According to the definitions of al-Tirmidhi and Ibn al-Salah, a number of similar weak Hadeeth on a particular issue can be raised to the degree of Hasan if the weakness found in their reporters is of a mild nature. Such a Hadeeth is known as Hasan li ghairihi (Hasan due to others), to distinguish it from the type previously discussed, which is Hasan li-dhatihi (Hasan in itself). Similarly, several Hasan Hadeeth on the same subject may make the Hadeeth Saheeh li ghairihi, to be distinguished from the previously-discussed Saheeh li dhatihi.
However, in case the weakness is severe (e.g., the reporter is accused of lying or the Hadeeth is itself shadhdh), such very weak Hadeeth will not support each other and will remain weak. For example, the well-known Hadeeth,
“He who preserves forty Hadeeth for my Ummah will be raised by Ahah on the Day of Resurrection among the men of understanding”, has been declared to be da‘if by most of the traditionists, although it is reported through several routes.”
al-Jaza’iri, p.149

Da‘if
A Hadeeth which fails to reach the status of Hasan is Da‘if

The scholars of Hadith agree that a da’if or maudu’ Hadeeth must not be attributed to the Prophet ? , e.g. by saying, “The Prophet said: ...”, even if the meaning is considered to be correct or if it is actually the saying of a Muslim scholar, for that would be a way of lying about the Prophet (sallalahu alaihe wa-sallam)
Usually, the weakness is one of discontinuity in the isnad, in which case the Hadeeth could be mursal, mu’allaq, mudallas, munqati’ or mu’dal, according to the precise nature of the discontinuity, or one of a reporter having a disparaged character, such as due to his telling lies, excessive mistakes, opposition to the narration of more reliable sources, involvement in innovation, or ambiguity surrounding his person.
The smaller the number and importance of defects, the less severe the weakness. The more the defects in number and severity, the closer the Hadeeth will be to being maudu’ (fabricated) al-Sakhawi 1:99.
Some Hadeeth, according to the variation in the nature of the weakness associated with its reporters, rank at the bottom of the Hasan grade or at the top of the da’if grade. Reporters such as ‘Abdullah b. Lahi’ah (a famous judge from Egypt), ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Zaid b. Aslam, Abu Bakr b. Abi Maryam al-Himsi, Faraj b. Fadalah, and Rishdin b. Sa’d attract such types of varying ranks as they are neither extremely good preservers nor totally abandoned by the traditionists.al-Dhahabi, pp. 33-34


Maudu’
Al-Dhahabi defines maudu’ (fabricated, forged) as the term applied to a Hadeeth, the text of which goes against the established norms of the Prophet’s sayings, or its reporters include a liar, e.g. the forty Hadeeth known as Wad’aniyyah or the small collection of Hadeeth which was fabricated and claimed to have been reported by ‘Ali al-Rida, the eighth Imam of the Ithna ‘Ashari Shi’ah. ibid., p. 36.
A number of traditionists have collected fabricated Hadeeth separately in order to distinguish them from other Hadeeth; among them are Ibn al-Jauzi in al-Maudu’at, al-Jauzaqani in Kitab al-Abatil, al-Suyuti in al-La’ali al-Masnu’ah fi ‘l-Hadeeth al-Maudu’ah, and ‘Ali al-Qari in al-Maudu’at.
Some of these Hadeeth were known to be spurious by the confession of their inventors. For example, Muhammad b. Sa’id al-Maslub used to say, “It is not wrong to fabricate an isnad for a sound statement.” al-Sakhawi 1:264
Another notorious inventor, ‘Abd al-Karim Abu ‘1-Auja, who was killed and crucified by Muhammad b. Sulaiman b. ‘Ali, governor of Basrah, admitted that he had fabricated four thousand Hadeeth declaring lawful the prohibited and vice-versa ibid., 1:275.
Maudu’ Hadeeth are also recognised by external evidence related to a discrepancy found in the dates or times of a particular incident an-Nawawi, Taqrib, 1:275
For example, when the second caliph, ‘Umar b. Al-Khattab decided to expel the Jews from Khaibar, some Jewish dignitaries brought a document to ‘Umar apparently proving that the Prophet had intended that they stay there by exempting them from the jizyah (tax on non-Muslims under the rule of Muslims); the document carried the witness of two Companions, Sa’d b. Mu’adh and Mu’awiyah b. Abi Sufyan . ‘Umar rejected the document outright, knowing that it was fabricated because the conquest of Khaibar took place in 6 AH, whereas Sa’d b. Mu’adh died in 3 AH just after the Battle of the Trench, and Mu’awiyah embraced Islam in 8 AH, after the conquest of Makkah!.”
An Important Argument regarding the Ahad Hadeeth

Taken from, “An Introduction to the Principles of Tafseer”, by Sheikh ul-Islaam Ibn Taimeeyah. p.32
Mursal [1] Hadeeth which have been transmitted through numerous channels, and not been produced by collusion between the transmitters, and whose agreement with each other is merely incidental, are definitely true. For a Hadeeth is either authentic and true to the event, or it is a lie willfully concocted by the narrator, or erroneous wherein he has inadvertently committed some error. The report which is free from deliberate lie and accidental error is certainly
Hence if a Hadeeth is reported through two or more channels, and if the transmitters are not found to have conspired, and if it is true that agreements on such things did not happen without collaboration, simply by chance, we can be sure of its authenticity. Suppose, a person reports an event and gives details of what was said and done, then another person whom we know that he did not discuss with the first, reports the event and mentions all the words and actions the first had reported, we will conclude that the event is true and has been, on the whole, correctly reported. For if both give a wrong report, whether deliberately or by mistake, it is very unusual that one would come out with the same details as the other. This would not be possible unless one conspires with the other. To be sure, it is very much possible that a person composes one verse of poetry and another composes the same verse without knowledge of the first, or that one tells a lie and another person tells a similar lie. But it is certainly not possible that a poet composes a whole long poem with all its embellishments and charms in a particular meter and rhyme, and another poet composes the same poem without any difference in language, content or size. If such a thing does happen, we will only conclude that one has taken it from the other. Similarly, if one produces a long report and mentions a lot of things, and another gives the same report, he has either colluded with the other or taken it from him, or else the report is true.
In this way we become sure of the authenticity of most of the Hadeeth that have been transmitted by many channels. However, it is true that a Hadeeth which has been transmitted by only one channel will not be enough; if it is mursal, or if there is some weakness in the transmission. Even multi-channelled Hadeeth do not guarantee the accuracy of words or details; these things cannot be ascertained in this way. We have to have another method to establish the accuracy of words and details. For example: we known that the battle of Badr occurred before the battle of Uhud. This is established by tawaatur (that is, by a stream of traditions with unbroken continuity). We also know that Hamzah (an uncle of the Prophet), 'Alee and Ubaydah came out to meet 'Utbah, Shaybah and al-Waleed during the combat, and that 'Alee killed al-Waleed and Hamzah killed his combatant; but we are not sure as to whom Hamzah fought, 'Utbah or Shaybah. One must keep this principle in mind: for it is the criterion by which one can ascertain the truth of many of the Hadeeth in the field of Tafseer and maghaazee as well as the reports about the life and the words of other people.
Hence, if a Hadeeth to which this principle may apply is reported from the Prophet by two men, and we come to know that neither took it from the other, we will be sure of its authenticity, particularly when it is known that the reporters do not lie, even though they might forget something or commit some error in their reporting. Those who know the companions like Ibn Mas'ood [2], Ubay ibn Ka'b [3], Ibn 'Umar [4], Jaabir [5], Abu Sa’eed [6], Abu Hurayrah [7] and others, definitely know that none of them would tell a lie about the Prophet and certainly not those Companions who are greater than them. It is just like knowing the veracity [8]of someone whom you have experienced and tested for a long time that he does not steal money, or commit robbery or give false witness, etc.
Similarly, one who knows the successors of Madeenah, Makkah, Syria and Basrah such as Abu Saalih al-Sammaan, al-A'raj, Sulaymaan ibn Yaasir [9], Zayd ibn Aslam and others like them know certainly that they would not lie in Hadeeth, not to mention those who are better than them like Muhammad ibn Seereen [10], al-Qaasim ibn Muhammad [11], Sa'eed ibn al-Musayyib [12], 'Ubaydah al-Salmaanee [13], Alqamah and al-Aswad, etc. Sure, they may err; for people often forget and commit errors. However, there are huffaz (memorisers and narrators) of Hadeeth such as al-Sha'bee, al-Zuhree, Urwah, Qataadah [14] and al-Thawree who have been known to be far from error. Al-Zuhree and al-Thawree, in particular, were famous for that in their time. It has been common saying that Ibn Shihaab al-Zuhree never commits error though he has memorised a lot of Ahadeeth.
Therefore if a long Hadeeth is reported by two different channels without prior discussion between the report, it cannot be wrong on the whole, even though it might not be completely free from error. Hence, if someone relates a long and elaborate story, and another relates exactly as the first without prior discussion between them, the story as a whole cannot be wrong. Nor can its reporters be imagined to have lied if they had not previously entered into a conspiracy.
“…..In fact, the great majority of the Ahadeeth which al-Bukhaaree and Muslim have in their books, have definitely been said by the Prophet. The greater part of his collection has been found to be of this kind, and scholars have approved of them and accepted them, and the ummah does not agree on something which is not true….. (If the ummah approved of a false Hadeeth) it would mean that they agreed on approving a thing which was in fact false. It would amount to a consensus (Ijma) on untruth, which is ruled out …. However, if there is a consensus on a Hadeeth, we would be sure that it is true in meaning as well as wording.
This is the basis of the principle on which the scholars of all schools of thought agree and that if the ummah accepts a one-man Hadeeth (khabar al-waahid) and approves of it and acts upon it, it gives Knowledge.
Those who are well aquainted with the lives of the transmitters of Hadeeth can make the best use of a Hadeeth. (This is why they have collected) Hadeeth reported by transmitters who are not well known or who are quiet weak in their memory, as well as Hadeeth that are Mursal. (This is because) even though by themselves these Hadeeth do not prove anything, they can nonetheless to used to strengthen other Hadeeth. Ahmed ibn Hambal has said that sometimes he notes down the Hadeeth of a person just to strengthen other Hadeeth. As an example he has mentioned the name of Abdullah ibn Lahay’ah (d.174/790) the Qadi of Egypt. The man narrated a lot of Hadeeth and was one of the best men of Hadeeth. But since his books were burned in a fire, he began to make errors in his narration. Consequently, Ahmed used his Hadeeth only as a supporting evidence.



The Important points of this section by Sheikh ul-Islaam Ibn Taimeeyah are
• Ahad Hadeeths that have multi channels of transmissions are a valid source of Knowledge, if there had been no prior discussion or agreement between the reporters; because in this way the possibility of deliberate fabrication is eliminated.
• The reliability of the reporters of the Hadeeth must be taken into consideration, because narrations by some reporters carry more weight than others.
• Ijmaa’ (consensus) of the scholars on a perticular Hadeeth is another important factor, because the Messenger of Allaah said, “Indeed Allah will never unite this Ummah upon misguidance.” Reported by at-Tirmidhi (no.2269) in the Book of Fitan.
• Scholars of Hadeeth often use a Hadeeth, which suffers from error caused by weakness of memory as a supportive evidence.


F O O T N O T E S

[1] If in the Sanad of a perticular Hadeeth, the link between the Successor (Tabi’ee) and the Prophet is missing, the Hadeeth is Mursal (hurried), eg. when a Successor (Tabi’ee) says, “The Prophet said .....” A detailed discussion on the authority of a Mursal Hadeeth in light of the various scholars of Hadeeth shall follow after this section
[2] Abu Abdur-Rehman ibn Masood (d.32/652) was one of the earliest six to embrace Islaam, was in the service of the Prophet for many years. He was among the most Knowledgeable Companions, of the Qur'aan. Umer sent him to Koofah to teach the Qur'aan, where he served as a qadee and incharge of the government treasury
[3] Ubay ibn Ka'b al-Ansaaree, one of the scribes of the Qur'aan who wrote part of it at the Prophet's bidding, taught the Qur'aan at Madeenah. He died during the rule of 'Umar b. al-Khattaab.
[4]Abdullah ibn Umer b. al-Khattab (d.74/693) one of the most outstanding young Companions, and a learned scholar known for his piety and strict immitation of the Prophetic precepts, distinguished himself as a narrator of Hadeeth, next only to the most prolific narrator, Abu Hurairah .
[5] Jaabir b. 'Abdullaah al Ansaaree (16/607-78/687) one of the prolific transmitters of Hadeeth, taught Hadeeth at the mosque of the Prophet at Madeenah
[6] Abu Sa’eed Sa'd ibn Maalik b . Sinaan al-Khudree was one of those men who were in the service of the Prophet at different times. He has narrated quite a lot of hudeeth. He died at Madeenah
[7] Abu Hurayrah (d.58/678), the greatest narrator of Hadeeth has narrated according to a very cautious recent study, some 1236 Ahadeeth ('Azami, Studies in Hadeeth Methodology and literature, Indianapolis, American Trust Publication, 1977, p.26.)
[8] ve•rac•i•ty -ties 1 : devotion to truth : TRUTHFULNESS 2 : conformity with fact : ACCURACY 3 : something true
[9] Abu Saalih Zakwaan b. 'Abdullaah al-Sammaan (d.203/818), Abu Hazi Abd al-Rahmaan b. Hurmooz al-A'raj (d. 117/735), and Sulaymaan b. Yaasir (d. 107/725) are all from Madeenah and are well known narrators of Hadeeth.
[10] Muhammad ibn Seereen (d.110/728), a very distinguished successor and scholar of Hadeeth was own for his piety and devotions
[11] Al-Qaasim b. Muhammad, the grandson of Abu Bakr al-Siddeeq ? and a scholar of Hadeeth and fiqh died in 106/724
[12] Abu Muhammed Sa’eed ibn al-Musayyib (d.94/712), a great scholar of Hadeeth, fiqh and the Qur'aan is hailed as the leader of the Successors (Sayyid al-Tabi'een).
[13] Ubaydah b. 'Amr Salmaanee, a well known narrator of Hadeeth, a faqeeh and a judge from Yemen died the year 72/691
[14] Abu l-Khattaab Qataadah b. Du'amah (d. 118/736), a man of extraordinary memory was the most distinguished narrator of Hadeeth at Basra
Authenticity of a Mursal Hadeeth
There has been a great deal of discussion amongst the scholars regarding the authenticity of the Mursal Hadeeth (pl. Marasil) since it is quite probable that a Successor might have omitted two names, those of an elder Successor and a Companion, rather than just one name, that of a Companion.
If the Successor is known to have omitted the name of a Companion only, then the Hadeeth is held to be authentic, for a Successor can only report from the Prophet through a Companion; the omission of the name of the Companion does not affect the authenticity of the isnad since all Companions are held to be trustsvorthy and reliable, by both Qur’anic injunctions and sayings of the Prophet .
However, opinions vary in the case where the Successor might have omitted the names of two authorities (since not all the Successors were reliable in matters of Hadith). For example, two widely-differing positions on this issue are:
1. The Marasil of elder Successors such as Sa’id b. Al-Musayyab (d. 94) and ‘Ata’ b. Abi Rabah (d. 114) are acceptable because all their Marasil, after investigation, are found to come through the Companions only. However, the Marasil of younger Successors are only acceptable if the names of their immedeiate authorities are known through other sources; if not, they are rejected outright.
2. The Marasil of Successors and those who report from them are acceptable without any investigation at all. This opinion is supported by the Kufi school of traditionists, but is severely attacked by the majority.
To be precise in this issue, let us investigate in detail the various opinions regarding the Mursal Hadith:
1) The opinion held by Imam Malik and all Maliki jurists is that the Mursal of a trustworthy person is valid as proof and as justification for a practice, just like a musnad hadith.
Yusuf b. ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abdul Barr, Tajrid al-Tamhid lima fi l-Muwatta’ min al-Asanid (Cairo, 1350), 1:2
This view has been developed to such an extreme that to some of them, the mursal is even better than the musnad, based on the following reasoning:
“the one who reports a musnad hadith leaves you with the names of the reporters for further investigation and scrutiny, whereas the one who narrates by way of Irsal, being a knowledgeable and trustworthy person himself, has already done so and found the hadith to be sound. In fact, he saves you from further research.’’ibid
2) Imaam Abu Hanifah (d. 150) holds the same opinion as Malik; he accepts the Mursal Hadith whether or not it is supported by another hadith.Al-Suyuti, 1:198
3) Imam al-Shafi’i (d. 204) has discussed this issue in detail in his al-Risalah; he requires the following conditions to be met before accepting a mursal hadith:
[A] In the narrative, he requires that one of the following conditions be met:
that it be reported also as musnad through another isnad;
that its contents be reported as mursal through another reliable source with a different isnad;
that the meaning be supported by the sayings of some Companions;
that most scholars hold the same opinion as conveyed by the mursal Hadeeth.
[B] Regarding the narrator, he requires that one of the following conditions be met:
that he be an elder Successor
that if he names the person missing in the isnad elsewhere, he does not usually name an unknown person or someone not suitable for reporting from acceptably that he does not contradict a reliable person when he happens to share with him in a narration.
For the discussion in detail, see al-Shafi’i, Al-Risalah (ed. Ahmad Shakir, Cairo, 1358/1940, pp. 461-470; English translation: M. Khadduri, 2nd ed., Islamic Texts society, Cambridge, 1987, pp. 279-284, where the mursal hadith has heen translated as “interrupted tradition”
On the basis of these arguments, al-Shafi’i accepts the Irsal of Sa’id b. Al-Musayyab, one of the elder Successors. For example, al-Shafi’i considers the issue of selling meat in exchange for a living animal: he says that Malik told him, reporting from Zaid b. Aslam, who reported from Ibn al-Musayyab that the Messenger of Allah forbade the selling of meat in exchange for an animal. He then says, “This is our opinion, for the lrsal of Ibn al-Musayyib is fine.”
al-Suyuti, 1:199; Muhammad b. Mustafa al-Ghadamsi, Al-Mursal min al-Hadith (Darif Ltd., London. N.D.), p 71
4) Imam Ahmad b. Hambal (d. 241) accepts mursal and (other) da’if (weak) Hadeeth if nothing opposing them is found regarding a particular issue, preferring them to qiyas (analogical deduction). By da’if here is meant ahadith which are not severely weak, e.g. batil, munkar, or maudu’, since Imam Ahmad classified Hadeeth into sahih and da’if rather than into sahih, hasan and da’if, the preference of most later traditionists. Hence, the category da’if in his view applied to ahadith which were relatively close to being sahih, and included many Hadeeth which were classed as hasan by other scholars.
Ibn al-Qayyim, I‘lam al-Muwaqqi’in (2nd ed., 4 vols. in 2, Dar al-Fikr, (1397/1977), 1:31
Overlooking this fact has caused misunderstanding about Imam Ahmad’s view on the place of da ‘if Hadeeth in rulings of Fiqh and in matters of Fada’il al-A’mal (virtues of various acts of worship).
5) Ibn Hazm (d. 456) rejects the Mursal Hadeeth outright; he says that the Mursal is unacceptable. Whether it comes through Sa’id b. Al-Musayyib or al-Hasan al-Basri. To him, even the Mursal which comes through someone who was not well-known to be amongst the Companions would be unacceptable.
Ibn Hazm Al-lhkam fi Usul al-Ahkam (Maktaba al-Sa'adah, Cairo, 1345), 2:135
6) Abu Dawud (d . 275) accepts the Mursal under two conditions:
that no musnad hadith is found regarding that issue; or
that if a musnad hadith is found, it is not contradicted by the mursal hadith.
Al-Hazimi, Shurut al-A'immah al-Khamsah (ed. M.Z. al-Kauthari, Cairo, N:D.), p. 45
7) Ibn Abi Hatim (d. 327) does not give a specific opinion about the Mursal Hadith. However, he did collect an anthology of 469 reporters of hadith, including four female reporters, whose narratives were subjected to criticism due to Irsal. This collection is known as Kitab al-Marasil.
8) Al-Hakim (d. 405) is extremely reluctant to accept the Mursal Hadith except in the case of elder Successors. He holds, on the basis of the Qur'an, that knowledge is based on what is heard (directly), not on what is reported (indirectly). In this regard, he quotes Yazid b. Harun who asked Hammad b. Laith:
"O Abu Isma'il! Did Allah mention the Ahl al-Hadith (scholars of Hadith) in the Qur'an?" He replied, "Yes! Did you not hear the saying of Allah, “If a party from every expedition remained behind. They could devote themselves to studies in religion and admonish the people when they return to them, that thus they may guard themselves (against evil)” Soorah al-Tauba (9) : 122
{According to the different interpretations of this verse, "they" here could refer to those who stay behind, or those who go forth}
This concerns those who set off to seek knowledge, and then return to those who remained behind in order to teach them. Al-Hakim then remarks, "This verse shows that the acceptable knowledge is the one which is being heard, not just received by way of Irsal.” al-Hakim, p. 26
9) Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 462) strongly supports the view of those who reject the Mursal except if it comes through an elder Successor. He concludes, after giving a perusal of different opinions about this issue, "What we select out of these sayings is that the Mursal is not to be practised, nor is it acceptable as proof. We say that Irsal leads to one reporter being ambiguous; if he is ambiguous, to ascertain his reliability is impossible. We have already explained that a narration is only acceptable if it comes through a reporter known for reliability. Hence, the Mursal should not be accepted at all”
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Al-Kifayah fi 'llm al-Riwayah (Hyderabad, 1357), p.387
Al-Khatib gives the following example, showing that a narrative which has been reported through both musnad and mursal isnads is acceptable, not because of the reliability of those who narrated it by way of Irsal but because of an uninterrupted isnad, even though it contains less reliable reporters:
The text of the hadith is: "No marriage is valid except by the consent of the guardian”; al-Khatib gives two isnads going back to Shu'bah and Sufyan al-Thauri; the remainder of each isnad is:
Sufyan al-Thauri and Shu'bah --- Abu Ishaq --- Abu Burdah --- the Prophet.
This isnad is mursal because Abu Burdah, a Successor, narrates directly from the Prophet . However, al-Khatib further gives three isnads going back to Yunus b. Abi Ishaq, Isra’il b. Yunus and Qais b. al-Rabi'; the remainder of the first isnad is:
Yunus b. Abi Ishaq --- Abu Ishaq --- Abu Burdah --- Abu Musa --- the Prophet .
The other two reporters narrate similarly, both of them including the name of Abu Musa , the Companion from whom Abu Burdah has reported. Al-Khatib goes on to prove that both al-Thauri and Shu'bah heard this hadith from Abu Ishaq in one sitting unlike the other three reporters heard it in different sittings. Hence, this addition of Abu Musa in the isnad is quite acceptable. ibid., pp. 411-413
10) Ibn al-Salah (d. 643) agrees with al-Shafi'i in rejecting the Mursal Hadith unless it is proved to have come through a musnad route.
11) Ibn Taimiyyah (d. 728) classifies Mursal into three categories. He says, 'There are some acceptable, others unacceptable, and some which require further investigation:
• if it is known that the reporter does so (i.e. narrates by Irsal) from reliable authorities, then his report will be accepted;
• if he does so from both classes of authorities, i.e. reliable and unreliable, we shall not accept his narration (on its own, without further investigation), for he is narrating from someone whose reliability is unknown;
• all such mursal ahadith which go against the reports made by reliable authorities will be rejected completely."
12) Al-Dhahabi (d. 748) regards the Mursal of younger Successors such as al-Hasan al-Basri, al-Zuhri, Qatadah and Humaid al-Tawil as the weakest type of Mursal.
Later scholars such as Ibn Kathir (d. 744), al-'Iraqi (d. 806), Ibn Hajar (d. 852), al-Suyuti (d. 911), Muhammad b. Ibrahim al-Wazir (d. 840), Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi (d. 1332) and Tahir al-Jaza'iri (d. 1338) have given exhaustive discussions about this issue, but none of them holds an opinion different to those mentioned above
Rijal al-Hadeeth (the study of the reporters of Hadeeth):
Mustalah al-Hadeeth is strongly associated with Rijal al-Hadeeth (the study of the reporters of Hadeeth). In scrutinising the reporters of a Hadeeth, authenticating or disparaging remarks have been made by recognized experts among the Salaf about the reporters of Hadeeth.
• Imaam (leader)
• Hafiz (preserver)
• Reliablle. trustworthy
• makes mistakes
• weak
• abandoned (by the Muhaddithoon)
• lier, used to fabricate Hadeeth
Reporters who have been unanimously declared by statements such as the first two may contribute to a saheeh (sound) isnad. An isnad containing a reporter who is described by the last two statements is likely to be da’if jiddan (very weak) or maudu’ (fabricated). Reporters who are subject to statements such as the middle two will cause the isnad to be da’if, although several of them relating the same Hadeeth independantly will often raise the rank of the Hadeeth to the lever of hasan (good). If the remarks about a perticular reporter conflict, a careful verdict has to be arrived at, after in-depth analysis.
Among the earliest available works in this field are Tarikh of Ibn Ma’in (d. 233), Tabaqat of Khalifa b. Khayyat (d. 240), Tarikh of al-Bukhari (d. 256), Kitab al-Jarh wa ‘I-Ta‘dil of Ibn Abi Hatim (d. 327) and Tabaqat of Muhammad b. Sa’d (d. 320).
Who Fabricated Hadeeth
From "The Criticism of Hadith" by Sheikh Suhaib Hassan
The reasons for the fabrication of Hadeeth and those groups most notorious for the fabrication of Hadeeth shall be discussed here in details. Though some of the groups date back to the time of the Calphate of Ali - radiyallahu anhu - their principles are found even today among the various deviant and innovative sects.
Political Differences :
Muslim history witnessed a lot of termoil and disorder after the murder of the third Caliph Uthman . The battles between the supporters of Ali and those of A’aisha and later with the supporters of Muawiyah led to the creation of the Shi’aa and Khawarij. A great deal of fabricated Hadeeth in favour of Ali and the house of the Prophet came from the Shi’a themselves, as admitted by a well-known Shi’aa source.
Ibn Abi al-Hadid says: “Lies were introduced in Hadeeth on merits originally by Shi’a. They in the beginning fabricated many Hadeeth in favour of their man motivated by enmity towards their opponents. When Bakriyya
(the supporters of Abu Bakr) found out what Shi’a had done they fabricated on their part Hadeeth in favour of their man.”
Ibn Abi al-Hadid: Sharh Nahj al-Balagha, Dar al-Kutub al-Arabiya al-Kubra, Cairo [1:135]
One of their well-known reports in this connection is the Hadeeth of Ghadir Khumm (the spring of Khumm). It says:
“The Prophet took hold of Ali’s hand in the presence of the Companions, on his way back from the farewell Hajj. He let him stand till all of them knew him. Then he said: This is my attorney and brother and the Caliph after me. So listen to him and obey him.”
Ibn Katheer: al-Bidaya wal-Nihaya [7:347]
Iraq has always been the central place for the fabrication business.
A’aisha is reported to have said: “O people of Iraq, the people of Sham (Syria) are better than you. A great number of the Prophet’s Companions went to them. So they reported to us what we know. But to you a small number of them went. But you reported to us what we know and what we did not.”
Ibn Asakir: al-Mudu’at al-Kubra [1:4]
Abd al-Rehman b al-Mahdi reported to Malik that the amount of Hadeeth he heard in Medina during fourty days was no more than he heard in Iraq in one day. On hearing this, Imaam Malik remarked (addressing the people of Iraq):
“From where did you get this coinage? You make it (the Hadeeth) at night and let it circulate the following day.”
Ibn Taimiya: al-Muntaqa min Minhaj al-I’tidal, p.88
But it does not necessarily mean that there was no one to check this tendency. Traditionists (or the scholars of Hadeeth) like Qatada, Yahya b. Abi Kathir, Hammad b Salama, Jarir b Hazim and Hisham al-Dastawa’i at Basra ans Ibn Ishaq al-Amash, Thauri, Ibn Uyaina and Isra’il at Kufa were known to be prominent figures in this field.
ibid
Khawarij on the other hand appeared to be strong opponents to both Ali and Mu’awiya , but due to their strict principle regarding lies, which was a great sin to them, they would hardly fabricate Hadeeth. Reports that they too fabricated Hadeeth are disputed, with many scholars speaking favourably about them, among them Ibn Taimiyah who is known to be very strict in giving judgment on Hadeeth.
Ibn Taimiyah : Minhaj al-Sunnah, Bulaq, 1321 A.H. [3/31]
Factions based on issues related to faith:
During the last days of the Umayyad Caliphate and throughout the Abbasid period, a number of issues related to faith and attributes of Allah were raised. Such disagreements led to the creation of various factions known as Qadariyya, Jabariyya, Mu’tazila, Murji’a, Mujassima and Mu’atila.
Contradicting Hadeeth either supporting one opinion or rejecting it were fabricated by the supporters of each opinion. As admitted by Muhriz Abu Rajaa, a strong supporter of Qadariyya (who were behind a lot of spurious Hadeeth), who says: “Don’t report anything from anyone among the Qadariyyah as we used to fabricate Hadeeth in order to persuade people to believe in Qadar with an intention of receiving reward from Allah.”
Ibn Hajar : Lisan al-Mizan [1:12]
Zandaqa:
They were those surrendered ti the Islaamic faith but never accepted it wholeheartedly. They dispised Islaam both as a belief and as a state. Hadeeth giving an unrealistic and illogical picture of Islaam were circulated by them.
Abd al-Karim b Abi al-Auja is one of them who admitted at the moment when he was put to death by the order of Muhammed b Sulaiman b Ali, the Amir of Busra: “By God I have fabricated four thousand Hadeeth forbidding what is allowed or allowing what is forbidden.” Ibn al-Jauzi : [1:31]
A rediculous Hadeeth about the origin of the creator is regarded as being one of their daring ventures. It goes as follows: “When Allah Almighty wanted to create Himself He created the horse first and let it gallop till it sweated. Then He created Himself from its sweat.”
Suyuti : al-Lail al-Masnu’a fi al-Ahadith al-Maudu’a [1:3]
Another notorious fabricator, Muhammed b Sa’id al-Muslub, who was put to death by the Abbasid Caliph, invented the following Hadeeth on the authority of Anas that the Prophet said: “I am the seal of the Prophets except if Allah wishes.” Suyuti : Tabrib, p.186
Clearly the man wanted to give credence to his claim of prophethood by adding the exceptional cause. Sayings like: “Looking at a pretty face brightens the eye and looking at an ugly face leaves it stern”
Ibn Iraq : Tanzih al-Shari’a al-Marfu’a, Cairo [1:179]
Story-tellers :
Amazing stories full of incredible events and attractive exposition were always a source of inspiration for the common man. This is what the story-tellers used to do in the mosques. To give credence to their material, they used to precede it with a full Isnad. Most of such narrations were strongly rejected by the scholars of Hadeeth. Sulaiman b Mihran al-Amash, a famous scholar of Hadeeth, entered one of the mosques of Basra where he heard a story-teller saying: “A’mash reported to us on the authority of Abu Ishaq who reported from Abu Wa’il ......... etc. On hearing this A’mash seated himself in the middle of the circle and started plucking hairs from his armpit. The story-teller was much annoyed and said: ‘Shame! What are you doing while we are discussing matters of Knowledge? A’mash replied: “I am better than what you are.” He asked: ‘How?’ A’mash replied, “Because I am doing what is the Sunnah while you are telling lies. I am A’mash and I reported nothing of the sort you are saying.”
Suyuti : Tahdhir, p.214
It is reported that a story-teller from Baghdad was explaining the following verse: “Soon will your Lord raise you to a station of praise and glory” Soorah Israa (17):79
He said that Allah would seat the Prophet next to Him on His Throne. This explanation was reported to Muhammed b Jarir at-Tabari (d.310 A.H) who rejected the idea outright and inscribed on his door the following line: “Glorified is He who has neither a companion nor anyone sitting beside Him on the Throne.”
This created a fury among the people of Baghdad who pelted his house with stones till the door was covered by them .Suyuti : Tahdhir p.161
Ignorant Ascetics (Soofis) :
In order to make people devote much of their time in non-obligatory (Nawafil) forms of worship, the Soofis used to fabricate Hadeeth on the merits of various actions. About four hundred of such Hadeeth are known to be invented by Ghulam Khalil (d. 275 A.H.) one of the renowned Soofis of Baghdad. His death caused the whole market to close its doors in mourning.” Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi : Tarikh al-Baghdad, [5:79]
Some of the Karramiya
Karramiya : They are named after Muhammed b Karram al-Sijistani who believe that the attributes of Allah are similar to those possessed by human beings made a daring contribution to the fabrication of Hadeeth on the merits of some particular actions. They admitted that the Prophet said: “Whoever speaks a lie against me intentionally, should reserve his seat in the fire.” But they remarked: “We did not speak a lie against him but instead for him.”
Ibn Katheer : al-Ba’ith al-Hathith, p.79
People like Maisra b Abd Rabbihi and Abu Isma Nuh b. Abi Maryam al-Marwazi used to invent Hadeeth on the merits of each Soorah of the Qur'aan. They justified their acts by saying: “I found people deserting the Qur'aan and occupying themselves with Fiqh of Abu Hanifa and Maghazi (battles) of Ibn Ishaq, so I invented there Hadeeth for a sake of reward (from Allah).”
Another example given by Sheikh al-Albaani is, “The world is prohibited to the people of the hereafter and the hereafter is prohibited to the people of the world. And both are prohibited to the people of Allah.”
Sheikh Nasir ud-Din al-Albaani : Silsilat al-Ahadeeth al-Da’ifa wal-Maudu’a, Beirut, (1384 A.H.), [1:50
Prejudice for town, race or one’s Imam :
(I) Hadeeth literature contains a lot of material on the merits or otherwise of various towns, most of them proved to be fabricated. Prejudice for a certain place was indeed a major factor behind such fabrication. Hadeeth on the merits of Jeddah, Basra, Jordan, Khurasan, Asqalan, Qizwin, Nisibin, Antioch, Ibadan (Iraq) and condemning Constantinople, Tabriya, Antioch, the burnt city and San’aa comprise a large section in Ibn Iraq’s work.
Ibn Iraq, pp.2:45-65
(ii) Prejudice for or against a race is another factor behind the circulation of Hadeeth such as the following:
“A Zanji (black) commits adultery when he is satisfied and steals when he is hungry. There is generosity and a helping spirit among them as well.”
Ibn Iraq, p.231
“Love the Arabs for three reasons. I am an Arab. The Qur'aan is in Arabid and the people of paradise will converse in Arabic.”
Ibn Iraq, 2:30
“The one who has nothing to give as charity should curse the jews instead.”
al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, 14:270
(iii) Prejudice for one’s own Imaam and hate for another is well depicted in the following fabricated Hadeeth :
“There shall be in my Ummah by the name of Muhammed b Idris (i.e. ash-Shafi’i) who will be more dangerous to my Ummah than Iblis and there shall be a man from my Ummah known as Abu Hanifah who is the lamp of my Ummah.”
Ibn Jawji in al-Mawdoo’at [1/457] & Ibn Iraq, 2:3. For a complete eplanation of the statement refer to “the Prophet’s Prayer described .......” by Sheikh al-Albaani
Similar factors seem to be at work in fabricated Hadeeth which support a legal issue held by one Imaam or denounce altogether the opinion of another.
Inventions for personal motives:
A good example is the Hadeeth that have been fabricated about the merits of perticular vegetables or grains. Ibn Qayyim has collected many such Hadeeth that he came accross, in his collection called ‘al-Manar al-Munif fi al-Sahih wal-Da’if’. Among them are Hadeeth that show the advantages of water-melon, lentils, fish, egg-plant, grapes, beans, broad beans, salt, leek, pomegranate and other vegetables. To quote one example, “Use the pumpkin as it brightens the head and use the lentils as it has been glorified by seventy messengers.”
Sheikh al-Albani, Silsilat il-Ahadeeth al-Da’ifah wal-Maudu’a, 1:57
Sayings of wisdom turned into Hadeeth :
Some have tried to credit to the Prophet different parables and sayings of wisdom. For example the following saying is known to be that of Harith b Kalda, a well-known doctor in the Arabs, “The abdomen is the house of disease and prevention is the head of remedies.”
Muhammed Adib Salih : Lamahat fi Usul al-Hadeeth, Damascus, 1393 A.H., p.305
Brief Biographies of the eminent Scholars of Hadeeth:
From the English Translation of Bulugh al-Maraam | Published by Daar as-Salaam
The Seven Great Imaams of Hadeeth
1. AHMAD (Ibn Hanbal):
He is Abu ‘Abdullah, Abmad bin Muhammad bin Hanbal Ash-Shaibani, known by the name Ibn Hanbal. He was a celebrated theologian, jurist and a Hadeeth scholar. He is also one of the four Fiqh Imam. Imaam Ahmad was born at Baghdad in Rabi’-ul-Awwal, 164 H. He studied the Hadeeth and Fiqh together with other Islaamic disciplines in Baghdad, then travelled to Ash-Sham and Hijaz for further studies. He was persecuted during the rule of Al-Ma’mun bin Harun Ar-Rashid for refusing to acknowledge the Bid‘aa (innovation) of claiming that the Qur'aan was the creation of Allaah * introduced by the Mu’tazila. He however, stood firm against all the trials and saved the Sunnah from the innovation of the wretched Mu ‘tazila thoughts. He was the mostly persecuted and most firm one amongst all the Imam. He is most famous for collecting the Hadeeth of the Prophet compiled in the Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal, which contain 28 to 29 thousand Hadeeth. It was said that Ibn Hanbal memorized one million Hadeeth. Ibn Hanbal died in Baghdad on Friday, 12 Rabi’-ul-Awwal 241 H.
* The Creed of the Ahlus-Sunnahh is that the Qur'aan is the Kalaam or Word of Allaah


2. AL-BUKHARI, Muhammad bin Isma’il:
He is the Amir-ul-Mu ‘mimn in the knowledge of Hadeeth, and his full name is Abu ‘Abdullah, Muhammad bin Isma’il bin Ibrahim bin Al-Mughira bin Bardizbah Al-Ju’fi Al-Bukhari. He was born in Shawwal 194 H. In Bukhara in what is now Uzbekistan. Al-Bukhari studied Hadeeth at an early age and travelled widely over the Muslim world collecting Hadeeth and compiled the most authentic ones in his book Al-Jami ‘As-Sahih, which later became known as As-Sahih Al-Bukhari and contains 2602 Hadeeth which he selected from the thousands of Hadeeth that he had memorized. Al-Bukhari studied under famous Hadeeth Imam like Malik bin Anas and Yahya bin Ma’in. He died in Samarqand, the present day capital of Uzbekistan
Nowadays, the capital is Tashkent.
, the night of ‘Eid-ul-Fitr, 256 H. Al-Bukhari was unique in the science of the methodology of Hadeeth and his book Al-Ja’mi ‘As-Sahih is considered to be the most authentic book after the Qur’an. Saheeh al-Bukhari has been translated to English and is easily available.


3. MUSLIM bin Hajjaj:
Muslim’s full name is Muslim bin Al-Hajjaj Al-Qushairi An-Nishapuri. He was born in 204 H., in the city of Nishapur near the city of Mashhad in present Iran. Muslim is considered second only to Al-Bukhari in the science of the methodology of Hadeeth. He started the study of Hadeeth at an early age and travelled to ‘Iraq, Hijaz, Ash-Sham and Egypt and studied under the scholars of Hadeeth at that time like Al-Bukhari, Ahmad bin Hanbal and Ibn Abee Shaiba. He also taught the famous Hadeeth scholars like At-Tirmidhi and Ibn Abu Haatim.
Muslim compiled the Hadeeth book Al-Musnad As-Sahih, which became known as Sahih Muslim. This book, which is considered by the Muslim ‘Ulama as the second most authentic Hadeeth book after Al-Bukhari, contains 9,200 Hadeeth. Imam Muslim died at his birthplace in Rajab 261 H. Saheeh al-Muslim has been translated to English.


4. ABU DA’UD, Sulaiman bin Al-Ash’ath:
Abu Da’ud, Sulaiman bin Al-Ash’ath bin Ishaq Al-Azdi As-Sijistani, who was one of the eminent Imam of Hadeeth, was born in 202H. He studied Hadeeth under Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal along with Al-Bukhari and taught many of the later scholars of Hadeeth, like At-Tirmidhi and An-Nasaa’ee. Though Abu Da’ud collected 5,00,000 Hadeeth, he compiled 4,800 Hadeeth only in his book entitled As-Sunan, which he taught in Baghdad and other major cities at that time. He died at Basra on Friday in the month of Shawwal 275 H. Sunan Abu Dawood has been translated to English.


5. AT-TIRMIDHEE, Abu ‘Iesa Muhammad bin ‘Iesa:
Abu ‘Iesa, Muhammad bin ‘lesa bin Sura At-Tirmidhee was born in 209 H. In a town called Tirmiz in Uzbekistan near the northern border of Afghanistan. He was a student of Al-Bukhari, and compiled 4,000 Hadeeth in his book called Al-Jami which later came to be known as Sunan At-Tirmidhi. He also contributed tremendously to the methodology of Hadeeth and composed a book on it called Al-’Ilal (the discrepancies). He was famous for his piousness. He became blind and finally died on 13 Rajab 279H. An abriged version of Sunan at-Tirmidhi is available in English in the Alim computer software CD.


6. AN-NASA’I, Abu ‘Abdur-Rahman Ahmad bin Shu’aib:
Abu ‘Abdur-Rahman, Ahmad bin ‘Ali bin Shuiaib bin ‘Ali Al-Hafiz was born in 215H. In Nisa’, a city in Khurasan. He became famous for the study of the methodology of Hadeeth, memorizing and mastering it. His book known as Sunan An-Nasa‘ee is third to Sahih Al-Bukhari in terms of containing the least weak Hadeeth. He lived in Egypt then moved to Damascus in Syria and died in Makkah in the year 303 H.


7. IBN MAJAH, Muhammad bin Yazid:
Abu ‘Abdullah, Muhammad bin Yazid bin Majah Al-Qizwini was born in 207H. He studied under Imam Malik and others, and many people narrated Hadeeth from him. He was one of the eminent scholars of Hadeeth,but his Sunan contains many weak and even Munkar Hadeeth. Ibn Majah died in Ramadan in 273H. Sunan Ibn Majah has been translated to English, and printed by Kazi Publications, Lahore.
Other Hadeeth Scholars


8. IBN RAHWAIH, Ishaq bin Ibrahim:
Abu Ya’qub, Ishaq bin Ibrahim At-Tamimi Al-Hanzali Al-Marwazi was an eminent and great Haafidh, who was a resident and the ‘Aalim of Nishapur. He was also considered as the Sheikh of the east of his time and was known as Ibn Rahawaih. Imam Ahmad said, “I don’t know an ‘Aalim equal to Ishaq in Iraq. Abu Zar’a also said, “There was no body so good at memorizing the Hadeeth than Ishaq.” Abu Hatim also said, “His mastery (of the Hadeeth), accuracy and accuracy and memorization were very surprising.” Ibn Rahwaih was born in the year 166 H and died on l5th Sha’ban 238 H.


9. AL-ISMA’ILI, Ahmad bin Ibrahim:
Abu Bakr, Ahmad bin Ibrahim bin Isma’il bin Al-’Abbas Al-Isma’ili Al-Jurjani was born in 277 H. He was considered as an Imam and a Hafidh, and was given the title Sheikh-ul-lslam due to his wide knowledge and because he was the leader of the Shafi’ees in his region.


10. AL-BAZZAR, Ahmad bin ‘Amr:
Abu Bakr, Ahmad bin ‘Amr bin ‘Abdul-Khaliq Al-Basri was one of the eminent and learned Hadeeth scholars who had attained the rank of Hafidh in the memorization of Hadeeth. He authored two books on Hadeeth which are Al-Musnad Al-Kabir and Al-’Ilal. He studied under At-Tabarani and others. Al-Bazzar died in 292 H.


11. AL-BAIHAQI, Ahmad bin Al-Husain:
Abu Bakr, Ahmad bin Al-Husain was born in Sha’ban in the year 374H. He was considered a learned Hafidh among the eminent Imams of Hadeeth and a jurisprudence scholar in the Shafi’ee Madhhab. He wrote many books like As-Sunan Al-Kubra and As-Sunan As-Sughra. Adh-Dhahabi said, “His books exceed one thousand volumes.” Al-Baihaq, which he is named after, is a town near Nishapur. Al-Baihaqi died in 458 H.


12. ABU HATIM AR-RAZI, Muhammad bin Idris:
Abu Hatim, Muhammad bin Idris bin Al-Mundhir Al-Hanzali Ar-Razi was born in the year 195 H. He was an eminent Hafidh and an Imam and one of the prominent scholars who excelled in the methodology of Hadeeth. He was also one of the most respected scholars in the knowledge Al-Jarh wat-Ta’dil (verifying the reliability and unreliability of the narrators of the Hadeeth).


13. IBN AL-JARUD, ‘Abdullah bin ‘Ali:
Abu Muhammad, ‘Abdullah bin ‘Ali bin Al-Jarud An-Nishapuri,who lived near Makkah, was an Imam and a Hafidh who was among those ‘Ulama who mastered the recitation of the Qur’an. He authored Al-Muntaqa fil-Ahkam and was among the pious scholars of his time. Ibn Al-Jarud died in 307 H.


14. AL-HARITH bin Abu Usama:
Imam Abu Muhammad, Al-Harith bin Abu Usama Muhammad bin Dahir At-Tamimi Al-Baghdadi was a Hafidh and authored Al-Musnad which he did not arrange. Ibrahim Al-Harbi and Abu Hatim verified him as reliable, and Ad-Daraqutni said, “He is truthful.” Al-Harith was born in 186 H. And died on the day of ‘Arafa 282 H.


15. AL-HAKIM, Abu Abdullah:
Abu ‘Abdullah, Muhammed ‘Abdullah An-Nishapuri Al-Hakim known as Ibn Al-Baiyi’ was born in 321H. He was a celebrated Imam in the verification of Hadeeth. He authored Al-Mustadrak in the methodology of Hadeeth. It is said that he studied under one thousand professors and authored many valuable books. Al-Hakim was pious and religious. He died in Safar 405 H.


16. IBN HIBBAN, Abu Hatim Ibn Hibban:
Abu Hatim, Muhammad bin Hibban bin Ahmad bin Hibban Al-Busti was born in Bust in Sijistan. He was one of the celebrities in the knowledge of Hadeeth, pious, Faqih, learned and one of the students of Ibn Khuzaimah. He died in Samarqand in 354 H., while in his eighties.


17. IBN KHUZAIMA, Muhammad bin Ishaq:
Ibn Khuzaima, Muhammad bin Ishaq was born in 223 H. In Nishapur. He was considered as a Sheikh-ul-lslam (the most learned ‘Aalim of Islam) and one of the eminent and senior Hafidh. He was the Imam and Hafidh of Khurasan during his time. He also authored more than 140 books. Ibn Khuzaima died in Nishapur in 311 H.


18. IBN ABU KHAYTHAMA:
Abu Bakr, Ahmad bin Abu Khaythama Zuhair bin Harb An-Nasa’I Al-Baghdadi was a celebrated Imam, Hafidh and an authority. He authored At-Tarikh Al-Kabir. Ad-Daraqutni said about him, “He was reliable and trustworthy.” Al-Khatib also said, “He was reliable ‘Aalim (learned), accurate Hafidh, knowledgeable in the history of people, and the narration of poetry.” He studied Hadeeth under Ahmad bin Hanbal and Ibn Ma’in. Ibn Abu Khaythama died in Jumada-ul-Ula 289 H., at the age of 94 years.


19. AD-DARAQUTNI, ‘Ali bin Umar:
Abul-Hasan, ‘Ali bin ‘Umar bin Ahmad bin Mahdi Al-Baghdadi. He was nicknamed after a big store called Dar Al-Qutn in Baghdad. He was a great Hafidh and a unique Imam who was born in the year 306 H. He was the authority in the methodology of Hadeeth, the knowledge of the weaknesses of the Hadeeth narrations and names of the Hadeeth narrators of his time. Ad-Daraqutni died on 8th Dhul-Qa’da 385 H.


20. AD-DARIMI, ‘Abdullah bin ‘Abdur-Rahman:
Abu Muhamrnad, ‘Abdullah bin ‘Abdur-Rahmnan bin Al-Fadl bin Bahram At-Tamimi Ad-Darimi As-Samarqandi was born in the year 181 H. He was a
celebrated Imam, Hafidh and Sheikh-ul-Islam of Samarqand and the author of Al-Musnad Al- ‘Aali. He heard Hadeeth at Al-Haramain, Khurasan, Ash-Sham, Iraq and Egypt. Muslim, Abu Da’ud, At-Tirmidhi, An-Nasa’i and others transmitted Hadeeth from him. He was described to be very intelligent and very virtuous and was considered to be an exemplary person in piousness, patience, hardwork, worship and abstinence. Ad-Darimi died on 8th Dhul-Hijja 255H.


21. ABU DA’UD, Sulaiman bin Da’ud At-Tayalisi:
Sulaiman bin Da’ud bin Al-Jarud Al-Basri was a Persianby origin and the freed slave of Az-Zubair. He was a great Hafidh and one of the eminent ‘Ulama. Al-Qallas and Ibn Al-Madini both said about him, “I have not seen someone who is more versed with the Hadeeth more than him.” Ibn Mahdi said, “He is a most truthful person.” He recorded Hadeeth from more than one thousand scholars. Abu Da’ud died in the year 204 H.


22. IBN ABU AD-DUNYA, ‘Abdullah bin Muhammad bin ‘Ubaid:
Abu Bakr, ‘Abdullah bin Muhammad bin ‘Ubaid bin Sufyan bin Abu Ad-Dunya Al-Qurashi Al-Baghdadi, the freed slave of Banu Umaiya, was born in 208 H. He was a Muhaddith and truthful ‘Aalim. He wrote some books and educated more than one of the caliphs’ sons like Al-Mu’tadid. Ibn Abu Ad-Dunya died in Jumada Al-Ula, 281 H.


23. ADH-DHUHLI, Muhammad bin Yahya:
Abu ‘Abdullah, Muhammad bin Yahya bin ‘Abdullah bin Khalid bin Faris, the freed slave of Banu Dhuhl was born in 170 of the Hijra. He was a Sheikh-ul-lslam and Amir-ul-Mu’minin in the knowledge of Hadeeth and theHafidh of Nishapur. He acquired Hadeeth from many professors in Al-Haramain, Ash-Sham, Egypt, Iraq, Ar-Ray, Khurasan, Yemen and Al-Jazira and became very competent in this field and became the authority of knowledge in Khurasan. Ahmad said, “I never saw someone who knows the Hadeeth of Az-Zuhri from Muhammad bin Yahya than Adh-Dhuhli. He died in Rabl’-ul-Awwal, 258H.


24. ABU ZUR’A AR-RAZI, ‘Ubaidullah bin Abdul-Karim:
‘Ubaidullah bin ‘Abdul-Karim bin Yazid bin Faroukh, Abu Zur’a Ar-Razi Al-Qurashi by clientship was a Hafidh and an eminent scholar of the Hadeeth. He was also considered among the Imam of ‘Al-Jarh wat-Ta‘dil (the critical study of the Hadeeth narrators). Muslim, At-Tirmi&i, An-Nasa’i, Ibn Majah and others narrated Hadeeth from him. Adh-Dhahabi said, “Many people heard Hadeeth from him in Al-Haramain, ‘Iraq, Ash-Sham, Al-Jazira, Khurasan, and Egypt.” He was also well acclaimed for his memorization, brightness, piousness, sincerity, knowledge and the good application of his knowledge. Abu Zur’a Ar-Razi died towards the end of 264 H. At the age of 64 years.


25. IBN AS-SAKAN, Sa’id bin ‘Uthman:
Abu ‘Ali Sa’id bin As-Sakan Al-Baghdadi was born in 294 H. He was a celebrated Hafidh and an authoritative Imam. He paid much attention to the study of Hadeeth, and collected and wrote books on Hadeeth, thus becoming very famous in this field. Ibn As-Sakan died in the year 353 H.


26. SA’ID bin Mansur:
Sa’id bin Mansur bin Shu’ba Al-Marwazi or At-Taliqani then Al-Balkhi lived near Makkah. He authored the book As-Sunan. Imaam Ahmad bin Hanbal praised him immensely. Harb Al-Karmani said, “He (Saiid) dictated to me about ten thousand Hadeeth from his memory.” Sa’id bin Mansur died in Makkah in Ramadan 227 H, while in his nineties.


27. ASH-SHAFI’EE, Muhammad bin Idris:
Abu ‘Abdullah, Muhammad bin ldris bin AI-’Abbas bin ’Uthman bin Shafi’ee bin As-Sa’ib bin ‘Ubaid bin ‘Abd Yazid bin Hashim bin ‘Abdul-Muttalib bin ‘Abd Manaf Al-Qurashi Al-Makki was born in 150 H. in Ghaza and was taken to Makkah while a baby. He lived in Egypt where he died in 204 H. He was considered to be one of the most learned persons amongst the Muslim Ummah, unique, learned and the founder of the science of Usul Al-Fiqh (the principles of jurisprudence). His grandfather Shafi’i was a Sahabi who met the Prophet while a growing up boy. Imaam Shafi’ee’s book, ar-Risaala on Usool al-Fiqh has been translated to English (Islaamic Texts Society - UK, 1961) and is available with us for reference.


28. IBN ABEE SHAIBA, Abu Bakr:
Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Abee Shaiba Ibrahim bin ‘Uthman bin Hawasi Al-’Ansi (by clientship) was a unique Hafidh. He authored Al-Musnad wal-Musannaf and other books. He was a leader in the knowledge of Hadeeth and Abu Zur’a, Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Da’ud and Khalaf narrated it from him. Abu Bakr died in Muharram, 235 H.


29. AT-TABARANI, Sulaimman bin Ahmad:
Abul-Qasim, Sulaiman bin Ahmad bin Ayub bin Mutair Al-Lakhmi At-Tabarani was born in 260 H. in Tabariya As-Sham. He was an authoritative Imam and narrated Hadeeth from more than one thousand scholars. He left Ash-Sham to acquire the knowledge of Hadeeth and spent thirty-three years of travelling in its pursuance. He authored many interesting and amusing books, among them are Al-Mu’jam Al-Kabir, Al-Mu’jam Al-Awsat, and Al-Mu’jam As-Saghir. At-Tabarani lived in Asfahan and died there on 27th Dhul-Qa’da, 360 H.


30. AT-TAHAWI, Ahmad bin Muhammad:
Abu Ja’far, Ahmad bin Muhammad Salama bin Salama Al-Azdi Al-Misri At-Tahawi Al-Hanafi was born in the year 228 H. or 227 H. He was nicknamed after a village called Taha in Egypt. He was a follower of the Shafi’ee Madhaab (school of jurisprudence) and a student of Al-Muzni, his nephew until the latter one day told him, “By Allah, you will never became anything.”At-Tahawi then became angry and moved to Abu ‘Imran Al-Hanafi and not only became a Hanafi (a follower of the Hanaf Madhhab) but very enthusiastic in proving the Hanafi Madhhab by strengthening the reports, adducing the Hadeeth weakened by the others as evidence to support his Madhhab. Al-Baihaqi also said that he used to weaken the unfavourable Hadeeth to his Madhhab through methods not approved of by the scholars of the Hadeeth. Among his most famous books is Sharh Ma‘ani Al-Athar. At-Tahawi died in the beginning of Dhul-Qa’da,321 H.


31. IBN ‘ABDUL-BARR, Yusuf bin ‘Abdullah:
Abu ‘Umar, Yusuf bin ‘Abdullah bin Muhammad bin ‘Abdul-Barr bin ‘Asim An-Namari Al-Qurtubi was born in Rabi’-uth-Thani, 368 H. He was a celebrated learned Imam and was the Sheikh-ul-lslam and Hafidh of Al-Maghrib (North West Africa). He was considered as the master of his time in the memorization and accurate rendering of the Hadeeth. He was also skilled in the science of genealogy and history. Ibn Hazm said, “I cannot talk about the knowledge of the Hadeeth like ‘Abdul-Barr, so how can I do better than him?” He has authored many books, the most famous of which is Al-Isti’ab. Ibn ‘Abdul-Barr died on a Friday in Rabi’-uth-Thani, 463 H. At the age of 95 years.


32. ‘ABDUL-HAQ bin ‘Abdur-Rahman:
Abu Muhammad, ‘Abdul-Haq bin ‘Abdur-Rahman bin ‘Abdullah bin Husain bin Sa’id Al-Azdi Al-Ishbili was born in 510 H. He was a Hafidh and an authority in the knowledge of Hadeeth. He resided in Bijaya in Spain where he spread his knowledge and authored books. He was famous and a celebrated ‘Aalim and was appointed as the Khatib of Bijaya. He was a Faqih and knowledgeable in the methodology of the Hadeeth, its weak ones and the history of the Hadeeth narrators. He was also described to be virtuous, pious and a strict follower of the Sunnah. He also took interest in the arts and recited poetry. ‘Abdul-Haq died in Bijaya in Rabi’-uth-Thani, 581 H.


33. ‘ABDUR-RAZZAQ bin Humam:
Abu Bakr, ‘Abdur-Razzaq bin Humam bin Nafi’ Al-Himyari (by clientship) As-San’ani was considered as one of the strongholds of knowledge.Ahmad, Ishaq, Ibn Ma’in and Adh-Dhuhli narrated Hadeeth from him. He became blind in his old age and became senile. ‘Abdur-Razzaq died in 211 H. At the age of 85 years.


34. IBN ‘ADI, ‘Abdullah:
Abu Ahmad, ‘Abdullah bin ‘Adi Al-Jurjani was born in 279 H.He was a famous Imam, an eminent Hafidh and one of the celebrated ‘Ulama. He was also nicknamed Ibn Al-Qisar. Ibn ‘Adi died in Jumada-ul-Akhir, 365 H.


35. AL-’AQILI, Muhammad bin ‘Amr:
Abu Ja’far, Muhammad bin ‘Amr bin Musa bin Hamad Al-’Aqili was a Hafidh, an Imam and the author of Kitab Ad-Du’afa’ Al-Kabir. He was a celebrated scholar, and the author of many books. Al-’Aqili lived in Al-Haramain and died in 322 H.


36. ‘ALI bin Al-Madini:
Abul-Hasan, ‘Ali bin ‘Abdullah bin Ja’far bin Najih As-Sa’di by clientship - Al-Madini was born in 161 H. And was considered as the most knowledgeable person regarding the Hadeeth of the Prophet and Al-Bukhari said in this context, “I never belittled myself before anyone else except before ‘Ali Al-Madini.” He was considered to be the Imam of Al-Jarh wat-Ta‘dil, the Hafidh of his time and the exemplary of Ahl Al-Hadeeth (the scholars of the Hadeeth). ‘Ali Al-Madini died at Samira in present Iraq at a place called Katibata Al-Qa’qa in the year 234 H.


37. IBN AL-QATTAN, ‘Ali bin Muhammad:
Abul-Hasan, ‘Ali bin Muhammad bin ‘Abdul-Malik Al-Fasi was born in Qurtuba in Spain in 562 H. And lived in Fas in Morocco. He was a Hafidh, an Imam and a learned critic of the Hadeeth methodology. Moreover, he was more knowledgeable about the Hadeeth methodology and the mastery of the names and history of the narrators of the Hadeeth than anyone else of his time. He also authored many books and died in Rabi’-ul-Awwal, 628 H.


38. IMAM MALIK, Malik bin Anas:
Abu ‘Abdullah, Malik bin Anas bin Malik bin Abu ‘Aamir AI-Asbahi (Dhi Asbah, his ninth grandfather was from one of the noblest tribes of Yemen) was born in 93 H. or 94 H. He was the Imam of Dar Al-Hijra (Al-Madina), the Faqih of the Ummah and the leader of Ahl al-Hadeeth. He studied under more than nine hundred professors and a large number of people learnt from him, among them being Imam Ash-Shafi’ee. The Muwatta of Imaam Malik has been translated to English.


39. IBN MANDA, Muhammad bin Ishaq:
Abu ‘Abdullah, Muhammad bin Ishaq bin Muhammad bin Yahya bin Manda was born in 310 H. And was a Hafidh, an Imam and a traveller. He was also one of the eminent scholars, who mastered many Hadeeth. It is said that he travelled all over the Muslim world of his time and returned with about forty loads of books and his teachers were one thousand seven hundred. Ibn Manda died in Dhul-Hijja 395H.


40. ABU NU’AIM, Al-Asfahani:
Ahmad bin ‘Abdullah bin Ahmed bin Ishaq bin Musa bin Mahran Al-Asfahani was born in Rajab 334 H. He was a famous Hafidh, one of the eminent Muhaddithin and one of the great Huffaz. He studied under the celebrated scholars and himself taught many virtuous ‘Ulama. He authored many books, among them Al-Mustakhraj ‘Ala Al-Bukhari, and Al-Mustakhraj ‘Ala Muslim and Huliyat-ul-Awliya, which is one of the best books. It is said that when he took it to Nishapur, it sold for four hundred Dinar. Al-Asfahani died in Safar or 20th Muharram, 430 H. at-Asfahan.


41. ABU YA’LA, Ahmad bin ‘Ali:
Al-Hafiz Ahmad bin ‘Ali bin Al-Muthanna bin Yahya bin ‘Iesa bin Hilal At-Tamimi was born in Shawwal, 210 H.He authored AI-Musnad AI-Kabir and was considered as the Muhaddith of Al-Jazira. He was truthful, trustworthy, tolerant and religious. As-Sam’ani said, “I heard Ismaiil bin Muhammad bin Al-Fadl Al-Hafiz say: ‘I read the Musnad of Al-’Adani, the Musnad of Ibn Mani’’ and other Masanid, which are like rivers, but the Musnad of Abu Ya’la is like the sea into which all the rivers flow’.” Abu Ya’la died in the year 307 H.

[boriqee]

Some Principles Of Hadeeth
by Brother Abu Rumaysah


Before the specific points are delved into it is important here to mention some important principles with regards to the hadeeth science which are necessary for the reader to know in order to fully comprehend what follows. [5]
Principle 1:
The scholars of hadeeth have different sayings relating to the criticism of narrators and various sayings concerning declaration of authenticity or weakness of narrations (i.e. one scholar may have two or more different sayings about a particular narrator or hadeeth), just as a scholar of fiqh may have more than one saying about a single matter, as is often the case with Imaam ash-Shaafi`ee and Imaam Ahmad. This is due to progressive research and further insight into the evidences - but does this mean that they "contradict themselves"?!
For example:

Imaam adh-Dhahabee [6] often agrees with al-Haakim in his 'Talkhees' of the latter's 'al-Mustadrak'; but then he disagrees in either 'al-Meezaan' or 'Muhadhdhab Sunan al-Bayhaqi' or other works.

Ibn al-Jawzi often includes a hadeeth in his book of fabricated narrations, 'al-Mawdoo`aat', which he also includes in his book of answering charges of weakness against hadeeth 'al-`Ilal al-Mutanahiyah'
Ibn Hibbaan often declares a narrator reliable, then we find that he includes him in 'al-Majrooheen', a book of weak narrators.

Ibn Hajr al-Asqalaanee often has different sayings about a particular narrator in his different books: 'Taqreeb at-Tahdheeb', 'Fath al-Baaree', and 'at-Talkhees al-Habeer'.

Are we to say that they contradict themselves?!! No, rather it is due to progressive research!
Examples:

1 - The hadeeth, "He who does not use kuhl (antimony) should apply it an odd number of times - he who does so has done well, and he who does not, then there is no harm..."
Ibn Hajr declares in 'at-Talkhees al-Habeer' (1/102-103) that it has a weakness since al-Husayn al-Hubraani is unknown, but in 'Fath al-Baaree' (1/206) he declares its isnaad to be hasan!

2 - The hadeeth about sending down verse 108 of Surah at-Tawba, that it was sent down concerning the people of Qubaa`.
Ibn Hajr declares its isnaad to be weak in 'at-Talkhees al-Habeer' (1/113), but in 'Fath al-Baaree' (7/195) and in 'ad-Diraayah' (1/97) he declares its isnaad to be saheeh.

3 - The hadeeth of ibn Umar (RA), "Two dead things and two types of blood have been made lawful for us....."
Ibn Hajr quotes it in 'Bulugh al-Maraam' (no. 11) and says, "it contains weakness", but then declares it saheeh in 'at-Talkhees' (1/26)

4 - The hadeeth, "indeed Allaah and His Angels send blessings upon the first rows"
Imaam Nawawee declares it saheeh in 'al-Majmoo' (4/301), but he only declares it hasan in 'Riyaadh as-Saaliheen' (no. 1090)

5 - The hadeeth, "remember the Destroyer of pleasures: Death"
Ibn Hajr declares it hasan in 'Takhreej al-Adhkaar' [as occurs in 'al-Futoohaat ar-Rabbaaniyyah (4/50)], whereas in 'at-Talkhees' (2/101) he agrees with ibn Hibbaan, al-Haakim and ibn as-Sakn that it is saheeh.
6 - al-Haafidh Ibn Hajr declares the narrator Idrees ibn Yazeed al-Awdi to be reliable in 'at-Taqreeb', but in 'Fath al-Baaree' (2/115) he declares him to be weak.

7 - About Nawf ibn Fadaalah, Ibn Hajr says in 'at-Taqreeb', "Mastoor (condition unknown)", whereas in 'Fath al-Baaree' (8/413) he says of him, "sadooq (truthful)."

8 - About `Abdur Rahmaan ibn 'Abdul `Azeez al-Awsee, Ibn Hajr says in 'at-Taqreeb', "truthful but makes mistakes", but in 'Fath al-Baaree' (3/210) he declares him weak.

9 - In his notes to the 'Muqaddimah Ibn as-Salaah' (1/355-6), Ibn Hajr declares a hadeeth narrated through Muhammad ibn `Ajlaan to be saheeh, whereas in 'Amaali al-Adhkaar' (1/110) he explains that the hadeeth does not rise above the level of hasan.

10 - al-Haafidh ibn Hajr quotes in 'at-Talkhees' (4/176) that an-Nawawee said in 'Rawdah at-Taalibeen' about the hadeeth, "there is no vow in disobedience", "it is weak by agreement of the scholars of hadeeth"; however, ibn Hajr contradicts him by saying, "it was declared saheeh by at-Tahaawee and Abu Alee ibn as-Sakan, so where is the agreement?"

11 - An-Nawawee says in 'al-Majmoo' (2/42) about the hadeeth concerning touching the penis, "is it not but a part of you?", "it is weak by agreement of the memorisers." However the hadeeth has been declared saheeh by ibn Hibbaan, ibn Hazm, at-Tabaraanee, ibn at-Turkamaanee and others, therefore ibn Abdul Haadee says in 'al-Muharrar' (pg.19), "and the one quoting agreement upon it's being weak is mistaken."

So this principle itself is enough to demolish what Saqqaaf and his disciples say from its very foundations!!
Principle 2:
A number of the ahaadeeth about which a scholar may have different sayings are of the class of the hasan hadeeth, about which it is very difficult to tie down to a single rule. Al-Haafidh ad-Dhahabee says in his valuable book, 'al-Mooqizah' (pp. 28-29),

"...And we do not aspire to a single rule/principle for the (class of) hasan which will cover all hasan ahaadeeth, rather I have no hope of that, since how many ahaadeeth there are about which the memorising scholars of hadeeth are undecided as to whether it is hasan or da`eef or saheeh! Indeed a single memorising scholar may change his opinion (ijtihaad) about a single hadeeth, so one day he declares it saheeh and one day hasan and perhaps even declares it to have weakness - and this is true since the hasan hadeeth is declared by the scholar to have a weakness which prevents its rising to the level of saheeh, so in this sense it does have weakness and so the hasan hadeeth will not be free from weakness - and if it were free then it would be saheeh by agreement."

The few ahaadeeth about which the verdicts of Shaykh al-Albaanee have differed fall into this category, so what is said about him is to be said about the previous scholars and Imaams!
Principle 3:
The saying of a scholar, "its isnaad is weak" is not a contradiction of his saying elsewhere, "the hadeeth is hasan" or "the hadeeth is saheeh", since the isnaad may be weak, but the hadeeth itself is saheeh or hasan due to further supporting chains, or other narrations supporting it or attesting to its authenticity.

Imaam as-Suyootee says in 'al-La`aali al-Masnoo`ah' (1/114), "know that the practice of the scholars of hadeeth such as al-Haakim, ibn Hibbaan, al-Uqailee and others was that they would judge a particular hadeeth to be baseless with respect to a particular chain, due to the fact that it's narrator had falsely attached that chain to a certain text, whereas the text itself is well known from other chains...."
Imaam Abu Amr ibn as-Salaah says in , 'Uloom al-Hadeeth' (pp92-93), "if you find a hadeeth with a weak isnaad, then you may say, 'this is weak', meaning that is weak with this isnaad but you may not say, 'this is weak', meaning its text is weak based merely upon the weakness of that chain, since it may be reported by another authentic chain by which the hadeeth is established...."

So Saqqaaf is either ignorant of these facts (as many examples that he quotes of 'self-contradiction' from al-Albaanee are of the same nature as above) and does not know what he is talking about, or he knows and is a liar who conceals the truth! The sweeter of these two possibilities is bitter, and the better of the two is evil!! So how about when he combines the pair of them?!
Principle 4:
"The eloquent speaker is he whose slips of the tongue can be counted, and the noble one is he whose errors can be enumerated" [7]

And "the fully competent one is he whose mistakes are limited." [8]
Ibn al-Mubaarak (RA), said, "if the good qualities of a person (greatly) outweigh his bad qualities, then his bad qualities are not mentioned, and if his bad qualities (greatly) outweigh his good qualities, then his good qualities are not mentioned." [9 ]

adh-Dhahabee says in 'as-Siyar' (16/285), "completeness is very rare, so a scholar is praised for the may virtues he has, so good qualities are not buried due to a single failing."
Ash-Sha`bee said, "if you were right ninety-nine time and erred once, they would seize the single error and forget the ninety-nine...."[10]

So even if, for the sake of argument, we were to accept all the criticisms and attacks made by Saqqaaf against shaykh al-Albaanee, then their number, in comparison to the great number of works written by the shaykh and the huge number of ahaadeeth he has checked, and the enormous number of isnaads he has researched and commented upon, is insignificant. Since the number of works of shaykh al-Albaanee printed so far is more than seventy, and the number of his works in manuscript form is as many again if not more, and he has researched and commented on over 30, 000 isnaads, spending sixty years in the study of the books of the Sunnah and being in the company of, and in contact with, its other scholars.

A tiny proportion of Saqqaaf's criticisms are correct and agree with the principle given by the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, "he has spoken the truth, but he is a very great liar" [11], since we find that Saqqaaf's usual currency is merely misguidance, deliberate distortions, twisting of words and lies and falsification.

A certain scholar whom Saqqaaf respects and still visits wrote upon the copy of Saqqaaf's work ('Self- Contradictions of al-Albaanee'), "your errors would only deceive a fool, an ignorant person or a malicious one like yourself, and you O (...) unfortunately have gathered all these three qualities in your book, and the points you have quoted against Shaykh Naasir - may Allaah protect him from ignorant ones like you - show only that you have not read a single book about hadeeth and its sciences in your life, and I do not find this unlikely since your desire is fame and not knowledge. O Allaah! Do not take us into account for what the fools amongst us have done."

Some noble brothers mentioned a saying to Saqqaaf's book, "if you wish to become known, then urinate in the well of Zamzam!" - Likewise with Saqqaaf, could he find no other route to fame than by writing what he has against the Scholar of Hadeeth of this age, and by calling Shaykh al-Islaam ibn Taymiyyah a kaafir?!!
Principle 5:
Many of Saqqaaf's accusations of contradiction refer to two books: a) 'Mishkaat al-Masaabih' [12] and b) 'Saheeh ibn Khuzaymah', both with the Shaykh's footnotes.

It is not permissible to use these a examples in the first place since the shaykh, as any scholar or student of knowledge should know, due to various circumstances and well-known reasons, did only a small amount of checking and footnotes upon these books.

a) As for 'Mishkaat' then the publisher wrote in its Introduction, "We requested that the great scholar of Hadeeth, Shaykh Muhammad Naasir-ud-Deen al-Albaani should help us in the checking of Mishkaat and take responsibility for adding footnotes for any ahaadeeth needing them, and researching and reproducing their sources and authenticity where needed, and correcting any deficiencies, so he agreed to that, may Allaah reward him well. That was done in the first part of the book, but then his time, which is filled with other necessary services to the Sunnah of Allaah's Messenger, may Allaah bless him and grant him peace, became restricted and he excused himself from its continuation, except that we requested that he should provide whatever benefit he was able from his vast knowledge and examine the rest of the book quickly, and add any notes that he found to be necessary and had time to do; he did this, and this was the cause of many points of benefit ..."

The Shaykh also explained this himself in 'Silsilah as-Saheehah'[13] (1/346), "It was a case of hurried footnotes due to circumstances which did not allow us to follow up fully the chains of narration of the ahaadeeth which is our usual practice."
All of this is known to Saqqaaf, and he has quoted from it in his book !!
b) Likewise as regards 'Saheeh Ibn Khuzaimah', the work of checking was not by shaykh al-Albaanee but rather by Dr. Muhammad Mustafaa al-A`zami, who then requested that shaykh Naasir have a general look at his checking and do a general revision, adding anything necessary - such that it would not be a new checking. Therefore, many of the shaykh's notes are extremely abbreviated, or merely the completion of something unfinished by al-A`zami ...
Now, many of the alleged contradictions quoted by Saqqaaf are to be found in these two books, their nos. in Saqqaaf's alleged book of al-Albaanee's contradictions being:
1-3,5-16,19,20,21,26,32-49,51,52,54-69,72,73,75-78,81-85,87, 90,95,103,143,144,147,153,158,164,188-189,198,199,240-250 !! These in fact constitute nearly half the book!
Further, in order to increase the number of apparent errors and the size of his book, Saqqaaf has repeated a number of the ahaadeeth and his points of criticism in various places with different numbers, for example:
What he quotes on p. 7 he repeats on p. 70 & p. 161 !
Similarly, p. 9 pp. 114, 136 &140 !
p. 10 p. 98 !
p. 10 p. 11 & p. 140 !
p. 64 p. 105 !
p. 96 p. 145 !

And likewise in many other places!

SO WE ASK THE READER TO CONSIDER CAREFULLY WHAT HAS BEEN STATED ABOVE SO THAT HE OR SHE CAN FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT FOLLOWS.

Footnotes
{5} The principles that follow are taken from the work of Shaikh Ali Hasan, 'al-Anwaar al-Kaashifah', part translated by brother Daawood Burbank, with a change of order and some summary.
{6} He is the Muhaddith and Imaam adh-Dhahabee.
The work quoted from here, 'at-Talkhees' is his checking to 'al-Mustadrak' of al-Haakim which claimed to include all the ahaadeeth that fulfilled the criteria of Bukhaaree and Muslim but were not included by them. Unfortunately al-Haakim did not live up to this claim and included in his work hundreds of weak and fabricated ahaadeeth and hence the need for this checking. This single example, not to speak of the others, is enough to show the total lack of understanding of the one who challenges to bring 'ten such contradictions' that are mentioned in 'al-Albani Unveiled' from the classical memorising scholars. Would such a person now declare al-Haakim, and the other scholars mentioned incompetent?!
Adh-Dhahabee also authored many other works relating to hadeeth science and biographies of narrators, from amongst them: 'Siyar A`laam an-Nubalaa', 'al-Meezaan', and 'ad-Du`afaa'.
{7} 'Tabaqaat' of as-Subki (10/52)
{8} 'Siyar A`laam an-Nubalaa' of adh-Dhahabee (4/93)
{9} 'Siyar' (8/532)
{10} 'Hilyah al-Awliyaah' of Abu Nu`aym (4/320-321)
{11} Saheeh al-Bukhaaree from Abu Hurayra, in the hadeeth about the devil stealing from the charity
{12} Mishkaat al-Masaabeeh is a collection of hadeeth written by at-Tabrizi
{13} 'Silsilah as-Saheehah' is al-Albaanee's collection of saheeh and hasan ahaadeeth, along with detailed documentation and analysis of the various routes and texts of the hadeeth under discussion, and sometimes with a discussion of various points of fiqh and benefit which are derived from the hadeeth. Thus far 6 volumes have been printed each volume containing 500 ahaadeeth,
It has a sister book called, 'Silsilah ad-Da`eefah' which is a similar collection of weak and fabricated ahaadeeth. Printed thus far in 5 volumes, each volume containing 500 ahaadeeth.

[boriqee]

Inshallah there is much mroe information but I will stop here for now

asalamau alaikum

[abubakr rishel]

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