Hadith vs Ahadith

[Grace Seeker]

I've grown accustomed to the terms "hadith" and "ahadith" on this board and I thought that I knew what they were -- reports of things that Muhammad is supposed to have said or done based on the testimony of others who witnessed them. And I always though that they were the same, then today I was reading a book about the prophet written by a Muslim who used both terms in the same sentence. So, now I'm confused. Are these terms synonymous or do they speak of slightly different things?

 

[Insaanah]

Peace, Grace Seeker,

Hadeeth is singular, Ahadeeth is plural.

I've written them as pronounced, though some places do use an "i" instead of "ee" in spelling.

Peace.

EDIT: You will sometimes see the word hadeeth used referring to all hadeeth as a group eg "Usool al-Hadeeth" meaning, "the principles of hadeeth". So ahadeeth is always plural, hadeeth is mainly singular, but can, depending on usage, sometimes refer to all the hadeeth as a group.