📘 ❞ Rules Governing The Criticism Of Hadith ❝ كتاب ــ محمود الطحان

عن كتاب Rules Governing The Criticism Of Hadith:
A hadith (pl. ahadith) is composed of two parts: thematn (text) and the isnad (chain of reporters). A
text may seem to be logical and reasonable but it needs an authentic isnad with reliable reporters to be
acceptable; 'Abdullah b. al-Mubarak (d. 181 AH) is reported to have said,
"The isnad is part of the religion: had it not been for the isnad, whoever wished to would have said
whatever he liked."
During the lifetime of the Prophet (SAS) and after his death, his Companions (Sahabah) used to refer
to him when quoting his sayings. The Successors (Tabi'un) followed suit; some of them used to quote
the Prophet (SAS) through the Companions while others would omit the intermediate authority - such
a hadith was known as mursal (loose). It was found that the missing link between the Successor and
the Prophet (SAS) might be one person, i.e. a Companion, or two persons, the extra person being an
older Successor who heard the hadith from the Companion. This is an example of how the need for
the verification of each isnad arose. Malik (d. 179) said,
"The first one to utilise the isnad was Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri" (d. 124 AH).
Mustalah al-Hadith and Rijal
As time passed, more reporters were involved in eachisnad, and so the situation demanded strict
discipline in the acceptance of ahadith; the rules regulating this discipline are known as Mustalah
al-Hadith (the Science of Hadith).
Mustalah books speak of a number of classes ofhadith in accordance with their status. The following
classifications can be made, each of which is explained later:
1. According to the reference to a particular authority, e.g. the Prophet (SAS), a Companion, or a
Successor; such ahadith are called marfu' (elevated), mauquf (delayed) and maqtu' (severed)
respectively .
2. According to the nature of the chain of reporters, i.e. whether interrupted or uninterrupted, e.g.
musnad (supported),muttasil (continuous), munqati'' (broken), mu'allaq (suspended), mu'dal
(perplexing) and mursal (loose).
3. According to the number of reporters involved in eachisnad, e.g. mutawatir (consecutive) and ahad
(isolated), the latter being divided into gharib (rare), 'aziz (scarce), and mash-hur (widespread) .
4. According to the way in which a saying has been reported such as using the words'an ( - "on the
authority of"), haddathana ( - "he narrated to us"), akhbarana ( - "he informed us") or sami'tu ( - "I



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An summarised text detailing the rules governing the Criticism of Hadeeth. From its introduction ’A hadith pl. ahadith is composed of two parts: the matn text and the isnad chain of reporters . A text may seem to be logical and reasonable but it needs an authentic isnad with reliable reporters to be acceptable ’Abdullah b. alMubarak d. 181 AH is reported to have said, The isnad is part of the religion: had it not been for the isnad, whoever wished to would have said whatever he liked. During the lifetime of the Prophet SAS and after his death, his Companions Sahabah used to refer to him when quoting his sayings. The Successors Tabi’un followed suit some of them used to quote the Prophet SAS through the Companions while others would omit the intermediate authority such a hadith was known as mursal loose . It was found that the missing link between the Successor and the Prophet SAS might be one person, i.e. a Companion, or two persons, the extra person being an older Successor who heard the hadith from the Companion.’