Rules Governing the Criticism of Hadeeth pdf download

Rules Governing the Criticism of Hadeeth

RULES GOVERNING THE CRITICISM OF HADEETH

Book’s Prologue

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. 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 each isnad, 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 of hadith 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 each isnad, 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 heard”). In this category falls the discussion about mudallas (concealed) and musalsal (connected) ahadith.

5.         According to the nature of the matn and isnad, e.g. an addition by a reliable reporter, known as ziyadah thiqa, or opposition by a lesser authority to a more reliable one, known as shadh (aloof).

In some cases a text containing a vulgar expression, unreasonable remark or an apparently erroneous statement is rejected by the traditionists outright without consideration of the isnad. Such a hadith is known as munkar (denounced). If an expression or statement is proved to be an addition by a reporter to the text, it is declared as mudraj (added).

6.         According to a hidden defect found in the isnad or text of a hadith. Although it could be included in some of the previous categories, hadith mu’allal (defective hadith) is worthy to be explained separately. The defect can be caused in many ways; e.g. two types of hadith mu’allal are known as maqlub (overturned) and mudtarib (shaky).

7.         According to the reliability and memory of the reporters; the final verdict on a hadith depends mainly on this classification: verdicts such as sahih (sound), hasan (good), da’if (weak) and maudu’ (fabricated) rest mainly upon the nature of the reporters in the isnad.

Musatalah al-hadith is strongly associated with Rijal al-hadith (the study of the reporters of hadith). In scrutinising the reporters of a hadith, authenticating or disparaging remarks made by recognised experts, whether among the Successors or those after them, were found to be of great help.

The earliest remarks cited in the books of Rijal go back to a host of Successors and those after during the first three centuries of Islam.

 A list of such names is provided by the author in his thesis, Criticism of Hadith among Muslims with reference to Sunan lbn Maja, at the end of chapters IV, V and VI. 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 Bukhari (d. 256), Kitab al-Jarh wa al-Ta’dil of Ibn Abi Hatim (d. 327) and Tabaqat of Muhammad b. Sa’d al-Zuhri (d. 320).

A number of traditionists made efforts specifically for the gathering of information about the reporters of the five famous collections of hadith: those of Bukhari (d. 256), Muslim (d. 261), Abu Dawud (d. 275), Tirmidhi (d. 279) and Nasa’i (d. 303), giving authenticating and disparaging remarks in detail.

The first major such work to include also the reporters of Ibn Maja (d. 273) is the ten-volume collection of al-Hafiz ‘Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi (d. 600), known as Al-Kamal fi Asma’ al-Rijal. Later, Jamal al-Din ‘Abd al-Hajjaj Yusuf b. ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Mizzi (d. 742) prepared an edited and abridged version of this work, but made a number of additions and punctuation of the names by names, places and countries of origin of the reporters. He named it Tahdhib al-Kamal fi Asma’ al-Rijal and produced it in twelve volumes. Further, one of al-Mizzi’s gifted pupils, Shams al-Din Abu

‘Abdullah Muhammad b. Ahmad b. ‘Uthman b. Qa’imaz al-Dhahabi (d. 748), summarised his shaikh’s work and produced two abridgements: a longer one called Tadhhib al-Tahdhib and a shorter one called Al-Kashif fi Asma’ Rijal al-Kutub al-Sitta.

A similar effort with the work of Mizzi was made by Ibn Hajar (d. 852), who prepared a lengthy but abridged version, with about one-third of the original omitted, entitled Tahdhib al-Tahdhib in twelve shorter volumes.

Later, he abridged this further to a relatively humble two-volume work called Taqrib al-Tahdhib.

The work of Dhahabi was not left unedited; Khazraji (Saif al-Din Ahmad b. ‘Abdullah, d. after 923) summarised it and also made valuable additions, producing his Khulasa.

A number of similar works deal with either trustworthy authorities, e.g. Kitab al-Thiqat by ‘Ijli (d. 261) and Tadhkira al-Huffaz by Dhahabi, or with disparaged authorities, e.g. Kitab al-Du’afa’ wa

al-Matrukin by Nasa’i and Kitab al-Majruhin by Muhammad b. Hibban al-Busti (d. 354).

Two more works in this field, which include a large number of reporters, both authenticated and disparaged, are Mizan al-l’tidal of Dhahabi and Lisan al-Mizan of Ibn Hajar.

The Classification of Hadeeth – According to the reference to a particular authority

The following principal types of hadith are important:

Marfu’:

A hadith referred back to the Prophet, e.g. a reporter (whether a Companion, Successor or other) says, “The Messenger of Allah said …”

Mauquf:

A hadith referred back to a Companion, e.g. “Ibn ‘Abbas said …”, without being attributed to the Prophet.

Maqtu’:

A hadith referred back to a Successor, e.g. “Al-Hasan al-Basri said …”

The authenticity of each of these three types of hadith depends on other factors such as the reliability of its reporters, the nature of linkage among 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 in matters of fiqh.

Imam Malik’s al-Muwatta’, one of the early collections of hadith, contains a relatively even ratio of these types of hadith, as well as mursal ahadith (which are discussed below). According to Abu Bakr al-Abhari (d. 375), al-Muwatta’ contains the following:

600 marfu’ ahadith, 613 mauquf ahadith, 285 maqtu’ ahadith, and 228 mursal ahadith; a total of 1726 ahadith.

Among other collections, relatively more mauquf and maqtu’ ahadith are found in al-Musannaf of Ibn Abi Shaiba (d. 235), al-Musannaf of ‘Abd al-Razzaq (d. 211) and the Tafsirs of Ibn Jarir (d. 310), Ibn Abi Hatim (d. 327) and Ibn al-Mundhir (d. 319).

The Classification of Hadeeth – According to the link found  among the reporters

The following categories fall under this heading:

Musnad

Al-Hakim defines it as follows:

“A hadith which a traditionist reports from his shaikh from whom he is known to have heard (ahadith) at a time of life suitable for learning, and similarly in turn for each shaikh, until the isnad reaches a well-known Companion who turn reports from the Prophet.”

By this definition, an ordinary muttasil hadith (i.e. one with an uninterrupted isnad) is excluded if it goes back only to a Companion or Successor, as is a marfu’ hadith which has an interrupted isnad.

Al-Hakim gave the following example of a musnad hadith:

We reported from Abu ‘Amr ‘Uthman b. Ahmad al-Sammak al-Baghdadi === Al-Hasan b. Mukarram === ‘Uthman b. ‘Amr === Yunus — al-Zuhri — ‘Abdullah b. Ka’b b. Malik — his father, who asked Ibn Abi Hadrad for payment of a debt he owed to him, in the mosque.

During the argument, their voices were raised until heard by the Messenger of Allah who eventually lifted the curtain of his apartment and said, “O Ka’b! Write off a part of your debt.” He meant remission of half of it. So he agreed and the man paid him.

Al-Hakim then remarks,

“Now, my hearing from Ibn al-Simak is well-known, as is his from Ibn Mukarram. Al-Hasan’s link with ‘Uthman b. ‘Amr and the latter’s with Yunus b. Zaid are known as well. Yunus is always remembered with al-Zuhri, 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.”

The term musnad is applied also to those collections of ahadith which give the ahadith of each Companion separately. Among the early compilers of such a Musnad were Yahya b. ‘Abd al-Hamid al-Himmani (d. 228) at Kufa and Musaddad b. Musarhad (d. 228) at Basra.

 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 traditionist Baqi b. Makhlad al-Qurtubi (d. 276), but unfortunately it is now untraceable. Mursal, Munqati’, Mu’dal, and Mu’allaq ahadith