Hadith Qudsi are the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) as revealed to him by the Almighty Allah. Hadith Qudsi (or Sacred Hadith) are so named because, unlike the majority of Hadith which are Prophetic Hadith, their authority (Sanad) is traced back not to the Prophet but to the Almighty.

Among the many definitions given by the early scholars to Sacred Hadith is that of as-Sayyid ash-Sharif al-Jurjani (died in 816 A.H.) in his lexicon At-Tarifat where he says: “A Sacred Hadith is, as to the meaning, from Allah the Almighty; as to the wording, it is from the messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). It is that which Allah the Almighty has communicated to His Prophet through revelation or in dream, and he, peace be upon him, has communicated it in his own words. Thus Qur’an is superior to it because, besides being revealed, it is His wording.”

The following is one of the hadith from the collection of 40 Hadith Qudsi:

Hadith Qudsi 1:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: When Allah decreed the Creation He pledged Himself by writing in His book which is laid down with Him: My mercy prevails over my wrath.

It was related by Muslim (also by al-Bukhari, an-Nasa’i and Ibn Majah).

Hadith Qudsi 2:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Allah Almighty has said: The son of Adam denied Me and he had no right to do so. And he reviled Me and he had no right to do so. As for his denying Me, it is his saying: He will not remake me as He made me at first (1) – and the initial creation [of him] is no easier for Me than remaking him. As for his reviling Me, it is his saying: Allah has taken to Himself a son, while I am the One, the Everlasting Refuge. I begot not nor was I begotten, and there is none comparable to Me.

(1) i.e., bring me back to life after death.

It was related by al-Bukhari (also by an-Nasa’i).

Hadith Qudsi 3:

On the authority of Zayd ibn Khalid al-Juhaniyy (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) led the morning prayer for us at al-Hudaybiyah following rainfall during the night. When the Prophet (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) finished, he faced the people and said to them: Do you know what your Lord has said? They said: Allah and his Messenger know best. He said: This morning one of my servants became a believer in Me and one a disbeliever. As for him who said: We have been given rain by virtue of Allah and His mercy, that one is a believer in Me, a disbeliever in the stars (2); and as for him who said: We have been given rain by such-and-such a star, that one is a disbeliever in Me, a believer in the stars.

(2) The pre-Islamic Arabs believed that rain was brought about by the movement of stars. This Hadith draws attention to the fact that whatever be the direct cause of such natural phenomena as rain, it is Allah the Almighty who is the Disposer of all things.

It is related by al-Bukhari (also by Malik and an-Nasa’i).
Hadith Qudsi 4:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Allah said: Sons of Adam inveigh against [the vicissitudes of] Time, and I am Time, in My hand is the night and the day (1).

(1) As the Almighty is the Ordainer of all things, to inveigh aginst misfortunes that are part of Time is tantamount to inveighing against Him.

It was related by al-Bukhari (also by Muslim).

Hadith Qudsi 5:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Allah (glorified and exalted be He) said: I am so self-sufficient that I am in no need of having an associate. Thus he who does an action for someone else’s sake as well as Mine will have that action renounced by Me to him whom he associated with Me.

It was related by Muslim (also by Ibn Majah).
Hadith Qudsi 6:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) say: The first of people against whom judgment will be pronounced on the Day of Resurrection will be a man who died a martyr. He will be brought and Allah will make known to him His favours and he will recognize them. [ The Almighty] will say: And what did you do about them? He will say: I fought for you until I died a martyr. He will say: You have lied – you did but fight that it might be said [of you]: He is courageous. And so it was said. Then he will be ordered to be dragged along on his face until he is cast into Hell-fire. [Another] will be a man who has studied [religious] knowledge and has taught it and who used to recite the Quran. He will be brought and Allah will make known to his His favours and he will recognize them. [The Almighty] will say: And what did you do about them? He will say: I studied [religious] knowledge and I taught it and I recited the Quran for Your sake. He will say: You have lied – you did but study [religious] knowledge that it might be said [of you]: He is learned. And you recited the Quran that it might be said [of you]: He is a reciter. And so it was said. Then he will be ordered to be dragged along on his face until he is cast into Hell-fire. [Another] will be a man whom Allah had made rich and to whom He had given all kinds of wealth. He will be brought and Allah will make known to his His favours and he will recognize them. [The Almighty] will say: And what did you do about them? He will say: I left no path [untrodden] in which You like money to be spent without spending in it for Your sake. He will say: You have lied – you did but do so that it might be said [of you]: He is open-handed. And so it was said. Then he will be ordered to be dragged along on his face until he is cast into Hell-fire.

It was related by Muslim (also by at-Tirmidhi and an-Nasa’i).

Hadith Qudsi 7:

On the authority of Uqbah ibn Amir (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I heard the messenger of Allah (PBUH) say: Your Lord delights at a shepherd who, on the peak of a mountain crag, gives the call to prayer and prays. Then Allah (glorified and exalted be He) say: Look at this servant of Mine, he gives the call to prayer and performs the prayers; he is in awe of Me. I have forgiven My servant [his sins] and have admitted him to Paradise.

It was related by an-Nasa’i with a good chain of authorities.

Hadith Qudsi 8:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (PBUH), who said: A prayer performed by someone who has not recited the Essence of the Quran (1) during it is deficient (and he repeated the word three times), incomplete. Someone said to Abu Hurayrah: [Even though] we are behind the imam? (2) He said: Recite it to yourself, for I have heard the Prophet (may the blessings and peace of Allah be up on him) say: Allah (mighty and sublime be He), had said: I have divided prayer between Myself and My servant into two halves, and My servant shall have what he has asked for. When the servant says: Al-hamdu lillahi rabbi l-alamin (3), Allah (mighty and sublime be He) says: My servant has praised Me. And when he says: Ar-rahmani r-rahim (4), Allah (mighty and sublime be He) says: My servant has extolled Me, and when he says: Maliki yawmi d-din (5), Allah says: My servant has glorified Me – and on one occasion He said: My servant has submitted to My power. And when he says: Iyyaka na budu wa iyyaka nasta in (6), He says: This is between Me and My servant, and My servant shall have what he has asked for. And when he says: Ihdina s-sirata l- mustaqim, siratal ladhina an amta alayhim ghayril-maghdubi alayhim wa la d-dallin (7), He says: This is for My servant, and My servant shall have what he has asked for.

(1) Surat al-Fatihah, the first surah (chapter) of the Qur’an.

(2) i.e. standing behind the imam (leader) listening to him reciting al-Fatihah.

(3) “Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.”

(4) “The Merciful, the Compassionate”.

(5) “Master of the Day of Judgement”.

(6) “It is You we worship and it is You we ask for help”.

(7) “Guide us to the straight path, the path of those upon whom You have bestowed favors, not of those against whom You are angry, nor of those who are astray”.

It was related by Muslim (also by Malik, at-Tirmidhi, Abu-Dawud, an-Nasa’i and Ibn Majah).

Hadith Qudsi 9:

On the authority of Abu Harayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (PBUH), who said: Allah (mighty and sublime be He) says: The fist of his actions for which a servant of Allah will be held accountable on the Day of Resurrection will be his prayers. If they are in order, then he will have prospered and succeeded: and if they are wanting, then he will have failed and lost. If there is something defective in his obligatory prayers, the Lord (glorified and exalted be He) will say: See if My servant has any supererogatory prayers with which may be completed that which was defective in his obligatory prayers. Then the rest of his actions will be judged in like fashion.

It was related by at-Tirmidhi (also by Abu Dawud, an-Nasa’i, Ibn Majah and Ahmad).

Hadith Qudsi 10:

On the authority of Abu Harayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (PBUH), who said: Allah (mighty and sublime be He) says: Fasting is Mine and it I who give reward for it. [A man] gives up his sexual passion, his food and his drink for my sake. Fasting is like a shield, and he who fasts has two joys: a joy whin he breaks his fast and a joy when he meets his Lord. The change in the breath of the mouth of him who fasts is better in Allah’s estimation than the smell of musk.

It was related by al-Bukhari (also by Muslim, Malik, at-Tirmidhi, an-Nasa’i and Ibn Majah).

Hadith Qudsi 11:

On the authority of Abu Harayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (PBUH), who said: Allah (mighty and sublime be He) said: Spend (on charity), O son of Adam, and I shall spend on you.

It was related by al-Bukhari (also by Muslim).

Hadith Qudsi 12:

On the authority of Abu Mas’ud al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: A man from among those who were before you was called to account. Nothing in the way of good was found for him except that he used to have dealings with people and, being well-to-do, he would order his servants to let off the man in straitened circumstances [from repaying his debt]. He (the Prophet p.b.u.h) said that Allah said: We are worthier than you of that (of being so generous). Let him off.

It was related by Muslim (also by al-Bukhari and an-Nasa’i).

Hadith Qudsi 13:

On the authority of Adiyy ibn Hatim (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I was with the Messenger of Allah (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and there came to him two men: one of them was complaining of penury (being very poor), while the other was complaining of brigandry (robbery). The Messenger of Allah (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: As for brigandry, it will be but a short time before a caravan will [be able to] go out of Mecca without a guard. As for penury, the Hour (Day of Judgement) will not arrive before one of you takes his charity around without finding anyone to accept it from him. Then (1) one of you will surely stand before Allah, there being no screed between Him and him, nor an interpreter to translate for him. Then He will say to him: Did I not bring you wealth? And he will say: Yes. Then He will say: Did I not send to you a messenger? And he will say: Yes. And he will look to his right and will see nothing but Hell-fire, then he will look to his left and will see nothing but Hell-fire, so let each of you protect himself against Hell-fire, be it with even half a date – and if he finds it not, then with a kind word.

(1) i.e. at the time of the Hour. It was related by al-Bukhari.

Hadith Qudsi 14:

On the authority of Abu Harayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (PBUH), who said: Allah (glorified and exalted be He) has supernumerary angels who rove about seeking out gatherings in which Allah’s name is being invoked: they sit with them and fold their wings round each other, fillin that which is between them and between the lowest heaven. When [the people in the gathering] depart, [the angels] ascend and rise up to heaven. He (the Prophet p.b.u.h.) said: Then Allah (mighty and sublime be He) asks them – [though] He is most knowing about them: From where have you come? And they say: We have come from some servants of Yours on Earth: they were glorifying You (Subhana llah), exalting you (Allahu akbar), witnessing that there is no god but You (La ilaha illa llah), praising You (Al-Hamdu lillah), and asking [favours] of You. He says: And what do they ask of Me? They say: They ask of You Your Paradise. He says: And have they seen My Paradise? They say: No, O Lord. He says: And how would it be were they to have seen My Paradise! They say: And they ask protection of You. He says: From what do they ask protection of Me? They say: From Your Hell-fire, O Lord. He says: And have they seen My Hell-fire? They say: NO. He says: And how would it be were they to have seen My Hell-fire: They say: And they ask for Your forgiveness. He (the Prophet p.b.u.h) said: Then He says: I have forgiven them and I have bestowed upon them what they have asked for,and I have granted them sanctuary from that from which they asked protection. He (the Prophet p.b.u.h) said: They say: O Lord, among then is So-and-so, a much sinning servant, who was merely passing by and sat down with them. He (the Prophet p.b.u.h) said: And He says: And to him [too] I have given forgiveness: he who sits with such people shall not suffer.

It was related by Muslim (also by al-Bukhari, at-Tirmidhi, and an-Nasa’i).

Hadith Qudsi 15:

On the authority of Abu Harayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Prophet (PBUH) said: Allah the Almighty said: I am as My servant thinks I am (1). I am with him when he makes mention of Me. If he makes mention of Me to himself, I make mention of him to Myself; and if he makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make mention of him in an assemble better than it. And if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a fathom’s length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed.

(1) Another possible rendering of the Arabic is: “I am as My servant expects Me to be”. The meaning is that forgiveness and acceptance of repentance by the Almighty is subject to His servant truly believing that He is forgiving and merciful. However, not to accompany such belief with right action would be to mock the Almighty.

It was related by al-Buhkari (also by Muslim, at-Tirmidhi and Ibn-Majah).

Hadith Qudsi 16:

On the authority of son of Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), from the Messenger of Allah (PBUH), among the sayings he related from his Lord (glorified and exalted be He) is that He said: Allah has written down the good deeds and the bad ones. Then He explained it [by saying that] he who has intended a good deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as a full good deed, but if he has intended it and has done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as from ten good deeds to seven hundred times, or many times over. But if he has intended a bad deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as a full good deed, but if he has intended it and has done it, Allah writes it down as one bad deed.

It was related by al-Bukhari and Muslim.

Hadith Qudsi 17:

On the authority of Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (PBUH) is that among the sayings he relates from his Lord (may He be glorified) is that He said: O My servants, I have forbidden oppression for Myself and have made it forbidden amongst you, so do not oppress one another. O My servants, all of you are astray except for those I have guided, so seek guidance of Me and I shall guide you, O My servants, all of you are hungry except for those I have fed, so seek food of Me and I shall feed you. O My servants, all of you are naked except for those I have clothed, so seek clothing of Me and I shall clothe you. O My servants, you sin by night and by day, and I forgive all sins, so seek forgiveness of Me and I shall forgive you. O My servants, you will not attain harming Me so as to harm Me, and will not attain benefitting Me so as to benefit Me. O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to be as pious as the most pious heart of any one man of you, that would not increase My kingdom in anything. O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to be as wicked as the most wicked heart of any one man of you, that would not decrease My kingdom in anything. O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to rise up in one place and make a request of Me, and were I to give everyone what he requested, that would not decrease what I have, any more that a needle decreases the sea if put into it. O My servants, it is but your deeds that I reckon up for you and then recompense you for, so let him finds good praise Allah and let him who finds other that blame no one but himself.

It was related by Muslim (also by at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah).

Hadith Qudsi 18:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Allah (mighty and sublime be He) will say on the Day of Resurrection: O son of Adam, I fell ill and you visited Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I visit You when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: Did you not know that My servant So-and-so had fallen ill and you visited him not? Did you not know that had you visited him you would have found Me with him? O son of Adam, I asked you for food and you fed Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I feed You when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: Did you not know that My servant So-and-so asked you for food and you fed him not? Did you not know that had you fed him you would surely have found that (the reward for doing so) with Me? O son of Adam, I asked you to give Me to drink and you gave Me not to drink. He will say: O Lord, how should I give You to drink whin You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: My servant So-and-so asked you to give him to drink and you gave him not to drink. Had you given him to drink you would have surely found that with Me.

It was related by Muslim.

Hadith Qudsi 19:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Allah (mighty and sublime be He) said: Pride is my cloak and greatness My robe, and he who competes with Me in respect of either of them I shall cast into Hell-fire.

It was related by Abu Dawud (also by Ibn Majah and Ahmad) with sound chains of authority. This Hadith also appears in Muslim in another version.

Hadith Qudsi 20:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: The gates of Paradise will be opened on Mondays and on Thursdays, and every servant [of Allah] who associates nothing with Allah will be forgiven, except for the man who has a grudge against his brother. [About them] it will be said: Delay these two until they are reconciled; delay these two until they are reconciled.

It was related by Muslim (also by Malik and Abu Dawud).

Hadith Qudsi 21:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said that Allah the Almighty said: There are three (1) whose adversary I shall be on the Day of Resurrection: a man who has given his word by Me and has broken it; a man who has sold a free man (2) and has consumed the price; and a man who has hired a workman, has exacted his due in full from him and has not given him his wage.

(1) i.e. types of men.

(2) i.e. a man who has made a slave of another and has sold him.

It was related by al-Bukhari (also by Ibn Majah and Ahmad ibn Hanbal).

Hadith Qudsi 22:

On the authority of Abu Sa’id (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Let not any one of you belittle himself. They said: O Messenger of Allah, how can any one of us belittle himself? He said: He finds a matter concerning Allah about which he should say something, and he does not say [it], so Allah (mighty and sublime be He) says to him on the Day of Resurrection: What prevented you from saying something about such-and-such and such-and-such? He say: [It was] out of fear of people. Then He says: Rather it is I whom you should more properly fear.

It was related by Ibn Majah with a sound chain of authorities.

Hadith Qudsi 23:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Allah will say on the Day of Resurrection: Where are those who love one another through My glory? Today I shall give them shade in My shade, it being a day when there is no shade but My shade.

It was related by al-Bukhari (also by Malik).

Hadith Qudsi 24:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: If Allah has loved a servant [of His] He calls Gabriel (on whom be peace) and says: I love So-and-so, therefore love him. He (the Prophet pbuh) said: So Gabriel loves him. Then he (Gabriel) calls out in heaven, saying: Allah loves So-and-so, therefore love him. And the inhabitants of heaven love him. He (the Prophet pbuh) said: Then acceptance is established for him on earth. And if Allah has abhorred a servant [of His], He calls Gabriel and says: I abhor So-and-so, therefore abhor him. So Gabriel abhors him. Then Gabriel calls out to the inhabitants of heaven: Allah abhors So-and-so, therefore abhor him. He (the Prophet pbuh) said: So they abhor him, and abhorrence is established for him on earth.

It was related by Muslim (also by al-Bukhari, Malik, and at-Tirmidhi).

Hadith Qudsi 25:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Allah (mighty and sublime be He) said: Whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be at war with him. My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him. When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him, and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it. I do not hesitate about anything as much as I hesitate about [seizing] the soul of My faithful servant: he hates death and I hate hurting him.

It was related by al-Bukhari.

Hadith Qudsi 26:

On the authority of Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Allah (mighty and sublime be He) said: Truly of those devoted to Me the one I most favour is a believer who is of meagre means and much given to prayer, who has been particular in the worship of his Lord and has obeyed Him inwardly (1), who was obscure among people and not pointed our, and whose sustenance was just sufficient to provide for him yet he bore this patiently. Then the Prophet (pbuh) rapped his hand and said: Death will have come early to him, his mourners will have been few, his estate scant.

(1) i.e. he has not been ostentatious in his obedience.

It was related by at-Tirmidhi (also by Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Ibn Majah). Its chain of authorities is sound.

Hadith Qudsi 27:

On the authority of Masruq, who said: We asked Abdullah (i.e. Ibn Masud) about this verse: And do not regard those who have been killed in the cause of Allah as dead, rather are they alive with their Lord, being provided for (Quran Chapter 3 Verse 169). He said: We asked about that and the Prophet (pbuh) said: Their souls are in the insides of green birds having lanterns suspended from the Throne, roaming freely in Paradise where they please, then taking shelter in those lanterns. So their Lord cast a glance at them (1) and said: Do you wish for anything? They said: What shall we wish for when we roam freely in Paradise where we please? And thus did He do to them three times. When they say that they would not be spared from being asked [again], they said: O Lord, we would like for You to put back our souls into our bodies so that we might fight for Your sake once again. And when He saw that they were not in need of anything they were let be.

(1) i.e. at those who had been killed in the cause of Allah.

It was related by Muslim (also by at-Tirmidhi, an-Nasa’i and Ibn Majah).

Hadith Qudsi 28:

On the authority of Jundub ibn Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: There was amongst those before you a man who had a wound. He was in [such] anguish that he took a knife and made with it a cut in his hand, and the blood did not cease to flow till he died. Allah the Almighty said: My servant has himself forestalled Me; I have forbidden him Paradise.

It was related by al-Bukhari.

Hadith Qudsi 29:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Allah (mighty and sublime be He) says: My faithful servant’s reward from Me, if I have taken to Me his best friend from amongst the inhabitants of the world and he has then borne it patiently for My sake, shall be nothing less than Paradise.

It was related by al-Bukhari.

Hadith Qudsi 30:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Allah (mighty and sublime be He) said: If My servant likes to meet Me, I like to meet him; and if he dislikes to meet Me, I dislike to meet him. Prophetic explanation of this Sacred Hadith: He who likes to meet Allah, Allah likes to meet him; and he who dislikes to meet Allah, Allah dislikes to meet him. Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: O Prophet of Allah, is it because of the dislike of death, for all of us dislike death? The Prophet (pbuh) said: It is not so, but rather it is that when the believer is given news of Allah’s mercy, His approval and His Paradise, he likes to meet Allah and Allah likes to meet him; but when the unbeliever is given news of Allah’s punishment and His displeasure, he dislikes to meet Allah and Allah dislikes to meet him.

It was related by al-Bukhari and Malik. The Prophetic version is related by Muslim.

Hadith Qudsi 31:

On the authority of Jundub (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) related: A man said: By Allah, Allah will not forgive So-and-so. At this Allah the Almighty said: Who is he who swears by Me that I will not forgive So-and-so? Verily I have forgiven So-and-so and have nullified your [own good] deeds (1) (or as he said [it]).

(1) A similar Hadith, which is given by Abu Dawud, indicates that the person referred to was a goldly man whose previous good deeds were brought to nought through presuming to declare that Allah would not forgive someone’s bad deeds.

It was related by Muslim.

Hadith Qudsi 32:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: A man sinned greatly against himself, and when death came to him he charged his sons, saying: When I have died, burn me, then crush me and scatter [my ashes] into the sea, for, by Allah, if my Lord takes possession of me, He will punish me in a manner in which He has punished no one [else]. So they did that to him. Then He said to the earth: Produce what you have taken-and there he was! And He said to him: What induced you to do what you did? He said: Being afraid of You, O my Lord (or he said: Being frightened of You) and because of that He forgave him.

It was related by Muslim (also by al-Bukhari, an-Nasa’i and Ibn Majah).

Hadith Qudsi 33:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (PBUH), from among the things he reports from his Lord (mighty and sublime be He), is that he said: A servant [of Allah's] committed a sin and said: O Allah, forgive me my sin. And He (glorified and exalted be He) said: My servant has committed a sin and has known that he has a Lord who forgives sins and punishes for them. Then he sinned again and said: O Lord, forgive me my sin. And He (glorified and exalted be He) said: My servant has committed a sin and has known that he has a Lord who forgives sins and punishes for them. Then he sinned again and said: O Lord, forgive me my sin. And He (glorified and exalted be He) said: My servant has committed a sin and has known that he has a Lord who forgives sins and punishes for sins. Do what you wish, for I have forgiven you.

It was related by Muslim (also by al-Bukhari).

Hadith Qudsi 34:

On the authority of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) say: Allah the Almighty said: O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great at it.

It was related by at-Tirmidhi (also by Ahmad ibn Hanbal). Its chain of authorities is sound.

Hadith Qudsi 35:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Our Lord (glorified and exalted be He) descends each night to the earth’s sky when there remains the final third of the night, and He says: Who is saying a prayer to Me that I may answer it? Who is asking something of Me that I may give it him? Who is asking forgiveness of Me that I may forgive him?

It was related by al-Bukhari (also by Muslim, Malik, at-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud).

In a version by Muslim the Hadith ends with the words:

And thus He continues till [the light of] dawn shines.

Hadith Qudsi 36:

On the authority of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (PBUH), who said: The believers will gather together on the Day of Resurrection and will say: Should we not ask [someone] to intercede for us with our Lord? So they will come to Adam and will say: You are the Father of mankind; Allah created you with His hand He made His angels bow down to you and He taught you the names of everything, so intercede for us with you Lord so that He may give us relief form this place where we are. And he will say: I am not in a position [to do that] – and he will mention his wrongdoing and will feel ashamed and will say: Go to Noah, for he is the first messenger that Allah sent to the inhabitants of the earth. So they will come to him and he will say: I am not in a position [to do that] – and he will mention his having requested something of his Lord about which he had no [proper] knowledge (Quran Chapter 11 Verses 45-46), and he will feel ashamed and will say: Go to the Friend of the Merciful (Abraham). So they will come to him and he will say: I am not in a position [to do that]. Go to Moses, a servant to whom Allah talked and to whom He gave the Torah. So they will come to him and he will say: I am not in a position [to do that] – and he will mention the talking of a life other that for a life (Quran Chapter 28 Verses 15-16), and he will fell ashamed in the sight of his Lord and will say: Go to Jesus, Allah’s servant and messenger, Allah’s word and spirit. So they will come to him and he will say: I am not in a position [to do that]. Go to Muhammad (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), a servant to whom Allah has forgiven all his wrongdoing, past and future. So they will come to me and I shall set forth to ask permission to come to my Lord, and permission will be given, and when I shall see my Lord I shall prostrate myself. He will leave me thus for such time as it pleases Him, and then it will be said [to me]: Raise your head. Ask and it will be granted. Speak and it will be heard. Intercede and your intercession will be accepted. So I shall raise my head and praise Him with a form of praise that He will teach me. Then I shall intercede and HE will set me a limit [as to the number of people], so I shall admit them into Paradise. Then I shall return to Him, and when I shall see my Lord [I shall bow down] as before. Then I shall intercede and He will set me a limit [as to the number of people]. So I shall admit them into Paradise. Then I shall return for a third time, then a fourth, and I shall say: There remains in Hell-fire only those whom the Quran has confined and who must be there for eternity. There shall come out of Hell-fire he who has said: There is no god but Allah and who has in his heart goodness weighing a barley-corn; then there shall come out of Hell-fire he who has said: There is no god but Allah and who has in his heart goodness weighing a grain of wheat; then there shall come out of Hell-fire he who has said: There is no god but Allah and who has in his heart goodness weighing an atom.

It was related by al-Bukhari (also by Muslim, at-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah).

Hadith Qudsi 37:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Allah said: I have prepared for My righteous servants what no eye has seen and no ear has heard, not has it occurred to human heart. Thus recite if you wish (1): And no soul knows what joy for them (the inhabitants of Paradise) has been kept hidden (Quran Chapter 32 Verse 17).

(1) The words “Thus recite if you wish” are those of Abu Harayrah.

It was related by al-Bukhari, Muslim, at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah.

Hadith Qudsi 38:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: When Allah created Paradise and Hell-fire, He sent Gabriel to Paradise, saying: Look at it and at what I have prepared therein for its inhabitants. The Prophet (pbuh) said: So he came to it and looked at it and at what Allah had prepared therein for its inhabitants. The Prophet (pbuh) said: So he returned to Him and said: By your glory, no one hears of it without entering it. So He ordered that it be encompassed by forms of hardship, and He said: Return to it and look at what I have prepared therein for its inhabitants. The Prophet (pbuh) said: So he returned to it and found that it was encompassed by forms of hardship (1). Then he returned to Him and said: By Your glory, I fear that no one will enter it. He said: Go to Hell-fire and look at it and what I have prepared therein for its inhabitants, and he fount that it was in layers, one above the other. Then he returned to Him and said: By Your glory, no one who hears of it will enter it. So He ordered that it be encompassed by lusts. Then He said: Return to it. And he returned to it and said: By Your glory, I am frightened that no one will escape from entering it.

(1) The Arabic word used here is “makarih”, the literal meaning of which is “things that are disliked”. In this context it refers to forms of religious discipline that man usually finds onerous.

It was related by Tirmidhi, who said that it was a good and sound Hadith (also by Abu Dawud and an-Nasa’i).

Hadith Qudsi 39:

On the authority of Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Paradise and Hell-fire disputed together, and Hell-fire said: In me are the mighty and the haughty. Paradise said: In me are the weak and the poor. So Allah judged between them, [saying]: You are Paradise, My mercy; through you I show mercy to those I wish. And you are Hell-fire, My punishment; through you I punish those I wish, and it is incumbent upon Me that each of you shall have its fill.

It was related by Muslim (also by al-Bukhari and at-Tirmidhi).

Hadith Qudsi 40:

On the authority of Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Allah will say to the inhabitant of Paradise: O inhabitants of Paradise! They will say: O our Lord, we present ourselves and are at Your pleasure, and goodness rests in Your hands. Then He will say: Are you contented? And they will say: And how should we not be contented, O Lord, when You have given to us that which You have given to no one else of Your creation? Then He will say: Would not like Me to give you something better than that? And they will say: O Lord and what thing is better than that? And He will say: I shall cause My favour to descend upon you and thereafter shall never be displeased with you.

It was related by al-Bukhari (also by Muslim and at-Tirmidhi).

Allah knows the best

According to the reference to a particular authority

The following principal types of hadith are important:

Marfu‘ - “elevated”: A narration from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), e.g. a reporter (whether a Companion, Successor or other) says, “The Messenger of Allah said …” For example, the very first hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari is as follows: Al-Bukhari === Al-Humaidi ‘Abdullah b. al-Zubair === Sufyan === Yahya b.Sa’id al-Ansari === Muhammad b. Ibrahim al-Taymi === ‘Alqamah b. Waqqas al-Laithi, who said: I heard ‘Umar b. al- Khattab saying, while on the pulpit, “I heard Allah’s Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) saying: The reward of deeds depends on the intentions, and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended; so whoever emigrated for wordly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration was for what he migrated.”

Mauquf – “stopped”: A narration from a Companion only, i.e. his own statement; e.g. al-Bukhari reports in his Sahih, in Kitab al-Fara’id (Book of the Laws of Inheritance), that Abu Bakr, Ibn ‘Abbas and Ibn al-Zubair said, “The grandfather is (treated like) a father.”

It should be noted that certain expressions used by a Companion generally render a hadith to be considered as being effectively marfu’ although it is mauquf on the face of it, e.g. the following:
“We were commanded to …”
“We were forbidden from …”
“We used to do …”
“We used to say/do … while the Messenger of Allah was amongst us.”
“We did not use to mind such-and-such…”
“It used to be said …”
“It is from the Sunnah to …”
“It was revealed in the following circumstances: …”, speaking about a verse of the Qur’an.

Maqtu‘- “severed”: A narration from a Successor, e.g. 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.”

The authenticity of each of the above three types of hadith 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 (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) can be distinguished at once from those of Companions or Successors; this is especially helpful in debate about 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 later). 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.6

Among other collections, relatively more mauquf and maqtu’ ahadith are found in Al-Musannaf of Ibn Abi Shaibah (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).7

According to the links in the isnad

Musnad

Al-Hakim defines a musnad (“supported”) hadith 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 in turn reports from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).”8

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 gives 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 ensuing argument, their voices were raised until heard by the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), 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.

He 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 (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) are well-established.”9

The term musnad is also applied 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 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 traditionist Baqi b. Makhlad al-Qurtubi (d. 276), but unfortunately it is now untraceable.

Mursal, Munqati’, Mu’dal, & Mu’allaq

If the link between the Successor and the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is missing, the hadith is mursal (“hurried”), e.g. when a Successor says, “The Prophet said …”.

However, if a link anywhere before the Successor (i.e. closer to the traditionist recording the hadith) is missing, the hadith is munqati’ (“broken”). This applies even if there is an apparent link, e.g. an isnad seems to be muttasil (“continuous”) but one of the reporters is known to have never heard ahadith from his immediate 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 this authority.10

If the number of consecutive missing reporters in the isnad exceeds one, the isnad is mu’dal (“perplexing”). If the reporter omits the whole isnad and quotes the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, directly (i.e. the link is missing at the beginning, unlike the case with a mursal isnad), the hadith is called mu’allaq (“hanging”) – sometimes it is known as balaghah (“to reach”); for example, Imam Malik sometimes says in Al-Muwatta’, “It reached me that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said …”

Example of a munqati’ hadith

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 Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) 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 (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). One day, I came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) 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 hadith 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.”11

Example of a mu’dal hadith

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 (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) 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 remarks, “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.”12

Authenticity of the Mursal Hadith

There has been a great deal of discussion amongst the scholars regarding the authenticity of the Mursal Hadith (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 hadith is held to be authentic, for a Successor can only report from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) 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 trustworthy and reliable, by both Qur’anic injunctions and sayings of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).

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:

(i) 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.

(ii) 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.13

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.”14

2) Imam Abu Hanifah (d. 150) holds the same opinion as Malik; he accepts the Mursal Hadith whether or not it is supported by another hadith.15

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:

(i) 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; or that most scholars hold the same opinion as conveyed by the mursal hadith.

(ii) 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; or that he does not contradict a reliable person when he happens to share with him in a narration.16

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 (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) forbade the selling of meat in exchange for an animal. He then says, “This is our opinion, for the Irsal of Ibn al-Musayyib is fine.”17

4) Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal (d. 241) accepts mursal and (other) da’if (weak) ahadith 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 ahadith 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 ahadith which were classed as hasan by other scholars.18 Overlooking this fact has caused misunderstanding about Imam Ahmad’s view on the place of da’if ahadith 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 Hadith 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.19

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.20

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.

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 (21) could devote themselves to studies in religion and admonish the people when they return to them, that thus they may guard themselves (against evil)’ (Qur’an, 9:122). This concerns those who set off to seek knowledge, and then return to those who remained behind in order to teach them.”22 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.”23

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.”24

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 (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). 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 while the other three reporters heard it in different sittings. Hence, this addition of Abu Musa in the isnad is quite acceptable.25

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.26

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.”27

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.28 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.

According to the number of reporters in each stage of the isnad

Mutawatir & Ahad

Depending on the number of the reporters of the hadith in each stage of the isnad, i.e. in each generation of reporters, it can be classified into the general categories of mutawatir (“consecutive”) or ahad (“single”) hadith.

A mutawatir hadith 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.29

Al-Ghazali (d. 505) stipulates that a mutawatir narration be known by the sizeable number of its reporters equally in the beginning, in the middle and at the end.30 He is correct in this stipulation because some narrations or ideas, although known as mutawatir among some people, whether Muslims or non-Muslims, originally have no tawatur. There is no precise definition for a “large number of reporters”; although the numbers four, five, seven, ten, twelve, forty and seventy, among others, have all been variously suggested as a minimum, the exact number is irrelevant (some reporters, e.g. Imams of Hadith, carry more weight anyway than others who are their contemporaries): the important condition is that the possibility of coincidence or “organised falsehood” be obviously negligible.31

Examples of mutawatir practices are the five daily prayers, fasting, zakat, the Hajj and recitation of the Qur’an. Among the verbal mutawatir ahadith, the following has been reported by at least sixty-two Companions from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and has been widely-known amongst the Muslims throughout the ages: “Whoever invents a lie and attributes it to me intentionally, let him prepare his seat in the Fire.” Ahadith related to the description of the Haud Kauthar (the Basin of Abundant Goodness) in the Hereafter, raising the hands at certain postures during prayer, rubbing wet hands on the leather socks during ablution, revelation of the Qur’an in seven modes, and the prohibition of every intoxicant are further examples of verbal mutawatir ahadith.32

A hadith ahad or khabar wahid is one which is narrated by people whose number does not reach that of the mutawatir case. Ahad is further classified into: Gharib, ‘Aziz & Mashhur

A hadith is termed gharib (“scarce, strange”) when a only a single reporter is found relating it at some stage of the isnad. For example, the saying of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), “Travel is a piece of punishment” is gharib; the isnad of this hadith contains only one reporter in each stage: Malik — Yahya b. Abi Salih — Abu Hurairah — the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). With regard to its isnad, this hadith is sahih, although most gharib ahadith are weak; Ahmad b. Hanbal said, “Do not write these gharib ahadith because they are unacceptable, and most of them are weak.”33

A type of hadith similar to gharib is fard (“solitary”); it is known in three ways:

(i) similar to gharib, i.e. a single person is found reporting it from a well-known Imam;

(ii) the people of one locality only are known to narrate the hadith;

(iii) narrators from one locality report the hadith from narrators of another locality, such as the people of Makkah reporting from the people of Madinah.34

If at any stage in the isnad, only two reporters are found to narrate the hadith, it is termed ‘aziz (“rare, strong”). For example, Anas reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “None of you (truly) believes until I become more beloved to him than his father, his son, and all the people.”

Two reporters, Qatadah and ‘Abdul ‘Aziz b. Shu’aib, report this hadith from Anas, and two more reporters narrate from each of them: Shu’bah and Sa’id report from Qatada, and Isma’il b. Ulayyah and ‘Abd al-Warith from ‘Abd al-’Aziz; then a group of people report from each of them.35

A hadith which is reported by more than two reporters is known as mashhur (“famous”). According to some scholars, every narrative which comes to be known widely, whether or not it has an authentic origin, is called mashhur. A mashhur hadith migh be reported by only one or two reporters in the beginnning but become 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 hadith from a reliable authority in Hadith such as al Zuhri and Qatadah, the hadith will remain either gharib or ‘aziz. On the other hand, if a group of people narrate from them, it will be known as mashhur.36

According to al-’Ala’i (Abu Sa’id Khalil Salah al-Din, d. 761), a hadith may be known as ‘aziz and mashhur at the same time. By this he means a hadith which is left with only two reporters in its isnad at any stage while it enjoys a host of reporters in other stages, such as the saying of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), “We are the last but (will be) the foremost on the Day of Resurrection.”

This hadith is ‘aziz in its first stage, as it is reported by Hudhaifah b. al-Yaman and Abu Hurairah only. It later becomes mashhur as seven people report it from Abu Hurairah.37

According to the manner in which the hadith is reported

Mudallas hadith & Tadlis

Different ways of reporting, e.g. (he narrated to us), (he informed us), (I heard), and (on the authority of) are used by the reporters of hadith. The first three indicate that the reporter personally heard from his shaikh, whereas the mode can denote either hearing in person or through another reporter.

A mudallas (“concealed”) hadith 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 shaikh. Ibn al-Salah describes two types of tadlis:

a) tadlis al-isnad. A person reports from his shaikh whom he met, what he did not hear from him, or from a contemporary of his whom he did not meet, in such a way as to create the impression that he heard the hadith in person. A mudallis (one who practises tadlis) here usually uses the mode (“on the authority of”) or (“he said”) to conceal the truth about the isnad.

b) tadlis al-shuyukh. The reporter does mention his shaikh by name, but uses a less well-known name, by-name, nickname etc., in order not to disclose his shaikh’s identity.38 Al-’Iraqi (d. 806), in his notes on Muqaddimah Ibn al-Salah, adds a third type of tadlis:

c) tadlis al-taswiyyah. To explain it, let us assume an isnad which contains a trustworthy shaikh reporting from a weak authority, who in turn reports from another trustworthy shaikh. Now, the reporter of this isnad omits the intermediate weak authority, leaving it apparently consisting of reliable authorities. He plainly shows that he heard it from hisshaikh but he uses the mode “on the authority of” to link his immediate shaikh with the next trustworthy one. To an average student, this isnad seems free of any doubt or discrepancy. This is known to have been practised by Baqiyyah b. al-Walid, Walid b. Muslim, al-A’mash and al- Thauri. It is said to be the worst among the three kinds of tadlis.39

Ibn Hajar classifies those who practised tadlis into five categories in his essay Tabaqat al- Mudallisin: Those who are known to do it occasionally, such as Yahya b. Sa’id al-Ansari. Those who are accepted by the traditionists, either because of their good reputation and relatively few cases of tadlis, e.g. Sufyan al-Thauri (d. 161), or because they reported from authentic authorities only, e.g. Sufyan Ibn ‘Uyainah (d. 198).

Those who practised it a great deal, and the traditionists have accepted such ahadith from them which were reported with a clear mention of hearing directly. Among these are Abu ‘l-Zubair al-Makki, whose ahadith narrated from the Companion Jabir b. ‘Abdullah have been collected in Sahih Muslim.

Opinions differ regarding whether they are acceptable or not.

Similar to the previous category, but the traditionists agree that their ahadith 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 another reason apart from tadlis; their ahadith are rejected, even though they admit 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.40

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.”41

Musalsal

A musalsal (uniformly-linked) isnad is one in which all the reporters, as well as the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), 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 hadith.

Al-Hakim gives eight examples of such isnads, 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 shaikh performed ablution”;
haddathana (he narrated to us);
amarani (he commanded me);
holding one’s beard;
illustrating by counting on five fingers;
the expression “I testify that …”;
and interlocking the fingers.42

Knowledge of musalsal helps in discounting the possibility of tadlis.

According to the nature of the text and isnad

Shadhdh & Munkar

According to al-Shafi’i, a shadhdh (“irregular”) hadith 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 hadith which is unique in its contents and is not narrated by someone else.43 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.44

An example of a shadhdh hadith according to some scholars is one which Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi transmit, through the following isnad:

‘Abdul Wahid b. Ziyad — al-A’mash — Abu Salih — Abu Hurairah === the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace): “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 (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and not as his saying; ‘Abdul Wahid is alone amongst the trustworthy students of al-A’mash in narrating these words.”45

According to Ibn Hajar, if a narration which goes against another authentic hadith isreported by a weak narrator, it is known as munkar (denounced).46 Traditionists as late as Ahmad used to simply label any hadith of a weak reporter as munkar.47 Sometimes, a hadith is labelled as munkar because of its contents being contrary to general sayings of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Al-Khatib (d. 463) quotes al-Rabi’ b. Khaitham (d. 63) as saying, “Some ahadith 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 ahadith 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.”48

Ibn Kathir quotes the following two ahadith 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 (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) 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 (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). 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 hadith 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 ahadith.”49

In contrast to a munkar hadith, if a reliablereporter 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).50 An example is the hadith of al-Bukhari and Muslim on the authority of Ibn Mas’ud: “I asked the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), ‘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.51

Mudraj

An addition by a reporter to the text of the saying being narrated is termed mudraj (interpolated).52 For example, al-Khatib relates via Abu Qattan and Shababah — Shu’bah — Muhammad b. Ziyad — Abu Hurairah — The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who said, “Perform the ablution fully; woe to the heels from the Fire!”

Al-Khatib 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 (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). 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 (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: ‘Woe to the heels from the Fire!’.”53

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.54 However, the traditionists are more lenient towards those reporters who may do so forgetfully or in order to explain a difficult word.

According to a hidden defect found in the isnad or text of a hadith

Before discussing ma’lul (defective) ahadith, a brief note on mudtarib (shaky) and maqlub (reversed) ahadith 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).55

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 (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) 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 Sa’d 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.”56

As an example of idtirab in the text, Rafi’ b.Khadij said that the Messenger of Allah (mayAllah bless him and grant him peace) forbade the renting of land. The reporters narrating from Rafi’ give different statements, as follows:

(i) Hanzalah asked Rafi’, “What about rentingfor gold and silver?” He replied, “It does notmatter if it is rent for gold and silver.”

(ii) Rifa’ah — Rafi’ — the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who said,”Whoever owns a piece of land should cultivate it, give it to his brother to cultivate, or abandon it.”

(iii) Salim — Rafi’ — his two uncles — the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who forbade the renting of farming land.

(iv) The son of Rafi’ — Rafi’ — the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who forbade the renting of land.

(v) A different narration by Rafi’ from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), 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.”

(vi) Zaid b. Thabit said, “May Allah forgive Rafi’! I am more aware of the hadith than he; what happened was that two of the Ansar (Helpers) had a dispute, so they came to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), 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 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 hadith of Ibn ‘Umar that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) gave the land of Khaibar to the Jews on condition that they work on it and take half of the produce.”57

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 …”58

The famous trial of al-Bukhari by the scholars of Baghdad provides a good example of a maqlub isnad. The traditionists, in order to testtheir visitor, al-Bukhari, appointed ten men, each with ten ahadith. 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 ahadith 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.59

Other ways in which ahadith 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 (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) 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.60

Ma’lul or Mu’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:

(i) declaring a hadith musnad when it is in fact mursal, or marfu’ when it is in fact mauquf;

(ii) showing a reporter to narrate from his shaikh when in fact he did not meet the latter; or attributing a hadith to one Companion when it in fact comes through another.61

Ibn al-Madini (d. 324) says that such a defect can only be revealed if all the isnads of a particular hadith are collated. In his book al-’Ilal, he gives thirty-four Successors and the names of those Companions from whom each of them heard ahadith 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.62 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-’Ilal, has given 2840 examples of ma’lul ahadith 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 (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) 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.”63

Regarding it, Ibn Taimiyyah says, “Men more knowledgeable than Muslim, such as al-Bukhari and Yahya b. Ma’in, have criticised it. Al-Bukhari said, “This saying is not that of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), but one of Ka’b al-Ahbar’.”64

According to the reliability and memory of the reporters

The final verdict on a hadith, i.e. sahih (sound), hasan (good), da’if (weak) or maudu’ (fabricated, forged), depends critically on this factor.

Among the early traditionists, mostly of the first two centuries, ahadith were classified into two categories only: sahih 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 ahadith sometimes, were in fact basing their argument on the ahadith which were later to be known as hasan.65

We now examine in more detail these four important classes of ahadith.

Sahih

Al-Shafi’i states the following requirement in order for a hadith which is not mutawatir to be acceptable:

“Each reporter should be trustworthy in his religion; he should be known to be truthful in his narrating, to understand what he narrates, to know how a different expression can alter the meaning, and report the wording of the hadith verbatim, not only its meaning. This is because if he does not know how a different expression can change the whole meaning, he will not know if he has changed what is lawful into what is prohibited. Hence, if he reports the hadith according to its wording, no change of meaning will be found at all. Moreover, he should be a good memoriser if he happens to report from his memory, or a good preserver of his writings if he happens to report from them. He should agree with the narrations of the huffadh (leading authorities in Hadith), if he reports something which they do also. He should not be a mudallis, who narrates from someone he met something he did not hear, nor should he report from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) contrary to what reliable sources have reported from him. In addition, the one who is above him (in the isnad) should be of the same quality, [and so on,] until the hadith goes back uninterrupted to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) or any authority below him.”66

Ibn al-Salah, however, defines a sahih hadith more precisely by saying: “A sahih hadith 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 hadith, whether, for example, it is munqati’, mu’dal, mudtarib, maqlub, shadhdh,munkar, ma’lul, or contains a mudallis. The definition also excludes hasan ahadith, as will be discussed under that heading.

Of all the collectors of hadith, al-Bukhari and Muslim were greatly admired because of their tireless attempts to collect sahih ahadith only. It is generally understood that the more trustworthy and of good memory the reporters, the more authentic the hadith. The isnad: al- Shafi’i — Malik — Nafi’ — ‘Abdullah b. ‘Umar — The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), is called a “golden isnad” because of its renowned reporters.67

Some traditionists prefer Sahih al-Bukhari to Sahih 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.68

The following grading is given for sahih ahadith only:

(i) those which are transmitted by both al- Bukhari and Muslim;

(ii) those which are transmitted by al-Bukhari only;

(iii) those which are transmitted by Muslim only; those which are not found in the above two collections, but

(iv) which agree with the requirements of both al-Bukhari and Muslim;

(v) which agree with the requirements of al- Bukhari only;

(vi) which agree with the requirements of Muslim only; and

(vii) those declared sahih by other traditionists.69

Hasan

Al-Tirmidhi means by hadith hasan: a hadith which is not shadhdh, nor contains a disparaged reporter in its isnad, and which is reported through more than one route of narration.70

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 hadith should not be of a doubtful nature, such as with the mursal or munqati’ hadith, or one containing a mudallis.

Ibn al-Salah classifies hasan into two categories:

(i) 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;

(ii) 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 hadith in comparison to the reporters of sahih ahadith.

In both categories, Ibn al-Salah requires that the hadith be free of any shudhudh (irregularities).71

Al-Dhahabi, after giving the various definitions, says, “A hasan hadith is one which excels the da’if but nevertheless does not reach the standard of a sahih hadith.”72 In the light of this definition, the following isnads are hasan according to al-Dhahabi:

(i) Bahz b. Hakam — his father — his grandfather;

(ii) ‘Amr b. Shu’aib — his father — his grandfather;

(iii) 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 ahadith hasan, others declare them da’if.73

Example of a hasan hadith

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 Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) 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 hadith to be hasan because of the above isnad, which falls short of the requirements for a sahih hadith.74

Several weak ahadith 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 ahadith 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 hadith 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 ahadith on the same subject may make the hadith sahih li ghairihi, to be distinguished from the previously-discussed sahih li dhatihi.

However, in case the weakness is severe (e.g., the reporter is accused of lying or the hadith is itself shadhdh), such very weak ahadith will not support each other and will remain weak. For example, the well-known hadith, “He who preserves forty ahadith for my Ummah will be raised by Allah 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.75

Da’if

A hadith which fails to reach the status of hasan is da’if. Usually, the weakness is one of discontinuity in the isnad, in which case the hadith 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 hadith will be to being maudu’ (fabricated).76

Some ahadith, 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.77

Maudu’

Al-Dhahabi defines maudu’ (fabricated, forged) as the term applied to a hadith, the text of which goes against the established norms of the Prophet’s sayings (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), or its reporters include a liar, e.g. the forty ahadith known as Wad’aniyyah or the small collection of ahadith which was fabricated and claimed to have been reported by ‘Ali al-Rida, the eighth Imam of the Ithna ‘Ashari Shi’ah.78

A number of traditionists have collected fabricated ahadith separately in order to distinguish them from other ahadith; 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-Ahadith al-Maudu’ah, and ‘Ali al- Qari in al-Maudu’at.

Some of these ahadith 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.“79 Another notorious inventor, ‘Abd al-Karim Abu ‘l-Auja, who was killed and crucified by Muhammad b. Sulaiman b. ‘Ali, governor of Basrah, admitted that he had fabricated four thousand ahadith declaring lawful the prohibited and vice-versa.80

Maudu’ ahadith are also recognised by external evidence related to a discrepancy found in the dates or times of a particular incident.81 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 (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) 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 thedocument 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!82

The author, in his Criticism of Hadith among Muslims with reference to Sunan Ibn Majah, has given more examples of fabricated ahadith under the following eight categories of causes of fabrication:83

(i) political differences;

(ii) factions based on issues of creed;

(iii) fabrications by zanadiqah (enemies-within spreading heretical beliefs);

(iv) fabrications by story-tellers;

(v) fabrications by ignorant ascetics;

(vi) prejudice in favour of town, race or a particular imam;

(vii) inventions for personal motives;

(viii) proverbs turned into ahadith.

Similar to the last category above is the case of Isra’iliyat (“Israelite traditions”), narrations from the Jews and the Christians 84 which were wrongly attributed to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).

FURTHER BRANCHES OF MUSTALAH AND RIJAL AL-HADITH (classification of hadith and their reporters)

The above-mentioned classification of ahadith plays a vital role in ascertaining the authenticity of a particular narration. Ibn al- Salah mentions sixty-five terms in his book, of which twenty-three have been discussed above. Two further types not included by Ibn al-Salah, mu’allaq and mutawatir, have been dealt with from other sources. The remaining forty-two types follow in brief, which help further distinguish between different types of narrations.

1. Knowledge of i’tibar (“consideration”), mutaba’ah (“follow-up”) and shawahid (“witnesses”). Traditionists are always in search of strengthening support for a hadith which is reported by one source only; such research is termed i’tibar. If a supporting narration is not found for a particular hadith, it is declared as fard mutlaq (absolutely singular) or gharib. For example, if a hadith is reported through the following isnad: Hammad b. Salamah – — Ayyub — Ibn Sirin — Abu Hurairah — the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), research would be done to ascertain whether another trustworthy reporter has narrated it from Ayyub; if so, it will be called mutaba’ah tammah (full follow-up); if not, a reporter other than Ayyub narrating from Ibn Sirin would be sought: if so, it will be called mutaba’ah qasirah (incomplete follow-up). Whereas mutaba’ah applies to the isnad, i.e. other narrations from the same reporters, a narration which supports the text (meaning) of the original hadith, although it may be through a completely different isnad, is called a shahid (“witness”).85
2. Afrad (singular narrations).
3. The type of character required in an acceptable reporter.
4. The way a hadith is heard, and the different ways of acquiring ahadith.
5. How a hadith is written, and punctuation marks used.
6. The way a hadith is reported.
7. The manners required in traditionists.
8. The manners required in students of Hadith.
9. Knowledge of a higher or lower isnad (i.e. one with less or more reporters respectively).
10. Knowledge of difficult words.
11. Knowledge of abrogated ahadith.
12. Knowledge of altered words in a text or isnad.
13. Knowledge of contradictory ahadith.
14. Knowledge of additions made to an isnad (i.e. by an inserting the name of an additional reporter).
15. Knowledge of a well-concealed type of mursal hadith.
16. Knowledge of the Companions.
17. Knowledge of the Successors.
18. Knowledge of elders reporting from younger reporters.
19. Knowledge of reporters similar in age reporting from each other.
20. Knowledge of brothers and sisters among reporters.
21. Knowledge of fathers reporting from their sons.
22. Knowledge of sons reporting from their fathers.
23. Knowledge of cases where e.g. two reporters report from the same authority, one in his early life and the other in his old age; in such cases the dates of death of the two reporters will be of significance.
24. Knowledge of such authorities from whom only one person reported.
25. Knowledge of such reporters who are known by a number of names and titles.
26. Knowledge of unique names amongst the Companions in particular and the reporters in general.
27. Knowledge of names and by-names (kunyah).
28. Knowledge of by-names for reporters known by their names only.
29. Knowledge of nicknames (alqab) of the traditionists.
30. Knowledge of mu’talif and mukhtalif (names written similarly but pronounced differently), e.g. Kuraiz and Kariz.
31. Knowledge of muttafiq and muftariq (similar names but different identities), e.g. “Hanafi”: there are two reporters who are called by this name; one because of his tribe Banu Hanifah; the other because of his attribution to a particular Madhhab (school of thought in jurisprudence).
32. Names covering both the previous types.
33. Names looking similar but they differ because of the difference in their father’s names, e.g. Yazid b. al-Aswad and al-Aswad b. Yazid.
34. Names attributed to other than their fathers, e.g. Isma’il b. Umayyah; in this case Umayyah is the mother’s name.
35. Knowledge of such titles which have a meaning different from what they seem to be, e.g. Abu Mas’ud al-Badri, not because he witnessed the battle of Badr but because he came to live there; Mu’awiyah b. ‘Abdul Karim al- Dall (“the one going astray”), not because of his beliefs but because he lost his way while travelling to Makkah; and ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad al-Da’if (“the weak”), not because of his reliability in Hadith, but due to a weak physique.
36. Knowledge of ambiguous reporters by finding out their names.
37. Knowledge of the dates of birth and death of reporters.
38. Knowledge of trustworthy and weak reporters.
39. Knowledge of trustworthy reporters who became confused in their old age.
40. Knowledge of contemporaries in a certain period.
41. Knowledge of free slaves (mawali) amongst the reporters.
42. Knowledge of the homelands and home towns of reporters

Footnotes:

1. Ar. Sunnah: Way, Path, Tradition, Example. See An Introduction to the Sunnah by Suhaib Hasan (Understanding Islam Series no. 5, published by Al-Quran Society), for Qur’anic proofs of revelation besides the Qur’an, the importance of the Sunnah, and a brief history of the collections of Hadith. See also Imam al- Shafi’i's al-Risalah for the authoritative position of the Sunnah (Eng. trans., pp. 109- 116).
2. Related by Imam Muslim in the Introduction to his Sahih – see Sahih Muslim (ed. M.F. ‘Abdul Baqi, 5 vols., Cairo, 1374/1955), 1:15 & Sahih Muslim bi Sharh an-Nawawi (18 vols. in 6, Cairo, 1349), 1:87. The existing English translation of Sahih Muslim, by Abdul Hamid Siddiqi, does not contain this extremely valuable Introduction.
3. Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi, Al-Jarh wa l-Ta’dil (8 vols., Hyderabad, 1360-1373), 1:20.
4. Sahih Muslim, 1:15. See Suhaib Hasan, Criticism of Hadith among Muslims with reference to Sunan Ibn Maja (Ta Ha publishers / Al-Quran Society, London, 1407/1986), pp. 15-17 for discussion of this statement of Ibn Sirin.
5. Remarks like these are exceptions from the basic Islamic prohibition of backbiting (ghibah) another Muslim, even if the statement is true. Such exceptions are allowed, even obligatory in some cases, where general benefit to the Muslim public is at stake, such as knowing which ahadith are authentic. See e.g. Riyad al-Salihin of al-Nawawi, Chapter on Backbiting, for the justification for certain types of backbiting from the Qur’an and Sunnah.
6. Muhammad Adib Salih, Lamahat fi Usul al-Hadith (2nd ed., al-Maktab al-Islami, Beirut, 1389), p. 143.
7. Tahir b. Ahmad al-Jaza’iri, Taujih al-Nazar ila Usul al-Nazar (Maktaba ‘Ilmiyyah, Madinah, N.D.), p. 68.
8. Muhammad b. ‘Abdullah al-Hakim, Ma’rifah ‘Ulum al-Hadith (ed. Mu’azzam Husain, Cairo, 1937), p. 17.
9. ibid.
10. Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, Tadrib al-Rawi (ed.A.A. Latif, 1st ed., Cairo, 1379/1959), 1:197.
11. Al-Dhahabi, Talkhis al-Mustadrak (printed with Mustadrak al-Hakim, 4 vols., Hyderabad), 3:176.
12. Abu ‘l-Fida’ ‘Imad al-Din Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur’an al-Azim (4 vols., Cairo, N.D.), 1:80.
13. Yusuf b. ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abdul Barr, Tajrid al- Tamhid lima fi l-Muwatta’ min al-Asanid (Cairo, 1350), 1:2.
14. ibid.
15. al-Suyuti, 1:198.
16. 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 been translated as “interrupted tradition”).
17. al-Suyuti, 1:199; Muhammad b. Mustafa al- Ghadamsi, Al-Mursal min al-Hadith (Darif Ltd., London, N.D.), p.71.
18. Ibn al-Qayyim, I’lam al-Muwaqqi’in (2nd ed., 4 vols. in 2, Dar al-Fikr, Beirut, 1397/1977), 1:31.
19. Ibn Hazm, Al-Ihkam fi Usul al-Ahkam (Matba’ah al-Sa’adah, Cairo, 1345), 2:135.
20. Al-Hazimi, Shurut al-A’immah al-Khamsah (ed. M.Z. al-Kauthari, Cairo, N.D.), p. 45.
21. According to the different interpretations of this verse, “they” here could refer to those who stay behind, or those who go forth.
22. al-Hakim, p. 26.
23. ibid.
24. Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Al-Kifayah fi ‘Ilm al- Riwayah (Hyderabad, 1357), p. 387.
25. ibid., pp. 411-413.
26. Zain al-Din al-’Iraqi, Al-Taqyid wa ‘l-Idah Sharh Muqaddimah Ibn al-Salah (al-Maktabah al- Salafiyyahh, Madinah, 1389/1969), p. 72
27. Ibn Taymiyyah, Minhaj al-Sunnah an-Nabawiyyah fi Naqd Kalam al-Shi’ah wa ‘l-Qadariyyah (al- Maktabah al-Amiriyyah, Bulaq, 1322), 4:117.
28. Al-Dhahabi, Al-Muqizah (Maktab al-Matbu’at al- Islamiyyah, Halab, 1405), p. 40.
29. al-Jaza’iri, p. 33.
30. ibid.
31. Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani, Sharh Nukhbah al-Fikr (ed. M. ‘Aud & M.G. Sabbagh, Damascus, 1410/1990), pp. 8-9.
32. al-Jaza’iri, p. 49; Muhammad b. Isma’il al- Amir al-San’ani, Taudih al-Afkar (2 vols. ed. M.M. ‘Abdul Hamid, Cairo, 1366), 2:405.
33. al-San’ani, 2:409.
34. al-Hakim, pp. 96-102.
35. al-San’ani, 2:455.
36. al-’Iraqi, p. 268.
37. al-San’ani, 2:406.
38. al-’Iraqi, p. 96.
39. ibid.
40. Ibn Hajar, Tabaqat al-Mudallisin (Cairo, 1322), p. 7f.
41. al-’Iraqi, p. 98.
42. al-Hakim, pp. 30-34.
43. ibid., p. 119.
44. Ibn Kathir, Ikhtisar ‘Ulum al-Hadith (ed. Ahmad Shakir, 2nd imp., Cairo, 1951), p. 57.
45. al-Suyuti, 1:235; M. A. Salih, p. 260.
46. al-San’ani, 2:3.
47. ibid., 2:6.
48. al-Khatib, p. 431.
49. Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, 4:349.
50. Ibn Kathir, Ikhtisar, p. 62.
51. al-Suyuti, 1:248.
52. al-Hakim, p. 39.
53. al-’Iraqi, p. 129f.
54. al-Suyuti, 1:274.
55. Ibn Kathir, Ikhtisar, p. 72.
56. ibid.
57. Ibn ‘Abdul Barr, Al-Tamhid, 3:32, as quoted by Luqman al-Salafi, Ihtimam al-Muhaddithin bi Naqd al-Hadith, p. 381f.
58. Ibn Kathir, Ikhtisar, p. 88.
59. ibid., p. 87.
60. Shams al-Din Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Rahman al- Sakhawi, Fath al-Mughith Sharh Alfiyyah al-Hadith li ‘l-’Iraqi (Lucknow, N.D.), 1:278.
61. ‘Uthman b. ‘Abdal-Rahman al-Dimashqi Ibn al-Salah, ‘Ulum al-Hadith (commonly known as Muqaddimah, ed. al-Tabbakh, Halab, 1350), p.116.
62. ‘Ali b. ‘Abdullah b. Ja’far Ibn al-Madini, Kitab al-’Ilal, 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.
63. Sahih Muslim, 4:2149 (English transl., IV:1462, Sharh Nawawi, 17:133).
64. 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 criticised 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 hadith is sahih, and does not contradict the Qur’an, contrary to the probable view of the scholars who criticised the hadith, since 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 Qur’an (Silsilah al-Ahadith as-Sahihah, no. 1833).
65. al-Dhahabi, p. 27.
66. al-Shafi’i, p. 370f (Eng. trans., pp. 239- 240).
67. al-Dhahabi, p. 24.
68. al-Nawawi, Muqaddimah, p. 14.
69. al-Tibi, al-Husain b. ‘Abdullah, al-Khulasah fi Usul al-Hadith (ed. Subhi al-Samarra’i, Baghdad, 1391), p. 36.
70. ibid., p. 38.
71. al-Nawawi, Muqaddimah, p. 43.
72. al-Dhahabi, p. 26.
73. ibid., pp. 32-33.
74. al-Albani, Silsilah al-Ahadith al-Sahihah, no.62.
75. al-Jaza’iri, p. 149.
76. al-Sakhawi, 1:99.
77. al-Dhahabi, pp. 33-34.
78. ibid., p. 36.
79. al-Sakhawi, 1:264.
80. ibid., 1:275.
81. al-Nawawi, Taqrib, 1:275.
82. See Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Manar al-Munif fi ‘l- Sahih wa ‘l-Da’if (ed. A.F. Abu Ghuddah, Lahore, 1402/1982), pp. 102-105 for a fuller discussion. Ibn al-Qayyim mentions more than ten clear indications of the forgery of the document, which the Jews repeatedly attempted to use to deceive the Muslims over the centuries, but each time a scholar of Hadith intervened to point out the forgery – such incidents occurred with Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 310), al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463) and Ibn Taimiyyah (d. 728), who spat on the document as it was unfolded from beneath its silken covers.
83. Suhaib Hasan, Criticism of Hadith, pp. 35-44.
84. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) allowed such narrations, but they are not to be confirmed nor denied, except for what is confirmed or denied by the Qur’an and Sunnah. See e.g. An Introduction to the Principles of Tafseer of Ibn Taimiyyah (trans. M.A.H. Ansari, Al-Hidaayah, Birmingham, 1414/1993), pp. 56-58.
85. ibid., p. 156.
86. See Muqaddimah Ibn al-Salah.
87. Fatawa Ibn Taimiyyah, 6:379-382.
88. Isma’il b. Muhammad al-’Ijlouni, Kashf al-Khafa’ (2 vols. in 1, Cairo/Aleppo, N.D.), no. 2016.
89. Al-Albani, Silsilah al-Ahadith al-Da’ifah, no. 282.
90. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 2256.
91. Sahih al-Jami’ al-Saghir, no. 2163; Silsilah al-Ahadith al-Sahihah, no. 1691.
92. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 2532; Al-Da’ifah, no. 66.
93. Al-Da’ifah, no. 58.
94. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 1102; Al-Da’ifah, no.36.
95. Al-Sahihah, no. 1761.
96. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 2130.
97. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 618.
98. Da’if al-Jami’ al-Saghir, nos. 1410, 1416.
99. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 1078; Al-Da’ifah, no. 593.
100. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 1665; Sahih al-Jami’ al-Saghir, nos. 3913-4.
101. Al-Da’ifah, no. 416; Da’if al-Jami’ al-Saghir, nos. 1005-6.
102. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 2276.
103. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 1362.

Allah knows the best!

A brief history of Mustalah al-Hadith

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 Classification of Hadith).

Amongst the early traditionists (muhaddithin, scholars of Hadith), the rules and criteria governing their study of Hadith were meticulous but some of their terminology varied from person to person, and their principles began to be systematically written down, but scattered amongst various books, e.g. in Al-Risalah of al-Shafi’i (d. 204), the Introduction to the Sahih of Muslim (d. 261) and the Jami’ of al-Tirmidhi (d. 279); many of the criteria of early traditionists, e.g. al-Bukhari, were deduced by later scholars from a careful study of which reporters or isnads were accepted and rejected by them.

One of the earliest writings to attempt to cover Mustalah comprehensively, using standard (i.e. generally-accepted) terminology, was the work by al-Ramahurmuzi (d. 360). The next major contribution was Ma’rifah ‘Ulum al-Hadith by al-Hakim (d. 405), which covered fifty classifications of Hadith, but still left some points untouched; Abu Nu’aim al-Isbahani (d. 430) completed some of the missing parts to this work. After that came Al-Kifayah fi ‘Ilm al- Riwayah of al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463) and another work on the manner of teaching and studying Hadith; later scholars were considered to be greatly indebted to al-Khatib’s work.

After further contributions by Qadi ‘Iyad al-Yahsubi (d. 544) and Abu Hafs al-Mayanji (d.580) among others, came the work which, although modest in size, was so comprehensive in its excellent treatment of the subject that it came to be the standard reference for thousands of scholars and students of Hadith to come, over many centuries until the present day: ‘Ulum al-Hadith of Abu ‘Amr ‘Uthman Ibn al-Salah (d. 643), commonly known as Muqaddimah Ibn al-Salah, compiled while he taught in the Dar al-Hadith of several cities in Syria. Some of the numerous later works based on that of Ibn al-Salah are:

An abridgement of Muqaddimah, Al-Irshad by al- Nawawi (d. 676), which he later summarised in his Taqrib; al-Suyuti (d. 911) compiled a valuable commentary on the latter entitled Tadrib al-Rawi. Ikhtisar ‘Ulum al-Hadith of Ibn Kathir (d. 774), Al-Khulasah of al-Tibi (d. 743), Al-Minhal of Badr al-Din b. Jama’ah (d. 733), Al-Muqni’ of Ibn al-Mulaqqin (d. 802) and Mahasin al-Istilah of al-Balqini (d. 805), all of which are abridgements of Muqaddimah Ibn al- Salah. Al-Nukat of al-Zarkashi (d. 794), Al-Taqyid wa ‘l-Idah of al-’Iraqi (d. 806) and Al-Nukat of Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani (d. 852), all of which are further notes on the points made by Ibn al-Salah. Alfiyyah al-Hadith of al-’Iraqi, a rewriting of Muqaddimah in the form of a lengthy poem, which became the subject of several commentaries, including two (one long, one short) by the author himself, Fath al-Mughith of al-Sakhawi (d. 903), Qatar al-Durar of al-Suyuti and Fath al-Baqi of Shaykh Zakariyyah al-Ansari (d. 928).

Other notable treatises on Mustalah include:

al-Iqtirah of Ibn Daqiq al-’Id (d. 702). Tanqih al-Anzar of Muhammad b. Ibrahim al- Wazir (d. 840), the subject of a commentary by al-Amir al-San’ani (d. 1182). Nukhbah al-Fikr of Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani, again the subject of several commentaries, including one by the author himself, one by his son Muhammad,and those of ‘Ali al-Qari (d. 1014), ‘Abd al-Ra’uf al-Munawi (d. 1031) and Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Hadi al-Sindi (d. 1138). Among those who rephrased the Nukhbah in poetic form are al-Tufi (d. 893) and al- Amir al-San’ani. Alfiyyah al-Hadith of al-Suyuti, the most comprehensive poetic work in the field. Al-Manzumah of al-Baiquni, which was expanded upon by, amongst others, al-Zurqani (d. 1122) and Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan (d. 1307). Qawa’id al-Tahdith of Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi (d. 1332). Taujih al-Nazar of Tahir al-Jaza’iri (d. 1338), a summary of al-Hakim’s Ma’rifah.

Mustalah al-Hadith

Mustalah books speak of a number of classes of hadith in accordance with their status. The following broad classifications can be made, each of which is explained in the later sections:

According to the reference to a particular authority, e.g. the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), a Companion, or a Successor; such ahadith are called marfu’ (elevated), mauquf (stopped) and maqtu‘ (severed) respectively.

According to the links in the isnad, i.e. whether the chain of reporters is interrupted or uninterrupted, e.g. musnad (supported), muttasil (continuous), munqati’ (broken), mu’allaq (hanging), mu’dal (perplexing) and mursal (hurried).

According to the number of reporters involved in each stage of the isnad, e.g. mutawatir (consecutive) and ahad (isolated), the latter being divided into gharib (scarce, strange), ‘aziz (rare, strong), and mashhur (famous).

According to the manner in which the hadith 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 (uniformly-linked) ahadith.

[Note: In the quotation of isnads in the remainder of this book, the first mode of narration mentioned above will be represented with a single broken line thus: --. The three remaining modes of narration mentioned above, which all strongly indicate a clear, direct transmission of the hadith, are represented by a double line thus:===.]

According to the nature of the matn and isnad, e.g. an addition by a reliable reporter, known as ziyadatu thiqah, or opposition by a lesser authority to a more reliableone, known as shadhdh (irregular). In some cases, a text containing a vulgar expression, unreasonable remark or obviously-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 (interpolated).

According to a hidden defect found in the isnad or text of a hadith. Although this could be included in some of the previous categories, a 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).

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

Rijal al-Hadith

Mustalah 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, from amongst the Successors and those after them, were found to be of great help. Examples of such remarks, in descending order of authentication, are:

“Imam (leader), Hafiz (preserver).”
“Reliable, trustworthy.”
“Makes mistakes.”
“Weak.”
“Abandoned (by the traditionists).”
“Liar, used to fabricate ahadith.”

{Remarks like these are exceptions from the basic Islamic prohibition of backbiting (ghibah) another Muslim, even if the statement is true. Such exceptions are allowed, even obligatory in some cases, where general benefit to the Muslim public is at stake, such as knowing which ahadith are authentic. See e.g. Riyad al-Salihin of al-Nawawi, Chapter on Backbiting, for the justification for certain types of backbiting from the Qur’an and Sunnah.}

Reporters who have been unanimously described by statements such as the first two may contribute to a sahih (“sound”, see later) 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 the subject of statements such as the middle two above will cause the isnad to be da’if (weak), although several of them relating the same hadith independently will often increase the rank of the hadith to the level of hasan (good). If the remarks about a particular reporter conflict, a careful verdict has to be arrived at after in-depth analysis of e.g. the reason given for any disparagement, the weight of each type of criticism, the relative strictness or leniency of each critic, etc.

The earliest remarks cited in the books of Rijal go back to a host of Successors, followed by those after them until the period of the six canonical traditionists, a period covering 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 Ibn Majah, 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 al-Bukhari (d. 256), Kitab al-Jarh wa ‘l-Ta’dil of Ibn Abi Hatim (d. 327) and Tabaqat of Muhammad b. Sa’d (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 al-Bukhari (d. 256), Muslim (d. 261), Abu Dawud (d. 275), al- Tirmidhi (d. 279) and al-Nasa’i (d. 303), giving authenticating and disparaging remarks in detail. The first major such work to include also the reporters of Ibn Majah (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 Abu ‘l-Hajjaj Yusuf b. ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Mizzi (d. 742) prepared an edited and abridged version of this work, punctuated by 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- Sittah.

A similar effort with the work of al-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 al-Dhahabi was not left unedited; al- Khazraji (Safi al-Din Ahmad b. ‘Abdullah, d. after 923) summarised it and also made valuable additions, producing his Khulasah.

A number of similar works deal with either trustworthy reporters only, e.g. Kitab al-Thiqat by al-’Ijli (d. 261) and Tadhkirah al-Huffaz by al-Dhahabi, or with disparaged authorities only, e.g. Kitab al-Du’afa’ wa al-Matrukin by al- 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-I’tidal of al- Dhahabi and Lisan al-Mizan.

Allah knows the best!