Paper 2 Question 2

History and compilation of Hadith

Q1 a. Describe how were the Ahadith collected into six authentic compilations. 10

From the earliest times Muslims had realised the importance of Hadith in their life as they could not
understand Quran fully and act upon its teachings without the help of Hadith. The companions of the
prophet used to learn every word of the Prophet Mohammad and passed them on to others. The
I8companions famous for memorising HADITH were Hazrat Ayesha, Abu Huraira,Abdullah bin Umar ect.
In Makka the prophet discouraged the writing down Hadith , but in Madina he encouraged Muslims to
write them down. Most important contribution was of ashab al sufa , who had devoted them for this
work specially Abu Huraira who used to write down every Hadith in book form known as Sadiqa. Hazrat
Ali used to carry a booklet in which he wrote down sayings and judgments passed by the Prophet.
Abdullah bin Umar compiled HADITH in Prophet’s time known as Kitab-e-Fraiz.

Prophet said at the end of his farewell sermon,”whoever is present here should pass on my words to
those who are not present”. Therefore the companions considered it their duty to pass on Hadith of the
Prophet specially after his death. The students of the companions

Continued their work and made collections of Ahadith from various angels and adopted different
methods in arrangements of the material. Hadith were traced to each companions was put together
under his name. Such a collection is called Musnad. The most famous of this kind is Musnad of Imam
Ahmed bin Hanbal. Second category of Hadith are grouped into chapters according to themes. The best
known work of this type is Al Muwatta by Malik bin Anas andw Al Musannaf of Imam Abd Al-Razaq.

The great period of Ahadith collection came in the third century of Islam, when the successors of the
students of the companions Tabe Tabieen, graded each HADITH into categories like Sahih- authentic ,
Hasan- lesser authentic and da if-week. At that time six books of authentic Ahadith -sihah sitta were
compiled. Imam Mohammad bin Ismael Bukhari was the first scholar who compiled his book known as
Sahih bukhari . He travelled for sixteen years to collect 600,000 Ahadith , but only included 7397 in his
book which he ensured to be authentic . There are 97 books in his collection arranged according to their
themes.

Second sahih collection was made by Imam Muslim known as Sahih Muslim. It included 12000 authentic
ahadith. Like Bukhari he checked the isnad and matn of the text and included only the authentic
Ahadith.

Other Hadith experts who followed their example were Abu Dawood , his book has 4300 Ahadith and is
known as Sunan Abu Dawood . Imam Tirmidhi compiled his book ‘ Jame Tirmidhi ‘ in which he divided
Ahadith into many categories . Imam Nasai compiled his Sunan after years of travelling in which he
included reliable HADITH only. Imam Ibn Majah also compiled his Sunan including 4000 Ahadith.These
six books are known as ‘Sihah al sitta’ the six sound collections , and provide the second source of
shariah to the jurists.

In the later years many new collections of Hadith were made with the help of these books. The most
important one is Mishkat al masabih , which included HADITH from the above six books and provide an
easy access to the authentic Ahadith .
B. Describe what are Musnad and Musanaf.? 4

The Hadith compilation which name it’s chapters under the name of the companion who came last in
the chain of transmitters, the isnad is known as Musnad . For example the name of chapters are like
munad of Ayesha , Musnad of Abu Huraira , munad of Abu Bakr …… This kind of Hadith collection help
Muslims to look for Ahadith narrated by a particular companion. The best example of this kind is
Musnad of imam Hanbal.

Musannaf means divided up, it is the kind of Hadith collection in which the Ahadith are grouped into
themes. Each chapter is divided into themes like prayer, zakat, tauheed…. The best known example of
this type of collection is Sahih al Bukhari , which is divided into 97chapters known as Book on zakat,
book on sale, book on divine unity ect, ect. This kind of collection help the legal experts to look for
Hadith on particular topic.

Q2 a. Describe the methods used by the major collectors to ensure that HADITH they accepted were
genuine . How did legal experts use isnad and Matn to decide that the Hadith had come from the
Prophet. 10

The third century of Islam is called the golden period of Hadith collection. The kingship had entered in
Islam they fear that people will make Hadith to please the rulers,there fore the Hadith experts decided
to sift out the authentic HADITH . They divided the Hadith into three types, Sahih , Hasan and Daif , one
which were proven false were declared Maudu . The famous Muslim scholar al Shafi gave a criteria to
check how Hadith could be divided into different categories to ensure the authenticity of HADITH the
compilers established a special study known as Usool e Hadith . For this they checked two parts of
Hadith the Hadith into two , the isnad , chain of transmitters and Matn or text of the Hadith or the
words of the Prophet . Isnad include the names of all the people involved in handing down the Hadith
over a period of time. For example in the following hadith, “ Yahya narrated from Malik who narrated
from Nafey who narrated from Abdullah bin Umar that the Prophet said,’ He who misses the Asr prayer
is as if he has lost his family and property’”. In this HADITH there are four people in the chain of
transmitters.

To check that Hadith is from the Prophet the compilers examined the Isnad very closely to make sure
that these chains go back to the Prophet through reliable Muslims who met each other and passed on
the saying directly. Means that each person had met the person before him. The HADITH compilers
made sure that the people in the chain were of firm faith , were known for their truthfulness , could
understand what they reported and had good memory, and they were at an age where they knew what
they reported.They collected so much information about them that a new science of critical biography
called ‘ Asma ar Rijal’, developed and more than 100.000 books were written on the narrators. For this
the compilers travelled widely all over the Muslim world to collect HADITH and information about the
narrators. For example Imam Bukhari took sixteen years to collect information to compile his Sahih.

The compilers also looked for Ahadith that had been reported by many different companions and come
down to them through chains of different narrators called matawatar Hadith . However the Hadith
which have come through only one chain and one companion, the Ahad Hadith were scrutinised
( checked) thoroughly , to make sure whether they were authentic or not.

The compilers also checked the matn or text of Hadith to consider that Hadith was sound. That it should
not be contradictory to Quran or any other authentic HADITH . It should not be against common sense
or observational facts. It should not include words that were out of use of the Prophet. It should not give
details of the events that took place after the death of the Prophet. After using the strict criteria they
divided the Hadith into four categories . Sahih or authentic , which has passed all the test mentioned
above and is not contradictory to Quran and any other authentic Hadith ,Hasan or good which raises
some doubt about one of the narrator who had been found defective in memory in comparison to the
narrator of Sahih Hadith . Daif or weak which raises many doubts about its narrators , who were known
to be liar or had bad memory. Maudu or fabricated, which was not from the prophet.

B. What is a Hadith Qudsi? 4

There are some Ahadith that contain words from Allah , but such words are not part of Quran. These are
sayings of Hazrat Mohammad related from Allah himself. Saying of this kind is known as Hadith e Qudsi
or divine HADITH . For example, “ when Allah completed creation , he wrote in his book which is with
Him , above the throne,’ truly, my mercy overcomes ,My wrath’”. And “ From all the deeds of Adams
sons fasting is for Me and I shall compensate the reward for it”. All other Ahadith are Hadith nabvi.

Q. What do the Ahadith set for special study teach Muslim individuals. (10)

Since the time of the Prophet (saw) the companions had realised that life of the Prophet was the proper
way of living the faith of Islam . The Quran says,”If you obey him , you shall be on right guidance
,Messengers duty is only to preach the clear message “. (24-55). Life of the prophet is the model of
excellence for Muslims , providing guidance in every aspect of life for the individuals and the
community.

The Prophet Mohammed taught Muslims to be sincere in their belief and practices.sincere belief in Allah
requires obedience to his commands whole heartedly. Sincerity to the Prophet. Is to accept him as a
messenger and to follow his Sunnah. The Prophet has given the basic guideline for all our actions. That is
Allah does not judge us by our appearance, beauty or wealth. He looks at our hearts and our intentions
and our actions, which must be sincere. Sincerity in all our actions is important to gain Allah’s blessings.

The Prophet Mohammad taught Muslims to pray to Allah five times a day, fast in the month of
Ramadan , and perform pilgrimage. The Prophet told Muslims to eat halal( lawful) food and to earn
lawfully . He said,” No one earns better food than that which he eats out of the work of his hand”. All
kinds of work and hard labour is respected in Islam . The Prophet stressed that any work was
honourable if it is done in halal way. He said,” one who earns for his living is a friend of Allah “.

The Prophet Mohammad was a symbol of mercy for all mankind . Through his own examples he taught
Muslims to show mercy , even to the enemies. He has told that we cannot earn Allah’s mercy unless we
show kindness to His creations. He said,” God does not show mercy to him who does not show mercy to
others”. Kindness to poor, widows and orphans is declared as jehad, the most rewarding act. Muslims
should adopt merciful attitude in their dealings with others, wether they are at home or in the market,
as a buyer or a seller. The Prophet said,” May God show mercy to a man who is kindly when he sells,
when he buys, and when he demands his money back”

The Prophet told Muslims to live a simple and modest life. Muslim men and women should follow the
dress code of Islam, they should not wear revealing clothes, so that they stay away from evil. The
Prophet said,” Modesty produces nothing but good”. Muslims are required to live within the rules and
regulations given in Quran and Sunnah of the prophet. That is why the Prophet Mohammad called,’the
world is the believers prison’. Hence Muslims should not love the world, our aim should be the eternal
bliss of the hereafter. A true believer must spend his life according to the Sunnah of the prophet , by
making the Prophet the role model.

Q. Teachings of Hadith about community. (10)

The Prophet Mohammad described the Muslim community as one umma.it is very important that
Muslims should have sense of being part of umma. He has said that Muslims are like one body, if one
part is hurt other parts feel pain and fever. This shows that the community has to be supportive of itsel.
If there is a problem in one part , this will be felt throughout the community. He said,” none of you
believe until he wants for his brother what he wants for himself.” Muslim must take care of the weaker
members of the society. The Quran and the prophet has given a lot of importance to huquq al Ibad
(rights of people), specially the orphans, widows, disabled people and the poors are the responsibility of
the community. The help of such people is so rewarding that the prophet made it equal to jihad. He
said,” one who manages the affairs of the widows and the poor is like the one who exerts himself in the
way of Allah”.

Muslims should show mercy to every one in the community. During trade and business they should be
fair and honest and show kindness to the buyers and the sellers. He encouraged Muslims to give loans
to the needy, if the have extra money they should use it to facilitate people rathe than exploiting people
by charging interest on loans. Muslims should be very polite while asking the person to return the loan.
The prophet said,’Allah will not show mercy to him who does not show mercy to others.

One of the responsibility of the community is to do ‘dawa’ that is preaching of Islam. Muslims are
declared best of the nations because their job is to remove evil from the society and promote good. The
authorities should stop the evil by force. A society can be strong and just and can develop only when it
has strong values and principles , it is the duty of Muslims to do what is morally right and for the greater
good of the society. The Prophet said,”whosoever of you sees an evil action, let him change it with his
hand…..”

One of the responsibility of Muslim community is to fight in the way Allah. Muslims should stand for
justice , they should protect their country and people. Jehad has the greatest reward.spending in the
way of Allah is equal to jehad, the Prophet said,”the most excellent of men are the one who strive hard
in the way of Allah with his person and property”.
The Muslim community should provide a model society to the world, where every person has to keep
the interest of the community central , and not to give importance to his personal needs. They should be
ready to give up things for the sake of others.

Compilers of the Hadith

1. Muhammad bin Isma’il Al-Bukhari

Imam Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Isma’il bin al-Bukhari was born on 13 th of Shawwal 194 AH in
Bukhara, a town in Turkestan. His father died while he was still in his infancy.

He was brought up by his mother who provided him with the best education. Imam Bukhari was known
for his extremely good memory and devotion to learning from his childhood. It is said that while he was
still in his teens, he had memorized seventy thousand early Ahadith.

At the age of 16, he went to Makkah for a visit with his mother but prolonged his stay to gain knowledge
from the great scholars of Makkah. At the age of eighteen, he wrote his first book on the subject of the
Prophet’s Companions and their immediate successors, and later a book on history called “Al-Tarikh-al-
Kabir”.Bukhari found the earlier works to be mixture of Sahih, Hasan and Daeef Hadith. This aroused his
interest in compiling Ahadith whose authenticity was beyond doubt. He was encouraged by his teacher,
Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh, who urged him to compile a book of only authentic Ahadith.Bukhari said that he met
about 1800 persons, each of them had a hadith of the Prophet, but he wrote only from those who
passed the strict criteria he had laid for acceptance of the hadith. He travelled thousands of miles and
visited innumerable cities and towns to collect Ahadith He wrote several books on Ahadith including al-
Adab al-Mufrad, which is a collection of Hadith on ethics and manners.

He was so particular to establish truthfulness and honesty of the narrator that once he travelled
hundreds of miles to meet a particular person; when he arrived there, the man asked him to wait for
him till he finished his chores. He saw the man showing an empty meal bag to his horse that had been
grazing on a distance to make it come to him. Bukhari immediately left as he realized that the man was
not honest.Bukhari spent sixteen years in research and collected about 300,000 Ahadith and memorized
22,000. He selected 7,275 Ahadith, whose genuineness and accuracy he established. If the duplicates
are taken away, the Sahih only contains about four thousand Ahadith.

Bukhari spent the last twenty-four years of his life visiting other cities and scholars. He traveled to
Damascus, Cairo, Baghdad, and Basra, Makkah and Medina etc. where he taught the Ahadith he had
collected. In every city that he visited, thousands of people would gather in the main mosque to listen to
him narrating Ahadith.

Imam Bukhari died on 1 Shawwal 256 AH/ 870 AD. At the age of 62 years in a small town near
Samarkand, Tadzhikistan.

2.Muslim ibn aal-Hajja

Abu al-Husayn ‘Asakir ad-Din Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj al-Qushayri known as Muslim. He was born in the
town of Nishapur in Khorasan in 202 AH. He belonged to the Arab tribe of Qushair of Rabi’ah clan.
Muslim travelled widely to collect hadith in Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Iraq and attended lectures of some
of the prominent Muhadithun of his time like Ishaq b. Rahawayh, Ahmad bin Hanbal and many others.
He settled in Nishapur where he met Bukhari, and developed a life-long friendship with him.

Muslim was also influenced by Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Dhuhali and attended his lectures regularly, but
later they parted ways when difference of opinion arose.He had a wide circle of students, who learnt
Hadith from him. Some of them occupy a very prominent position in Islamic history, such as Abu Hatim
Razi, Musa ibn Harun, Ahmad ibn Salama and Abu ‘Isa Tirmidhi, etc. Imam Muslim compiled many books
and treatises on Hadith. The most important of his works is the compilation of the Hadith collection Al-
Jami ‘As-Sahih, which is famous by the name of Sahih Muslim. Some scholars of Hadith opine that in
some respects it is the best and most authentic collection of Ahadith. Imam Muslim collected Ahadith,
but after careful scrutiny, he selected only 4,000 Ahadith for this collection.

Imam Muslim died at the age of fifty-five in the year 261AH/875AD and was buried in Nishapur. He
spent most of his time in learning, compiling, teaching and transmitting hadith.

Abu Dawood

Abu Dawood Suleiman ibn Ash’ath originally belonged to the tribe of Azd in Yemen. He was born In
Sijistan, a province of Afghanistan to day, in the year 202AH. /817AD.

After completing his education, Abu Dawood settled in Basrah. He was the foremost scholar of hadith in
Basrah at the time. He was held in high esteem by authorities of his time. The Abbasid caliph al-
Muwaffaq, had deep respect for him. He visited him at his residence and asked him to teach his children
at the palace but he refused.

Abu Dawood travelled extensively as early as the age of fifteen. He visited Makkah, Kufa, Egypt, Aleppo,
Harran, Damascus, Balkh, Rayy, Khurasan and Merve. He learned hadith from eminent scholars of those
cities. According to some sources the numbers of Abu Dawood’s teachers from whom he himself
narrated and recorded in his Sunnan were about 300. He also gained knowledge from Ahmad ibn
Hanbal, while he was in Baghdad and was greatly influenced by him. Isa Tirmidhi and Imam Nasa’I were
amongst his prominent students. While collecting hadith Abu Dawood followed the principles that weak
hadith was always preferable to a person’s individual opinion, so long as the weak hadith did not go
against the more authentic evidence.

He compiled twenty-one books related to Hadith. He was known for piety and worship of Allah

Muhammad ibn Eisa -Tirmidhi.

Imam Abu ‘Eisa Muhammad bin ‘Eisa At-Tirmidhi was born in ‘Tirmidhi’, a small city in the present
Uzbekistan in the year 209 A.H. (824 A.D) during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Mamoon al-Rashid. The
Abbasid caliphs were great patrons of scholars and scientists. He grew up in an environment of learning.
Imam Tirmidhi dedicated his life to the field of Hadith. He obtained basic knowledge in his hometown,
and then travelled to Hejaz, Egypt, Syria, Kufa, Basra and Baghdad, and obtained the knowledge of
hadith from the eminent scholars of his time such as Imam Bukhari, Imam Muslim, and Imam Abu
Dawud.
Imam Tirmidhi had an exceptionally good memory; he never forgot anything he heard. He was known
for his piety, knowledge, piety and abstinence (zuhd). He would weep excessively out of fear of Allah so
much so he lost his sight towards the end of his life.Imam Tirmidhi had a large number of students from
all over the world. Some of the famous include: Haytham ibn Kulayb al-Shami, Ahmad ibn Abdullah al-
Marwazi and Ahmad ibn Yusuf onesal.

Abu Abdur -Rahman Nasa’i

Abu Abdur-Rahman Ahmed ibn Shuaib was born Knowledge, in the year where circles 215 millions A.H
of knowledge in the of scholars city of in Nasa, his were town situatedIn Khurasan, which was a centre
for Islamic studying Hadith and Fiqh. He attended the gatherings and At the age of 20 years, he travelled
to Qutaibah. After that he covered the whole Arabian pen. Insula to seek knowledge from the eminent
scholars of that period. He travelled to Iraq, Kufa Hejaz, Syria and Egypt in his quest for knowledge.
Amongst his teachers were the great scholars of the time like Ishaq ibn Rahweh, Imam Abu Dawood, and
Qutaibah ibn Sa’eed. He settled in Egypt, where he started teaching hadith and narrating them and
came to be as known as Hafizul Hadith. He was one of the most knowledgeable people in Egypt.During
his stay in Damascus, he noticed that people held great prejudice and enmity towards Ali as they were
influenced by the Umayyad. He wrote a book about the merit of Ali and started lecturing it from a
mosque, people accused him to be a Sh’iah, and they beat him severely; as a result he received serious
injuries. He asked someone to take him to Makkah where he died of the wounds.

Many eminent scholars of that period were amongst his students, like Imam Abu! Qasim Tabarani,
Sheikh Ali, the son of the famous Muhaddith, Imam Tahawi, and many others.He was an extremely pious
person and would spend the night in worship of Allah, and would fast every alternative day and would
perform Hajj nearly every year. He was a straightforward and a truthful man. He wrote about 16 books.
His Sunnan As-sughra is amongst the six authentic books.

Ibn Majah

Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Yazeed Ar-Rebai known as Ibn Majah, was born in Qazween in 209 AH
(824 CE). Qazween at that time was capital of knowledge and centre of scientific activities, where
scholars and jurists assembled in quest of knowledge. The Abbasid Empire was at its peak of civilization
and power at the time. Caliph Al-Mamoon patronized the scholars and the scientists. Ibn Majah lived his
early life within that scholarly atmosphere and participated in scholarly discussions and gained
knowledge of hadith and other religious sciences.He travelled widely in pursuit of knowledge of hadith.
Ibn Majah started his journey in 844 CE at the age of 22 and travelled to Khorasan, Basra, Kufah,
Baghdad, Damascus, Makkah, Madinah, and Egypt. He was instructed by a number of highly
knowledgeable scholars of the time, such as Ibrahim ibn Al-Mundhir, Harmalah ibn Yahya and many
others. After an arduous journey that lasted more than 15 years, Ibn Majah returned to Qazween where
he spent the rest of his life writing, classifying, and narrating Hadith. At that time, his fame grew far and
wide and people came to him from far off places to seek knowledge.