Musnad and Musannaf

Musnad

Musnad is called the collection of hadith in which traditions are collected related to a single companion,
regardless of any subject, have been collected in one place.

It is possible that in a Musnad only the traditions of one Sahabi are collected, like in the Musnad of
Aisha, only those traditions are collected which are narrated from Hazrat Aisha. Different traditions
which were narrated from Hazrat Aisha in different books (from Bukhari, Muslim and other books) are
collected and put in this Musnad.

While it is also possible that in a Musnad traditions of different companions are collected, like in the
Musnad of Imam Ahmed Bin Hambal, in which the traditions of Hazrat Abu Bakar Siddique raziy Allah
anhu are narrated first and then the traditions of Hazrat Umer raziy Allah are narrated and so on and so
forth.

In this second type of Musnad the sequence of the companions can be put in the following manner:

1) Alphabetically: For example, the hadiths of the Companions whose names begin with "A", all of them
in one place, then those whose names begin with "B", their hadiths in one place and so on and so forth.

2) Regarding the time of acceptance of Islam: the companions who accepted Islam first, first of all their
hadiths, for example: the traditions of the ten blessed companions were collected first and then the
Companions who participated in Battle of Badar which were 313 in number. Then there will be the
traditions of Ahl al-Bayt Rizwan, and then there will be the traditions of those Companions who
accepted Islam on the day of treaty of Hudaibah and then there will be the traditions of those
Companions who accepted Islam on the day of the conquest of Makkah.

3) With regard to honorable lineage: As the hadiths of the family of Prophet, Banu Hashim will be
brought first, then those who are related to Banu Hashim, such as Hazrat Uthman, may God be pleased
with him, because his mother Hashemiah was the paternal aunt of the Messenger of Allah, may God
bless him and grant him peace. Then the Hadiths of Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq, raziy Allah anhu will be
brought because his daughter, Umm al-Momineen, Sayyidah Ayesha, may God be pleased with her, was
the wife of the Holy Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, and after her, Hadiths are
brought narrated from those who were more virtuous in the lineage.

4) With regard to the tribe the companion belong to, so the Ahadith of Banu Hashim from Quraish will
be written first then other tribes would be considered.

5) If traditions of female companions are collected then the Aahdith of Ummahat ul Momineen will be
brought first.

Hazrat Nuaim bin Hammad was the first who wrote a Musnad, then Musnad Ayesha, Musnad Imam
Ahmed bin Hambal are the famous examples of Musnad.

Merits and Demerits:

One can easily access all Ahadith of a particular companion in a single book but it would be very difficult
for him to search a Hadith related to a specific topic, for example if someone is searching a Hadith
related to the ablution in any Musnad book, he would face difficulty and has to search whole book as
the Ahadith in Musnad is not categorized by topics.

Another merit of Musnad is that you don’t find repetition of Hadiths with same chain as you can find
repetition in Musnaf. For example it is possible that a single Hadith has two or more Fiqh topics in it, so
author of Musnaf would bring that Hadis twice or thrice under the different topics of his book.

Musannaf

Musannaf is a book of Hadis in which Hadiths of different companions are compiled according to the
topics of Islamic jurisprudence. Usually in the first chapter of these books Hadiths related to the purity
are brough and then in the second chapter, the Hadiths related to the prayers are brought and then in
the third chapter Hadiths related to the fasting are brought.

In this type of Hadis book it is not necessary that only Saheeh Hadiths are brough, some Hasan or weak
Hadiths can also be collected In this type of Hadis compilation.

Also, authors of these books bring Hadis e Marfoo, Mauqoof and even Maqtoo in their books, so you can
find the sayings and actions of the companions of Holy Prophet peace be upon him and their successors
in this book.

Musannaf Abdur Razzaq and Musannaf ibn Abi Shaibah are the examples of Musannaf types of books.

Merits and Demerits:

One can easily find Hadiths related to a specific topic in this book, but if one wants to find Hadith
narrated from a specific companion, he would face difficulty as Ahadith from a single companion would
be spread all over the book in different chapters.

Single Hadith with similar Sanad can be brought in different chapter, as it might relates with different
topics of the Islamic jurisprudence , so repetition of Hadiths can be found in this type of book.

If one wants to read only Marfoo Ahadith related to a specific topic, he would have to search multiple
Hadiths in that specific topic from that book and then filter out the Marfoo Hadiths from Mauqoof and
Maqtoo.