Paper 2

[History and Importance of Hadith]

HISTORY AND IMPORTANCE OF HADITH

Components of Hadith:
A hadith is primarily composed of two components: the first one includes its order of
transmission and is called as Sanad whereas the second part concerns with the theme/wording
of hadith and is known as Matn. Both of these components have their own significance and
following are the details concerning each component.

Sanad:
A Sanad is the order of the transmission of Hadith and its literal meaning is of “support”. The
order includes different names (narrators) which start with the Holy Prophet ‫( ﷺ‬P.B.U.H) and
end with a companion of the Holy Prophet ‫ﷺ‬. A sanad is read in a way which incorporates
every name in the line of transmission, for e.g. there are 2 people in the transmission line along
with Holy Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬then the sanad will be read as follows:
Yahya narrated from Malik who narrated from Nafae who narrated from Amr bin Aas who
heard the Holy Apostle of Allah say: “He who misses the Asr prayer is as if he has lost his
family and property”
'Abdullah ibn Al-Mubarak (d. 181H), one of the illustrious teachers of Imam Al-Bukhari,
said, "The isnad is part of the religion: had it not been for the isnad, whoever wished to would
have said whatever he liked."
There are several checks which the compiler (Muhadih) of the Hadith had to keep in
consideration before they termed the Hadith as authentic. Following are the checks which were
incorporated by these Muhadithun:
a) The narrator or transmitter should have met the person who came before him in the
line of transmission and should have heard him relating the Hadith. He should have also
the person met the person who came after him and related the Hadith to him
b) The transmitter should be able to tell about details of his teacher and those taught his
teacher
c) Holy Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬should be included in the chain
d) The character of the transmitter should be sound, i.e. he is not known for cheating
anybody
e) The transmitter should have a sound memory and is known for remembering things
f) The transmitter should be of firm faith
g) He must be known for truthfulness and honesty

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[History and Importance of Hadith]
h) He should be of at an age where he understands where they understand the importance
of what they hear
i) They should realize that a small change in words would change the meaning of hadith
j) They should exactly be reporting what they have heard from their teacher and not in
their own words
Scholars after looking at these checks on the isnad (plural form of Sanad) determine whether a
hadith is strong or weak.

Matn:
Matn refers to the message, statement, action or decision of the Holy Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬which is
reported in the Hadith. Like Sanad, scholars also place several checks on the wording of the
Hadith in order to prove its authenticity. Following are the checks which are placed on the
Matn:
a) Words should not go against the common sense of people
b) They should not contradict the Holy Quran rather be in conjunction with it
c) They should not contradict a Hadith which has already been proven as authentic
d) They should not include extra praise for somebody except for teaching followers by way
of example
e) They should not give accurate details of incidents after the life of Holy Prophet ‫ﷺ‬
f) They should not go against the family of Holy Prophet ‫ﷺ‬
Matn is also different for the type of Hadith being said. There are two types of Hadith with
reference to Matn, the first one is Hadith-e-Nabwi which were the words of Holy Prophet ‫ﷺ‬
and the other is Hadith-e-Qudsi which are the words of Allah said by the Holy Prophet ‫ﷺ‬.
An example of Hadith-e-Nabwi is “Pray as you see me praying” and an example of Hadith-e-
Qudsi is “Fasting is for Me and I shall compensate it”
Scholars after checking both the components decided upon the strength of Hadith which is then
broken down into four parts according to their strength.

Types of Hadith according to Strength:

Sahih:
These hadith are 100% accurate and there is no question on their soundness. They are at the
highest level of soundness and reliability as their Isnad and Matn are fully intact. The only two
known books of Ahadith which include Sahih are those of Imam Bukhari (Sahih Bukhari) and
Imam Muslim (Sahih Muslim)

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[History and Importance of Hadith]

Hasan:
These Hadith are not 100% accurate and this is because of their isnad not being fully authentic
or reliable. Although the Matn is fully accurate but since the isnad is not, they therefore fall
below the Sahih or authentic Ahadith

Daif:
These Hadith are not accurate and have questions on reliability of both their Sanad and Matn.
Moreover, they are not always accepted because the compilers have used them in places
where no other evidence concerning legal issues of Islam was found.

Mawdu:
These Ahadith are not at all authentic with major questions on both their Isnad and Matn. They
are always rejected because they fail all tests of reliability and authenticity.

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

Five categories of hadith can be identified:

Mutawatir - Consecutive: is a hadith which is reported by such a large number of people that
they cannot be expected to agree upon a lie, all of them together.

Ahad - isolated: is a hadith which is narrated by people whose number does not reach that of
the mutawatir.

It is further classified into:

o Mash'hur - famous: hadith reported by more than two reporters.

o `Aziz - rare, strong: at any stage in the isnad, only two reporters are found to
narrate the hadith.
o Gharib - strange: At some stage of the isnad, only one reporter is found
relating it.

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[History and Importance of Hadith]

Compilation and recording of Ahadith during the time of Prophet ‫ﷺ‬:

Hadith of the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬were not compiled during the life of the Holy Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬because the
Holy Quran was also in Arabic language and there was a fear that the words of Quran ‫ ﷺ‬will
be mixed with Ahadith. Moreover, the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬companions did not record the Ahadith
formally rather they used to keep it in their memory, remember them in basic words and kept
a small collection of the letters and instructions of Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬related to the different phases
of Islamic law and practice.
The Holy Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬specifically preferred the method of memorization of words and would
make sure that he repeated them before the companions could fully memorize them. It was
also the norm in Arab states that oral form of communication was preferred and paper was
very expensive while also being rare at that time. Moreover, these believers who heard the
Hadith also had the task of passing on the Hadith to their fellow companions which is why Holy
Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬made a group of Muslims who used to sit in the mosque of the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬in order
to teach people about Islamic teachings. The group was called as Ashab-E-Suffah and its basis
were on the following Hadith of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬, “May Allah be pleased with a servant who
heard a thing from me and then broadcasted it just as he heard it”
During the later life of Holy Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬when he became confident that people would now be
able to distinguish between the Quran and Ahadith he made sure that people pass the Ahadith
on to other people. One of the most notable compilers of Hadith, “Abu Hurrayra” is noted to
have said that he once heard the Holy Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬say to a companion who was having a
difficult time memorizing the Ahadith that he should take the help of his right hand
Companions took the instructions from the Holy Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬after which they thought of
compiling the Ahadith after his death. The following words of Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬in the farewell
pilgrimage gave these instructions: “He who is present here shall carry this message to the one
who is absent”
The Prophet‫ ﷺ‬had entrusted his companions with the work of writing down his words and this
was done at certain occasions. Some of them are:
1- The peace deal for Suraqa bin Malik: Suraqa was the man who came to assassinate the
Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬while on his journey towards Madina from Makkah. The Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬gave the
peace deal to him in writing that he is free from infliction of any violence on the account
of him coming to assassinate the Holy Prophet ‫ﷺ‬
2- Letters to Kings and emperors: The Holy Prophet had his companions write letters to
kings of different areas and all of these are in writing. An example of it is the letter to
Negus of Abyssinia

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[History and Importance of Hadith]
3- Treaty of Hudabiya: The treaty of Hudabiya was written as an agreement of certain
terms between the Muslims of Madina and the Quraysh of Makkah. This treaty was
written by Hazrat Ali and dictated by Holy Prophet ‫ﷺ‬
4- Request by Abu Shah: One day, Prophet Muhammad delivered a speech on the
principles of the crime and punishment of manslaughter. When a companion named
Abu Shah said to him, "Oh messenger of God, write this down for me," he ordered his
scribes to write it down for him.
5- As Sahifa e Ali: These were the instructions given out to Hazrat Ali by the Holy Prophet
‫ ﷺ‬which Hazrat Ali wrote in writing
6- Appointment of Amr bin Hazam: while appointing Amr ibn Hazm as the governor of
Yaman, the Prophet himself gave him a letter containing the times of prayer, methods
of prayer, details of ablution, war bounty, taxation, zakat, etc.

Compilation of Ahadith by the Companions:

The death of Holy Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬brought a great responsibility on the shoulders of the
companions of the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬and now they were without support. The Ahadith served as the
biggest source of guidance and inspiration for the Muslims and it also explained the Holy
Quran. In order to provide guidance to the Muslims and keep the word of Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬alive,
companions thought of compiling the Ahadith. At this point in time many of the companions
were passing away as well and most of them were those who had memorized the Ahadith.
The companions thought amongst themselves of taking charge in different areas to provide
guidance to the new converts and already existing Muslims. The most notable amongst these
were: Hazrat Salman Farsi who took charge in Isfahan, Hazrat Ibn Abbas in Makkah and
Hazrat Ibn Masud in Kufa. These companions were the ones who had observed the Holy
Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬and had heard his words, therefore they proved to be an important source as
teachers of Hadith. Teaching of Ahadith to people gave way to a new era of Ahadith
compilations. Even though writing down the Ahadith was not common but memorizing it and
passing it took pace.
Following companions of the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬were the major narrators of Ahadith after the death of
the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬:
1- Hazrat Abu Hurayra: He knew the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬very closey and is known to have narrated
5400 Ahadith
2- Hazrat Abdullah ibn Umar: He was the son of Hazrat Umar and is known to have done
2600 narrations

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[History and Importance of Hadith]
3- Hazrat Anas bin Malik: He initially was the servant of the Holy Prophet ‫ﷺ‬, therefore
being very close to him and is thought to have done 2300 narrations
4- Hazrat Aisha: She was the wife of the Holy Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬and also one of the biggest critics
of incorrectly quoted Ahadith. She is known to have done 2200 narrations
5- Hazrat Ibn Abbas: He is known to have done 1700 narrations
Except for these companions, Hazrat Ali, Hazrat Umar and Hazrat Abubakar are thought to
have said 1000 plus narrations collectively.
The companions who had earlier taken permission from the Holy Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬to write down his
words also compiled their books in this era and following are there books:
1- As Sahifa As Sadiqah: This was compiled by Hazrat Abdullah bin Amr who had taken
special permission from the Holy Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬to write down his words
2- Collection of Ahadith of Hazrat Aisha: These were written by Hazrat Urwa bin Zubayr
and he gathered the Ahadith of the Holy Prophet from his maternal aunt, Hazrat Aisha
(RA)

Compilation of Ahadith by the successors of the companions (Al-Tabe’un):

Successors of the companions were those people who recorded the Ahadith and recollections
of their teachers about the Holy Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬which included his words, deeds and rulings in
journals called Suhuf. Moreover, these companions also made their own collections alongside
spreading the collections of their teachers. These collections were passed on from one teacher
to their student who also at times were in blood relation with each other.
Most of the Hadith in their initial periods were not written down but had to be transmitted
orally because at that time the diacritical marks (symbols to pronounce a word) were not
introduced nor used. Absence of diacritical marks made it difficult to distinguish one word from
the other and which is why many Muhaditheen doubted the authenticity of Hadith. The invent
of diacritical marks took place when a well-known Hadith transmitter and successor “Al-Zuhri”
considered writing down the Ahadith for essential transmission of Ahadith. Later, an Ummayad
caliph, “Umar bin Abdul Aziz” ordered the Madinan governor to have hadith, which were
related to administrative and taxation matters to be written down, be written down.
Mohammad. ibn Shihab Al Zuhri, the first regular compiler, was one of the most distinguished
traditionists. Ibn Shihab Zuhri and Abu Bakr Al-Hazm were asked by Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, the
Umayyad caliph, to prepare a collection of all available traditions. Umar bin Abul Aziz wrote to
Abu Bakr Al Hazm: “Whatever sayings of the Prophet can be found, write them down, for I fear
the loss of knowledge and disappearance of learned men, and do not accept anything but the
Hadith of the Holy Prophet, and people should make knowledge public.”

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[History and Importance of Hadith]
Some of the important Hadith books that were written during this period are: Kitab Khalid bin
Maydan; Kutb Hasan al-Basri; Kutb Muhammad al-Baqr; Kitab Hakam bin ‘Utba; Kitab ‘Umar bin
Abd al- Aziz
Al-Muwatta and Musnad Ahmad
Hadhrat Abu Hurayrah is reported to have dictated traditions to his students who committed
them to writing. Among them Hammam bin Munabbah was one. He compiled a book entitled
al-Sahifa al-Sahiha which was one of the most famous collection of this era containing 138
Ahadith

Musannaf Collections:
The compilation of Hadith led to the emergence of Musannaf collections in the early second
century and were the first written collection of Ahadith. These were books which were
arranged chapter wise and were mainly related to legal issues of Islam. The legal issues
contained in them were about “Zakat”, “Prayer” etc. These collections were used as
identification of whether these actually were the words of the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬or not. Moreover,
these collections served as a tool through which the opinions of the companions or successors
were checked. One of the most famous example of a Musannaf collection is that of Al-Muwatta
by Imam Malik.

Musannad Collections:
The Musnad were compiled in the late second or the early third century and came in later than
the Musnnaf collections. These collections were arranged according to the chain of transmitters
and chapters included Ahaidth narrated from a certain companion. The headings were
identified by the name of the name of the particular companion, such as Ahadith of Hazrat Abu
Bakar (R.A). The most famous musannad is that of Imam Ahmed Ibn Hanbal which consisted of
27,700 Ahadith. Since these books only give an account of the Ahadith under the compilers, the
authenticity can be questioned with regards to the working of the Hadith

Successors of the Successors (Tab’e al-Tabe’een):

In the 3rd and 4th Century after Hijri, Musannaf and Mussanad collections were both compiled
together in the form of sunan/sahih category. The advantage of this was because both the
Hadith could be seen topic wise while their order of transmission could also be checked.
This period was therefore termed as the golden age of Hadith compilation. The compilers
during this age compiled hundreds of thousands of Ahadith. The compilers during this time
period developed the rules for Sanad and Matn as to formulate the Sunan and Sahih books.

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[History and Importance of Hadith]
The most famous compilers/jurists during this time period ensured that their collections were
cent percent authentic. Their efforts were to exclude all weak Ahadith from their collections
even if they were important for law deriving purposes. One of the most famous compiler during
this time was Ibn Ismail Al’Bukhari.
Imam Bukhari travelled for a total time period of 16 years and memorized 600,000 Ahadith
during this time. He also developed rules and strategies for sifting through the Ahadith so as to
only take Ahadith which were fully authentic or Sahih. Therefore, his final collection of Sahih Al-
Bukhari has only 7,397 Ahadith and they go down to 2762 if repetitions are taken out. Upon
each Hadith’s rigorous evaluation, Imam Bukhari would make ghusl and pray two rakat of
istikhara. Imam Bukhari once went to meet a hadith narrator. The man’s (narrator’s) horse had
run away from him and stood at a distance. To make the horse walk towards him he lifted his
shirt and acted as if he had barley inside it and began to tempt the animal, this made the animal
come back to him allowing the man to catch it. Imam Bukhari asked the man if he really did
have barley in his shirt, to which the reply was, “No, I only did it to bring the horse back.” The
Imam said, “How can I take a blessed Hadith of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) from a man who lies
to animals!
Imam Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj also made sure that he compiles a book with fully authentic Ahadith
and went on to great lengths to do so. He travelled around and was able to memorize around
300,000 Ahadith and his final compilation which is known as Sahih Muslim has around 2200
Ahadith without repetition.
Both the books of Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim are known as Sahihyan but both of them
have certain differences. The book of Imam Bukhari has legal commentary by the companions
of the Prophet in it whereas in Sahih Muslim it is not there. Moreover, the chapters in Sahih
Muslim are 54 whereas in Sahih Bukhari they are 97
The other compilers of the Ahadith did incorporate some of the weak Ahadith because they
were unable to find any other Ahadith on the concerned matter which mostly was on a legal
issue. Four other compilers were widely known for their books and together with Sahih Bukhari
and Sahih Muslim they are known as Sihah Sitta. Following are their names and books:
Sunan of Abu Dawud: he was a close student of Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal and his sunan
contains around 4800 Ahadith and includes Ahadith mainly on law deriving issues.
Jam’I of Al-Tirmidhi: The compilation of Al-Tirmidhi contains around 3950 Ahadith and they
focus on Ahadith which the different schools of law used as a legal proof. The book has also a
detailed discussion on their authenticity.

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[History and Importance of Hadith]
Sunan of al-Nasa’i: he was also a student of Al-tirmidhi, who is also known for compiling two
sunans. One is a larger one which contains several unreliable Ahadith and the other is a smaller
one which contains only 5750 Sahih Ahadith.
Sunan of Ibn Maja: This contains 4000 Ahadith which are all set within well-arranged topics.
The two Sahiyan and other four books combined are called the Sihah Sitta (Six sound
collections)
Shia Muslims also have four Ahadith books and they are based on the authority of Hazrat Ali
and the twelve imams who are the descendants of Hazrat Fatimah and Hazrat Ali. Following are
the four prominent collections of Shia Ahadith that are comparable to Sihah Sitta:
1- Al-Kafi fil ilm al-din: This is a Shia collection compiled by Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn
Yaqub al Kulyani and contains over 16000 Ahadith. This book is divided into three parts
and they are as follows:
a. Usul al-Kafi: This relates to history, morals, ethics, prayer, worships and the Holy
Quran
b. Furu al-Kafi: This relates to legal and practical issues
c. Raudat al-Kafi: This relates to Ahadith from the Imams
2- Man la yahduru al-Faqih: The compiler of this book is by Ibn Babuyah and contains 9000
Ahadith
3- Tahzib al-Ihkam; The compiler of this book is Sheikh Tusi and it contains 13,600 Ahadith
4- Al-Istibsar: The compiler of this book is also Sheik Tusi and it contains the same Ahadith
but in a shorter format

Reasons for Hadith Compilation:

1- The four rightly guided caliphs were close Companions of the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬. They followed his
Sunna closely and after the end of their caliphate it became important to compile the Prophetic
Ahadith so that future generations could use the Prophet’s ‫ ﷺ‬example to clarify and resolve
questions and disputes
2- Holy Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬was no longer present himself to clarify any matters of questions and disputes
as he was the final authority on secular and spiritual matters
3- Some people fabricated Ahadith. Overzealous teachers, perhaps with the best of intentions,
made up Ahadith to advance the teachings of Islam. Yet some people attributed Ahadith to the
Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬which were false
4- The increasing number of people accepting Islam needed guidance on the Islamic way of life and
wanted to follow the pattern of conduct set by the Prophet ‫ﷺ‬
5- The close companions of the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬were passing away due to age or wars and a need was
felt to preserve the Ahadith of the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬even more with their demise

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6- Islamic jurisprudence was developing rapidly and needed a compiled collection of authentic
Ahadith as a source material
7- In order to eliminate genuine errors in Ahadith on account of verbal narrations, fault memories,
forgetfulness etc. Hadith needed to be compiled.
8- The Quran itself advised the companions to compile Ahadith as it says “You have in the
Messenger of Allah an excellent exemplar for him who hopes in Allah and the Final Day and
remembers Allah much” (Al-Ahzab)

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