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The Muslims are agreed that the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace) is the second of the two revealed
fundamental sources of Islam, after the Glorious Qur'an. The authentic
Sunnah is contained within the vast body of hadeeth literature.1.
A hadith (pl. ahadith) is composed of two parts: the matn (text)
and the isnad (chain of reporters). A text may seem to be logical
and reasonable but it needs an authentic isnad with reliable reporters
to be acceptable; 'Abdullah b. al-Mubarak (d. 181 AH), 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."2.
During the lifetime of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) and after his death, his Companions (Sahabah) used to refer to
him directly, when quoting his sayings. The Successors (Tabi'un) followed
suit; some of them used to quote the Prophet (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace) through the Companions while others would omit the intermediate
authority - such a hadith was later known as mursal. It was found that
the missing link between the Successor and the Prophet (may Allah bless
him and grant him peace) might be one person, i.e. a Companion, or two
people, the extra person being an older Successor who heard the hadith
from the Companion. This is an example of how the need for the verification
of each isnad arose; Imam Malik (d. 179) said, "The first one to utilise
the isnad was Ibn Shihab al- Zuhri" (d. 124).3.
The other more important reason was the deliberate fabrication of ahadith
by various sects which appeared amongst the Muslims, in order to support
their views (see later, under discussion of maudu' ahadith). Ibn Sirin
(d. 110), a Successor, said, "They would not ask about the isnad. But
when the fitnah (trouble, turmoil, esp. civil war) happened, they said:
Name to us your men. So the narrations of the Ahl al-Sunnah (Adherents
to the Sunnah) would be accepted, while those of the Ahl al-Bid'ah (Adherents
to Innovation) would not be accepted."4.
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