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.
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 huffaz
(leading authorities in hadeeth), 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:
- those which are transmitted by both al- Bukhari and Muslim;
- those which are transmitted by al-Bukhari only;
- those which are transmitted by Muslim only;
those which are not found in the above two collections, but
- which agree with the requirements of both al-Bukhari and Muslim;
- which agree with the requirements of al- Bukhari only;
- which agree with the requirements of Muslim only; and
- those declared sahih by other traditionists.69
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:
- 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;
- 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:
- Bahz b. Hakam --- his father --- his grandfather;
- 'Amr b. Shu'aib --- his father --- his grandfather;
- 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
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
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 the document 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 hadeeth 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
- political differences;
- factions based on issues of creed;
- fabrications by zanadiqah (enemies-within spreading heretical beliefs);
- fabrications by story-tellers;
- fabrications by ignorant ascetics;
- prejudice in favour of town, race or a particular imam;
- inventions for personal motives;
- proverbs turned into ahadith.
Similar to the last category above is the case of Isra'iliyat ("Israelite
traditions"), narrations from the Jews and the Christians84
which were wrongly attributed to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace).
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