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VI

DISCIPLINE (ILM) OF HADITH

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Discipline (Ilm) of Hadith

A major factor for the intellectual chaos, the manipulation of the masses, and the intimidation of open-minded thinkers is the way the hadith is handled in some Muslim circles.

The lack of knowledge about the discipline of hadith and its development, the reckless quoting of hadith without authentication, verification or awareness of context, lead to a state of confusion, particularly among the youth who are trying to find their way on the path of Islam.

This unfounded use of hadith enabled those with personal ambitions, political goals or ideological agendas to pick and choose hadith that will serve their purposes, and recruit and indoctrinate youth followers. Although the discipline of hadith is complex and requires specialization; yet it is liberating to have a general idea about the discipline. This discussion will not be enough to make us authorities on the subject but it will be enough to protect us from being misled or exploited. It will also give the opportunity and encouragement to those who would like to pursue further studies on the subject.

The purpose of this conversation is to demystify the subject of hadith.

What is the definition of Hadith?Linguistically, the Arabic meaning of the word

is modern, the opposite of ancient, it also means news, or talking.

For Islamic Studies it means the sayings of the Prophet (pbuh), Sunna means what the Prophet (pbuh) did or deliberately refrained from doing.

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How did we have the collections that people quote or use now? This happened at several stages:

At the time of the Prophet (pbuh), he ordered people to not write what he says...interestingly we have this order as a documented hadith.

The speculated reasons are:

1. High rate of illiteracy

2. To prevent any diversion from the Qur’an or any mix up with the gradually trickling revelation.

3. The difficulty in recording the context, which was actually changing from minute to minute. There was nothing as separate sessions for hadith, it was the Prophet (pbuh) living within a time and place, walking and talking, answering questions, ruling, fighting, making peace, being a husband, a neighbor, and a teacher, and while doing that his companions and students heeded what he said and loved him and were inspired by his model.

In spite of that, there are rare sporadic cases of written sayings, not enough to impact the collection that we have.

At the time of the four guided Caliphs

Those are the successors of the Prophet (pbuh) in leading the ummah and heading the state. This is a period of about thirty years. At this period, there was no writing of the hadith, but people quoted the Prophet. When one of the companions quoted the Prophet to Omar, he insisted that he should offer a proof of what he quoted otherwise he will be punished. Ali Ibn Abi Talib insisted that any one who relays

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a saying to the Messenger of God should bring two witnesses to testify to the same. So we find narrations and verification, yet no written recording.

It was not until the Caliph Omar Ibn Abdelaziz year 99-101 Hijri year that he decided against the previous trend, due to concern, for the integrity of the teachings, and in the face of inaccuracies and outright forgery, he ordered the collecting and writing of hadith. To do that he sent to a great woman in our history, Amra Bint Abdurrahman AlAnsareyya, to initiate the process and to enlist her trusted expertise. She was an authority on narrations related to Aisha, Um Al Moumineen. It is interesting that the major resources were a woman from a woman. The same is true for collecting of the Qur’an where the keeper of the primitively scripted copy was in the custody of another woman, Hafsa, the daughter of Omar. Ironically, now some flee when a woman recites Qur’an in public. The first large collection of hadith was the one of Al Zohari in the year 124 Hijri.

The years after that, i.e. 2nd century, are characterized by a gush of recordings through out the Ummah. This is the period of the remnants of the followers (Al Tabeun), i.e. the followers of the companions. They lived part of their early life, or at least were close to the generation of the companions. We find lots of collections, but they lacked organization and verification. They collected a mixture of the sayings of the Prophet (pbuh), sayings of the companions and the followers, some classified according to subjects of jurisprudence. An example of that is Muwatta Malik, the collection done by Imam Malik who died in the year 179 Hijri as well as Sufian al Thawry year 150 and al Awzjaie in 156.

The period that is called the period of the followers. I will not give the detailed names of authors or books, suffice to say that there were some trials to clear up the confusion.

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Some efforts were made to separate the sayings of the Prophet (pbuh) from other sayings.

Here the landmark is the work of Imam Al Boukhary.

The effort of these years was on verification, authentication, classification, grading and ranking the hadith as far as correctness and reliability.

The famous scholars are:

- Al Boukhary died year 256 H.- Muslim died year 261 H.- Al Tirmidhi died 279 H.- Abu Dawood died year 275 H.- Ibn Majah died year 273 H.- Al Nisaie died year 303 H.

As we noticed, all of these works are within 47 years, i.e. less than half a century. These are considered the six authoritative references for the Sunni schools of Jurisprudence. There are other sources referred to by the Shiite schools, including Al Kafi and Al Kulini. Several books collected the text of hadiths but not the chains of narration. We can see that until sometime ago, this was a work in progress.

Now as we are left with this huge corpus of hadith, how do we reconcile that with the reality that we have three hadiths reporting that the Prophet (pbuh) prevented his contemporaries to write hadith. What happened was that the scholars felt that the Qur’an is complete, preserved, memorized, and well kept, so writing of hadith would not cause confusion with Qur’an and the hadith needed to be recorded.

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There is now an opinion that this writer and the organizations he speaks for disagree with and do not approve. That opinion asserts that we do not need hadith or Sunna as sources for jurisprudence.

The arguments of those who approve this opinion are:

1. Hadith was not written or allowed to be written at the time of the Messenger or his companions.

2. Qur’an stated its completeness and self-sufficiency.

3. The word hadith, with the meaning it is used is not categorically mentioned in the Qur’an.

The counter argument:The Prophet (pbuh) is the primary expounder and

interpreter of the Qur’an,

(a) “And upon thee [too] have We bestowed from on high this reminder, so that thou might make clear unto mankind all that has ever been thus bestowed upon them, and that they might take thought.” (16: 44)

(b) “Those who shall follow the last Apostle, the unlettered Prophet whom they shall find described in the Torah that is with them, and later on in the Gospel: the Prophet who will enjoin upon them the doing of what is right and forbid them the doing of what is wrong and make lawful to them the good things of life and forbid them the bad things, and lift from them their burdens and the shackles that were upon them aforetime. Those, therefore who shall believe in him, and honor him, and succor him, and follow the light that has been bestowed from on high through him, it is they that shall attain to a happy state.” (7:157)

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(c) “Verily, in the Apostle of God you have a good example for everyone who looks forward (with hope and awe) to God and the Last Day, and remembers God unceasingly.” (33:21)

(d) “O you who have attained to faith! Pay heed unto God, and pay heed unto the Apostle and unto those from among you who have been entrusted with authority; and if you are at variance over any matter, refer it unto God and the Apostle, if you truly believe in God and the Last Day. This is the best for you and best in the end.” (4:59)

These previous verses establish the authority of hadith as long as we fulfill certain conditions. This is why we have the discipline of studying hadith (ulum al hadith) as part of the Islamic Studies. Now we are left with a pile of narrations claimed to be related to the prophet. We are left with some people who quote without knowledge aiming to intimidate and to push ideologies. This is happening within an environment that lacks basic knowledge as to the science of hadith. To them hadith is a land of mystery that must be demystified.

Task of authentication and verification:To fulfill this task, our scholars developed methods

and disciplines, which contributed to the human civilization, and to the establishment of a scientific methodology to control narratives and handle the accumulation of knowledge.

First of these is Ilm Al Isnad i.e. the reference system of each hadith, the chain of narrators through whom the hadith reached the compiler. This chain is called the sanad, i.e. the support of the hadith.

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Second, the bibliography and the evaluation of each one of the narrators.

The critical study of the narrators, what are the factors for or against considering him or her reliable.

Then, the critique of the text, called in Arabic Al Matn, i.e. the body of the narrated text.

The narrators then have to meet certain criteria decided by other scholars. The criteria in general are similar. These criteria were Islam, trustworthiness, education, sharp memory, justice, and truthfulness. Some added that he or she should be observing prayers, attending the mosque, and not a consumer of liquor. There are minor variations according to different scholars.

Each hadith has two components.

The Sanad i.e. the chain of narrators, and the Matn i.e. the text itself. For a hadith to be accepted in any compilation, the hadith should have a sanad that is sound, according to the criteria of the compiler. For example, Bukhari set his own criteria. Muslim set his own that might overlap with or depart from the criteria set by others. The hadith should also have a Matn that should not include anything that will make its authenticity doubtful.

Great scholarly work was spent on the sanad portion. It was easier on the conscience of the scholar to critique the chain of the narrators than to touch the body of the text, however some of them did. As far as the sanad is concerned, there are different approaches and as mentioned before different sets of criteria of acceptability designed by different scholars, which resulted in several definitions and different classifications. I will share with you the most known ones. I would like you here to ask yourselves, how many a time

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people quoted hadith to you without even alluding to its sanad or to its ranking, or even to the book in which it is recorded.

Most of the hadiths are graded, ranked and calibrated according to the reliability and intactness of the sanad, i.e. the links in the chain of narrators. The first categorization is according to whether the hadith can be traced back to the Prophet. The scholars put three categories.

I want you here to bear with some Arabic terminology that you may need or may be thrown your way. If the hadith can be traced up to the prophet, came from him directly to the next link, it is called Marfoo, that is elevated or promoted high, but if the chain stops at the level of a companion of the prophet, it is called Maqtoo i.e. severed or cut. Based on this categorization, only the 1st category is considered trustworthy, and based on that when the scholars looked at the great book of Muwatta Malik, out of 1700 hadiths, only 600 are elevated, i.e. can be traced directly to the prophet (pbuh).

Another classification that is commonly used is to call a hadith Musnad i.e. supported. This meant it was elevated to the Prophet (pbuh), while the Mursal means it can go to a successor of the companions and stops there. If there is a link missing in the chain it is called Manquatie i.e. is not continuously intact. A hadith will be called Muedil i.e. problematic, if more than one link is missing. The Muallaq i.e. suspended is the one with no isnad whatsoever, i.e. all links are missing. Almost all scholars take seriously the first category only.

A more important classification is according to the number of narrators in each link. In this classification, the hadith is either Mutawatir i.e. narrated by a large group of people, who received it from a large preceding group, and so

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on until it is up to the prophet (pbuh) directly. These large groups at each link should be too numerous to leave room for a lie. This condition should be at every level of the chain. All other hadiths are considered single chain hadith, or singular, which means that the chain at all or some of its levels is just a single individual. The mutawatir hadith is the one that is considered 100% authentic. All others, according to the scholars of hadith, represent a possibility, or a probability but not certainty. This is why the hadith should pass the filter of the Qur’an, and the filter of the mutawatir on the same subject. We should know that the number of the mutawatir hadith is disputed, from zero to close to dozens.

Based on all these classifications, the hadith is ranked:

Saheeh• i.e. Sound, which means that according to the criteria set by the specific compiler.Hasan• i.e. the chain is fair, good enough, but not perfect.Dhaeif• , i.e. weak, i.e. members of the chain are unreliable.Maudu• i.e. forgery.

I just gave the brief and general outlines to help us be more aware and more discriminate with hadith. The following diagram may help.

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The sunna can be divided into two broad types: non-legal sunna and legal sunna.

The non-legal sunna, Sunna ghayr tashri’iyyah, comprises the actions and sayings of the Prophet, which were not part of his role as a Prophet, but rather a simple necessity of his humanness. This large branch of the recorded sunna, in fact does not constitute binding legislation upon the Muslims. It is divided into at least three subtypes.

1. The natural human activities of the Prophet, such as the manner in which he ate, slept, dressed, activities of this nature are not of primary importance to the Prophetic mission and therefore do not constitute legal norms. According to the majority of ‘ulema, the Prophet’s preferences in these areas, such as his favorite colors, or the fact that he slept on his right side, only indicate the permissibility ibadah of the acts in question.

2. What relates to empiric knowledge, or personal or social habit or custom. In this category, Sheikh Shaltut places such things as advice in matters of agriculture or medicine and habits of personal dress such as the length or shortness of the Prophet’s dress. On this category, Kamali states, “Sunna relating to specialized or technical knowledge, such as medicine, commerce and agriculture, is once again held to be peripheral to the main function of the Prophetic mission and is therefore not part of the sharia.” We would qualify here, however, that the hadiths of the Prophet, which lay down general principles on the conduct of business and commerce, constitute part of Islamic business ethics, and in the opinion of the authors, should be considered part of the legislative sunna.

3. Actions relating to specific circumstances not of a general nature. Such areas would include particular

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strategies of war, timings of attack or withdrawal, etc., since “these too are considered to be situational and not part of the sharia.”

To aid the reader in accepting this classification, i.e., that there are issues personal to and specific to the Prophet which do not constitute general legislation for the Muslims, we recollect that there are even portions of his sunna which are different than the general legislation for the Muslims, such as polygamy above the limit of four, marriage without a dower, prohibition of remarriage for the widows of the Prophet (and) connected fasting.

The legal sunna, Sunna tashri’iyyah: This is the branch of sunna, which is meant to establish law. This is further subdivided into two broad categories – general legislation (i.e. meant for Muslims until the Day of Judgment) and specific legislation, having to do with specific issues of the umma during the Prophet’s lifetime. Sheikh Shaltut distinguishes these two broad categories by breaking the legislative sunna into two subtypes:

1. The sunna arising from the Prophet strictly as a Prophet. The rules, which the Prophet lays down in his capacity as Messenger of God, such as rules explaining or complementing the Qur’an, are general guidance to the Believers valid and honored until the Day of Judgment. Thus, “whatever the Prophet has authorized pertaining to the principles of religion, especially in the areas of devotional matters ‘ibadat – acts of worship- and rules expounding the lawful and the unlawful, that is the halal and haram, constitutes general legislation (tashri’ ‘amm) whose validity is not restricted by the limitations of time and circumstance. All commands and prohibitions that are imposed by the Sunna are binding on every Muslim regardless of individual circumstances, social status, or political office. In

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acting upon these laws, the individual normally does not need any prior authorization by a religious leader or the government.”

2. The sunna arising from the Prophet in his capacity as the governor or Imam of the Muslims. Examples of this are sending the military into battle, spending the state’s revenue, dividing the spoils of war, signing treaties, appointing judges and officials, “and such other things having to do with governance and public administration for the welfare of the community.” Such sunna does not constitute general legislation, but rather defines the sphere of things which should be decided by the government. In the opinion of many scholars, therefore, the individual Muslim is not allowed to make such decisions without the express permission of the Imam (i.e. without legal authorization) on the pretext that the Prophet did or said a similar thing.

It is important to clarify that this sort of distinction, between the different roles, which the Prophet played, and therefore, the correspondingly different types of sunna arising from each, is not an invention of modern scholars, but is a long-held classical doctrine. Therefore, al-Qarafi wrote in his work Kitab al Furuq regarding the sunna coming from the Prophet in his role as Messenger of God that whatever he stipulated in this sphere “becomes a general rule for everyone to whom it is addressed until the day of resurrection, and everyone must act directly, be it an obligation, a prohibition or even an ibada.” But for everything the Prophet has authorized in his capacity as Imam, it is not permissible for anyone to act upon it without obtaining a prior authorization of the current Imam of his time, because the Prophet himself acted in that capacity and it would be in keeping with his example to follow the same.

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For those who seek a serious understanding of the sunna, we close with the words of Sheikh Yusuf al Qaradawi in his epilogue to his book on the Prophetic sunna, “The sunna is in need of new explanatory works to bring forth its truths and clarify what is unclear and to correct the collective understanding and to rebut the falsehoods, written in their current language and the paradigm of this age. The Qur’an has garnered in our age, as is its right, the attention of great scholars, who have devoted themselves to its tafsir (interpretation) and the bringing forth of its gems and essence, addressing the modern mind, with what has been made available to them of new facts and knowledge, allowing them to enter the minds and the hearts from the widest of doors. We have seen this in the tafsirs of Muhammad Rashid Rida, Jamal al Din al Qasimi, Al Tahir ibn ‘Ashur, Abi al’Ala Maududi, Sayyid Qutb and Mahmud Shaltut and others. The books of sunna, and particularly the two Sahihs, have no explanatory works from the likes of these giants who combine authenticity and modernization and hopefully God will inspire some of the great expositors to write works of commentary and explanation of the Sahihs of the two sheikhs Bukhari and Muslim, a contemporary scholarly explanation. In this way, Islamic scholarship will be served a great service. And the last of our supplication is All Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds.”

As you noticed, most of what we mentioned is focused on the Sanad, on the supporting chain of narration. How about the Matn i.e. the body of the hadith, the text?

As I mentioned before, there is disproportionate attention given to the sanad compared to the matn. Yet there are some very illuminating and liberating guidelines offered by the classical scholars of hadith. I will offer some examples of these scholarly guiding principles:

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Imam Al Ghazali (who died at year 1111 AD) stated that a hadith could be rejected if the matn contradicts Qur’an or more authentic hadith. Alternatively, if the statement is found defective, an assertion that contradicts the established facts approved by the specialists. This is not limited to theologians, but world science specialists. This meant that if someone quotes to me a hadith about a medical science issue, against an established medical scientific reality, I see in myself as a qualified scientist in medicine the authority to suspend using it and I have the right to question its authenticity.

Imam Al Soyouti 1445-1505: “If you encounter a hadith contrary to reason or to an established correctly accepted principle, you should know that it is forged”.

Some scholars set these criteria to doubt certain hadiths:

If it is against reason.• If it is against common experience.• If it contradicts the • Qur’an, the mutawatir hadith or the consensus of the scholars.If it is relayed by a single individual while the event is • claimed to be witnessed by many, yet they did not relay the same hadith.If the hadith mentions severe punishment for a simple • mistake, or it promises a big reward for an insignificant good deed.

Other criteria for hesitating to accept a hadith:Rendering superior values to certain portions of the • Qur’an.Superior virtues and values of persons or places.• Prophecies of the future especially if there are specific • times or dates.

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Things that are not befitting the personality of the • Prophet or his character.Less than perfect Arabic language.•

Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltoot, in his great book Al Islam Aquida Wa Sharia; i.e. Islam creed and way, elucidated the following about the saying and actions of the Prophet (pbuh) in terms of what items are binding versus what are not (this is taken from the chapter written by Gasser Hathout in the book In Pursuit of Justice).

In summary, we can not use the hadith in a haphazard way. We should at least be aware of the amount of scholarship, and the complexity that has to be considered before we use the hadith to throw a punch.

ConclusionAuthenticating, analyzing and properly applying

hadith is a vast field of Islamic scholarship. We have hoped to show that the question, “Is this hadith sahih?”, if answered in the affirmative, should be the beginning and not the end of the inquiry on how to understand and apply the hadith. Far too many pious scholars, who love the Prophet (pbuh) and revere his legacy, have expended their lives in the study of his sunna for these efforts to be trivialized by a superficial approach to hadith is unacceptable. Those who wield hadith like a club to bludgeon their opponents in Islamic discourses have missed the wisdom and richness of the Prophet’s example, and have dishonored the sincere efforts of those who in past generations have attempted to understand his path and follow in his footsteps.