The Role of Muslims in the Formation and Development of Sciences (Part 48)
Science of the Principles of Hadith
No nation has made such an effort as the Islamic nation to explain its religion. This important matter has been crystallized in the initiative of Islamic sciences, in a way that such sciences have not been found in other nations and such research has not been carried out. One of the most important sciences that has been researched and studied by Muslims is the “science of hadith”.
This is a science that is related to the “prophetic Sunnah”, that is, the second source of Islamic legislation after the Holy Quran. Its importance lies in the fact that the Sunnah has explained the generalities of the Quran and elaborated on it.
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, explained the Quran with his “speech”, “action” and “statements” and guided how Islam should be implemented and how its rulings be implemented.
The definition of Hadith science is as follows: It is a science through which the conditions of the “chain of narration” (i.e. the chain of narrators) and the “text of the hadith” (i.e. its content) are known. The purpose of this science is to distinguish authentic hadith from unauthentic hadith.
This science is divided into two parts:
1. “Scientific Hadith of Rewayah”: It is a science that deals with the accurate citation of everything attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in the form of speech, action, narration, or character and moral qualities.
2. “Scientific Hadith of Derayah”: It is a science that examines the principles and rules through which one can understand the meaning of Sahih (authentic), Hasan (good), Za’eef (weak) hadith and the types of each, and also deals with topics such as: “conditions of narration” and “narrators”, “revision and modification”, “history and biography of narrators”, “abrogating and abrogated”, “conflicting and strange hadiths”, etc. In short, this science is a set of rules for recognizing the status of the narration and the narrator or the chain and text of the hadith in terms of accepting or rejecting it, and it is also called the science of “Usul Hadith” or “Mustalih Al-Hadith”.
This science was created to protect the hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) from lies and fabrication, and to distinguish authentic hadiths from unauthentic ones.
The first person to write a comprehensive book in this field was “Imam Ramhormozi”, whose book is called “Al-Muhaddith Al-Fasal Bin Al-Rawi Wal-Wa’i”. After him, Imam “Hakim Nishaburi” wrote the book “Ma’arfa’t ‘Ulum Al-Hadith”, then Imam “Abu Na’im Isfahani” wrote the book “Al-Mustakhrj ‘ala Ma’arfa’t ‘Ulum Al-Hadith”, and after him Imam Khatib Baghdadi wrote the book “Al-Kifayyah fi ‘Ilm Al-Rawa’iyah”. Then “Qazi ‘Ayaz” wrote the book “Al-Im’aa’ il-Ma’arfa’t ‘Usul Al-Rawa’iyah wa Taqi’id Al-Asma'”. Then Imam Hafiz Ibn Salah came and wrote his famous book “Ulum al-Hadith”, which was a comprehensive and revised work of previous works and was widely accepted by scholars and became the main source of most subsequent works; some summarized it, some explained it, some wrote a footnote on it and some systematized it. One of the most important works after Imam Ibn Salah is a short treatise by Imam Hafiz Ibn Hajar Asqalani (may Allah bless him) called “Nukhbat al-Fikr”, which he himself explained in a commentary called “Nuzhat al-Nazar”. Other works were also written in the following centuries, which would be too long to mention.
The science of hadith has various types that are classified depending on the angle of view on the hadith:
In terms of “subject”, the hadith is divided into two parts:
“Document”: the chain of narrators who have narrated the hadith.
“Text”: The words of the hadith that express the meanings and the chain of transmission ends with it.
In terms of attributing the hadith to its narrator, it is divided into three types:
1. Marfuh’: What is attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); whether it is a speech, action, narration or attribute;
2. “Mowquf”: A hadith whose chain of transmission reaches up to a companion;
3. “Maqtuh’: A hadith whose chain of transmission reaches up to a Tabe’een.
In terms of how the hadith reached us:
1. Mutawatir: A hadith that has been narrated by a large group of narrators in each chain of transmission and their agreement and consensus on falsehood is not possible in terms of reason and habit. This type is either Mutawatir in terms of words or in terms of meaning.
2. Ah’ad: A hadith that does not meet the conditions for Mutawatir is divided into three types:
• “Mashur”: Three or more narrators in each chain;
• “Aziz”: At least two narrators in each category;
• “Gharib” (unusual): Its narrator is only one person in each category or some categories.
In terms of its acceptance or rejection, the hadith is divided into three categories:
1. “Sahih”;
2. “Hasan”;
3. “Za’eef”.
“Sahih” and “Hasan” are also divided into two types:
“Sahih Le Zateh”, “Sahih Le Ghaire”
“Hasan Le Zateh”, “Hasan Le Ghaire”
“Za’eef” hadith is also divided into many types, including: “Mu’alaq”, “Mursal”, “Mudalis”, “Mursal Khafi”, “Manqat”, “Mu’adl”, “Mawdooq”, “Matruq”, “Matruh”, “Shaz”, “Munkar”, “Munkarib”, “Maqlub”, “Madraj”, “Mazeed”, “Musahf” and “Mahrif”.
Undoubtedly, the Islamic Ummah has the right to be proud of this science and its principles, because its goal was to convey the words, actions, and statements of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in a clear, transparent, and free from any doubt or distortion.
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