What is Hadith?
The Hadith is the record of the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The sayings and conduct of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) constitute the Sunnah.
The Hadith has come to supplement the Holy Quran as a source of the Islamic law. The Hadith is the second pillar after the Quran upon which every Muslim rests his faith.
Muslims believe that the Quran is the very word of God Almighty — a complete record of the exact words revealed by God through the Archangel Gabriel to Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of God be upon him).
The Quran was memorised by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his followers, dictated to his companions, and written down by scribes, who cross-checked it during the Prophet’s lifetime. Not one word of its 114 surahs (chapters) has been changed over the centuries. The Quran is in every detail the same unique and miraculous text that was revealed to Muhammad over fourteen centuries ago.
The Quran is the principle source of every Muslim’s faith and practice. It deals with all subjects that concern us as human beings, including wisdom, doctrine, worship and law; but its basic theme is the relationship between God and His creatures. At the same time, the Quran provides guidelines for a just society, proper human conduct and equitable economic principles.
“He (God) has sent down to you the Book (the Quran) with truth, confirming what was revealed before; And He sent down the Torah (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this as a guide in humankind; and He sent down the Criterion (the Quran).” (Quran 3:3-4)
Hadith consists of Mat’n and Isnad. Mat’n means the text of the Hadith, while Isnad means the chain of transmitters to that Hadith.
Hadith contains daily practices of the Prophet (PBUH) these have been passed down via chains of narrators. Hadith were collected by famous Muhaddiths such as Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim in their collections. They verified narrators via very stringent rules, i.e. if a narrator who is known to be unreliable then it would not be taken from that person. It is recorded that Imam Bukhari travelled miles upon miles to hear hadith which he could collect for his collection, he collected over 100,000 ahadith of which only over 7000 can be found in his Sahih collection.
Hadith are a source of legislation for the muslims along with the Quran, Sunnah (pertained within hadith), Consensus (Ijmaa) of the Sahaba (companions) and Qiyas (analogical reasoning of the latter two).
The scholars of the Hadith literature divided the Traditions into categories according to the degree of authenticity and reliability, each category had to meet certain criteria.
The categories:
1. Sahih: The genuine Traditions, the authentic ones.
2. Moothaq: Almost like the Sahih but the narration is not as strong as those of the Sahih.
3. Hasan: The fair Traditions although inferior in matter of authenticity.
4. Dha’eef: The weak Traditions which are not so reliable.
Scholars of Hadith state that the sahih (authentic) hadith which is most likely attributable to the Prophet (PBUH) is the hadith which fulfils all of the following five conditions:
1. Each of its narrators is of good character
2. Each of its narrators has a precise memory
3. The isnad (chain of narrators) is uninterrupted from the beginning to end
4. The hadith is sound and free of any shudhudh (irregularity) in its isnad or matn (text) and
5. The hadith is sound and free of any ‘illah (fault) in its isnad or text.
The fourth and fifth conditions are among the most precise of conditions and the most difficult for the scholar, because proving them requires intense research and precision, bringing together all the isnads and narrations of the hadith, as well as extensive experience in the sciences of hadith and specialisation in criticism.
Sacred Hadith
The Hadith Qudsi, or sacred hadith, have a particularly important status because their meaning is entirely from Allah the Almighty, while the wording is that of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) himself.
