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INTRODUCTION Definition of hadith Hadith Qudsi Definition of Sunnah 1. TRANSMISSION OF THE HADITH LITERATURE Memorisation and oral transmission of the Traditions The writing down of ahadith The role of the "Companions" The role of the "Successors" 2. ASSEMBLING THE AHADITH 3. CATEGORIES OF HADITH COLLECTIONS i. Sahih ii. Juz' iii. Risala iv. Musannaf v. Musnad vi. Mu'jam vii. Jami viii. Sunan ix. Mustadrak x. Mustakhraj xi. Arba'iniyyat 4. THE "SOUND SIX" COLLECTIONS 1. Al-Jami al-Sahih of al-Bukhari 2. The Sahih of Muslim 3. The Sunan of Abu Dawood 4. The Jami of al-Tirmidhi 5. The Sunan of al-Nasa'i 6. The Sunan of Ibn Maja NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY Words: 4, 570 |
| Historical aspects of Hadith R McDowell |
| Islamic Review |
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| INTRODUCTION
The Qur'an informs its readers that God has communicated with mankind on many different occasions through numerous Apostles (4: 163-65) and that these Apostles were purposely bestowed the authority to guide the people so that they could understand the meaning of each Communication (23: 23). This being so, the Devine guidance offered to mankind consists of two parts: i. The Communication; and ii. The direction of the Apostle. The Qur'an affirms that it is the Word of God (46: 2) and describes the Prophet Muhammad as the "Seal of the Prophets" (33: 40), i.e., the last in the long line of Apostles. Muhammad was thus assigned the task of delivering the final Communication from God to man and he was also given the job of guiding the people so that they could understand its message (3: 164). The final Devine guidance therefore includes both the Qur'an and the direction of the Prophet Muhammad. The latter of these was preserved in the form of a great number of Traditions pertaining to what the Prophet had said or did while he was alive. These were recorded and transmitted by his associates to their successors and from them the Traditions were passed on to succeeding generations. These Traditions constitute an extensive record of the Prophet's teachings and practices and, as an explanatory supplement to the Communication, they have proved essential as an additional source of guidance. Definition of hadith. The Arabic word hadith primarily means "new" the opposite of which, in the same language, is qadim which means "old". From this, the word later carried such meanings as an item of news, a report or a tale. In Islamic terminology, the meaning of the word hadith (plural. ahadith) has been confined to representing the narrations about what the Prophet said, did, or what he indirectly authorised in others' actions (there are also reports about what he was like). M. M. Azami states: "Hadith literature means the literature which consists of the narrations of the life of the Prophet and the things approved by him. However, the term was used sometimes in much broader sense to cover the narrations about the Companions and Successors as well".1 The Prophet was responsible for passing on the revelations of the Qur'an and also for instructing mankind on the meaning of the these revelations. He achieved the latter of these tasks through his words, deeds, and silent approval of others' actions. The Traditionists categorised these three types of ahadith as follows: 1. Those which contain the sayings, sermons and utterances of the Prophet (qual). 2. Those which recount his actions (fi'l). 3. Those which contain his silent approval of actions performed by his followers (taqrir). Hadith Qudsi. With regards to their origin, the ahadith have been categorised as either: Hadith Qudsi; or Hadith Nabvi. Qudsi means holy or pure. A hadith qudsi (sacred hadith) is a divinely inspired saying of the Prophet (i.e, one in which the Prophet: "reports what has been revealed to him by God, though not necessarily in His actual words"2). Such reports are not part of the Qur'an. A hadith nabvi, on the other hand, is a saying which originates from the Prophet's own personal judgement. Definition of Sunnah. M. Shabbir states: "Sunnah primarily means "pathway", "behaviour", "practice", "manner of acting" or "conduct of life". The term implies the normative practice or the model behaviour, whether actually good or bad, of a particular individual, sect or community".3 The term originally meant "precedent" and "custom". The pre-Islamic Arabs used the word to refer to the past customs of their ancestors. The early Muslims used the word to refer to the established practice of the community and later for the practice of the Prophet exclusively. M. M. Azami states: "When Almighty Allah ordered Muslims to obey the Prophet and to take his life as a good model and follow it, the expression 'sunnah of the Prophet' came into use. The usage began in the life of the Prophet, and was used by him".4 1. TRANSMISSION OF THE HADITH LITERATURE. As one would expect, the early Muslims, who had embraced Islam during the lifetime of the Prophet took a keen interest in their leaders' statements and actions. He was, after all, the Messenger of God. His actions were regarded as flawless. His words would lead them to the true path guiding them from a life of ignorance into one of enlightenment. They therefore set about to cultivate their personal and social lives; and the Prophet's life was the paragon which they themselves tried to follow as faithfully as they could. It was soon realised, however, that the Prophet would not always be around to advise them on their concerns. The Muslims had to find a way of preserving his guidance for future reference. This was achieved in two ways: his Traditions were either memorised and transmitted orally or they were written down and passed on in that way. Memorisation and oral transmission of the Traditions. The art of writing was not widely known among the Arabs at the time of the Prophet. M. Shabbir states: "Before Islam, in the whole of Mecca (the most advanced town in Arabia) only seventeen persons knew how to write. In Medina where the influence of the Jews (who are said to be the teachers of the Arabs in this art) had been considerable, the number of Arabs who could write was less than a dozen".5 Because of the scarcity of writers among the first Muslims then, the early emphasis as regards to the method of preserving the Prophet's guidance rested mainly on the memorisation and oral transmission of his Traditions. M. M. Azami states: "The Prophet called himself a teacher, and used to sit with the Companions6 in a circle to teach them. His words and deeds were carefully watched by his Companions and were recited by them with the help of each other till they memorised them. "As it was not possible for every Companion to be with the Prophet on every occasion, they came to an agreement between themselves to attend his circle in shifts. It was a common practice among them to inform absentees about the Prophet's sayings and deeds. It was not only the agreement among them but was also the command of the Prophet".7 The writing down of ahadith. Initially, there was some opposition to the writing down of Traditions. Many Companions discouraged it and still others are reported to have opposed the writing of ahadith. Their view was supported by many ahadith which forbade the practice. For example: Narrated Zayd ibn Thabit: "Al-Muttalib ibn Abdullah ibn Hantab said: "Zayd ibn Thabit entered upon Mu'awiyah and asked him about a tradition. He ordered a man to write it. Zayd said: 'The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) ordered us not to write any of his traditions. So he erased it'"".8 Nevertheless, some Companions did possess written collections (sahifas) of the Prophet's words and deeds and these apparently existed while the Prophet was alive. Furthermore, there exists a number of ahadith which do permit the written preservation of the Prophet's Traditions. For example: Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As narrated: "I used to write everything which I heard from the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him). I intended (by it) to memorise it. The Quraysh prohibited me saying: "Do you write everything that you hear from him while the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) is a human being: he speaks in anger and pleasure?" So I stopped writing, and mentioned it to the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him). He signalled with his finger to his mouth and said: "Write, by Him in Whose hand my soul lies, only right comes out from it".9 The hadith scholars have tried to reconcile these seemingly conflicting reports in various ways: One view holds that the prohibition was directed only towards those Companions whose proficiency in the art of writing was questionable and that it did not apply to the Companions who could write accurately and without fear of misrepresentation. Others are of the opinion that initially, there was indeed a prohibition against the practice which the Prophet initiated they say in order to safeguard against the possibility of confusing his Traditions with the Qur'anic text, but that he later lifted the prohibition once satisfied that this would not happen. So, at first there were strong feelings against the written preservation of the Prophet's Traditions. Despite this, however, there existed a number of written collections, compiled by the Companions, at the time of the Prophet. M. Shabbir states: "Abdullah bin Amr, a Companion of the Prophet, was the first to write the Traditions and compiled a book called Saadqa containing Traditions he himself had heard. Similarly, Ali compiled a large number of Traditions".10 There also existed a number of letters, laws and treaties which the Prophet had dictated to his scribes. "Muhammad himself had dictated laws with regard to the poor tax, the prayers and fast, alms and blood-money etc".11 These documents, as well as the sahifas, formed the starting point of the preservation of the Traditions in the written form. M. M. Azami states: "In the middle of the first century of the Hijra,12 books of ahadith compiled from the teachers' lectures began to appear, of which one of the earliest mentioned was the book of Bashir b. 'Abd Allah, etc., belong to the same period".13 The role of the Companions. It was from the Companions that the Traditions of the Prophet were initially reported. But not everyone who saw the Prophet or heard him speak related what they heard or saw to others. Out of the total number of people who came into contact with the Prophet, which Abu Zar'a al-Razi estimates to be more than one hundred thousand,14 Ibn al-Jawzi states that only around 1, 060 of them actually related something from the Prophet.15 Moreover, most of these related only a small number of Traditions. The bulk of the Traditions were related by around three hundred Companions. From these, according to Ibn al-Jawzi16, 85 Companions related between 20 and 100 Traditions each; 31 Companions related between 100 and 1, 000 Traditions each; 6 Companions related between 1, 000 and 3, 000 Traditions apiece; and one Companion related more than 3, 000 Traditions. The following Companions related more than 1, 000 ahadith: ___________________________________________________________________________ Name of Companion Died (A. H.) No. of ahadith Abu Hurayrah 59 5, 374 'A'isha Siddiqah 58 2, 286 'Abdullah bin 'Abbas 68 1, 660 'Abdullah bin 'Umar 73 1, 630 Jabir bin 'Abdullah 78 1, 560 Anas bin Malik 93 1, 286 Abu Sa'eed al-Khudri 74 1, 170 __________________________________________________________________________ During the Prophet's lifetime, some of his associates tried to memorise as many of his sayings as they could and some of them had his words collected in the written form. After the death of the Prophet, these practices continued and many of his Companions started to record (either in their memories or in books known as sahifas) everything that they could remember of his life for the benefit of the future generations of Muslims. As the Companions scattered throughout the expanding Islamic empire, many of them as well as others undertook long journeys to locate other individuals who possessed some knowledge of the Prophet's life. This they did in order to learn and collect as many recollections of the Prophet's words and deeds as they could find M. Shabbir states: "This was the only possible method of collecting together in an authentic form of ahadith which were scattered in the various provinces".17 The role of the Successors. So, there had developed among the early Muslims a great interest in their leaders' lifestyle, his conduct and in the guiding words he expressed to others. In the years following his death this fascination continued among the Muslims many of whom had neither heard nor saw the Prophet but were nevertheless curious to learn about him. The Companions thus attracted large numbers of students eager to learn from them. A student would either associate with his teacher or attend his lectures. These classes were generally held in the mosques, or sometimes in the teachers' house, or sometimes, if the lecture attracted a larger number of students, it was held in a public place. The following methods for the teaching of ahadith were employed: Oral recitation. This practice involved the oral recitation of ahadith by a teacher to his students. Reading from books. A teacher would read ahadith from his own book, or the teacher would read the student's book, or the student would read to the teacher from his own book. Questions and answers. A student would read a part of a hadith and the teacher would then read it in full. Dictation. There were two techniques employed for the dictating and writing down of Traditions: dictation from a book or from memory. The Traditions of the Prophet were reported initially by his Companions being handed down by them to their students and disciples (the next generation called the "Successors" or tabi'un) and from the Successors the Traditions were passed down to subsequent generations. The Successors are believed to have been active in their pursuit of learning and collecting the Prophet's Traditions for over a century. The last one to die is said to have been Khalaf ibn Khalifa in 180 A. H.18 After them came the students of the Successors, the so-called "Successors of the Successors" or atba al-tabi'un. Some of them are said to have lived until the end of the first quarter of the third Muslim century19 by which time nearly all the important works of hadith literature were completed. 2. ASSEMBLING THE AHADITH. After the Prophet's death, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, during his caliphate20 (634-44 C. E.), gave thought to having a comprehensive collection made of the ahadith. M. Z. Siddiqi states: "We are told, however, that he was obliged to give up this promising project, for fear that the Qur'an would be neglected by the Muslims".21 It was not until much later, during the reign of 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz (717-19), that an attempt was finally made to bring together all the hadith reports. Fearing that some of them would be lost, 'Umar II wrote to all the hadith scholars residing in different parts of the Muslim world requesting them to write down, in the form of books, all the ahadith that they knew of. Thus, 'Umar II initiated the process of collecting the hadith literature into written compilations. Among those early hadith scholars involved in the venture included Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazim (d. 737), Sa'd ibn Ibrahim and Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri. This work was continued by the many hadith specialists who followed. Among these: 'Abd al-Malik ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Jurayj (d. 760) worked at Mecca, Sa'd ibn Aruba (d. 774) in Mesopotamia, al-Awza'i (d. 775) in Syria, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman (d. 775) at Medina, Za'ida ibn Qudama (d. 776) and Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 777) at Kufra, and Hammad ibn Salama (d. 781) at Basra.22 With the exception of the Muwatta' of Imam Malik (d. 795) most of these early works have not survived. All these scholars were involved in the first movement of hadith collection. Their main concern was with the gathering together of as many recollections of the Prophet's life as they could find. The upshot of this labouring was the amassing of a great stockpile of Traditions. The next task which faced the traditionist involved the sifting of these Traditions with the view of distinguishing the reliable and accurate ahadith from those deemed to be suspect - each and every hadith was put through a rigorous investigation into its transmitters and the text of the report itself was scrutinised for defects. Subsequently, an assortment of collections of Traditions began to emerge. Each of these diversified with the other compilations as far as the subject matter or arrangement etc. was concerned. 3. CATEGORIES OF HADITH COLLECTIONS. The various collections of ahadith are categorised as follows: i. Sahifa. This is a compilation of ahadith which were written during the Prophet's lifetime by one of his Companions. The collections which were written by the Successors (the next generation) are also classified as sahifa. To this category belong Abu Hurayrah's collection and the one assembled by 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As (d. 65/684) called al-Sahifa al-Sadiqa. ii. Juz'. This is the term used to categorise a collection of ahadith which have been passed down on the authority of one single individual who may have been a Companion or someone from any succeeding generation. iii. Risala. This is a collection of ahadith which deals with one particular topic out of the following eight topics: 1. Belief 2. Laws and rulings (ahkam) dealing with all the subjects of fiqh. Such a collection is also known as sunan. 3. Piety and asceticism (riqaq). 4. Etiquette's or manners (adab) of eating, drinking, travelling etc. 5. Commentary on the Qur'an (tafsir). 6. Historical and biographical matters (tarikh and siyar) including: "a) cosmology, ancient history etc., and b) the life of the Prophet, and of his Companions and Successors".23 7. Crises (fitan). 8. The virtues (manaqib) and defects (mathalib) of persons and places. A risala collection may also be called a kitab (book). iv. Musannaf. These are large collections and the ahadith, dealing with most or all of the above eight mentioned topics, have been arranged in various books or chapters each of which concerns itself with a particular topic. Included in this category is the Muwatta' of Imam Malik, the sahihs of Bukhari and Muslim, the jami of al-Tirmidhi and the sunans of al-Nasa'i and Abu Dawood. v. Musnad. Initially, the term musnad was used for the traditions which were supported by a complete unbroken chain of authorities tracing back to the Prophet via a Companion. Later, the term was used more broadly to signify a reliable Tradition; or for those collections of ahadith that were considered sound such as the sunan of Darami and the sahih of Bukhari. In technical terms, however, the term refers to the collections which have been ordered according to the names of the original narrating authorities, irrespective of subject matter. These may have been arranged in alphabetical order, or according to the considered worthiness of each authority etc. Having said this, some musnad collections have been organised into chapters relating to subject matter. If the chapters themselves have been assembled according to the original narrating authorities, then the work is still referred to as a musnad work. vi. Mu'jam. If the various subjects within a collection have been arranged alphabetically, then the work is called mu'jam. If a collection has been arranged alphabetically according to the names of the Companions (musnad) then the work is referred to as mu'jam al-Sahaba. Technically, the term is used for those collections which have been arranged, again alphabetically, according to the names of the traditionists from whom the collector received them, irrespective of subject matter. vii. Jami. To this category belong the collections which contain Traditions relating to all eight subject matters listed above under risala. The sahiha of al-Bukhari as well as the book of al-Tirmidhi are both called jami. viii. Sunan. As was mentioned earlier under the category of risala, the term sunan refers to those collections which deal exclusively with ahadith al-ahkam (all the subjects relating to laws and rulings). The collections of Abu Dawood and al-Nasa'i are known as sunan. ix. Mustadrak. This is a collection in which the compiler, having adopted the same conditions laid down by a previous compiler, collects further traditions which fulfil those conditions but were for some reason left out or missed by the previous compiler. For example, al-Nisaburi's Mustadrak contains ahadith which, although satisfying the strict conditions laid down by Bukhari and Muslim, were not included by them in their sahihs. x. Mustakhraj. These are collections in which a later compiler collects additional isnads for ahadith, including these to those already mentioned by the previous compiler. Included in this category is the mustakhraj of abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani on the sahihs of Bukhari and Muslim. xi. Arba'iniyyat. This is a collection of forty ahadith which have been hand-picked by the compiler, the most well known of which is an-Nawawi's forty hadith. 4. THE "SOUND SIX" COLLECTIONS. So, the traditionists grouped together the various collections of ahadith according to subject matter, or arrangement etc. And classified them under different headings for example a work containing Traditions dealing exclusively with legal matters were thereafter referred to as sunan and so on. The scholars have also classified these collections according to their authoritivness and reliability. From this endeavour Muslims now recognise six of these collections as the "Sound six" or most authentic of all the hadith collections. These are as follows: 1. Al-Jami al-Sahih of al-Bukhari (d. 256/870). The sahih of al-Bukhari is the most important and reliable of all the hadith collections and is generally considered as an authority surpassed only by the Qur'an itself. Bukhari is said to have questioned over a thousand masters of hadith and from the 60, 000 Traditions available to him24 he selected 7, 275 ahadith arranging them according to subject matter under headings taken either from the Qur'an or from the Traditions themselves. 2. The Sahih of Muslim (d. 261/874). Compiled around the same time as Bukhari's sahih, the sahih of Muslim contains around 4, 000 sound ahadith selected from the 300, 000 in his possession.25 After its completion Imam Muslim had the collection checked by the esteemed traditionist Abu Zar'a and only those Traditions declared by him to be bona fide remained in the sahih. 3. The Sunan of Abu Dawood (d. 275/888). Abu Dawood is said to have studied around 500, 000 Traditions from which he selected 4, 800 for his sunan.26 His work is regarded as the first of its type - containing Traditions which deal exclusively with all the subjects relating to laws and rulings - and has been generally accepted as the most significant of all the sunan works. 4. The Jami of al-Tirmidhi (d. 279/892). Also included in the six canonical collections of ahadith is the jami of al-Tirmidhi. M. Z. Siddiqi states: "For the first time, the author used the principle of only considering those Traditions on which the various rituals and laws of Islam had been established by the ulama (religious teachers) of the various schools. Not only did he take great pains to determine the identity, the names, the titles and the Kunya of the narrators of the Traditions he cited; he also attempted to state the degree of their reliability, explaining what use had been made of them by the jurists of the Schools".27 He classified each hadith into the following categories: Sound (Sahih), Fair (Hasan), Sound-Fair (Sahih Hasan), Fair-Sound (Hasan Sahih), Rare (Gharib), Weak (Da'if), Undetermined (Munkar). 5. The Sunan of al-Nasa'i (d. 303/915). This collection of ahadith is basically a summary of his earlier larger work on sunan. Called al-Mujtaba, or al-Sunan al-Sughra, this latter work subsequently became included in the six classical collections. 6. The Sunan of Ibn Maja (d. 273/886). In this his most important work on hadith, Ibn Maja collected 4, 000 Traditions which he arranged into 32 books and 1, 300 chapters. From the above six collections of ahadith Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim along with the Muwatta' of Malik28 are considered to be the most reliable. M. Z. Siddiqi states: "The following principles appear to have guided the Traditionists in their choice of these six works: i. Their compilers had laid down certain clear principles for the selection and assessment of the ahadith they chose. ii. They mostly contained sound or fair Traditions, and any weak material was usually indicated as such. iii. The material they contained had been carefully assessed and checked by the leading authorities in different parts of the Muslim world, and furnished with extensive commentaries which clarified their virtues and demerits. iv. They had been used as a basis for the establishment of legal and theological positions".29 Notes. 1. STUDIES IN HADITH METHODOLOGY AND LITERATURE p. 3. 2. AN-NAWAWI'S FORTY HADITH p. 80. 3. THE AUTHORITY AND AUTHENTICITY OF HADITH p. 1. 4. STUDIES IN HADITH METHODOLOGY AND LITERATURE p. 4. 5. THE AUTHORITY AND AUTHENTICITY OF HADITH p. 18. 6. The term al-sahabi or al-Sahib (plural. Al-sahaba or al-ashab) means "Companion" and is used to refer to anyone who lived in the Prophet's company. Some scholars consider anyone who saw the Prophet to be a Companion. Others hold the view that, to be regarded as such, the individual in question must have had a long association with him. The predominant view held by the majority of scholars, however, considers the term applicable to every adult Muslim who associated with the Prophet for any length of time including those Muslims who only saw the Prophet once. 7. STUDIES IN EARLY HADITH LITERATURE pp. 183-84. 8. SUNAN ABU-DAWOOD 3640. 9. SUNAN ABU-DAWOOD 3639. 10. THE AUTHORITY AND AUTHENTICITY OF HADITH p. 20. 11. Ibid p. 17. 12. The Muslim era began with the event of the Hijra (migration) of the Prophet and his followers from Mecca to Yathrib (later called Medina) in 622 C. E. All years are dated from this point and referred to as A. H. (after the Hijra). 13. STUDIES IN EARLY HADITH LITERATURE p. 185. 14. Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, al-Isaba fi Tamyiz al Sahaba (Calcutta, 1856-58 C. E.), I, 3 (as quoted by M. Z. Siddiqi. HADITH LITERATURE p. 15). 15. HADITH LITERATURE p. 15. 16. Ibid pp 15-18. 17. THE AUTHORITY AND AUTHENTICITY OF HADITH p. 26. 18. Sakhawi, Shams al-Din Muhammad, al-Fath al-Mughith (Commentary on the Alfiya al-Din al-'Iraqi.) Lucknow, n.d., pp396-97 (as quoted by M. Z. Siddiqi. HADITH LITERATURE p. 29). 19. Ibid. 20. A caliph is regarded as the successor of the Prophet, the governing Muslim civil and religious leader. 21. HADITH LITERATURE p. 6. 22. Ibid p. 7. 23. Ibid p. 10. 24. THE AUTHORITY AND AUTHENTICITY OF HADITH p. 38. 25. Ibid. 26. Ibid. 27. HADITH LITERATURE pp. 64-5. 28. Malik's muwatta' is not, however, included among the "Sound Six" because nearly all the Traditions therein can be found in the former two. 29. HADITH LITERATURE p. 74. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Ali, Yusuf. THE HOLY QUR'AN (translation and commentary). The Holy Koran Publishing House 1934. Azami, Mohammad Mustafa. STUDIES IN HADITH METHODOLOGY AND LITERATURE. American Trust Publications 1977. Azami, Mohammad Mustafa. STUDIES IN EARLY HADITH LITERATURE WITH A CRITICAL EDITION OF SOME EARLY TEXTS. American Trust Publications 1992. Johnson-Davies, Denys (Abdul Wadud), and Ibrahim, Ezzedin. AN-NAWAWI'S FORTY HADITH: AN ANTHOLOGY OF THE SAYINGS OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD. Beruit 1409. Shabbir, Mohammad. THE AUTHORITY AND AUTHENTICITY OF HADITH AS A SOURCE OF LAW. Kitab Bhavan (India) 1982. Siddiqi, Muhammad Zubayr. HADITH LITERATURE: ITS ORIGIN, DEVELOPMENT AND SPECIAL FEATURES. The Islamic Texts Society 1993. |