Classification of Hadith - Part 1

by Dr. Suhaib Hassan

Muslims agree upon that the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) is the second of the two revealed fundamental sources of Islam, after the Glorious Qur'an. The authentic sunnah is contained within the vast body of Hadith literature. 1

A hadith (pl. ahadith) is composed of two parts: the matn (text) and the isnad (chain of reporters). A text may seem to be logical and reasonable but it needs an authentic isnad with reliable reporters to be acceptable; 'Abdullah bin Al-Mubarak (d. 181 AH), one of the illustrious teachers of Imam al-Bukhari, said,

" The isnad is part of the religion: had it not been for the isnad,
whoever wished to would have said whatever he liked " 2

During the lifetime of the Prophet (s.a.w) and after his death, his Companions (Sahabah) used to refer to him directly, when quoting his saying. The Successors (Tabi'un) followed suit; some of them used to quote the Prophet (s.a.w) through the Companions while others would omit the intermediate authority - such a Hadith was later known as mursal. It was found that the missing link between the Successor and the Prophet (s.a.w) might be one person, i.e. a Companion or two people, the extra person being an older Successor who heard the Hadith from the Companion. This is an example of how the need for the verification of each isnad arose. Imam Malik (d. 179) said,

" The first one to utilise the isnad was Ibn Shihab al Zuhri " [d. 124] 3

The other more important reason was the deliberate fabrication of ahadith by various sects which appeared amongst the Muslims, in order to support their views (see The Classification of Hadith part 2 , under discussion of Maudu Ahadith). Ibn Sirin (d. 110), a Successor, said,

" They would not ask about the isnad. But when the fitnah (trouble, turmoil, esp. civil war) happened, they said: Name to us your men. So the narrations of the Ahl al-Sunnah (Adherents to the Sunnah) would be accepted, while those of the Ahl al-Bid'ah (Adherents to Innovation) would not be accepted " 4


A Brief History of Mustalah al-Hadith

As time passed, more reports were involved in each isnad, and so the situation demanded strict discipline in the acceptance of ahadith; the rules regulating this discipline are known as Mustalah al-hadith (the Classification of Hadith).

Amongst the early traditionists (muhaddithin, scholars of Hadith), the rules and criteria governing their study of Hadith were meticulous but some of their terminology varied from person to person, and their principles began to be systematically written down, but scattered amongst various books, e.g. in Al-Risalah of al-Shafi'I (d. 204), the Introduction to the Sahih of Muslim (d. 261) and the Jami' of al-Tirmidhi (d. 279); many of the criteria of early traditionists, e.g. al-Bukhari, were deduced by later scholars from a careful study of which reporters or isnads were accepted and rejected by them.

One of the earliest writings to attempt to cover Mustalah comprehensively, using standard (i.e. generally-accepted) terminology, was the work by al-Ramahurmuzi (d. 360). The next major contribution was Ma'rifah 'Ulum al-Hadith by al-Hakim (d. 405), which covered fifty classifications of Hadith, but still left some points untouched; Abu Nu'im al-Isbahani (d. 430) completed some of the missing parts to this work. After that came Al-Kifayah fi'Iim al-Riwayah of al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463) and another work on the manner of teaching and studying Hadith; later scholars were considered to be greatly indebted to al-Khatib's work.

After further contributions by Qadi 'Iyad al-Yahsubi (d. 544) and Abu Hafs al-Mayanji (d. 580) among others, came the work which, although modest in size, was so comprehensive in its excellent treatment of the subject that it came to be the standard reference for thousands of scholars and students of Hadith to come, over many centuries until the present day: 'Ulum al-Hadith of Abu 'Amr 'Uthman Ibn al-Salah (d. 643), commonly known as Muqaddimah Ibn al-Salah, compiled while he taught in the Dar al-Hadith of several cities in Syria. Some of the numerous later works based on that of Ibn al-Salah are:

  • An abridgement of Muqaddimah, Al-Irshad by al-Nawawi (d. 676), which he later summarised in his Taqrib; al-Suyuti (d. 911) compiled a valuable commentary on the latter entitled Tadrib al-Rawi.

  • Ikhtisar 'Ulum al-Hadith of Ibn Kathir (d. 774), al-Khulashah of al-Tibi (d. 743), Al-Minhal of Badr al-Din bin Jama'ah (d. 733), Al-Muqni of Ibn al-Mulaqqin (d. 802) and Mahasin al-Istilah of al-Balqini (d. 805), all of which are abridgements of Muqaddimah Iban al-Salah.

  • Al-Nukat of al-Zarkashi 9d. 794), Al-Taqyid wa 'I-Idah of a al-Iraqi (d. 806) and Al-Nukat of Ibn Jahar al-Asqalani (d. 852), all of which are further notes on the points made by Ibn al-Salah.

  • Alfiyyah al-Hadith of al-Iraqi, a rewriting of Muqaddimah in the form of a lengthy poem, which became the subject of several commentaries, including two (one long, one short) by the author himself, fath al-Mughith of al-Sakhawi (d. 903), Qatar al-Durar of al-Suyuti and Fath al-Baqi of Shaykh Zakariyyah al-Ansari (d. 928).

Others notable treaties on Mustalah include:

  • Al-Iqtirah of Ibn Diqiq al-Id (d. 702).

  • Tanqih al-Anzar of Muhammad bin Ibrahim al-Wazir (d. 840), the subject of a commentary by al-Amir al-San'ansi (d. 1182).

  • Nukhbah al-Fikr of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, again the subject of several commentaries, including one by the author himself, one by his son Muhammad, and those of Ali al-Qari (d. 1014), 'Abd la-Ra'uaf al-Munawi (d. 1138) and Muhammad bin Abd al-Hadi al-Sindi 9d. 1138). Among those who rephrased the Nukhbah in poetic form are al-Tufi (d. 893) and al-Amir al-San'ani

  • Alfiyyah al-Hadith of al-Suyuti, the most comprehensive poetic work in the field.

  • Al-Manzumah of al-Baiquni, which was expanded upon by, amongst others, al-Zurqani (d. 1122) and nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan (d. 1307).

  • Qawa'id al-Aahadith of Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi (d. 1332).

  • Taujih al-nazar of Tahir al-Jaza'iri (d. 1338), a summary of al-Hakim's Ma'rifah.


Mustalah al-Hadith

Mustalah books speak of a number of classes of Hadith in accordance with their status. The following broad classifications can be made, each of which is explained in The Classification of Hadith Part 2

  • According to the reference to a particular authority, e.g. the Prophet (s.a.w), a Companion, or a Successor, such ahadith are called marfu (elevated), mauquf (stopped) and maqtu (severed) respectively.

  • According to the links in the isnad, i.e. whether the chain of reporters is interrupted or uninterrupted, e.g. musnad (supported), muttasil (continuous), munqati (broken), Mu'allaq (hanging), mu'adal (preplexing) and mursal (hurried).

  • According to the number of reporter involved in each state of the isnad, e.g. mutawatir (consecutive) and ahad (isolated), the latter being divided into gharib (scarce, strange), aziz (rare,strong), and mashhur (famous).

  • According to the manner in which hadith has been reported, such as using the words "an" (on the authority of), "haddathana" (he narrated to us), "akhbarana" (he informed us) or "sami'tu" (I heard). In this category falls the discussion about mudallas (concealed) and musalsal (uniformly-linked) ahadith.

  • According to the nature of the matn and isnad, e.g. an addition by a reliable reporter, known as ziyadatu thiqah, or opposition by a lesser authority to a more reliable one, kinown as shadhdh (irregular). In some cases, a text containing a vulgar expression, unreasonable remark or obviously-erroneous statement is rejected by the traditionists outright without consideration of the isnad: such a Hadith is known as munkar (denounced). If an expression or statement is proved to be an addition by a reporter to the text, it is declared as mudraj (interpolated).

  • According to a hidden defect found in the isnad or text of a hadith. Although this could be included in some of the previous categories, a Hadith mu'allal (defective hadith) is worthy to be explained separately. The defect can be caused in many ways; e.g. two types of hadith mu'allal are known as maqlub (overturned) and mudtraib (shaky).

  • According to the reliability and memory of the reporters; the final judgement on a hadith depends crucially on this factor: verdicts such as sahih (sound), hasan (good), da'if (weak) and maudu (fabricated, forged) rest mainly upon the nature of the reporters in the isnad.


Rijal al-Hadith

Mustalah al-Hadith is strongly associated with Rijal al-hadith (the study of the reporters of hadith). In scrutinising the reporters of a hadith, authenticating or disparaging remarks made by recognised experts, from amongst the Successors and those after them, were found to be of great help. Examples of such remarks, in descending order of authentication, are:

  • Imam (leader), Hafiz (preserver).
  • Reliable, trustworthy.
  • Makes mistakes.
  • Weak.
  • Abandoned (by the traditionists).

  • Liar, used to fabricate ahadith. 5

Reporters who have been unanimously described by statements such as the first two may contribute to a sahih (sound) isnad. An isnad containing a reporter who is described by the last two statements is likely to be da'if jiddan (very weak) or maudu (farbricated). Reporters who are the subject of statements such as the middle two above will cause the isnad to be da'if (weak), although several of them relating the same hadith independently will often increase the rank of the hadith to the level of hasan (good). If the remarks about a particular reporter conflict, a careful verdict has to be arrived at after in-depth analysis for e.g. the reason given for any disparagement, the weight of each type of criticism, the relative strictness or leniency of each critic, etc.

The earliest remarks cited in the books of Rijal go back to a host of Successors, followed by those after them until the period of the six canonical traditionists, a period covering the first three centuries of Islam. A list of such names is provided by the author in his the thesis, Criticism of Hadith among Muslims with reference to Sunan Ibn Majah, at the end of the chapters IV, V and VI.

Among the earliest available works in this field are Tarikh of Ibn Ma'in (d. 233), Tabaqat of Khalifa bin Khayyat (d. 240), Tarikh of al-Bukhari (d. 256), Kitab al-Jarh wa'l-Ta'dil of Ibn Abi Hatim (d. 327) and Tabaqat of Muhammad bin Sa'd (d. 320).

A number of traditionists made efforts specifically for the gathering of information about the reporters of the five famous collections of hadith, those of al-Bukhari (d. 256), Muslim (d. 261), Abu Dawud (d. 275), al-Tirmidhi (d. 279) and al-Nasa'i (d. 303), giving authenticating and disparaging remarks in detail. The first major such work to include also the reporters of Ibn Majah (d. 273) is the ten-volume collection of al-Hafiz Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi (d. 600), known as Al-Kamal fi Asma al-Rijal. Later, Jamal al-Din Abu I-Hajjaj Yusuf bin 'Abd al-Rahman al-Mizzi (d. 742) prepared an edited and abridged version of this work, punctuated by places and countries of origin of the reporters; he named it Tahdhib al-Kamal fi Asma al-Rijal and preduced it in twelve volumes. Further, one of al-Mizzi's gifted pupils, Shams al-Din Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Uthman bin Qa'imaz al-Dhahabi (d. 748), summarised his shaikh's work and produced two abridgements: a longer one called Tadhhib al-Tahdhib and a shorter one called Al-Kashif fi Asma Rijal al-Kutub al-Sittah.

A similar effort with the work of al-Mizzi was made by Ibn Hajar (d. 852), who prepared a lengthy but abridged version, with about one-third of the original omitted, entitled Tahdhib al-Tahdhib in twelve shorter volumes. Later, he abridged this further to a relatively-humble two-volume work called Taqrib al-Tahdhib.

The work of al-Dhahabi was not left unedited; al-Khazraji (Safi al-Din Ahmad bin 'Abdullah, (d. after 923) summarised it and also made valuable additions, producing his Khulasah.

A number of similar works deal with either trustworthy reporters only, e.g. Kitab al-Thiqat by al-Ijli (d. 261) and Tadhkirah al-Huffaz by al-Dhahabi, or with disparaged authorities only, e.g. Kitab al-Du'afa wa al-Matrukin by al-Nasa'i and Kitab al-Majruhin by Muhammad bin Hibban al-busti (d. 354).

Two more works in this field which include a large number of reporters, both authenticated and disparaged, are Mizan al-I'tidal of al-Dhahabi and Lisan al-Mizan of Ibn Hajar.

See The Classification of Hadith Part 2 for some useful information regarding hadith classification.


Footnotes

1 Ar. Sunnah: Way, Path, Tradition, Example. See An Introduction to the Sunnah by Suhaib Hasan (Understanding Islam Series No. 5, published by Al-Qur'an Society), for Qur'anic proofs of revelation besides the Qur'an, the importance of the Sunnah, and a brief history of the collections of Hadith. See also Imam al-Shafi's al-Risalah for the authoritative position of the Sunnah (Engl. Trans., pp. 109-116)

2 Related by Imam Muslim in the Introduction to his Sahih - see Sahih Muslim (ed. M.F. 'Abdul Baqi, 5 vols.. Cairo, 1374/1955). 1:15 & Sahih Muslim bi Sharah an-Nawawi (18 vols. In 6. Cairo, 1349). 1:87. The existing English translation of Sahih Muslim, by Hamid Siddiqi, does not contain this extremely valuable Introduction.

3 Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi, Al-Jarh wal-Ta'dil (8 vols., Hyderabad, 1360-1373), 1:20.

4 Sahih Muslim, 1:15. See Suhaib Hasan, Criticism of Hadith among Muslims with reference to Sunan Ibn Maja (Ta Ha Publishers/Al-Quran Society, London, 1407/1986), pp. 15-17 for discussion of this statement of Ibn Sirin.

5 Remarks like these are exceptions from the basic Islamic prohibition of backbiting (gheebat) another Muslim, even if the statement is true. Such exceptions are allowed, even obligatory in some cases, where general benefit to the Muslim public is at stake, such as knowing which ahadith are authentic. See e.g. Riyad al-Salihin of al-Nawawi, Chapter on Backbiting, for the justification for certain types of backbiting from the Qur'an and Sunnah.


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