Hadith Terminology

The science of hadith is one of the most honourable and important sciences as we know through it the truthfulness of what was narrated to messenger of Allah peace be upon him whether it is authentic or weak.It’s importance and honorability are due the honorability and importance of it’s target which is the sunnah of the messenger peace be upon him , the second source of the islamic legislation, the words of who doesn’t pronounce any word out of prejudice, it is nothing except a revelation revealed. And from the most collective and summarized written texts of this field is The Text Of Nukabat Al Fakar In Mostalah Ahal Al Athar (the top of thinking in the classification of hadith) by the Hafiz Ahmed Ibn Ali Ibn Hajar Al Askalany Al Shafi may the mercy of Allah be upon him.And this is the reading of the text.

The Muslims in general believe that the Qur’an has been preserved intact and pure by Allah Himself. But what is often forgotten by many is that this preservation necessarily includes the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (S), the practical example of the implementation of the Qur’an. Hadith is Sunnah in record. How the immense wealth of Hadith literature has been left to us by the Muhaddiths (scholars of Hadith) is an extremely wide, complex study. We publish this short treatise on "the science of Hadith" by the learned Suhaib Hasan with English readers in mind. It is part of our scheme to introduce various aspects of Islam to English readers. May Allah accept it as a good work.

The science of hadeeth terminology and assesment is a particularly difficult field of study. Dr. Bilal Philips has managed in this text to simplify this topic and to make it quite relevant to our times by addressing some of the most challenging questions raised by those who question the validity of hadeeth literature in general.

Important subjects in Science of Hadith like Hadith, Muhaddith [scholar of hadith] Hafiz [ hadith master who has memorised at least 100,000 hadiths - their texts, chains of transmissions and meanings ] and the divisions of hadith in a simple way

An summarised text detailing the rules governing the Criticism of Hadeeth. From its introduction -’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 b. al-Mubarak (d. 181 AH) is reported to have said, "The isnad is part of the religion: had it not been for the isnad, whoever wished to would have said whatever he liked." During the lifetime of the Prophet (SAS) and after his death, his Companions (Sahabah) used to refer to him when quoting his sayings. The Successors (Tabi’un) followed suit; some of them used to quote the Prophet (SAS) through the Companions while others would omit the intermediate authority - such a hadith was known as mursal (loose). It was found that the missing link between the Successor and the Prophet (SAS) might be one person, i.e. a Companion, or two persons, the extra person being an older Successor who heard the hadith from the Companion.’