A Glance About the Hadeeth

Hear what the Moon told the Owl, "The preservation of the Qur’an, was not restricted to protecting its wording from change. Were that the case, its meanings could be manipulated according to human desires, while maintaining its wording. However, Allah also protected its essential meanings from change by entrusting the explanation of the meanings of the Qur’an to the Prophet (ﷺ) himself. Therefore, if one is to understand the meanings of Qur’an, he or she, must consider what the Prophet (ﷺ) said or did regarding it.

The hadeeth, represents a personal source of divine guidance which Allah granted His Prophet (ﷺ) which was similar in its nature to the Qur’an itself. The Prophet’s sayings and actions, were primarily based on revelation from Allah and, as such, must be considered a fundamental source of guidance second only to the Qur’an.

The hadeeths are essential for the smooth running of the law courts in an Islamic State. One of the primary duties of the Prophet (ﷺ) was to judge between people in their disputes. Since his judgements, were all based on revelation, they must be considered a primary source of principles by which judgements are carried out.

The daily life of the Prophet (ﷺ) as recorded in hadeeth represents an ideal code of good conduct. Since the Prophet (ﷺ) was guided by revelation in his personal life, his character and social interactions became prime examples of moral conduct for Muslims until the Last Day.

Anything which the Prophet (ﷺ) said or did, is considered to be a part of his Sunnah—i.e. way—which represents the practical application of Islam according to divine guidance.

The Prophet (ﷺ) used to encourage his Sahaabah—anyone who saw the Prophet (ﷺ) and died in a state of Islam, is called a Sahaabee (plural : Sahaabah; woman : Sahaabiyyah), meaning a companion, even if he was a child—to learn and memorize his Sunnah, in many different ways. Sometimes he (ﷺ) would sit them down and have them repeat after him certain Du‘aas, which he wanted them to memorize, the same way he would have them learn the Qur’an. On other occasions, he would repeat himself three times, so that they could memorize his more significant statements. Sometimes, he would give rites were to be performed, then he would tell them to do it as he had done it. At other times, he would have some of the Sahaabah record in writing some more complicated things.

After the death of the Prophet (ﷺ), the older Sahaabah, began to teach the younger Sahaabah, the sayings and practices of the Prophet (ﷺ), which they had not been around to hear or observe. Both the younger and the older Sahaabah, used to teach those who had accepted Islaam during the last days of the Prophet’s life, and thus, never had an opportunity to learn anything directly from the Prophet (ﷺ).

When Islam spread all over Arabia, and into Syria, Iraq, Persia and Egypt, during the reign of the Righteous Caliphs, the Sahaabah began to teach those who newly entered Islam, the principles of the religion. They would say to those who gathered around them, “I saw the Prophet (ﷺ) do this,” or “I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) say that.” This was how the chain of narration of the Sunnah began. Those new Muslims who studied under the Sahaabah, were later referred to as the Taabi‘oon.

Most of the Taabi‘oon, used to memorize and record the statements of the Prophet (ﷺ) which the Sahaabah used to quote. They used to travel to different parts of the Muslim world of that time, in order to learn as much of the Sunnah of the Prophet (ﷺ) from as many of the Sahaabah as possible.

When the Sahaabah began to die out and Islam spread into India, Afghanistan, Russia, China, North Africa and Spain, the Taabi‘oon took up where the Sahaabah had left off, and began the great task of teaching the new converts to Islam, the principles of the religion. They would say to those who gathered around them, “I heard such and such a Sahaabee say that he saw the Prophet (ﷺ) do this,” or, “I heard such and such a Sahaabee say that he heard the Prophet (ﷺ) say that.” In this way, the second link in the chain of narration of the Sunnah was added.

Those who studied under the Taabi‘oon were later called Atbaa‘ at-Taabi‘een (followers of the followers). Many of these new students, used to travel for days or even months to meet and study under various Taabe‘oon, taking great care in the memorization and the writing down of their teacher’s narrations.

If you were to read a book containing just hadeeth, you would see that a hadeeth has two main parts.

• The first is the Isnad (chain of reporters). This gives the details of the list of people who were involved in relaying the hadeeth usually starting with the Sahaabah, who first narrated it all the way to the person relaying it to the collector.
• The second is the Matn (the text). This is the actual words of the hadeeth. It is worthwhile remembering that the matn, is useless if the chain is unreliable, i.e. it contains someone who is a liar because then you cannot be sure that the hadeeth is true.

Every type of literature, develops certain features particular to its nature and content, and the character of the people who cultivate it, and the distinctive social, political or historical conditions in which it originates and flourishes. Hadith literature is no exception to this rule. The isnad system was used to transmit pre-Islamic poetry. However, it was in the hadeeth literature, that it reached its peak at which it was considered an integral part of the religion itself.

Regardless of where the isnad originated, there is no doubt that having adopted the system, Muslims came to consider the isnad, an indispensable part of the hadeeths and developed it. They gave it a firm foundation by introducing the chronological method, assembling biographies of the transmitters, and establishing a science for determining the value of its contents and the authenticity of its channel of transmission.

The practice of specifying the isnad, not only of the hadeeths, but also the books in which they were collected, was of immense value in preserving the integrity of books in an age, in which printing was unknown, and the creation of spurious and distorted works, was a relatively easy task. The scholarly practice of certification, seems to be unique in the world’s literary history, just as hadeeth literature is unique in employing a thorough and systematic method of source identification. Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Syriac manuscripts, rarely, if ever, supply us with such a wealth of information about a book’s origin and use.

The isnad system, while originating in connection with the hadeeth literature, was in due course extended by Arab authors to many other genres, including geography, history, and prose fiction.

The early scholars of hadeeth from the first two centuries, generally classified hadeeths into two broad categories: Saheeh '(authentic) and Da‘eef (inauthentic). Imaam at-Tirmithee was the first to distinguish the category of Hasan (reliable) from that of Da‘eef.

Turmoil spread through the land of the Muslims, and evil people began to fabricate hadeeth. The collectors of hadeeth (the muhadeetheen) decided that to combat the liars and the innovators in the religion, they would only take hadeeth and record them if all the people in the chain of the hadeeth were known to be reliable. In turn, this meant that criteria had to be put into place as to how to judge reliability and to check peoples stories so that fabricated hadeeth were not being taken as genuine ones.

Muslim history witnessed a lot of turmoil and disorder, after the murder of ‘Uthmaan, the third Caliph. Battles between supporters of ‘Alee and those of ‘Aa’ishah, and later those of Mu‘aawiyah, led to the creation of the Shee‘ah and the Khawaarij sects. A great deal of hadeeths were fabricated in favour of ‘Alee and the household of the Prophet (ﷺ) by Shee‘ah themselves, as admitted by a well-known Shee‘ah sources. Iraq became the center of hadeeth fabrication.

During the last days of the Umayyad Caliphate, and throughout the ‘Abbaasid period, a number of issues related to faith and the attributes of Allaah were raised. The discussion led to the creation of various factions known as Qadariyyah, Jabariyyah, Mu‘tazilah, Murji’ah, Mujassimah, and Mu‘attilah. The supporters of each opinion, fabricated contradictory hadeeths either supporting one opinion or rejecting it.

There were many disbelievers who accepted Islam as a cover for their underground activities. Because of Islam’s strength, they were unable to openly oppose it and plot against it, so they tried to undermine it by inventing a body of slanderous hadeeth to deface Islam’s pure image. Among them, was ‘Abdul-Kareem ibn Abil-Awjaa who admitted at the very moment when he was put to death, by the order of Muhammad ibn Sulayman ibn ‘Alee, the Ameer of Basrah: “By Allah, I have fabricated four thousand hadeeths forbidding what is allowed and allowing what is forbidden.”

Amazing stories, full of incredible events, and attractively presented, were always a source of inspiration for the common man. Consequently, storytellers used to go to great lengths to embellish the tales they conveyed, to gullible audiences in the mosques. Some storytellers, earned their livelihood from entertaining people. To give further credence to their material, they used to mention before their stories a full isnaad. It would be impressed as a hadith, and this was a false hadith. Often, words of wisdom, were falsified as hadith. 

What evolved form this, was the science of hadeeth. This involved the collection and analysis of hadeeth regarding their veracity. This was not done at any one time but over a gradual period by many key figures. There was no standard terminology used, but in general, the principles used were the same all over. 

One of the more prominent muhadeetheen to emerge was Imam Bukhari, rahimahullah. He was to prove to be such a good collector and analyst of hadeeth that his name, would be mentioned whenever hadeeth were discussed. Not only did he produce a body of work that would propagate and explain Islam, but he also produced one masterpiece which soon became the book by which other compilations of hadeeth were measured. In time, his book known as the Sahih al-Bukhari, was recognised by the entire Muslim Ummah as the most authentic book after the Qu’ran.

His full name was Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ismaeel bin Ibraheem bin Bardizbah. He was bom after the Jummah prayer on the 13th of Shawwal in 194H in the city of Bukhaara which is now in the country of Uzbekistan.

Once Imam Bukhari for the acquisition of hadeeth went to some man, upon presenting himself at the man’s house he saw that the man was trying to capture his wayward horse by holding the comer of his cloak in such a way as if there was food in it. The horse on seeing this returned and the man was able to catch it. Imam Bukhari on seeing this asked, “ Was there really food inside the comer of your cloak?” The man replied, “ No, it was a trick to catch the horse.” Imam Bukhari replied, “ I will not take from one who lies and deceives horses.” And returned without asking him about the hadeeth.

The method employed by the scholars of Hadeeth, can be applied to detect a validity of an information, whether it is enclosed trully fact or undeniably fake. First, by tracing the source of the information, the Isnad. Next, the content, the Matn, need to be examine as well, not just relying on one source. Thus, clarification to the parties involved in the subject of the information, indeed essential. The appropriateness of the information's essence, required to be considered, before sharing it to others.

So, learning the hadeeth, despite being useful in knowing the Sunnah, further invites us, to be wise in responding, not solely in terms of hearing an information, but more than that, in the aspect of numorous events. And Allah knows best."

Citations & References :
- Dr Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, Usool al-Hadeeth : The Methodology of Hadith Evaluation, IIPH
- Maulana Ahmad Ali, Imam Bukhari : His Life & Works, Al Ma'hadul Islami.

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