Hadith sciences (Arabic:علم الحديثʻilm al-ḥadīth "science of hadith")[1][Note 1] consists of several religious scholarly disciplines used by Muslim scholars in the study and evaluation of thehadith. ("Science" is used in the sense of a field of study, not to be confused with following the principles of observation and experiment, developing falsifiable hypotheses, etc. of modern science.) The hadith are what most Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval of the Islamic prophetMuhammad as transmitted through chains of narrators.[2] Hadith sciences scholars have aim to determine which of these records are authentic, and which may be fabricated.
For most Muslims, determining authenticity of hadith is enormously important inIslam because along with theQuran, theSunnah of the Islamic prophet—his words, actions, and the silent approval—are considered the explanation of the divine revelation (wahy), and the record of them (i.e. hadith) provides the basis of Islamic law (Sharia). In addition, while the number of verses pertaining to law in the Quran is relatively few, hadith, for many, give direction on everything from details of religious obligations (such asGhusl orWudu, ablutions[3] forsalat prayer), to the correct forms of salutations,[4] and the importance of benevolence to slaves.[5] Thus the "great bulk" of the rules of Islamic law are derived from hadith, along with the Quran as a primary source.[6][Note 2]
There are three primary ways to determine the authenticity (sihha) of a hadith: by attempting to determine whether there are "other identical reports from other transmitters"; determining the reliability of the transmitters of the report; and "the continuity of the chain of transmission" of the hadith.[1]
Traditional hadith sciences has been praised by some as "unrivaled, the ultimate in historical criticism",[8] and heavily criticized for failing to filter out a massive amount of hadith "which cannot possibly be authentic".[9] However, both Muslims and western scholars havecriticised the hadith.Quranists reject the authority of the hadiths, viewing them as un-Quranic;[10][11] some further claim that most hadiths are fabrications (pseudepigrapha) created in the 8th and 9th century AD, and which are falsely attributed to Muhammad.[12][13][14] Many Western scholars consider that few or no hadith can be confidently considered to be the authentic words of Muhammad, and that traditional attempts to determine the authenticity of hadith are flawed due to the potential for the chain of narrators (particularly the earliest parts) to have been fabricated.[15]
The science of hadith has been described by one hadith specialist,Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911 A.H/ 1505 C.E), as the science of the principles by which the conditions of both thesanad (the chain of narration), and thematn (the text of the hadith), are known. This science is concerned with thesanad and thematn with its objective being distinguishing thesahih, authentic, from other than it.Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani said the preferred definition is: knowledge of the principles by which the condition of the narrator and the narrated are determined.[16]
After the death of Muhammad, his sayings were transmitted orally.[17] According to Islamic tradition,Umar ibn al-Khattab, the secondcaliph, started the process of collecting all the hadiths together into one unified volume, but gave up the endeavor "for fear the Quran would be neglected by the Muslims" (according to Muhammad Zubayr Siddiqi).[17]
TheUmayyad caliph,Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (aka Umar II, who reigned from 717-720 CE) also started an effort to collect all the hadiths. Teaching and collecting hadiths was part of a plan of his to renew the moral fiber of the Muslim community. He supported teachers of fiqh, sent educators to Bedouin tribes, ordered weekly hadith lectures in theHejaz, and sent out scholars of hadith toEgypt andNorth Africa, (according to Muhammad Zubayr Siddiqi).[17]
Umar also ordered the great scholar ofMadinah, Abu Bakr ibn Hazm to write down all the hadiths of Muhammad and Umar ibn al-Khattab, particularly those narrated byAisha. He had these hadiths collected in books which were circulated around the Umayyad Empire. Although these books are lost today, commentaries on them by Ibn al-Nadim reveals that they are organized like books offiqh, such as theMuwatta ofImam Malik, the first large compilation of hadiths. Imam Malik himself probably followed the general plan of the early books of hadith ordered by Umar.[17]
Hadith sciences developed in part because forgery "took place on a massive scale",[18] with perhaps the most famous collector of hadith and practitioner ofʻilm al-ḥadīth—Muhammad al-Bukhari—sifting through nearly 600,000,[19] over 16 years before eliminating all but approximately 7400 hadith.[Note 3]
Traditional accounts describe "the systematic study of hadith" as being motivated by the altruism of "pious scholars" seeking to correct this problem.[20]Some scholars (Daniel W. Brown, A. Kevin Reinhart) shed doubt on this. Brown believes the theory "fails" to adequately account "for the atmosphere of conflict" of at least early hadith criticism. The "method of choice" of partisans seeking to discredit opposing schools of Islamic law was to discredit the authorities (transmitters) of their opponent's hadith—to "tear apart" their isnads". (To do this required developing biographical evaluations of hadith transmitters—ʿilm al-rijāl andilm jarh wa ta’dil).[21] Reinhart finds descriptions of famous companions of Muhammad inIbn Sa'd'sKitāb aṭ-ṭabaqāt al-kabīr "recording hadith and transmitting it, asking each other about precedents, and reproaching those who disregarded this authentic religious knowledge" in suspicious conformity to the "mythology of the pristine early community".[22]
As the criteria for judging authenticity grew into the six major collections ofṣaḥīḥ (sound) hadith (Kutub al-Sittah) in the third century, the science of hadith was described as having become a "mature system",[23] or to have entered its "final stage".[24]
The classification of Hadith into
was utilized early in hadith scholarship byAli ibn al-Madini (161–234 AH).[25] Later, al-Madini's studentMuhammad al-Bukhari (810–870) authored a collection, now known asSahih Bukhari, commonly accepted by Sunni scholars to be the most authentic collection of hadith, followed by that of his studentMuslim ibn al-Hajjaj.[26] Al-Bukhari's methods of testing hadiths andisnads are seen as exemplary of the developing methodology of hadith scholarship.[27]
An elaborate system was developed by scholars of hadith to determine the authenticity of traditions based on "two premises":
A basic element of hadith sciences consist of a careful examination of the chain of transmission (sanadسند, alsoisnādاسناد, or silsilaسِلْسِلَة), relaying eachhadith from the Prophet to the person who compiles the hadith. Theisnād and the commentary are distinct from thematn (متن), which is the main body, or text, of the hadith,[29][30] These two terms are the primary components of every hadith.
According to the person most responsible for elevation of the importance of hadith in Islamic law, ImamAl-Shafi‘i,
"In most cases the truthfulness or lack of truthfulness of a tradition can only be known through the truthfulness or lack of truthfulness of the transmitter, except in a few special cases when he relates what cannot possibly be the case, or what is contradicted by better-authenticated information."[31][32]
The first people who received hadith were Muhammad's "Companions" (Sahaba), who are believed to have understood and preserved it. They conveyed it to those after them as they were commanded; then the generation following them, the "Followers" (Tabi‘un), received it and then conveyed it to those after them, and so on. Thus, the Companion would say, “I heard the Prophet say such and such.” The Follower would say, “I heard a Companion say, ‘I heard the Prophet say’” The one after the Follower would say, “I heard a Follower say, ‘I heard a Companion say, ‘I heard the Prophet say’” and so on.[33]
To be 'ṣaḥīḥ ("sound") hadith, an isolated hadith (Mutawatir hadith were exempt from these tests) "must pass five tests":
An important discipline within hadith sciences is biographical evaluation, the study of transmitters of hadith,ʿilm al-rijāl, (literally "science of men") mentioned above. These are the narrators who make up thesanad.Ilm ar-rijal is based on certain verses of theQuran.
Transmitters are studied and rated for their "general capacity" (ḍābit;itqān) and their moral character (ʿadāla).[28]
Not all transmitters were evaluated for these characteristics and rated. Companions of the prophet (ṣaḥāba) were traditionally considered to possesscollective moral turpitude ortaʿdīl, by virtue of their exposure to the Prophet, so that they all possessedʿadāla without needing to be evaluated.[28] (This quality was similar to that of Prophetic infallibility (ʿiṣma) but of course lower in level.)[28]
The second criteria after judging the general ability and moral probity of the transmitters, is the "continuity" of the chain of transmission of the hadith. The transmitters must be shown to have received the accounts of the prophet "in an acceptable manner from the preceding authority in the chain".[23]
Transmitters must have lived during the same period, they must have had the opportunity to meet, and they must have reached sufficient age at the time of transmission to guarantee their capacity to transmit.[34]
Early religious scholars stressed the importance of thesanad. For example, according to an early Quranic exegete,Matr al-Warraq,[35] the verse from theQuran, “Or a remnant of knowledge,”[36] refers to theisnad of a hadith.[37]
In addition, Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak said, “Theisnad is from the religion; were it not for theisnad anyone could say anything they wanted.”[38][39] According toIbn al-Salah, thesanad originated within the Muslim scholastic community and remains unique to it.[40]Ibn Hazm said that the connected, continuoussanad is particular to the religion ofIslam: thesanad was also used by theJewish community, but they had a break of more than 30 generations between them andMoses, and theChristians limited their use of thesanad to the prohibition of divorce.[41]Ibn Taymiyyah also said that the knowledge ofisnad is particular to the followers of ProphetMuhammad.[42]
The practice of paying particular attention to thesanad can be traced to the generation following that of the Companions, based upon the statement of MuhammadIbn Sirin: “They did not previously inquire about thesanad. However, after the turmoil occurred they would say, ‘Name for us your narrators.’ So the people of theSunnah would have their hadith accepted and the people of innovation would not.”[43]Those who were not given to require asanad were, in the stronger of two opinions, the Companions of the Prophet, while others, such asal-Qurtubi, include the older of the Followers as well.[44]
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, stating likewise, cited various evidences for this, from them, the Quranic verse, “And you were the best nation brought about to mankind.”[45] Thefitnah referred to is the conflicting ideologies of theKharijites and theGhulat that had emerged at the time of the third CaliphUthman ibn Affan, his assassination and the social unrest of the Kharijites in opposition to the succeeding rulers,Ali andMuawiyah.[46] The death of Uthman was in the year 35 after the migration.[47]
According to scholar Daniel Brown, in traditional hadith sciences, "the possibility" of criticizing thematn as well as the isnad "was recognized in theory, but the option was seldom systematically exercised".[48]
Syrian hadith scholarSalah al-Din al-Idlibi is an expert in the relatively new field ofmatn criticism. Whereas traditional criticism has focused on verifying the trustworthiness of the people transmitting the hadith,matn criticism studies the contents of the hadith and compares this with the contents of other hadiths and any other availablehistorical evidence with the aim of arriving at an objective historical reality of the event described by the hadith.[49]
As in any Islamic discipline, there is a rich history of literature describing the principles and fine points of hadith sciences.Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani provides a summation of this development with the following: “Works authored in theterminology of the people of hadith have become plentiful from the Imaams both old and contemporary:
The science of hadith has not been without critics. According toMuhammad Husayn Haykal, "despite the great care and precision of the Hadith scholars, much of what they regarded as true was later proved to be spurious."[51] He goes on to quoteAl-Nawawi (1233–1277),[52] who stated that "a number of scholars discovered many hadiths" in the two most authentic hadith collectionSahih al-Bukhari andSahih Muslim "which do not fulfill the conditions of verification assumed by these men" (i.e. by the hadith collectorsMuhammad al-Bukhari andMuslim ibn al-Hajjaj).[51]
Among the criticisms made (of non-sahih as well as sahih hadith) of is that there was a suspiciously large growth in their number with each generation in the early years of Islam;[53][Note 4] that large numbers of hadith contradicted each other; and that the genre's status as a primary source of Islamic law motivated the creation of fraudulent hadith.[56][57]
Modern Western scholars in particular have "seriously questioned the historicity and authenticity of thehadith", according toJohn Esposito, maintaining that "the bulk of traditions attributed to the Prophet Muhammad were actually written much later." According to Esposito,Schacht "found no evidence of legal traditions before 722," from which Schacht concluded that "the Sunna of the Prophet is not the words and deeds of the Prophet, but apocryphal material" dating from later.[58]
Henry Preserved Smith andIgnác Goldziher also challenged the reliability of thehadith, Smith stating that "forgery or invention of traditions began very early" and "many traditions, even if well authenticated to external appearance, bear internal evidence of forgery."[Note 5] Goldziher writes that "European critics hold that only a very small part of the ḥadith can be regarded as an actual record of Islam during the time of Mohammed and his immediate followers."[Note 6] In hisMohammedan Studies, Goldziher states: "it is not surprising that, among the hotly debated controversial issues of Islam, whether political or doctrinal, there is not one in which the champions of the various views are unable to cite a number of traditions, all equipped with imposingisnads".[61]
Patricia Crone noted that early traditionalists were still developing conventions of examining thechain of narration (isnads) that by later standards were sketchy/deficient, even though they were closer to the historical material. Later though they possessed impeccable chains, but were more likely to be fabricated.[62] Reza Aslan quotes Schacht's maxim: `the more perfect the isnad, the later the tradition`, which he (Aslan) calls "whimsical but accurate".[63]
