The Principles of hadith IN light of tradition and orientalism by Abdul Aleem www.TheRopeOfAllah.com Part One: Usul ul-Hadith www.TheRopeOfAllah.com Introduction to Usul ul-Hadith The word ‘hadith’ in its literal sense is a reference to a piece of news, narration, or report. When used as an adjective, it means ‘new’. In this regard, the Qur’an uses the word ‘hadith’ in the meanings of a meaningful conversation (Surah At- Tahrim, ayah 3), non-meaningful conversation (Surah Al-An’am, ayah 68), a historical narrative (Surah Taha, ayah 9), and even the Qur’an itself (Surah Al- Qalam, ayah 44). The Prophet (SAW) himself also used the term in a variety of meanings. However, as the conversations, narrations or ‘ahadith’ in the early period of Islam were dominated by the words of the Prophet (SAW), the term began to be used almost exclusively for actions and sayings, in order to form the Sunnah. Further to this, the word khabar is also used synonymously to ‘hadith’ by the hadith scholars – even though it also means ‘news’. Thus, every hadith is a khabar, but not every khabar is a hadith. Similarly, the word athar (meaning ‘footsteps’) can also refer to either the narrations of the Prophet (SAW) - as used by Tabari and Tahawi, or the companions (RA). But in order to avoid any confusion, this term is now generally used to refer only to the practice and sayings of the Sahaabah (RA). Hadith reports of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) are of the following kind: • What he said (qaul). • What he did (fi’l). • What he silently approved in others (taqreer). The muhadditheen however did not usually consider his lack of objections to matters as hadith. • Reports about him and what he was like (sifa) are also collected, although not used in law. Some of these hadith were divinely inspired, while the Prophet (SAW) attributed some to Allah. In order to distinguish between both, the former is referred to as Hadith Nabawi (Prophetic Hadith) and the latter as Hadith Qudsi (Sacred Hadith). However, many do not differentiate between the two, as both are from Allah. In its totality, the hadith collections form an extensive corpus of individual and corroborative narratives. These include accounts of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)’s every act, his orders, prohibitions, recommendations, approval or disapproval, and covers every aspect of his personal, private, domestic, public, political, commercial, military, fiscal, and administrative matters of his life in both his capacity as a man and a prophet. www.TheRopeOfAllah.com Hadith vs. Sunnah In hadith scholarship, the term ‘sunnah’ has become synonymous with the word ‘hadith’, even though the former refers to the Prophet (SAW)’s actions, and the latter for his narrations. However, the word ‘Sunnah’ itself (linguistically meaning ‘a path’ or ‘a way’) has different meanings within the various different disciplines of Islamic scholarship: • To the scholars of Hadith: Sunnah refers to all that is narrated from the Prophet (SAW), his acts, his sayings, whatever he has tacitly approved, and all the reports that describe his physical attributes and character. • To the scholars of Fiqh: Sunnah refers to the categories of mandub or nafilah in fiqh. In this sense, Sunnah is used synonymously with mandub. Therefore, as far as fiqh is concerned – every sunnah is from a hadith, but not every hadith is a sunnah. Further to this, a hadith may even contain more than one sunnah. • To the scholars of Usul ul-Fiqh: Sunnah refers to the secondary source of Shar’iah, after the Qur’an. The importance of the Prophetic example (Sunnah) There are many things in the Qur’an in which details do not appear, and here, the Prophet (SAW) explained these e.g. salaah. Without the Sunnah, we would not know how to follow these actions in the Qur’an. To add to this, there are many things other than these details that the Prophet (SAW) did, and these were performed in order to beautify these actions, so that we can also perform them beautifully. We do not copy him, but we follow him. The difference is that following requires us to understand what he did and why, so that we can also do it. In this regard, Shah Waliullah (d. 1176AH) classified the Sunnah into two types: • Sunan al-Huda: Prophetic actions and narrations as a means for guidance. • Sunan al-‘Aada: General narrations suiting to that time. For example, although he ate what the Arabs ate, it is Sunnah to eat halal but not necessarily the exact same food. Another example is when he was once asked regarding a battle tactic and if it was divine, he replied in the negative. He was then told that a different tactic would be better, and so he followed the suggestion. The first is from a divine source, but the latter is not necessarily divine. However, if someone were to perform a Sunan al-‘Aada out of his love for the Prophet (SAW) – there is still a blessing in that action. www.TheRopeOfAllah.com The development of Usul ul-Hadith None of the Sahaabah (RA) are considered to be able to make a lie against the Prophet (SAW) in their recordings of his narrations. However, it is possible that they may have understood matters differently, but their integrity is always intact. For example, when the Prophet (SAW) mentioned a dead person is punished when their family cries – Umar (RA) and others narrated it in a literal fashion. However, Aisha (RA) clarified that it was specifically said about a particular Jew, who was crying as his family were wailing. Thus, she was able to clarify the meaning of what he had said, as she knew the context behind it. When the next generation appeared, the Prophet (SAW) was no more, and therefore they had to verify what they had learned about the Prophet (SAW) before they followed it. With this, the science of hadith was born. Because of this, many conditions were sanctioned for anyone who is to transmit any of this information; honesty and integrity, and the ability to convey a message accurately. This was especially due to people making up ahadith to suit themselves or their groups, sects, or even cities and countries. Amongst these categories, false ahadith were rife. The Tabi’i ibn Sirin (RH) (d. 110AH) said, “(In the beginning), they would not ask about the isnad. But when the fitnah (civil war) happened, they demanded, ‘Name your men to us.’ The narrations of the Ahlus- Sunnah would be accepted, while those of Ahlul-Bid‘ah would be rejected”. Criticism of this nature was referred to as Naqd al-Hadith (Criticism of Hadith) in the early period, and later came to be known as ‘Ilm al-Jarh wat-Ta‘deel (The Science of Validation). The earliest recorded comments made for this purpose were reported by Shu’ba ibn Hajjaj (d. 160AH), with ibn Shihab az-Zuhuri (d. 124AH) the first to record biographical material about the hadith narrators along with the narrations themselves. Other scholars in this field from this period include ibn Jurayj al-Makki (d. 149AH), ibn Ishaq (d. 150AH), Ma’man ibn Rashid al-Yamani (d. 152AH), Sa’eed ibn Abu Arubah Madani (d. 156AH), al-Rabi ibn Sabih (d. 159AH), Sufyan ath- Thawri (d. 160AH), Malik (d. 178AH), Layth ibn Sa’ad (d. 174AH) and ibn al- Mubarak (d. 180AH). From these early efforts, the science of hadith (‘Ilm Mustlah al-Hadith or ‘Ilm Usul ul-Hadith) evolved to distinguish between authentic narrations and weak or fabricated ones. Although early examples of details of this science can be found in the Risalah of Imam Shafi’i (d. 204AH) and the Tamyeez of Imam Muslim (d. 261AH), the first person to produce a complete book dedicated to its sciences was Ramahurmuzi (d. 360AH), in his Al-Muhaddith Al-Fasil. However, this was still a basic book, until the full properly categorised and detailed works on mustalah (agreed upon terminologies of hadith) were produced by Imam Khateeb al-Baghdadi (d. 463AH). These works were later condensed by ibn Salah (d. 643AH) – becoming the sourcebook for all future works on the issue. However, the later explanations of hadith terminology were not always understood in their defined manner amongst the earlier generations. During the www.TheRopeOfAllah.com formative periods of hadith verification, terms were often used that did not have the same technical definitions as used by later scholars. Further to this, one must remember that the ahadith are divine, whilst usul ul- hadith is a human effort, in order to seek which is stronger than which. This effort, being human, is also a reason as to why people may differ with each other. In conclusion, the study of hadith can be of two types: 1) Dirayah: Study of its chains and narrations (i.e. Usul ul-Hadith). 2) Riwayah: Study of the hadith and its meanings, in order to understand it. The era of the Sahaabah (RA) During the lifetime of the Prophet (SAW), there was no urgency in the need to write down all of his various statements or record his actions, as he was available to be consulted at any time. Further to this, there are some ahadith which suggest that the Prophet (SAW) even forbade people from writing down anything other than the Qur’an - and this is often picked up by Orientalists as a criticism. For example, the Prophet (SAW) had once said, “Do not write from me anything except the Qur’an, and whoever has written anything from me other than the Qur’an should erase it” (ibn Majah).