Discipline of Hadith

(Sayings of Prophet
Muhammad)

Made by : Aman Ali

 What is the definition of Hadith?
Continue.
Nevertheless, the term Hadith has been used in Quran as well. There
are 3 categories are the most notable usages in Holy Quran. It
has been used to mean:
1. The Quran itself, and hadith. i.e. Q.S. Al-Qalam 44:

[..

] -- Then leave Me alone
[OMuhammad] with those who reject this communication:
2. A historical story. i.e. Q.S. Thaaha 9:
[
]
-- Has the story of Moses reached you

3. A general Conversation. i.e. Q.S. At-Tahriim 3: [

] -- When the Prophet confided

in one of his wives.
 History of Hadith in Prophets Time
1) Interestingly we have a documented Hadith that states
that Prophet said not to write Hadith which is in the most
reliable sources of Hadith.
The Prophet said, "Do not write down anything from
me except the Quran." [Ahmed, Vol. 1, Page 171, and
Sahih Muslim]
Ibn Saeed Al-Khudry reported that the messenger of
God had said:
The Prophet said, "Do not write anything from me
EXCEPT QURAN. Anyone who wrote anything other
than the Quran shall erase it."
 History of Hadith in the time of
Prophet(pbuh)
The speculated reasons are:
1. High rate of illiteracy. People were illiterate at the time and
writing loses its value.
2. To prevent any diversion from the Quran or any mix up with
the gradually trickling revelation and not have 2 texts to follow.
There was no standard at the time to write Context of the
Hadith.
3. Except in the case for Abdullah amr Ibn As & Ali inn Abi Thalib.
These 2 people are allowed to write hadith by the Prophet
because the Prophet knows that these 2 people will not get
the sayings of the Prophet SAW (personal statements) mixed
up with the Quranic Revelations (Gods statements sent down
from on high to the Prophet by His Almightys courier the
angele Gabriel).
 History of Hadith in the time of
Companions
All of the 4 caliphs (30 years after prophet)
refused to record the Hadith.
Strict even in verbal narration of Hadith and
required 2 witnesses to verify the Hadith.
It was not until the Caliph Omar Ibn Abdelaziz
year 99-101 Hijri year that he decided collecting
and writing of hadith for the integrity of the
teachings, and in the face of inaccuracies and
outright forgery.
 History of Hadith in the time of
Successors
After the companions of prophet there was a gush of
recording of Hadith by Successors which lacked
Organization and Verification.
Some 250 years after the fact, some efforts were made
to separate the sayings of the Prophet (pbuh) from other
sayings by the following scholars:
- Al Boukhary died year 256H/870AD. Sahih Bukhari
- Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj died year 261H/875AD. Sahih Muslim
- Al-Tirmidhi died 279H/892AD. Jami al-Tirmidhi
- Abu Dawood died year 275 H/888AD. Sunan Abu Dawood
- Ibn Majah died year 273 H/887AD. Sunan Ibn Majah
- Al Nisaie died year 303 H/915AD. Sunan al-Sughra
The above Compilers of Hadiths and their works are
known in the Sunni Muslims Circle as the 6 Canonical
Collections (as-Sihah as-Sittah; The Sound Six)
 Number of Hadith
The number of hadiths collected and attributed to the prophet Muhammed is
in the hundreds of thousands, as much as 700,000.
As much as 99% of all these hundreds of thousands hadiths were rejected
by the early Muslim scholars who thought they can not figure out which
hadith is authentic and which is not.
The ranking of Hadith below is based on the number quoted by each person:

1. Abu Hurayra 5374

4. 'Aysha Umm al-Mu'minin 2210
10. Umar Ibn al-Khattab 537
11. Ali Ibn Abi Talib 536
31. Abu Bakr al-Siddiq 142

Compare the numbers of Hadiths given by Abu Baker by that of Abu Hurayra
while keeping in mind that Abu Baker accompanied the Prophet for about 23
years, while Abu Hurayra accompanied the Prophet for less than 2 years.
 Background on Abu Hurayra
The most Hadith are quoted by Abu Hurayra.
Abu Hurayra, came from Yemen in the seventh year of Hijra and converted to Islam from
Judaism.
He stayed in the company of the Prophet Muhammed less than two years. He narrated
more than 5000 hadiths, actually 5374 hadiths, from this in less than two years company,
(Compare this with the relatively few hadiths narrated by Aysha, Abu Baker, or Omar, for
example, after very long company of the prophet) .
Most of his narrated hadiths are called the "Aahad" hadiths, i.e. hadiths only witnessed
by one person, this one person was Abu Hurayra himself.
Some of the Prophets companions (Sahaba) and Aysha, the Prophet's wife, accused him
of being a liar, telling lies about the prophets just to make up hadiths and gain some
status. Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, the second guided Khalifa threatened Abu Hurayra to send
him to exile if he does not stop telling hadiths about Muhammed, he did stop until Omar's
assassination then started again.
Many of the hadiths that were narrated by Abu Hurayra contradict the other hadiths,
including his own narrated hadiths, contradict the Quran and contradict common sense.
Abu Hurayra is well known for his prejudice against the women and the dogs. He
produced some of the most insulting hadiths to Muslim women, and hadiths that call for
the killing of the dogs.
 A saying erroneously attributed
to the Prophet
The following Question and Answer published in the October 1999 issue of a monthly
Islamic Journal Renaissance tells us that the Symbols of Bad Luck attributed
erroneously to the Prophet are not his views.
Question: I read a Hadith which mentions that a house, horse and a woman are three
things that could either prove good or bring bad luck for a man. Can you explain the
meaning of this please? How can we label anything as a symbol of bad luck?
Answer: The Hadith you have mentioned has come in most of the major books of
Hadith in the words near to the ones you have quoted. However, the following text of it
contained in the sixth volume of Imam Ahmad Ibn Hambals Musnad presents the true
picture in this regard:
Abu-Hassan reports that two people came to Aishah and said to her that
Abu Hurayrah narrates that the Prophet used to say that bad luck is to be
found only in women, horses and houses. At this Aishah replied: By the
God who revealed the Quran to the Prophet! The Prophet never said this;
what he did say was that the People of the Jahilliyyah hold this opinion
It is evident from this text of the Hadith that this saying has been
erroneously attributed to the Prophet (sws). He had actually quoted the
views held by the people of Jahilliyyah (age of ignorance).
 Background on Bukhary
Al Boukhary is the compiler of Sahih Al Bukhari (al-Jami as-Saheeh). This
is the most famous and only Authentic source of Hadiths that he compiled.
He also had many other compilations that are not thoroughly authentic.
Bukhari has tested his collection of narrations genuineness based on his
own canons of criticism. Some says that he only managed to find 9,082
hadiths out of some 600,000 narrations. However, if repetitions are
excluded the actual number of hadiths goes down to about 2,062 hadiths.
Nevertheless, it would be a mistake in Sahih Bukharis compilation to
suppose that the each hadith in Sahih are free from defects. Rather,
according to as-Suyooti, there are criticism showed that the hadiths in Sahih
Bukhari were not mistaken or false but they did not just measure up to the
high standard which Bukhari had set.
Some muslims consider it more sacred after the Quran and some take it
more important than Quran. For Example: In Egypt they swear by Bukhari
and recite Bukhari in ships.
 Two Schools of Thought Emerged
Hadith or Sunnah is not needed.

Hadith or Sunnah is needed.

 Arguments of those who
disapprove Hadith
Hadith was not written or allowed to be written at the time of the Messenger or
his companions.
Quran stated its completeness and self-sufficiency.
Say: "Allah's guidance is the (only) guidance and we have been directed
to submit ourselves to the Lord of the worlds. Q. 6:71
The word hadith, with the meaning it is used is not categorically mentioned in
the Quran.
There was a lapse of nearly two centuries from the year of the death of the
Prophet to the time when most of the hadiths were compiled. This time factor
alone is enough to make one question the accuracy of the written hadiths.
How can one verify an unwritten text years later?
How can we claim that the memories of human beings did not slip away in the
course of time ?
"We have permitted the enemies of every prophet - human and jinn devils
- to inspire in each other FANCY WORDS, in order to deceive. Had your
Lord willed, they would not have done it. You shall disregard them and
their FABRICATIONS. This is to let the minds of those who do not believe
in the Hereafter listen to such FABRICATIONS, and accept them, and thus
expose their real convictions. " [6:112-113]
 Variations of the Same Hadith
The farewell Pilgrimage of the Prophet Muhammed is a corner stone in
the Muslim history. The Final Sermon given by the Prophet during this
pilgrimage was witnessed by thousands of Muslims. There are
however THREE versions of this sermon in the Hadiths books. This by
itself reflects the degree of corruption of the Hadiths books as this is
the most witnessed speech of the prophet Muhammed.
First version that is used by Shiite Muslims:
" I left for you what if you hold up to, you will never be misguided, the
book of God and my Family. Muslim 44/4, Nu2408; Ibn Hanbal 4/366;
darimi 23/1, nu 3319.
Second version that is used by Sunni Muslims:
"I left for you what if you hold up to, you will never be misguided, the
book of God and my Sunnah" . Muwatta, 46/3
Third version that is used by those who do not approve of Hadith:
"I left for you what if you hold up to, you will never be misguided, the
BOOK OF GOD." Muslim 15/19, nu 1218; Ibn Majah 25/84, Abu dawud
11/56.
 Arguments of those who
approve Hadith
The Prophet (pbuh) is the primary expounder and
interpreter of the Quran:
a) Verily, in the Apostle of God you have a good example
for everyone who looks forward (with hope and awe) to
God and the Last Day, and remembers God
unceasingly. (33:21)
b) O you who have attained to faith! Pay heed unto God,
and pay heed unto the Apostle and unto those from
among you who have been entrusted with authority; and
if you are at variance over any matter, refer it unto God
and the Apostle, if you truly believe in God and the Last
Day. This is the best for you and best in the end. (4:59)
 Task of authentication and
verification:
Problematic it may be to decipher the
whole package of what is true or false but
we do not throw away the whole package.

Refer to the disciplines and guidelines of

authenticating and verification which are
called Ilm Al Isnad i.e. the reference
system of each hadith
 Sunnah and Hadith
Sunnah means the prophetic ways, traditions and orders that have become models to
follow by his followers. It is erroneous to interchange the word Hadith with Sunnah or
vice versa. There are several hadiths that have nothing in the least to do with the
traditions of the prophet.

It is not correct to contend that the Sunnah of the Prophet has been communicated to
the Ummah by the Hadith literature alone. Historically, the Hadith literature that is in
circulation, was non-existent for the first few centuries of Islam.

The Prophets example has been mostly communicated through the practical examples of
the living and practicing Muslim communities. A question asked over and over again by the
traditionalists is: How else would I have known how to recite my ritual prayers and how
many rakats to recite for each prayer, if not through the compiled Hadith literature, since
the Quran is silent on these issues? The obvious response would be; In the same manner
it was known to the Muslim community for more than two centuries before the compilation
of the Hadith literature.

If one were to stand up before a congregation in any mosque and ask: When and how did
the worshippers learn to recite their ritual prayers?. The majority of the Jamaati members
would probably answer: i. At an early age when he or she had not or could not read the
books of hadiths.
ii. In their own homes from the family members or in the Madressahs (religious schools)
from the teachers.

The reality is that the majority of the Sunnahs of the Prophet have been communicated to
the society through the examples of living Muslims.