History of Hadith
Encyclopedia
Traditions regarding the life of Muhammad
and the early history of Islam were passed down both orally and written for more than a hundred years after the death of Muhammad
in 632.
According to Muslim
s, the collection of hadith
or sayings by or about the prophet Muhammad was a meticulous and thorough process that began right at the time of Muhammad. Needless to say hadith collection (even in the written form) began very early on – from the time of Muhammad
and continued through the centuries that followed. Thus, Muslims reject any collections that are not robust in withstanding the tests of authenticity per the standards of hadith studies. This article goes through the historical evolution of the hadith literature from its beginning in the 7th century to present day.
, memorization was the primary means of conveyance of information amongst the Arabs. There were, however, some instances of writing present at that time, including promissory notes, personal letter, tribal agreements and some religious literature. There were very few Arabs that could read or write in the beginning of Muhammad
's era: The majority were unlettered, and according to Sunni
traditions, so was Muhammad.
, “During the Prophet’s lifetime and into the time of the Companions
and older Followers, the narrations of the Prophet were not transcribed in a systematic manner. This was due to two reasons. The first, was that early on they had been prohibited from doing so, as has been established in Sahih Muslim
, lest the hadith become confused with the Quran. The second was due to expansive capability of their ability to memorize and because the majority of them were unable to write.”
A possible explanation of aforementioned hadith is that “the majority of the companions were illiterate with only a few individuals from them able to write. If they were to write, it was unrefined, not conforming to the written alphabet. Thus, the prohibition was due to the fear of erring while writing.” Another is that “the prohibition was of writing the Quran with other than it in one place so as to avoid the two from becoming mixed up confusing the one reading it. As for writing in its entirety having been prohibited, then this was not the case as we see from another hadith, 'Convey what I say.' Present within the command to convey is permission to write and record.”
that indicate the permissibility if not encouragement to write down hadith. From them:
Ibn Hajar
summarized the different ways in which scholars have sought to reconcile those hadith prohibiting the writing of hadith and those permitting it, in the first of which he said, “The reconciliation between the two is that the prohibition was particular to the time in which the Quran was being sent down so that it would not become mixed up with other than it and the permission was during other than that time."
is the primary locus for many accounts about hadith collection. He is portrayed by Sunnis as desiring to initiate this project but as unwilling to do so, fearing that Muslims might then neglect the Qur'an. Umar is also said by Sunnis that he due to fear and concerns, he sometimes warned people against careless narration of hadith
.
Muslim historians say that it was the caliph
Uthman
(the third caliph, or successor of Muhammad, who had formerly been one of Muhammad's secretary's), encouraged Muslims to write down the hadith as Muhammad (in some instances) had encouraged Muslims to do likewise during his lifetime . Uthman's labors were cut short by his assassination, at the hands of aggrieved people who had come to the capital to seek redressal from the Caliph for the wrongs done by his secretary, Merwan ibn Hakam, on 17 June 656 A.D{}.The Muslim community (ummah
) then fell into a prolonged civil war, termed the Fitna
by Muslim historians. After the fourth caliph, Ali
ibn Abi Talib, was assassinated, control of the Islamic empire was seized by the Umayyad dynasty in 660A.D/40 A.H.{} Illustrating the importance hadith in a written format had earned, Ibn Abbas
left behind a camel-load of books, which mostly contain what he had heard from Muhammad and other Sahaba
.
Of the many companions
, Abu Hurairah
taught hadith
to students, one of whom was Hammam ibn Munabbih
. Ibn Munabbih wrote down these hadith
, the original manuscripts of which are present even to this day in the libraries of Berlin
, Beirut
and Damascus
.
Starting the first Islamic civil war
of the 7th century, those receiving the hadith started to question the sources of the saying, something that resulted in the development of the Isnad. Muhammad ibn Sirin
(d. 110/728) stated:
began during the time of the second generation of Muslims, that of the Followers. Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah, commonly known as ibn Shihab al-Zuhri
, was a prolific and prominent hadith
narrator from the Followers whom Ibn Hajar
identified as a tabi'i. According to Ibn Hajar, “Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri
was the first to compile hadith
at the beginning of the first century after the Migration
acting on the order of Umar ibn AbdulAziz. It was after this that the compilation, then the authoring of books of hadith
became commonplace, resulting in much good.”
Ummayad rule was interrupted by a second civil war (the Second Fitna
), re-established, then ended in 758, when the Abbasid dynasty seized the caliphate, to hold it, at least in name, until 1517(the last Caliph was Al-Mutawakkil III 1508–1517, in Cairo and not in Baghdad).
Muslim historians say that hadith collection and evaluation continued during the first Fitna and the Umayyad period. However, much of this activity was presumably oral transmission from early Muslims to later collectors, or from teachers to students.
The scholars of the Abbasid period were faced with a huge corpus of miscellaneous traditions, some of them flatly contradicting each other. Many of these traditions supported differing views on a variety of controversial matters. Scholars had to decide which hadith were to be trusted as authentic narrations and which had been invented for various political or theological purposes. For this purpose, they used a number of techniques in hadith studies. In , paper
was introduced into the Muslim world.
Generally, Umar II is credited with having ordered the first collection of hadith material in an official manner, fearing that some of it might be lost. Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazm
and Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri
, are among those who compiled hadiths at `Umar II’s behest.
, in chronological order:
after having received impetus from the establishment of the sunna as the second source of law in Islam, particularly through the efforts of the famous jurist Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i.
The method of criticism and the conclusions it has reached have not changed significantly since the ninth century. Even much of modern Muslim scholarship, while continuing to debate the validity or authenticity of individual hadiths or perhaps the hadiths of a particular transmitter, employs the same methods and biographical materials.
The classification of Hadith into sahih (sound)
, hasan (good)
and da'if (weak)
was firmly established by Ali ibn al-Madini
(d. 234 AH). Later, al-Madini's student Muhammad al-Bukhari
authored a collection that he stated contained only sahih hadith. al-Tirmidhi
was the first traditionist to base his book on al-Madini's classification.
, noted that Muhammad al-Bukhari
deemed only 4,000 of his original 300,000 hadiths to be authentic.He was soon followed by Aloys Sprenger
, who also suggests that many of the hadiths cannot be considered authentic. However, this demonstrates a limited understanding by Non Muslims, of Bukhari's criterion for his Sahih. This is clarified by other statements of Bukhari in which he made it clear that he considered all of the hadith in his authentic, but not all authentic hadith are included in his Sahih. Al-Dhahabi
quoted Bukhari as saying, "I have memorized one hundred thousand authentic hadith and two hundred thousand that are not authentic.'
Ignaz Goldziher was a large contributor of innovative theories to the West. The subsequent direction the Western debate took, a direction which has focussed on the role of hadiths in the origin and development of early Muslim jurisprudence, is largely due to the work of Joseph Schacht
. The Common-Link Theory, invented by Joseph Schacht and widely accepted in modern scholarship, argues that hadith authorities knowingly and purposefully placed traditions in circulation with little care to support these hadiths with satisfactory isnads (chains of transmitters). G. H. A. Juynboll, Michael Cook and other Schachtians subsequently embraced and elaborated upon this theory. In 2006, Fahad A. Alhomoudi in his thesis “On the Common-Link Theory” challenges the accuracy of Schacht’s founding theory. Because of the interconnectedness of Schacht’s many theses about hadith and Islamic law, the findings of Alhomoudi’s thesis did not only challenge the significant Common-Link Theory in legal hadith studies, but also open the door for scholars to question other important theories held by Schacht and his followers with regard to larger issues in Islamic legal history.
The Turkish government's Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı has commissioned a team of scholars at Ankara University
to draft a new compilation of hadith
that would omit numerous hadith
considered historically inauthentic by these scholars.
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
and the early history of Islam were passed down both orally and written for more than a hundred years after the death of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
in 632.
According to Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s, the collection of hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
or sayings by or about the prophet Muhammad was a meticulous and thorough process that began right at the time of Muhammad. Needless to say hadith collection (even in the written form) began very early on – from the time of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
and continued through the centuries that followed. Thus, Muslims reject any collections that are not robust in withstanding the tests of authenticity per the standards of hadith studies. This article goes through the historical evolution of the hadith literature from its beginning in the 7th century to present day.
Writing in the Pre-Islamic Period
Prior to the advent of IslamIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, memorization was the primary means of conveyance of information amongst the Arabs. There were, however, some instances of writing present at that time, including promissory notes, personal letter, tribal agreements and some religious literature. There were very few Arabs that could read or write in the beginning of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
's era: The majority were unlettered, and according to Sunni
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
traditions, so was Muhammad.
Prophetic Period
According to Ibn HajarIbn Hajar al-Asqalani
Al-Haafidh Shihabuddin Abu'l-Fadl Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad, better known as Ibn Hajar due to the fame of his forefathers, al-Asqalani due to his family origin , was a medieval Shafiite Sunni scholar of Islam who represents the entire realm of the Sunni world in the field of Hadith...
, “During the Prophet’s lifetime and into the time of the Companions
Sahaba
In Islam, the ' were the companions, disciples, scribes and family of the Islamic prophet...
and older Followers, the narrations of the Prophet were not transcribed in a systematic manner. This was due to two reasons. The first, was that early on they had been prohibited from doing so, as has been established in Sahih Muslim
Sahih Muslim
Sahih Muslim is one of the Six major collections of the hadith in Sunni Islam, oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. It is the second most authentic hadith collection after Sahih Al-Bukhari, and is highly acclaimed by Sunni Muslims...
, lest the hadith become confused with the Quran. The second was due to expansive capability of their ability to memorize and because the majority of them were unable to write.”
A possible explanation of aforementioned hadith is that “the majority of the companions were illiterate with only a few individuals from them able to write. If they were to write, it was unrefined, not conforming to the written alphabet. Thus, the prohibition was due to the fear of erring while writing.” Another is that “the prohibition was of writing the Quran with other than it in one place so as to avoid the two from becoming mixed up confusing the one reading it. As for writing in its entirety having been prohibited, then this was not the case as we see from another hadith, 'Convey what I say.' Present within the command to convey is permission to write and record.”
Writing of hadith
Despite this, there are a number of hadithHadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
that indicate the permissibility if not encouragement to write down hadith. From them:
- The hadith of Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr who said, “I used write everything I heard from the Prophet wanting to preserve it. The Quraysh then prohibited me from doing so, saying, ‘Do you write down everything? And the Prophet is human who speaks while angry and pleased?’ So I refrained from writing and then mentioned this to the Prophet. He gestured to his mouth and said, ‘Write, by the one in whose hand is my soul! Nothing emanates from this except the truth.’”
- Among the prisoners of warMa malakat aymanukumMa malakat aymanukum is a reference in the Qur'an to slaves.-Overview:The term itself is normally considered to refer to prisoners of war, or more broadly to slaves in general, according to the classic tafsirs...
taken at the Battle of BadrBattle of BadrThe Battle of Badr , fought Saturday, March 13, 624 AD in the Hejaz region of western Arabia , was a key battle in the early days of Islam and a turning point in Muhammad's struggle with his opponents among the Quraish in Mecca...
those who were literate were released after each taught ten Muslims how to read and write. Sahih BukhariSahih al-BukhariṢaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī , as it is commonly referred to, is one of the six canonical hadith collections of Islam. These prophetic traditions, or hadith, were collected by the Persian Muslim scholar Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari, after being transmitted orally for generations. Muslims view this as one of...
states that Abd-Allah ibn Amr wrote down his hadith.
- A man came to Muhammad and complained about his memory, saying: ‘O Messenger of Allah: We hear many things from you. But most of them slip our minds because we cannot memorize them’. Muhammad replied: Ask your right hand for help. Muhammad meant that he should write down what he heard.
- When Rafi‘ ibn Khadij asked Muhammad whether they could write what they heard from him, the answer came: Write, no harm!. Another sources quotes Muhammad advising: "Record knowledge by writing."
- During the conquest of MeccaConquest of MeccaMecca was conquered by the Muslims in January 630 AD .-Background:In 628 the Meccan tribe of Quraysh and the Muslim community in Medina signed a 10 year truce called the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah....
, Muhammad gave a sermon. A man from the YemenYemenThe Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
, named Abu Shah, stood up and said: "O Allah’s Messenger! Please write down these [words] for me!" Muhammad ordered: "Write for Abu Shah!"
- Muhammad sent a letter which contained commandments about the blood moneyBlood money (term)Blood money is money or some sort of compensation paid by an offender or his family group to the family or kin group of the victim.-Particular examples and uses:...
for murders and injuries and the law of retaliation to Amr ibn Hizam. This letter was handed down to his great grandson, Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad. Among other things, like some of his letters other head of statesMuhammad's letters to the Heads-of-StateAfter the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, Muhammad decided to send letters to many rulers of the world, inviting them to Islam -Overview:Muhammad, according to the usually told Islamic historiography, sent ambassadors with such letters to Heraclius the emperor of Byzantium, Chosroes II the emperor of...
, some scroll transferred to Abu Rafi was handed down to Abu Bakr ibn ‘Abd Al-Rahman ibn Harith, belonging to the first generation after the CompanionsSahabaIn Islam, the ' were the companions, disciples, scribes and family of the Islamic prophet...
.
Ibn Hajar
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
Al-Haafidh Shihabuddin Abu'l-Fadl Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad, better known as Ibn Hajar due to the fame of his forefathers, al-Asqalani due to his family origin , was a medieval Shafiite Sunni scholar of Islam who represents the entire realm of the Sunni world in the field of Hadith...
summarized the different ways in which scholars have sought to reconcile those hadith prohibiting the writing of hadith and those permitting it, in the first of which he said, “The reconciliation between the two is that the prohibition was particular to the time in which the Quran was being sent down so that it would not become mixed up with other than it and the permission was during other than that time."
Post-prophetic period
Among Sunnis, Umar ibn al-KhattabUmar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
is the primary locus for many accounts about hadith collection. He is portrayed by Sunnis as desiring to initiate this project but as unwilling to do so, fearing that Muslims might then neglect the Qur'an. Umar is also said by Sunnis that he due to fear and concerns, he sometimes warned people against careless narration of hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
.
Muslim historians say that it was the caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
Uthman
Uthman
Uthman ibn Affan was one of the companions of Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He played a major role in early Islamic history as the third Sunni Rashidun or Rightly Guided Caliph....
(the third caliph, or successor of Muhammad, who had formerly been one of Muhammad's secretary's), encouraged Muslims to write down the hadith as Muhammad (in some instances) had encouraged Muslims to do likewise during his lifetime . Uthman's labors were cut short by his assassination, at the hands of aggrieved people who had come to the capital to seek redressal from the Caliph for the wrongs done by his secretary, Merwan ibn Hakam, on 17 June 656 A.D{}.The Muslim community (ummah
Ummah
Ummah is an Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation." It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of states, or the whole Arab world...
) then fell into a prolonged civil war, termed the Fitna
First Fitna
The First Islamic Civil War , also called the First Fitna , was the first major civil war within the Islamic Caliphate. It arose as a struggle over who had the legitimate right to become the ruling Caliph...
by Muslim historians. After the fourth caliph, Ali
Ali
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
ibn Abi Talib, was assassinated, control of the Islamic empire was seized by the Umayyad dynasty in 660A.D/40 A.H.{} Illustrating the importance hadith in a written format had earned, Ibn Abbas
`Abd Allah ibn `Abbas
Abd Allah ibn Abbas was a paternal cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He is revered by Muslims for his knowledge and was an expert in Tafsir , as well as an authority on the Islamic Sunnah.-Family:...
left behind a camel-load of books, which mostly contain what he had heard from Muhammad and other Sahaba
Sahaba
In Islam, the ' were the companions, disciples, scribes and family of the Islamic prophet...
.
Of the many companions
Sahaba
In Islam, the ' were the companions, disciples, scribes and family of the Islamic prophet...
, Abu Hurairah
Abu Hurairah
Abu Hurairah , was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the narrator of Hadith most quoted in the isnad by Sunnis.-Early life:...
taught hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
to students, one of whom was Hammam ibn Munabbih
Hammam ibn Munabbih
Hammam ibn Munabbih was an Islamic scholar, from among the Tabi‘in and one of the narrators of hadith.-Works:*Sahifah Hammam ibn Munabbih was one of the 9 students of Abu Hurairah. Abu Hurairah used to narrate the hadith he heard from the Prophet to his 9 students. Out of all 9 students, only...
. Ibn Munabbih wrote down these hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
, the original manuscripts of which are present even to this day in the libraries of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
and Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
.
Starting the first Islamic civil war
First Fitna
The First Islamic Civil War , also called the First Fitna , was the first major civil war within the Islamic Caliphate. It arose as a struggle over who had the legitimate right to become the ruling Caliph...
of the 7th century, those receiving the hadith started to question the sources of the saying, something that resulted in the development of the Isnad. Muhammad ibn Sirin
Ibn Sirin
Muhammad Ibn Sirin , was a Muslim interpreter of dreams who lived in the 8th century. He is a contemporary of Anas ibn Malik.-Biography:...
(d. 110/728) stated:
- "[the traditionalists] were not used to inquiring after the isnad, but when the fitna occurred they said: Name us your informants. Thus if these were Ahl al-SunnaSunni IslamSunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
their traditions were accepted, but if they were hereticsHeresy in IslamHeresy in Islam concerns the relationship that larger Islamic bodies have with smaller or newer Muslim sects that dissent from a previous religious or social orthodoxy.-Sunni- Shi'a relations:...
, their traditions were not accepted."
The beginning of systematic hadith collection
The beginning of the systematic collection and compilation of hadithHadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
began during the time of the second generation of Muslims, that of the Followers. Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah, commonly known as ibn Shihab al-Zuhri
Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri
For the geographer from Al-Andalus see Mohammed Ibn Abu Bakr al-ZuhriMuhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri , usually called simply Ibn Shihab or al-Zuhri...
, was a prolific and prominent hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
narrator from the Followers whom Ibn Hajar
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
Al-Haafidh Shihabuddin Abu'l-Fadl Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad, better known as Ibn Hajar due to the fame of his forefathers, al-Asqalani due to his family origin , was a medieval Shafiite Sunni scholar of Islam who represents the entire realm of the Sunni world in the field of Hadith...
identified as a tabi'i. According to Ibn Hajar, “Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri
Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri
For the geographer from Al-Andalus see Mohammed Ibn Abu Bakr al-ZuhriMuhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri , usually called simply Ibn Shihab or al-Zuhri...
was the first to compile hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
at the beginning of the first century after the Migration
Hijra (Islam)
The Hijra is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. Alternate spellings of this Arabic word are Hijrah, Hijrat or Hegira, the latter following the spelling rules of Latin.- Hijra of Muhammad :In September 622, warned of a plot to...
acting on the order of Umar ibn AbdulAziz. It was after this that the compilation, then the authoring of books of hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
became commonplace, resulting in much good.”
Ummayad rule was interrupted by a second civil war (the Second Fitna
Second Fitna
The Second Fitna, or Second Islamic Civil War, was a period of general political and military disorder that afflicted the Islamic empire during the early Umayyad dynasty, following the death of the first Umayyad caliph Muawiyah I...
), re-established, then ended in 758, when the Abbasid dynasty seized the caliphate, to hold it, at least in name, until 1517(the last Caliph was Al-Mutawakkil III 1508–1517, in Cairo and not in Baghdad).
Muslim historians say that hadith collection and evaluation continued during the first Fitna and the Umayyad period. However, much of this activity was presumably oral transmission from early Muslims to later collectors, or from teachers to students.
The scholars of the Abbasid period were faced with a huge corpus of miscellaneous traditions, some of them flatly contradicting each other. Many of these traditions supported differing views on a variety of controversial matters. Scholars had to decide which hadith were to be trusted as authentic narrations and which had been invented for various political or theological purposes. For this purpose, they used a number of techniques in hadith studies. In , paper
Paper
Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
was introduced into the Muslim world.
Generally, Umar II is credited with having ordered the first collection of hadith material in an official manner, fearing that some of it might be lost. Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazm
Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazm
Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazm was a 8th century Sunni Islamic scholarHe is among those who compiled hadiths at Umar II’s behest.-References:...
and Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri
Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri
For the geographer from Al-Andalus see Mohammed Ibn Abu Bakr al-ZuhriMuhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri , usually called simply Ibn Shihab or al-Zuhri...
, are among those who compiled hadiths at `Umar II’s behest.
Early written hadith collections
List of collections of hadithHadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
, in chronological order:
- Ibn Shihab al-ZuhriIbn Shihab al-ZuhriFor the geographer from Al-Andalus see Mohammed Ibn Abu Bakr al-ZuhriMuhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubaydullah ibn Shihab al-Zuhri , usually called simply Ibn Shihab or al-Zuhri...
- Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn HazmAbu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn HazmAbu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazm was a 8th century Sunni Islamic scholarHe is among those who compiled hadiths at Umar II’s behest.-References:...
- Musannaf of ibn JurayjMusannaf ibn JurayjMusannaf of ibn Jurayj is a book by Islamic scholar ibn Jurayj, one of the earliest hadith collections....
— ?-? CE - MusannafMusannafMusannaf hadīth collections are defined by their arrangement of content according to topic and constitute a major category within the class of all such works. Etymologically, musannaf is the passive particle of the Arabic verb sannafa, meaning to arrange by chapter, and so has the literal meaning...
of Ma`mar bin Rashid — ?-? CE - Sahifah Hammam ibn MunabbihSahifah Hammam ibn MunabbihSahifah Hammam ibn Munabbih is perhaps one of the earliest known hadith collections, by 8th century scholar Hammam ibn Munabbih. It has been translated, in the 20th century, by Muhammad Hamidullah.-See also:*List of Sunni books*Sahifah-References:...
— 670–720 CE - MusannafMusannafMusannaf hadīth collections are defined by their arrangement of content according to topic and constitute a major category within the class of all such works. Etymologically, musannaf is the passive particle of the Arabic verb sannafa, meaning to arrange by chapter, and so has the literal meaning...
of `Abd al-Razzaq al-San`ani — c. 700 CE - Muwatta of Malik bin AnasMalik ibn AnasMālik ibn Anas ibn Mālik ibn Abī 'Āmir al-Asbahī is known as "Imam Malik," the "Sheikh of Islam", the "Proof of the Community," and "Imam of the Abode of Emigration." He was one of the most highly respected scholars of fiqh in Sunni Islam...
— 760–795 CE - Sufyan al-Thawri
Canonical texts
The efforts culminated with the six canonical collectionsSix major Hadith collections
The six major Hadith collections are collections of hadith by Islamic scholars who, approximately 200 years after Muhammad's death and by their own initiative, collected "hadith" attributed to Muhammad...
after having received impetus from the establishment of the sunna as the second source of law in Islam, particularly through the efforts of the famous jurist Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i.
The method of criticism and the conclusions it has reached have not changed significantly since the ninth century. Even much of modern Muslim scholarship, while continuing to debate the validity or authenticity of individual hadiths or perhaps the hadiths of a particular transmitter, employs the same methods and biographical materials.
The classification of Hadith into sahih (sound)
Hadith terminology
Hadith terminology is the body of terminology which specify the acceptability of the narrations, hadith, attributed to the Islamic Prophet, Muhammad, as well as other early figures of religious significance...
, hasan (good)
Hadith terminology
Hadith terminology is the body of terminology which specify the acceptability of the narrations, hadith, attributed to the Islamic Prophet, Muhammad, as well as other early figures of religious significance...
and da'if (weak)
Hadith terminology
Hadith terminology is the body of terminology which specify the acceptability of the narrations, hadith, attributed to the Islamic Prophet, Muhammad, as well as other early figures of religious significance...
was firmly established by Ali ibn al-Madini
Ali ibn al-Madini
Abū al-Ḥasan ʻAlī ibn ʻAbdillāh ibn Jaʻfar al-Madīnī was a ninth century Sunni Islamic scholar who was influential in the science of hadith.-Biography:...
(d. 234 AH). Later, al-Madini's student Muhammad al-Bukhari
Muhammad al-Bukhari
Muhammad Ibn Ismail Ibn Ibrahim Ibn al-Mughirah Ibn Bardizbah al-Bukhari , popularly known as Bukhari or Imam Bukhari, , was a Sunni Islamic scholar of Persia...
authored a collection that he stated contained only sahih hadith. al-Tirmidhi
Al-Tirmidhi
Tirmidhī , also transliterated as Tirmizi, full name Abū ‛Īsá Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Mūsá ibn al Ḍaḥḥāk al-Sulamī al-Sulamī al-Tirmidhī Tirmidhī , also transliterated as Tirmizi, full name Abū ‛Īsá Muḥammad ibn ‛Īsá ibn Sawrah ibn Mūsá ibn al Ḍaḥḥāk al-Sulamī al-Sulamī al-Tirmidhī...
was the first traditionist to base his book on al-Madini's classification.
Contemporary Analysis
In 1848, Gustav WeilGustav Weil
Gustav Weil was a German orientalist.-Early studies and travels:Being destined for the rabbinate, he was taught Hebrew, as well as German and French; and he received instruction in Latin from the minister of his native town...
, noted that Muhammad al-Bukhari
Muhammad al-Bukhari
Muhammad Ibn Ismail Ibn Ibrahim Ibn al-Mughirah Ibn Bardizbah al-Bukhari , popularly known as Bukhari or Imam Bukhari, , was a Sunni Islamic scholar of Persia...
deemed only 4,000 of his original 300,000 hadiths to be authentic.He was soon followed by Aloys Sprenger
Aloys Sprenger
Aloys Sprenger was an Austrian orientalist.Sprenger studied medicine, natural sciences as well as oriental languages at the University of Vienna...
, who also suggests that many of the hadiths cannot be considered authentic. However, this demonstrates a limited understanding by Non Muslims, of Bukhari's criterion for his Sahih. This is clarified by other statements of Bukhari in which he made it clear that he considered all of the hadith in his authentic, but not all authentic hadith are included in his Sahih. Al-Dhahabi
Al-Dhahabi
Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn `Uthman ibn Qaymaz ibn `Abd Allah, Shams al-Din Abu `Abd Allah al-Turkmani al-Diyarbakri al-Fariqi al-Dimashqi al-Dhahabi al-Shafi`i , known as Al-Dhahabi , a Shafi'i Muhaddith and historian of Islam.-Biography:...
quoted Bukhari as saying, "I have memorized one hundred thousand authentic hadith and two hundred thousand that are not authentic.'
Ignaz Goldziher was a large contributor of innovative theories to the West. The subsequent direction the Western debate took, a direction which has focussed on the role of hadiths in the origin and development of early Muslim jurisprudence, is largely due to the work of Joseph Schacht
Joseph Schacht
Joseph Schacht, born in Ratibor, 15 March 1902, died in Englewood, 1 August 1969, was a British-German professor of Arabic and Islam at Columbia University in New York. He was the leading Western scholar on Islamic law, whose Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence is still considered a centrally...
. The Common-Link Theory, invented by Joseph Schacht and widely accepted in modern scholarship, argues that hadith authorities knowingly and purposefully placed traditions in circulation with little care to support these hadiths with satisfactory isnads (chains of transmitters). G. H. A. Juynboll, Michael Cook and other Schachtians subsequently embraced and elaborated upon this theory. In 2006, Fahad A. Alhomoudi in his thesis “On the Common-Link Theory” challenges the accuracy of Schacht’s founding theory. Because of the interconnectedness of Schacht’s many theses about hadith and Islamic law, the findings of Alhomoudi’s thesis did not only challenge the significant Common-Link Theory in legal hadith studies, but also open the door for scholars to question other important theories held by Schacht and his followers with regard to larger issues in Islamic legal history.
The Turkish government's Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı has commissioned a team of scholars at Ankara University
Ankara University
Ankara University is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in the Turkish Republic....
to draft a new compilation of hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
that would omit numerous hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
considered historically inauthentic by these scholars.
Further reading
- Islamic Awareness, Issues Concerning Hadith
- Musa, A. Y. Hadith as Scripture: Discussions on the Authority of Prophetic Traditions in Islam. Palgrave, 2008; ISBN 0230605354