It would be impossible to continue a discussion of hadith without mentioning different kinds of hadith. Including all of the books of hadith, we find that there are more than one hundred. Entire books could be written on this subject alone. Therefore, for the purpose of this paper only about twenty of these different kinds of hadith will be mentioned. We will start with hadith Sahih, the authentic hadith. The leaders of this field have defined hadith Sahih as a hadith in which the chain of narration is continuous from a person who is well known for being truthful and trustworthy, and for having a strong memory and a good character, to another person with the same characteristics, to one of the companions, to Rasulullah (May Peace Be Upon Him). And there are other chains with different levels. There are also different levels among the countries where hadith are narrated. Ibn Taymeeyah has said that the people of hadith have all agreed that the most authentic hadith are narrated by the people of Medina, next by the people of Basra, and after them by the people of As-Shams. Imam Khatib has also stated that the most authentic narration of hadith come from the people of Mecca and Medina. As previously stated, has many different levels. The highest of them is what Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim have agreed on. Next, is what Imam Bukhari and his student, Imam Muslim has collected from authenticated sayings and teachings of the prophet, peace be upon him. After that comes whatever has been narrated according to the rules and conditions as set forth by both Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim together. Then comes the hadith that have been using the conditions set Imam Bukhari. The next level consists of hadith that have been narrated according to Imam Muslim’s conditions. Of all the books of hadith, the most authentic is Imam Bukhari’s Sahih Bukhari. After writing his book, Imam Bukhari stated that he had memorized one hundred thousand authentic hadith and two hundred thousand other kinds of hadith. Yet the books of Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim combined contain only a fraction of this number. Therefore, it is obvious that these two books, Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, do not contain all of the authentic hadith that exist. Three other books of hadith, the Sunman Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi, and An- Nasai’, along with the "Sahih"s of Bukhari and Muslim make up what the scholars call Al Usulu Khamsa. These five books of hadith contain most but not all of the authentic hadith. There are seven different kinds of Sahih hadith, and we have already explained these. Among the common hadith, that is hadith that are authentic, good, or weak, there are nineteen different kinds. And among the weak hadith there are nine. These classifications have been made by the scholars of hadith, and from them are derived other classifications that are too technical for the scope of this paper. Now, we turn the focus of our discussion to the weak hadith. The reason for this is the fact that weak hadith have caused some of the differences that divided the Muslim Ummah today. However, this does not mean that weak hadith are bad. Imam Sakhawi has said that Abu Dawud includes weak hadith in his book of hadith because he says that the weak hadiths are dearer to him than the opinions of the scholars. Imam Ahmed Ibn Hanbal has said that his son, Abdullah Ibn Ahmed, said that he heard his father, Ahmed, saying that you only see a man using his own opinion if he has some wrong in his heart; and the weak hadith are stronger to him than opinions. Also, Imam Ahmed Ibn Hanbal was told about two men in a village; one narrated hadith but did not know which were authentic and which was not, the other gave his own opinions. Imam Ahmed advised the people in the village to seek advice from the man who had knowledge of the hadith of Rasulullah (May Peace Be Upon Him). And Imam Ibn Taymeeyah has stated that we, the scholars of hadith, say that the weak hadiths are better than opinions. It should be noted that weak hadith does not mean hadith that are matruk. It means hadith that are Hasan, good. Lastly, some of the scholars of hadith have said that weak hadith are better than qias (opinions). Qias is a kind of ruling that scholars use when they have been asked a question and they do not have a narration. They base their answer on a narration that is similar to what they have been asked. Another kind of hadith that has not been mentioned thus far is hadith al- mawdua’ (fabricated). This is hadith that has been made up, fabricated. The scholars of hadith can recognize which hadith are mawdua’ and which are not by looking at the chain of narration, by looking at the words of the hadith, and by knowing whether or not the hadith contradicts a well known sunnah of Rasulullah (May Peace Be Upon Him) or a verse of Quran. These hadiths are very dangerous. They are, in fact, even more harmful to Ummah of Rasulullah (May Peace Be Upon Him) than the non-Muslims who are against Islam. This is because they take the Muslims away from the straight path and away from the mill of Ibrahim (May Peace Be Upon Him). Sometimes they are the result of an honest mistake on the part of the one who is narrating the hadith. Perhaps he was half-asleep, or he was not paying full attention when he heard the hadith. Maybe as he became old his memory became weak. Some narrators have fabricated hadith to give people glad tidings, or to warn them. And they have done this with the best intentions. Others have narrated hadith al-mawdua’ to give support to their own opinions. Still others have done it to please those in authority. Also, some of these hadiths have been narrated by the Sufis. May Allah guide us and protect us all. Yet, after the whole Ummah has accepted these books and held them in high regard, some present day scholars have criticized them. They have said that some of the hadith contained in these books are weak because of some of the narrators. So let us examine the validity of this criticism by considering what many other respected scholars have to say on the subject. Hafiz Abu Bakr Al Khatib has said that whatever hadiths Bukhari and Muslim have narrated, and whatever narrators they have narrated their hadiths from should be accepted. They should be accepted even if some of the narrators have been accused of some character flaw, like lying, because there is not enough evidence to support such accusations. In one of his books, Imam Nawawi has said that when some scholars say that certain of the hadiths narrated by Bukhari and Muslim are weak they are wrong because the reasons they use to say that the hadith are weak are not serious enough to make the hadith weak. In the introduction to his book, Al Fath, Ibn Hajar had the following to say about the narrators used by Bukhari and Muslim, “Every fair man should know that whenever Bukhari and Muslim narrated a hadith from certain narrators, it means that this narrator is fair, truthful, and has a strong memory.” He told the man that each of the narrators had passed the bridge. This means that even though the narrators might have had some shortcomings, as all humans do, they have fulfilled all of the requirements that narrators must meet. Therefore, whenever someone says that the hadiths that Bukhari and Muslim have narrated are weak, these sayings should be ignored according to the scholars that have mentioned. As a footnote, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of hearing a narration first hand rather than reading it in a book. The best way to illustrate this point is by the following example. When his students pointed out the fact that he narrated hadith from Al- Kallbi himself, he told them that he knew when Al-Kallbi was lying and when he was telling the truth. This is not to say that Bukhari or Muslim have done something like this. It is just an example to illustrate the handicap of those who investigate hadith today. Now, that we have some background information, we can begin to explore the main topic of this paper, the religious differences that exist in the Muslim Ummah today. In order to fully understand these differences, it is imperative that we talk briefly about the companions of Rasulullah (May Peace Be Upon Him), may Allah be pleased with them all. First, all of the sahabah were fair people. Imam Nawawi said in his book, At-Taqrb, “All of the companions of the Prophet (May Peace Be Upon Him) are fair people; those who lived in the time of trouble after the Prophet’s (May Peace Be Upon Him) death, as well as those who died before this time.” This saying is the opinion of all the great, most respected, and trustworthy scholars. (May Peace Be Upon Him) even once. Among the companions of Rasulullah (May Peace Be Upon Him) there are different levels. Not all of them were like Abu Bakr or Umar the other great companions, may Allah be pleased with all of them. Those companions who fought with Rasulullah (May Peace Be Upon Him) under his flag and accompanied him for long periods of time are more highly elevated than those who did not. Also, among the companions there were some that were well known for giving fatawas (legal rulings) and others who were well known for narrating hadith. He was responsible for narrating 5,374 hadith. In addition to this, more than three hundred men have listened to him and narrated his hadith. Imam Shafi’ has said that Abu Hurairah had memorized more hadith than any one else at his time. At the funeral of Abu Hurairah, Ibn Umar said that Abu Hurairah was guardian and protector of the hadith of Rasulullah (May Peace Be Upon Him) for the Muslims.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 17:42:49 +0000
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