SOME STUDY BOUT AHADITH –4 In the Name of Allah: the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. He it is Who sent among the unlettered ones a Messenger ( Muhammad pbuh ) from among themselves, reciting to them His Verses, purifying them (from the filth of disbelief and polytheism ) and teaching them the Book ( this Qur’an, Islamic Laws and Islamic jurisprudence) and Al-Hikmah (As-Sunnah, legal ways, orders, acts of worship of Prophet Muhammad pbuh) and verily, they had been before in manifest error ( Al-Quran, Soorah Al-Jmu’ah # 62 Ayat # 2.) And whatsoever the Messenger (Muhammad pbuh ) gives you, take it; and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain (from it) and fear Allah, verily, Allah is Severe in Punishment. ( Al-Qur’an, Soorah # 59 Al-Hashar, Ayat # 7 ) Before we go further, to understand the establishment of Sahih Ahadith, it is essential to learn the ways and means of reaching Ahadith to the Scholars and how they classified them. In this connection, the Narrators are classified as: SAHABI; Those fortunate people who could see, talk, sit in company of The Messenger pbuh. Even in alive condition one had, the Glimpse of the Messenger is also a Sahabi. TABA’EE: The person who saw while alive, at least one Sahabi is called Taba’ee. TABA-TABA’EE: The person who saw while alive, atleast one Taba’ee is called Taba-Taba’ee. The individuals who narrated the hadith or Ahadith (plural of hadith ), were classified and as a result of such classification The KNOWLEDGE OF MEN “ ILMUL-RIJAL” came into existence. In Ilmul-Rijal, we will find about each individual, the name of person, his family tree, his characters particularly how much truth he speaks, How is (was) his memory, how much religious and righteous he is. In Mishquat shareef, I have over 1000 (probably) names with classification. TYPES AND CLASSIFICATION OF AHADITH: Sanad or Asnad ( certificate or certificates) The chain of narrators of Hadith, from Messenger pbuh to the writer ( the narrators contained in the chain who have conveyed hadith to the writer from the Messenger pbuh ) Matan: the words of Hadith is called matan. And is supposed to be the words of the Messenger pbuh. MARFOO: The chain of certifiers reaches to the Messenger pbuh form the writer means both end are meeting ; is called Marfoo Hadith. MOUQUOOF: the chain of hadith that reaches to the Narrator Sahabi but not to the Prophet pbuh. MAQ’TOO: The chain that terminates upon a Tabaee HADITH-E-MUTTASIL: The narrators of hadith are all in order, Non-is missing. ( from Prophet pbuh to the Writer ) MUNQETA: Hadith which is missing one link in the chain. MU’ADDHAL: Hadith which is missing two or more narrators from the chain. MURSAL: Hadith narrated by Taba’ee further chain of narrators missing. MU’ALLAQUE: Hadith which misses the last one or two narrators of the chain – to the writer. QUALITIES OF AHADITH; SAHEEH HADITH: That hadith the narrators of which are all Pious,Rightious,Strong Memory, just, tolerant & Narrating the Exact Words of the Messenger pbuh. And from the Messenger pbuh to the Writer the chain is complete. HASAN HADITH: Which is of average grade: The chain of Narrators contain, at least one narrator of weak memory or not so truthful or not very pious. Or just or tolerant or may be missing one narrator in the chin.. DHAIF HADITH: In defined Hasan Hadith if more than one narrator is weak or missing then it is called dhaif hadith. THE HADITH REACHING US ARE OF FOUR TYPES: Mutwatir (continues) Mashoor (wellknown) Aziz ( ? ) & Ghareeb ( Weak). MUTWATIR: Such Hadith the narrators are very many in each stage of chain and so strong that even cant think it as false. MASHHOOR: Those hadith in the chain of which, on each stage ( sahabi or taba’ee or taba-taba’ee or still lower unto writer) there are at least three narrators. AZIZ: Same as Mashhoor but instead of three two narrators compulsory. GHAREEB: Those hadith of which the narrator in the chain is only one BY DIFFERENCE OF AUTHENTICITY WE HAVE FOUR CLASSES OF AHADITH: SHAZ: Those ahadith, the narrator of which are Righteous, but his Hadith is countering to Hadith by higher grade Righteous narrator. MAHFOOZ: The Hadith of which, the narrator is of better grade then the one who has quoted conflicting Hadith (against the hadith of this narrator) MUNKER: Such hadith, the Narrator of which is weak and he is quoting against the hadith of stronger Narrator. MAROOF: Quoted by Stronger Narrator against weaker narrator. The above was some study of the Ahadith. In the fifth part, we will study the concluding result of how the Sahih Ahadith reached us and how much our ancestors (scholars) worked hard for us to remain on the Right Track.