Mustalah al-Hadith (Classification of Hadith)
Mustalah books speak of a number of classes of hadith in accordance with their status. The following
broad classifications can be made, each of which is explained in the later sections:
l
According to the reference to a particular authority, e.g. the Prophet (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace), a Companion, or a Successor; such ahadith are called marfu' (elevated), mauquf
(stopped) and maqtu' (severed) respectively .
l According to the links in the isnad, i.e. whether the chain of reporters is interrupted or
uninterrupted, e.g. musnad (supported), muttasil (continuous), munqati' (broken), mu'allaq
(hanging), mu'dal (perplexing) and mursal (hurried).
l According to the number of reporters involved in each stage of the isnad, e.g. mutawatir
(consecutive) and ahad (isolated), the latter being divided into gharib (scarce, strange), 'aziz (rare,
strong), and mashhur (famous).
l
According to the manner in which the hadith has been reported, such as using the (Arabic) words
'an ("on the authority of"), haddathana ("he narrated to us"), akhbarana (- "he informed us") or
sami'tu ("I heard"). In this category falls the discussion about mudallas (concealed) and musalsal
(uniformly-linked) ahadith. [Note: In the quotation of isnads in the remainder of this book, the
first mode of narration mentioned above will be represented with a single broken line thus: ---.
The three remaining modes of narration mentioned above, which all strongly indicate a clear,
direct transmission of the hadith, are represented by a double line thus: ===.]
l According to the nature of the matn and isnad, e.g. an addition by a reliable reporter, known as
ziyadatu thiqah, or opposition by a lesser authority to a more reliable one, known as shadhdh
(irregular). In some cases, a text containing a vulgar expression, unreasonable remark or
obviously-erroneous statement is rejected by the traditionists outright without consideration of the
isnad: such a hadith is known as munkar (denounced). If an expression or statement is proved to
be an addition by a reporter to the text, it is declared as mudraj (interpolated).
l
According to a hidden defect found in the isnad or text of a hadith. Although this could be
included in some of the previous categories, a hadith mu'allal (defective hadith) is worthy to be
explained separately. The defect can be caused in many ways; e.g. two types of hadith mu'allal are
known as maqlub (overturned) and mudtarib (shaky).
l According to the reliability and memory of the reporters; the final judgment on a hadith depends
crucially on this factor: verdicts such as
sahih (sound), hasan (good), da'if (weak) and
maudu' (fabricated, forged)
rest mainly upon the nature of the reporters in the isnad.
Rijal al-Hadith (the study of the reporters of Hadith)
Mustalah al-Hadith is strongly associated with Rijal al-Hadith (the study of the reporters of hadith). In
scrutinising the reporters of a hadith, authenticating or disparaging remarks made by recognised expertsfrom amongst the Successors and those after them, were found to be of great help. Examples of such
remarks, in descending order of authentication, are:
l "Imam (leader), Hafiz (preserver)."
l "Reliable, trustworthy." l"Makes mistakes." l"Weak." l "Abandoned (by the traditionalists)." l "Liar, used to fabricate ahadith."5
Reporters who have been unanimously described by statements such as the first two may contribute to a
sahih ("sound", see later) isnad. An isnad containing a reporter who is described by the last two
statements is likely to be da'if jiddan (very weak) or maudu' (fabricated). Reporters who are the subject
of statements such as the middle two above will cause the isnad to be da'if (weak), although several of
them relating the same hadith independently will often increase the rank of the hadith to the level of
hasan (good). If the remarks about a particular reporter conflict, a careful verdict has to be arrived at
after in-depth analysis of e.g. the reason given for any disparagement, the weight of each type of
criticism, the relative strictness or leniency of each critic, etc.
The earliest remarks cited in the books of Rijal go back to a host of Successors, followed by those after
them until the period of the six canonical traditionists, a period covering the first three centuries of
Islam. A list of such names is provided by the author in his thesis, Criticism of Hadith among Muslims
with reference to Sunan Ibn Majah, at the end of chapters IV, V and VI.
Among the earliest available works in this field are Tarikh of Ibn Ma'in (d. 233), Tabaqat of Khalifa b.
Khayyat (d. 240), Tarikh of al- Bukhari (d. 256), Kitab al-Jarh wa 'l-Ta'dil of Ibn Abi Hatim (d. 327) and
Tabaqat of Muhammad b. Sa'd (d. 320).
A number of traditionists made efforts specifically for the gathering of information about the reporters
of the five famous collections of hadith, those of al-Bukhari (d. 256), Muslim (d. 261), Abu Dawud (d.
275), al- Tirmidhi (d. 279) and al-Nasa'i (d. 303), giving authenticating and disparaging remarks in
detail. The first major such work to include also the reporters of Ibn Majah (d. 273) is the ten-volume
collection of al-Hafiz 'Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi (d. 600), known as Al-Kamal fi Asma' al-Rijal. Later,
Jamal al-Din Abu 'l-Hajjaj Yusuf b. 'Abd al-Rahman al-Mizzi (d. 742) prepared an edited and abridged
version of this work, punctuated by places and countries of origin of the reporters; he named it Tahdhib
al- Kamal fi Asma' al-Rijal and produced it in twelve volumes. Further, one of al-Mizzi's gifted pupils,
Shams al-Din Abu 'Abdullah Muhammad b. Ahmad b. 'Uthman b. Qa'imaz al- Dhahabi (d. 748),
summarised his shaikh's work and produced two abridgements: a longer one called Tadhhib al-Tahdhib
and a shorter one called Al-Kashif fi Asma' Rijal al-Kutub al- Sittah.
A similar effort with the work of al-Mizzi was made by Ibn Hajar (d. 852), who prepared a lengthy but
abridged version, with about one- third of the original omitted, entitled Tahdhib al-Tahdhib in twelve
shorter volumes. Later, he abridged this further to a relatively-humble two- volume work called Taqrib
al-Tahdhib.
The work of al-Dhahabi was not left unedited; al- Khazraji (Safi al-Din Ahmad b. 'Abdullah, d. after
923) summarised it and also made valuable additions, producing his Khulasah.
A number of similar works deal with either trustworthy reporters only, e.g. Kitab al-Thiqat by al-'Ijli (d.
261) and Tadhkirah al-Huffaz by al-Dhahabi, or with disparaged authorities only, e.g. Kitab al-Du'afa'
wa al-Matrukin by al- Nasa'i and Kitab al-Majruhin by Muhammad b. Hibban al-Busti (d. 354).
Two more works in this field which include a large number of reporters, both authenticated and
disparaged, are Mizan al-I'tidal of al- Dhahabi and Lisan al-Mizan of Ibn Hajar.
SECTION B
THE CLASSIFICATION OF HADITH: According to the reference to a particular
authority
The following principal types of hadith are important:
l Marfu'- "elevated": A narration from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace),
e.g. a reporter (whether a Companion, Successor or other) says, "The Messenger of Allah said ..."
For example, the very first hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari is as follows: Al- Bukhari Al-Humaidi
'Abdullah b. al-Zubair Sufyan Yahya b. Sa'id al-Ansari Muhammad b. Ibrahim al Taymi
'Alqamah
b. Waqqas al-Laithi, who said: I heard 'Umar
b.al Khattab saying,while on the pulpit,"I heard Allah's Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
saying: The reward of deeds depends on the intentions, and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended; so whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration
was for what he migrated."
l Mauquf - "stopped": A narration from a Companion only, i.e. his own statement; e.g. al-Bukhari
reports in his Sahih, in Kitab al-Fara'id (Book of the Laws of Inheritance), that Abu Bakr, Ibn
'Abbas and Ibn al-Zubair said, "The grandfather is (treated like) a father." It should be noted that
certain expressions used by a Companion generally render a hadith to be considered as being
effectively marfu' although it is mauquf on the face of it, e.g. the following: "We were commanded to ..."
"We were forbidden from ..." "We used to do ..." "We used to say/do ... while the Messenger of Allah was amongst us." "We did not use to mind such-and-such..." "It used to be said ..." "It is from the Sunnah to ..."
"It was revealed in the following circumstances: ...", speaking about a verse of the Qur'an.
l Maqtu' - "severed": A narration from a Successor, e.g. Muslim reports in the Introduction to his
Sahih that Ibn Sirin (d. 110) said, "This knowledge (i.e. Hadith) is the Religion, so be careful from
whom you take your religion."
The authenticity of each of the above three types of hadith depends on other factors such as the
reliability of its reporters, the nature of the linkage amongst them, etc. However, the above classification
is extremely useful, since through it the sayings of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) can be distinguished at once from those of Companions or Successors; this is especially helpful
in debate about matters of Fiqh.
Imam Malik's Al-Muwatta', one of the early collections of hadith, contains a relatively even ratio of
these types of hadith, as well as mursal ahadith (which are discussed later). According to Abu Bakr alAbhari
(d.375), Al-Muwatta' contains the following: l 600 marfu' ahadith, l 613 mauquf ahadith,
l 285 maqtu' ahadith, and l 228 mursal ahadith; a total of 1726 ahadith.6
Among other collections, relatively more mauquf and maqtu' ahadith are found in Al-Musannaf of Ibn
Abi Shaibah (d. 235), Al-Musannaf of 'Abd al- Razzaq (d. 211) and the Tafsirs of Ibn Jarir (d. 310), Ibn
Abi Hatim (d. 327) and Ibn al-Mundhir (d. 319).7
THE CLASSIFICATION OF HADITH: According to the links in the isnad
Musnad
Al-Hakim defines a musnad ("supported") hadith as follows: "A hadith which a traditionist reports from
his shaikh from whom he is known to have heard (ahadith) at a time of life suitable for learning, and
similarly in turn for each shaikh, until the isnad reaches a well- known Companion, who in turn reports
from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)."8
By this definition, an ordinary muttasil hadith (i.e. one with an uninterrupted isnad) is excluded if it goes
back only to a Companion or Successor, as is a marfu' hadith which has an interrupted isnad.
Al-Hakim gives the following example of a musnad hadith: We reported from Abu 'Amr 'Uthman b.
Ahmad al-Sammak al-Baghdadi === Al-Hasan b. Mukarram === 'Uthman b. 'Amr === Yunus --- alZuhri
---'Abdullah b. Ka'b b. Malik---his father,who asked Ibn Abi Hadrad for payment of a debt he owed
to him, in the mosque.During the ensuing argument,their voices were raised until heard by the Messenger of
Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who eventually lifted the curtain of his apartment and said,
"O Ka'b! Write off a part of your debt"- he meant remission of half of it.So he agreed, and the man paid him.
He then remarks, "Now, my hearing from Ibn al-Simak is well- known, as is his from Ibn Mukarram; al
Hasan's link with 'Uthman
b.'Amr and the latter's with Yunus b.Zaid are known as well; Yunus is always remembered with al-Zuhri,and
the latter with the sons of Ka'b
b.Malik,whose link to their father and his companionship of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) are well-established."9The term musnad is also applied to those collections of ahadith which give the ahadith of each Companion separately. Among the early compilers of such a Musnad were Yahya b. 'Abd al- Hamid alHimmani (d.228) at Kufah and Musaddad b.Musarhad (d.228) at Basrah.The largest existing collection of ahadith of Companions arranged in this manner is that of Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal (d. 241),
which contains around thirty thousand ahadith.Another larger work is attributed to the famous Andalusian
traditionist Baqi b.Makhlad al-Qurtubi (d.276), but unfortunately it is now untraceable.Mursal, Munqati', Mu'dal, & Mu'allaq If the link between the Successor and the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is missing, the hadith is mursal ("hurried"), e.g. when a Successor says, "The Prophet said ...".
However, if a link anywhere before the Successor (i.e. closer to the traditionist recording the hadith) is
missing, the hadith is munqati' ("broken"). This applies even if there is an apparent link, e.g. an isnad
seems to be muttasil ("continuous") but one of the reporters is known to have never heard ahadith from
his immediate authority, even though he may be his contemporary. The term munqati' is also applied by
some scholars to a narration such as where a reporter says, "a man narrated to me ...", without naming
this authority.10 If the number of consecutive missing reporters in the isnad exceeds one, the isnad is mu'dal
("perplexing"). If the reporter omits the whole isnad and quotes the Prophet, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, directly (i.e. the link is missing at the beginning, unlike the case with a mursal isnad),
the hadith is called mu'allaq ("hanging") - sometimes it is known as balaghah ("to reach"); for example,
Mustalah books speak of a number of classes of hadith in accordance with their status. The following
broad classifications can be made, each of which is explained in the later sections:
l
According to the reference to a particular authority, e.g. the Prophet (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace), a Companion, or a Successor; such ahadith are called marfu' (elevated), mauquf
(stopped) and maqtu' (severed) respectively .
l According to the links in the isnad, i.e. whether the chain of reporters is interrupted or
uninterrupted, e.g. musnad (supported), muttasil (continuous), munqati' (broken), mu'allaq
(hanging), mu'dal (perplexing) and mursal (hurried).
l According to the number of reporters involved in each stage of the isnad, e.g. mutawatir
(consecutive) and ahad (isolated), the latter being divided into gharib (scarce, strange), 'aziz (rare,
strong), and mashhur (famous).
l
According to the manner in which the hadith has been reported, such as using the (Arabic) words
'an ("on the authority of"), haddathana ("he narrated to us"), akhbarana (- "he informed us") or
sami'tu ("I heard"). In this category falls the discussion about mudallas (concealed) and musalsal
(uniformly-linked) ahadith. [Note: In the quotation of isnads in the remainder of this book, the
first mode of narration mentioned above will be represented with a single broken line thus: ---.
The three remaining modes of narration mentioned above, which all strongly indicate a clear,
direct transmission of the hadith, are represented by a double line thus: ===.]
l According to the nature of the matn and isnad, e.g. an addition by a reliable reporter, known as
ziyadatu thiqah, or opposition by a lesser authority to a more reliable one, known as shadhdh
(irregular). In some cases, a text containing a vulgar expression, unreasonable remark or
obviously-erroneous statement is rejected by the traditionists outright without consideration of the
isnad: such a hadith is known as munkar (denounced). If an expression or statement is proved to
be an addition by a reporter to the text, it is declared as mudraj (interpolated).
l
According to a hidden defect found in the isnad or text of a hadith. Although this could be
included in some of the previous categories, a hadith mu'allal (defective hadith) is worthy to be
explained separately. The defect can be caused in many ways; e.g. two types of hadith mu'allal are
known as maqlub (overturned) and mudtarib (shaky).
l According to the reliability and memory of the reporters; the final judgment on a hadith depends
crucially on this factor: verdicts such as
sahih (sound), hasan (good), da'if (weak) and
maudu' (fabricated, forged)
rest mainly upon the nature of the reporters in the isnad.
Rijal al-Hadith (the study of the reporters of Hadith)
Mustalah al-Hadith is strongly associated with Rijal al-Hadith (the study of the reporters of hadith). In
scrutinising the reporters of a hadith, authenticating or disparaging remarks made by recognised expertsfrom amongst the Successors and those after them, were found to be of great help. Examples of such
remarks, in descending order of authentication, are:
l "Imam (leader), Hafiz (preserver)."
l "Reliable, trustworthy." l"Makes mistakes." l"Weak." l "Abandoned (by the traditionalists)." l "Liar, used to fabricate ahadith."5
Reporters who have been unanimously described by statements such as the first two may contribute to a
sahih ("sound", see later) isnad. An isnad containing a reporter who is described by the last two
statements is likely to be da'if jiddan (very weak) or maudu' (fabricated). Reporters who are the subject
of statements such as the middle two above will cause the isnad to be da'if (weak), although several of
them relating the same hadith independently will often increase the rank of the hadith to the level of
hasan (good). If the remarks about a particular reporter conflict, a careful verdict has to be arrived at
after in-depth analysis of e.g. the reason given for any disparagement, the weight of each type of
criticism, the relative strictness or leniency of each critic, etc.
The earliest remarks cited in the books of Rijal go back to a host of Successors, followed by those after
them until the period of the six canonical traditionists, a period covering the first three centuries of
Islam. A list of such names is provided by the author in his thesis, Criticism of Hadith among Muslims
with reference to Sunan Ibn Majah, at the end of chapters IV, V and VI.
Among the earliest available works in this field are Tarikh of Ibn Ma'in (d. 233), Tabaqat of Khalifa b.
Khayyat (d. 240), Tarikh of al- Bukhari (d. 256), Kitab al-Jarh wa 'l-Ta'dil of Ibn Abi Hatim (d. 327) and
Tabaqat of Muhammad b. Sa'd (d. 320).
A number of traditionists made efforts specifically for the gathering of information about the reporters
of the five famous collections of hadith, those of al-Bukhari (d. 256), Muslim (d. 261), Abu Dawud (d.
275), al- Tirmidhi (d. 279) and al-Nasa'i (d. 303), giving authenticating and disparaging remarks in
detail. The first major such work to include also the reporters of Ibn Majah (d. 273) is the ten-volume
collection of al-Hafiz 'Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi (d. 600), known as Al-Kamal fi Asma' al-Rijal. Later,
Jamal al-Din Abu 'l-Hajjaj Yusuf b. 'Abd al-Rahman al-Mizzi (d. 742) prepared an edited and abridged
version of this work, punctuated by places and countries of origin of the reporters; he named it Tahdhib
al- Kamal fi Asma' al-Rijal and produced it in twelve volumes. Further, one of al-Mizzi's gifted pupils,
Shams al-Din Abu 'Abdullah Muhammad b. Ahmad b. 'Uthman b. Qa'imaz al- Dhahabi (d. 748),
summarised his shaikh's work and produced two abridgements: a longer one called Tadhhib al-Tahdhib
and a shorter one called Al-Kashif fi Asma' Rijal al-Kutub al- Sittah.
A similar effort with the work of al-Mizzi was made by Ibn Hajar (d. 852), who prepared a lengthy but
abridged version, with about one- third of the original omitted, entitled Tahdhib al-Tahdhib in twelve
shorter volumes. Later, he abridged this further to a relatively-humble two- volume work called Taqrib
al-Tahdhib.
The work of al-Dhahabi was not left unedited; al- Khazraji (Safi al-Din Ahmad b. 'Abdullah, d. after
923) summarised it and also made valuable additions, producing his Khulasah.
A number of similar works deal with either trustworthy reporters only, e.g. Kitab al-Thiqat by al-'Ijli (d.
261) and Tadhkirah al-Huffaz by al-Dhahabi, or with disparaged authorities only, e.g. Kitab al-Du'afa'
wa al-Matrukin by al- Nasa'i and Kitab al-Majruhin by Muhammad b. Hibban al-Busti (d. 354).
Two more works in this field which include a large number of reporters, both authenticated and
disparaged, are Mizan al-I'tidal of al- Dhahabi and Lisan al-Mizan of Ibn Hajar.
SECTION B
THE CLASSIFICATION OF HADITH: According to the reference to a particular
authority
The following principal types of hadith are important:
l Marfu'- "elevated": A narration from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace),
e.g. a reporter (whether a Companion, Successor or other) says, "The Messenger of Allah said ..."
For example, the very first hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari is as follows: Al- Bukhari Al-Humaidi
'Abdullah b. al-Zubair Sufyan Yahya b. Sa'id al-Ansari Muhammad b. Ibrahim al Taymi
'Alqamah
b. Waqqas al-Laithi, who said: I heard 'Umar
b.al Khattab saying,while on the pulpit,"I heard Allah's Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
saying: The reward of deeds depends on the intentions, and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended; so whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration
was for what he migrated."
l Mauquf - "stopped": A narration from a Companion only, i.e. his own statement; e.g. al-Bukhari
reports in his Sahih, in Kitab al-Fara'id (Book of the Laws of Inheritance), that Abu Bakr, Ibn
'Abbas and Ibn al-Zubair said, "The grandfather is (treated like) a father." It should be noted that
certain expressions used by a Companion generally render a hadith to be considered as being
effectively marfu' although it is mauquf on the face of it, e.g. the following: "We were commanded to ..."
"We were forbidden from ..." "We used to do ..." "We used to say/do ... while the Messenger of Allah was amongst us." "We did not use to mind such-and-such..." "It used to be said ..." "It is from the Sunnah to ..."
"It was revealed in the following circumstances: ...", speaking about a verse of the Qur'an.
l Maqtu' - "severed": A narration from a Successor, e.g. Muslim reports in the Introduction to his
Sahih that Ibn Sirin (d. 110) said, "This knowledge (i.e. Hadith) is the Religion, so be careful from
whom you take your religion."
The authenticity of each of the above three types of hadith depends on other factors such as the
reliability of its reporters, the nature of the linkage amongst them, etc. However, the above classification
is extremely useful, since through it the sayings of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) can be distinguished at once from those of Companions or Successors; this is especially helpful
in debate about matters of Fiqh.
Imam Malik's Al-Muwatta', one of the early collections of hadith, contains a relatively even ratio of
these types of hadith, as well as mursal ahadith (which are discussed later). According to Abu Bakr alAbhari
(d.375), Al-Muwatta' contains the following: l 600 marfu' ahadith, l 613 mauquf ahadith,
l 285 maqtu' ahadith, and l 228 mursal ahadith; a total of 1726 ahadith.6
Among other collections, relatively more mauquf and maqtu' ahadith are found in Al-Musannaf of Ibn
Abi Shaibah (d. 235), Al-Musannaf of 'Abd al- Razzaq (d. 211) and the Tafsirs of Ibn Jarir (d. 310), Ibn
Abi Hatim (d. 327) and Ibn al-Mundhir (d. 319).7
THE CLASSIFICATION OF HADITH: According to the links in the isnad
Musnad
Al-Hakim defines a musnad ("supported") hadith as follows: "A hadith which a traditionist reports from
his shaikh from whom he is known to have heard (ahadith) at a time of life suitable for learning, and
similarly in turn for each shaikh, until the isnad reaches a well- known Companion, who in turn reports
from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)."8
By this definition, an ordinary muttasil hadith (i.e. one with an uninterrupted isnad) is excluded if it goes
back only to a Companion or Successor, as is a marfu' hadith which has an interrupted isnad.
Al-Hakim gives the following example of a musnad hadith: We reported from Abu 'Amr 'Uthman b.
Ahmad al-Sammak al-Baghdadi === Al-Hasan b. Mukarram === 'Uthman b. 'Amr === Yunus --- alZuhri
---'Abdullah b. Ka'b b. Malik---his father,who asked Ibn Abi Hadrad for payment of a debt he owed
to him, in the mosque.During the ensuing argument,their voices were raised until heard by the Messenger of
Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who eventually lifted the curtain of his apartment and said,
"O Ka'b! Write off a part of your debt"- he meant remission of half of it.So he agreed, and the man paid him.
He then remarks, "Now, my hearing from Ibn al-Simak is well- known, as is his from Ibn Mukarram; al
Hasan's link with 'Uthman
b.'Amr and the latter's with Yunus b.Zaid are known as well; Yunus is always remembered with al-Zuhri,and
the latter with the sons of Ka'b
b.Malik,whose link to their father and his companionship of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) are well-established."9The term musnad is also applied to those collections of ahadith which give the ahadith of each Companion separately. Among the early compilers of such a Musnad were Yahya b. 'Abd al- Hamid alHimmani (d.228) at Kufah and Musaddad b.Musarhad (d.228) at Basrah.The largest existing collection of ahadith of Companions arranged in this manner is that of Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal (d. 241),
which contains around thirty thousand ahadith.Another larger work is attributed to the famous Andalusian
traditionist Baqi b.Makhlad al-Qurtubi (d.276), but unfortunately it is now untraceable.Mursal, Munqati', Mu'dal, & Mu'allaq If the link between the Successor and the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is missing, the hadith is mursal ("hurried"), e.g. when a Successor says, "The Prophet said ...".
However, if a link anywhere before the Successor (i.e. closer to the traditionist recording the hadith) is
missing, the hadith is munqati' ("broken"). This applies even if there is an apparent link, e.g. an isnad
seems to be muttasil ("continuous") but one of the reporters is known to have never heard ahadith from
his immediate authority, even though he may be his contemporary. The term munqati' is also applied by
some scholars to a narration such as where a reporter says, "a man narrated to me ...", without naming
this authority.10 If the number of consecutive missing reporters in the isnad exceeds one, the isnad is mu'dal
("perplexing"). If the reporter omits the whole isnad and quotes the Prophet, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, directly (i.e. the link is missing at the beginning, unlike the case with a mursal isnad),
the hadith is called mu'allaq ("hanging") - sometimes it is known as balaghah ("to reach"); for example,
No comments:
Post a Comment