Imam Malik sometimes says in Al-Muwatta', "It reached me that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace) said ..."
Example of a munqati' hadith
Al-Hakim reported from Muhammad b. Mus'ab al- Auza'i Shaddad Abu 'Ammar Umm al Fadl bint al-Harith,who said: I came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and said,"I
have seen in a vision last night as if a part of your body was cut out and placed in my
lap."He said,"You have seen something good.Allah Willing,Fatimah will give birth to a lad who will be in your
lap."After that,Fatimah gave birth to al-Husain,who used to be in my lap,in accordance with the statement of
the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). One day, I came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah blesshim and grant him peace) and placed al-Husain in his lap.I noticed that both his eyes were shedding tears.He said,"Jibril came to me and told me that my Ummah will kill this son of mine,and he brought me some of the reddish dust of that place (where he will be killed)."
Al-Hakim said, "This is a sahih hadith according to the conditions of the Two Shaykhs (i.e. Bukhari &
Muslim), but they did not collect it." Al-Dhahabi says, "No, the hadith is munqati' and da'if, because
Shaddad never met Umm al-Fadl and Muhammad b. Mus'ab is weak."11
Example of a mu'dal hadith
Ibn Abi Hatim === Ja'far b. Ahmad b. al-Hakam Al- Qurashi in the year 254 === Sulaiman b. Mansur
b. 'Ammar === 'Ali b. 'Asim --- Sa'id --- Qatadah --- Ubayy b. Ka'b, who reported that the Messenger of
Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, "After Adam had tasted from the tree, he ran
away, but the tree caught his hair. It was proclaimed: O Adam! Are you running away from Me? He
said: No, but I feel ashamed before You. He said: O Adam! Go away from My neighbourhood, for By
My Honour, no-one who disobeys Me can live here near Me; even if I were to create people like you
numbering enough to fill the earth and they were to disobey Me, I would make them live in a home of
sinners."
Ibn Kathir remarks, "This is a gharib hadith. There is inqita', in fact i'dal, between Qatadah and Ubayy b.
Ka'b, may Allah be pleased with them both."12
Authenticity of the Mursal Hadith
There has been a great deal of discussion amongst the scholars regarding the authenticity of the Mursal
Hadith (pl. Marasil), since it is quite probable that a Successor might have omitted two names, those of
an elder Successor and a Companion, rather than just one name, that of a Companion.
If the Successor is known to have omitted the name of a Companion only, then the hadith is held to be
authentic, for a Successor can only report from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
through a Companion; the omission of the name of the Companion does not affect the authenticity of the
isnad since all Companions are held to be trustworthy and reliable, by both Qur'anic injunctions and
sayings of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).
However, opinions vary in the case where the Successor might have omitted the names of two
authorities (since not all the Successors were reliable in matters of Hadith). For example, two widely differing
positions on this issue are:1.the Marasil of elder Successors such as Sa'id b. al-Musayyab (d. 94) and 'Ata' b. Abi Rabah (d.
114) are acceptable because all their Marasil, after investigation, are found to come through the
Companions only. However, the Marasil of younger Successors are only acceptable if the names
of their immediate authorities are known through other sources; if not, they are rejected outright.
2.the Marasil of Successors and those who report from them are acceptable without any
investigation at all. This opinion is supported by the Kufi school of traditionists, but is severely
attacked by the majority.
To be precise in this issue, let us investigate in detail the various opinions regarding the Mursal Hadith:
1.The opinion held by Imam Malik and all Maliki jurists is that the Mursal of a trustworthy person
is valid as proof and as justification for a practice, just like a musnad hadith.13
This view has been
developed to such an extreme that to some of them, the mursal is even better than the musnad,
based on the following reasoning: "the one who reports a musnad hadith leaves you with the
names of the reporters for further investigation and scrutiny, whereas the one who narrates by way
of Irsal, being a knowledgeable and trustworthy person himself, has already done so and found the
hadith to be sound. In fact, he saves you from further research."14
2.Imam Abu Hanifah (d. 150) holds the same opinion as Malik; he accepts the Mursal Hadith
whether or not it is supported by another hadith.15
3.Imam al-Shafi'i (d. 204) has discussed this issue in detail in his al-Risalah; he requires the
following conditions to be met before accepting a mursal hadith:
1.In the narrative, he requires that one of the following conditions be met: that it be reported
also as musnad through another isnad; that its contents be reported as mursal through
another reliable source with a different isnad; that the meaning be supported by the sayings
of some Companions; or that most scholars hold the same opinion as conveyed by the
mursal hadith.
2.Regarding the narrator, he requires that one of the following conditions be met: that he be
an elder Successor; that if he names the person missing in the isnad elsewhere, he does not
usually name an unknown person or someone not suitable for reporting from acceptably; or
that he does not contradict a reliable person when he happens to share with him in a
narration.16
On the basis of these arguments, al-Shafi'i accepts the Irsal of Sa'id b. al-Musayyab, one of the
elder Successors. For example, al- Shafi'i considers the issue of selling meat in exchange for a
living animal: he says that Malik told him, reporting from Zaid b. Aslam, who reported from Ibn
al-Musayyab that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) forbade the
selling of meat in exchange for an animal. He then says, "This is our opinion, for the Irsal of Ibn
al-Musayyib is fine."17
4.Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal (d. 241) accepts mursal and (other) da'if (weak) ahadith if nothing
opposing them is found regarding a particular issue, preferring them to qiyas (analogical
deduction). By da'if here is meant ahadith which are not severely weak, e.g. batil, munkar, or
maudu', since Imam Ahmad classified ahadith into sahih and da'if rather than into sahih, hasan and
da'if, the preference of most later traditionists. Hence, the category da'if in his view applied to
ahadith which were relatively close to being sahih, and included many ahadith which were classed
as hasan by other scholars.18 Overlooking this fact has caused misunderstanding about Imam
Ahmad's view on the place of da'if ahadith in rulings of Fiqh and in matters of Fada'il al-A'mal
(virtues of various acts of worship).
5.Ibn Hazm (d. 456) rejects the Mursal Hadith outright; he says that the Mursal is unacceptable,
whether it comes through Sa'id b. al-Musayyib or al-Hasan al-Basri. To him, even the Mursal which comes through someone who was not well-known to be amongst the Companions would be
unacceptable.19
6.Abu Dawud (d . 275) accepts the Mursal under two conditions: that no musnad hadith is found
regarding that issue; or that if a musnad hadith is found, it is not contradicted by the mursal
hadith.20
7.
Ibn Abi Hatim (d. 327) does not give a specific opinion about the Mursal Hadith. However, he did
collect an anthology of 469 reporters of hadith, including four female reporters, whose narratives
were subjected to criticism due to Irsal. This collection is known as Kitab al-Marasil.
8.Al-Hakim (d. 405) is extremely reluctant to accept the Mursal Hadith except in the case of elder
Successors. He holds, on the basis of the Qur'an, that knowledge is based on what is heard
(directly), not on what is reported (indirectly). In this regard, he quotes Yazid b. Harun who asked
Hammad b. Laith: "O Abu Isma'il! Did Allah mention the Ahl al-Hadith (scholars of Hadith) in
the Qur'an?" He replied, "Yes! Did you not hear the saying of Allah,
If a party from every
expedition remained behind, they 21
could devote themselves to studies in religion and
admonish the people when they return to them, that thus they may guard themselves
(against evil)' (Qur'an, 9:l22).
This concerns those who set off to seek knowledge, and then
return to those who remained behind in order to teach them."22
Al-Hakim then remarks, "This
verse shows that the acceptable knowledge is the one which is being heard, not just received by
way of Irsal."23
9.Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 462) strongly supports the view of those who reject the Mursal except
if it comes through an elder Successor. He concludes, after giving a perusal of different opinions
about this issue, "What we select out of these sayings is that the Mursal is not to be practised, nor
is it acceptable as proof. We say that Irsal leads to one reporter being ambiguous; if he is
ambiguous, to ascertain his reliability is impossible. We have already explained that a narration is
only acceptable if it comes through a reporter known for reliability. Hence, the Mursal should not
be accepted at all."24
Al-Khatib gives the following example, showing that a narrative which has been reported through
both musnad and mursal isnads is acceptable, not because of the reliability of those who narrated
it by way of Irsal but because of an uninterrupted isnad, even though it contains less reliable
reporters:
The text of the hadith is: "No marriage is valid except by the consent of the guardian"; al- Khatib
gives two isnads going back to Shu'bah and Sufyan al-Thauri; the remainder of each isnad is:
Sufyan al-Thauri and Shu'bah --- Abu Ishaq --- Abu Burdah --- the Prophet.
This isnad is mursal because Abu Burdah, a Successor, narrates directly from the Prophet (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace). However, alKhatib
further gives three isnads going back to Yunus
b.Abi Ishaq, Isra'il
b. Yunus and Qais
b.al-Rabi';the remainder of the first isnad is:Yunus b.Abi Ishaq Abu Ishaq Abu Burdah Abu Musa the Prophet.The other two reporters narrate similarly, both of them including the name of Abu Musa, the
Companion from whom Abu Burdah has reported. Al-Khatib goes on to prove that both al-Thaurand Shu'bah heard this hadith from Abu Ishaq in one sitting while the other three reporters heard it in different sittings.Hence, this addition of Abu Musa in the isnad is quite acceptable.25
10.Ibn al-Salah (d. 643) agrees with al-Shafi'i in rejecting the Mursal Hadith unless it is proved to
have come through a musnad route.26
11.Ibn Taimiyyah (d. 728) classifies Mursal into three categories. He says, "There are some
acceptable, others unacceptable, and some which require further investigation: if it is known that
the reporter does so (i.e. narrates by Irsal) from reliable authorities, then his report will be
accepted; if he does so from both classes of authorities, i.e. reliable and unreliable, we shall not
accept his narration (on its own, without further investigation), for he is narrating from someone
whose reliability is unknown; all such mursal ahadith which go against the reports made by
reliable authorities will be rejected completely."27
12. Al-Dhahabi (d. 748) regards the Mursal of younger Successors such as al-Hasan al-Basri, al- Zuhri, Qatadah and Humaid al-Tawil as the weakest type of Mursal.28
Later scholars such as Ibn Kathir (d. 744), al- 'Iraqi (d. 806), Ibn Hajar (d. 852), al-Suyuti (d. 911),
Muhammad b. Ibrahim al-Wazir (d. 840), Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi (d. 1332) and Tahir al- Jaza'iri (d.
1338) have given exhaustive discussions about this issue, but none of them holds an opinion different to
those mentioned above. THE CLASSIFICATION OF HADITH: According to the number of reporters
involved in each stage of the isnad
Mutawatir & Ahad
Depending on the number of the reporters of the hadith in each stage of the isnad, i.e. in each generation
of reporters, it can be classified into the general categories of mutawatir ("consecutive") or ahad
("single") hadith. A mutawatir hadith is one which is reported by such a large number of people that
they cannot be expected to agree upon a lie, all of them together.29
Al-Ghazali (d. 505) stipulates that a mutawatir narration be known by the sizeable number of its
reporters equally in the beginning, in the middle and at the end.30 He is correct in this stipulation
because some narrations or ideas, although known as mutawatir among some people, whether Muslims
or non-Muslims, originally have no tawatur. There is no precise definition for a "large number of
reporters"; although the numbers four, five, seven, ten, twelve, forty and seventy, among others, have all
been variously suggested as a minimum, the exact number is irrelevant (some reporters, e.g. Imams of
Hadith, carry more weight anyway than others who are their contemporaries): the important condition is
that the possibility of coincidence or "organised falsehood" be obviously negligible.31
Examples of mutawatir practices are the five daily prayers, fasting, zakat, the Hajj and recitation of the
Qur'an. Among the verbal mutawatir ahadith, the following has been reported by at least sixty-two
Companions from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and has been widely-known
amongst the Muslims throughout the ages: "Whoever invents a lie and attributes it to me intentionally,
let him prepare his seat in the Fire."
Ahadith related to the description of the Haud Kauthar (the Basin of Abundant Goodness) in the
Hereafter, raising the hands at certain postures during prayer, rubbing wet hands on the leather socks
during ablution, revelation of the Qur'an in seven modes, and the prohibition of every intoxicant are
further examples of verbal mutawatir ahadith.32
A hadith ahad or khabar wahid is one which is narrated by people whose number does not reach that of
the mutawatir case. Ahad is further classified into:
Gharib, 'Aziz & Mashhur
A hadith is termed gharib ("scarce, strange") when only a single reporter is found relating it at some
stage of the isnad. For example, the saying of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace),
"Travel is a piece of punishment" is gharib; the isnad of this hadith contains only one reporter in each
stage: Malik --- Yahya b. Abi Salih --- Abu Hurairah --the Prophet (may Allah him and grant him peace). With regard to its isnad, this hadith is sahih, although most gharib ahadith are weak; Ahmad
b.Hanbal said, "Do not write these gharib ahadith because they are unacceptable, and most of them are weak."33
A type of hadith similar to gharib is fard ("solitary"); it is known in three ways:
1.similar to gharib, i.e. a single person is found reporting it from a well-known Imam;
2.the people of one locality only are known to narrate the hadith;
3.narrators from one locality report the hadith from narrators of another locality, such as the people
of Makkah reporting from the people of Madinah.34 If at any stage in the isnad, only two reporters are found to narrate the hadith, it is termed 'aziz ("rare,
strong"). For example, Anas reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) said, "None of you (truly) believes until I become more beloved to him than his father, his son,
and all the people."
Two reporters, Qatadah and 'Abdul 'Aziz b. Shu'aib, report this hadith from Anas, and two more
reporters narrate from each of them: Shu'bah and Sa'id report from Qatada, and Isma'il b. Ulayyah and
'Abd al-Warith from 'Abd al-'Aziz; then a group of people report from each of them.35
A hadith which is reported by more than two reporters is known as mashhur ("famous"). According to
some scholars, every narrative which comes to be known widely, whether or not it has an authentic
origin, is called mashhur. A mashhur hadith might be reported by only one or two reporters in the
beginnning but become widely-known later, unlike gharib or 'aziz, which are reported by one or two
reporters in the beginning and continue to have the same number even in the times of the Successors and
those after them. For example, if only one or two reporters are found narrating hadith from a reliable
authority in Hadith such as al-Zuhri and Qatadah, the hadith will remain either gharib or 'aziz. On the
other hand, if a group of people narrate from them, it will be known as mashhur.36
According to al-'Ala'i (Abu Sa'id Khalil Salah al-Din, d. 761), a hadith may be known as 'aziz and
mashhur at the same time. By this he means a hadith which is left with only two reporters in its isnad at
any stage while it enjoys a host of reporters in other stages, such as the saying of the Prophet (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace), "We are the last but (will be) the foremost on the Day of Resurrection."
This hadith is 'aziz in its first stage, as it is reported by Hudhaifah b. al-Yaman and Abu Hurairah only.
It later becomes mashhur as seven people report it from Abu Hurairah.37 THE CLASSIFICATION OF HADITH: According to the manner in which the hadith
is reported
Mudallas hadith & Tadlis
Different ways of reporting, e.g. (he narrated to us), (he informed us), (I heard), and (on the authority of)
are used by the reporters of hadith. The first three indicate that the reporter personally heard from his
shaikh, whereas the fourth mode can denote either hearing in person or through another reporter.
A mudallas ("concealed") hadith is one which is weak due to the uncertainty caused by tadlis. Tadlis
(concealing) refers to an isnad where a reporter has concealed the identity of his shaikh. Ibn al-Salah
describes two types of tadlis:
1.
tadlis al-isnad.
A person reports from his shaikh whom he met, what he did not hear from him, or
from a contemporary of his whom he did not meet, in such a way as to create the impression that
he heard the hadith in person. A mudallis (one who practises tadlis) here usually uses the mode
("on the authority of") or ("he said") to conceal the truth about the isnad.
2.
tadlis al-shuyukh.
The reporter does mention his shaikh by name, but uses a less well-known
name, by-name, nickname etc., in order not to disclose his shaikh's identity.38
Al-'Iraqi (d. 806), in his notes on Muqaddimah Ibn al-Salah, adds a third type of tadlis:
3.
tadlis al-taswiyyah.
To explain it, let us assume an isnad which contains a trustworthy shaikh
reporting from a weak authority, who in turn reports from another trustworthy shaikh. Now, the
reporter of this isnad omits the intermediate weak authority, leaving it apparently consisting of
reliable authorities. He plainly shows that he heard it from his shaikh but he uses the mode "on the
authority of" to link his immediate shaikh with the next trustworthy one. To an average student,
this isnad seems free of any doubt or discrepancy. This is known to have been practised by
Baqiyyah b. al-Walid, Walid b. Muslim, al-A'mash and al Thauri. It is said to be the worst among the three kinds of tadlis.39
Ibn Hajar classifies those who practised tadlis into five categories in his essay Tabaqat al- Mudallisin:
l Those who are known to do it occasionally, such as Yahya b. Sa'id al-Ansari.
l Those who are accepted by the traditionists, either because of their good reputation and relatively
few cases of tadlis, e.g. Sufyan al-Thauri (d. 161), or because they reported from authentic
authorities only, e.g. Sufyan Ibn 'Uyainah (d. 198).
l Those who practised it a great deal, and the traditionists have accepted such ahadith from them
which were reported with a clear mention of hearing directly. Among these are Abu 'l- Zubair alMakki,
whose ahadith narrated from the Companion Jabir
b.'Abdullah have been collected in Sahih Muslim.differ regarding whether they are acceptable or not.
l Similar to the previous category, but the traditionalists agree that their ahadith are to be rejected
unless they clearly admit of their hearing, such as by saying "I heard"; an example of this category
is Baqiyyah b. al- Walid.
l Those who are disparaged due to another reason apart from tadlis; their ahadith are rejected, even
though they admit of hearing them directly. Exempted from them are reporters such as Ibn
Lahi'ah, the famous Egyptian judge, whose weakness is found to be of a lesser degree. Ibn Hajar
gives the names of 152 such reporters.40
Tadlis, especially of those in the last three categories, is so disliked that Shu'bah (d. 170) said, "Tadlis is
the brother of lying" and "To commit adultery is more favourable to me than to report by way of
Tadlis."41
Musalsal
A musalsal (uniformly-linked) isnad is one in which all the reporters, as well as the Prophet (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace), use the same mode of transmission such as 'an, haddathana, etc., repeat
any other additional statement or remark, or act in a particular manner while narrating the hadith.
Al-Hakim gives eight examples of such isnads, each having a different characteristic repeated feature:
l use of the phrase sami'tu (I heard);
l the expression "stand and pour water for me so that I may illustrate the way my shaikh performed
ablution";
l haddad ana (he narrated to us);
l marani (he commanded me);
l holding one's beard;
l illustrating by counting on five fingers;
l the expression "I testify that ..."; and
l interlocking the fingers.42
Knowledge of musalsal helps in discounting the possibility of tadlis.
bless him and grant him peace) said ..."
Example of a munqati' hadith
Al-Hakim reported from Muhammad b. Mus'ab al- Auza'i Shaddad Abu 'Ammar Umm al Fadl bint al-Harith,who said: I came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and said,"I
have seen in a vision last night as if a part of your body was cut out and placed in my
lap."He said,"You have seen something good.Allah Willing,Fatimah will give birth to a lad who will be in your
lap."After that,Fatimah gave birth to al-Husain,who used to be in my lap,in accordance with the statement of
the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). One day, I came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah blesshim and grant him peace) and placed al-Husain in his lap.I noticed that both his eyes were shedding tears.He said,"Jibril came to me and told me that my Ummah will kill this son of mine,and he brought me some of the reddish dust of that place (where he will be killed)."
Al-Hakim said, "This is a sahih hadith according to the conditions of the Two Shaykhs (i.e. Bukhari &
Muslim), but they did not collect it." Al-Dhahabi says, "No, the hadith is munqati' and da'if, because
Shaddad never met Umm al-Fadl and Muhammad b. Mus'ab is weak."11
Example of a mu'dal hadith
Ibn Abi Hatim === Ja'far b. Ahmad b. al-Hakam Al- Qurashi in the year 254 === Sulaiman b. Mansur
b. 'Ammar === 'Ali b. 'Asim --- Sa'id --- Qatadah --- Ubayy b. Ka'b, who reported that the Messenger of
Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, "After Adam had tasted from the tree, he ran
away, but the tree caught his hair. It was proclaimed: O Adam! Are you running away from Me? He
said: No, but I feel ashamed before You. He said: O Adam! Go away from My neighbourhood, for By
My Honour, no-one who disobeys Me can live here near Me; even if I were to create people like you
numbering enough to fill the earth and they were to disobey Me, I would make them live in a home of
sinners."
Ibn Kathir remarks, "This is a gharib hadith. There is inqita', in fact i'dal, between Qatadah and Ubayy b.
Ka'b, may Allah be pleased with them both."12
Authenticity of the Mursal Hadith
There has been a great deal of discussion amongst the scholars regarding the authenticity of the Mursal
Hadith (pl. Marasil), since it is quite probable that a Successor might have omitted two names, those of
an elder Successor and a Companion, rather than just one name, that of a Companion.
If the Successor is known to have omitted the name of a Companion only, then the hadith is held to be
authentic, for a Successor can only report from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
through a Companion; the omission of the name of the Companion does not affect the authenticity of the
isnad since all Companions are held to be trustworthy and reliable, by both Qur'anic injunctions and
sayings of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).
However, opinions vary in the case where the Successor might have omitted the names of two
authorities (since not all the Successors were reliable in matters of Hadith). For example, two widely differing
positions on this issue are:1.the Marasil of elder Successors such as Sa'id b. al-Musayyab (d. 94) and 'Ata' b. Abi Rabah (d.
114) are acceptable because all their Marasil, after investigation, are found to come through the
Companions only. However, the Marasil of younger Successors are only acceptable if the names
of their immediate authorities are known through other sources; if not, they are rejected outright.
2.the Marasil of Successors and those who report from them are acceptable without any
investigation at all. This opinion is supported by the Kufi school of traditionists, but is severely
attacked by the majority.
To be precise in this issue, let us investigate in detail the various opinions regarding the Mursal Hadith:
1.The opinion held by Imam Malik and all Maliki jurists is that the Mursal of a trustworthy person
is valid as proof and as justification for a practice, just like a musnad hadith.13
This view has been
developed to such an extreme that to some of them, the mursal is even better than the musnad,
based on the following reasoning: "the one who reports a musnad hadith leaves you with the
names of the reporters for further investigation and scrutiny, whereas the one who narrates by way
of Irsal, being a knowledgeable and trustworthy person himself, has already done so and found the
hadith to be sound. In fact, he saves you from further research."14
2.Imam Abu Hanifah (d. 150) holds the same opinion as Malik; he accepts the Mursal Hadith
whether or not it is supported by another hadith.15
3.Imam al-Shafi'i (d. 204) has discussed this issue in detail in his al-Risalah; he requires the
following conditions to be met before accepting a mursal hadith:
1.In the narrative, he requires that one of the following conditions be met: that it be reported
also as musnad through another isnad; that its contents be reported as mursal through
another reliable source with a different isnad; that the meaning be supported by the sayings
of some Companions; or that most scholars hold the same opinion as conveyed by the
mursal hadith.
2.Regarding the narrator, he requires that one of the following conditions be met: that he be
an elder Successor; that if he names the person missing in the isnad elsewhere, he does not
usually name an unknown person or someone not suitable for reporting from acceptably; or
that he does not contradict a reliable person when he happens to share with him in a
narration.16
On the basis of these arguments, al-Shafi'i accepts the Irsal of Sa'id b. al-Musayyab, one of the
elder Successors. For example, al- Shafi'i considers the issue of selling meat in exchange for a
living animal: he says that Malik told him, reporting from Zaid b. Aslam, who reported from Ibn
al-Musayyab that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) forbade the
selling of meat in exchange for an animal. He then says, "This is our opinion, for the Irsal of Ibn
al-Musayyib is fine."17
4.Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal (d. 241) accepts mursal and (other) da'if (weak) ahadith if nothing
opposing them is found regarding a particular issue, preferring them to qiyas (analogical
deduction). By da'if here is meant ahadith which are not severely weak, e.g. batil, munkar, or
maudu', since Imam Ahmad classified ahadith into sahih and da'if rather than into sahih, hasan and
da'if, the preference of most later traditionists. Hence, the category da'if in his view applied to
ahadith which were relatively close to being sahih, and included many ahadith which were classed
as hasan by other scholars.18 Overlooking this fact has caused misunderstanding about Imam
Ahmad's view on the place of da'if ahadith in rulings of Fiqh and in matters of Fada'il al-A'mal
(virtues of various acts of worship).
5.Ibn Hazm (d. 456) rejects the Mursal Hadith outright; he says that the Mursal is unacceptable,
whether it comes through Sa'id b. al-Musayyib or al-Hasan al-Basri. To him, even the Mursal which comes through someone who was not well-known to be amongst the Companions would be
unacceptable.19
6.Abu Dawud (d . 275) accepts the Mursal under two conditions: that no musnad hadith is found
regarding that issue; or that if a musnad hadith is found, it is not contradicted by the mursal
hadith.20
7.
Ibn Abi Hatim (d. 327) does not give a specific opinion about the Mursal Hadith. However, he did
collect an anthology of 469 reporters of hadith, including four female reporters, whose narratives
were subjected to criticism due to Irsal. This collection is known as Kitab al-Marasil.
8.Al-Hakim (d. 405) is extremely reluctant to accept the Mursal Hadith except in the case of elder
Successors. He holds, on the basis of the Qur'an, that knowledge is based on what is heard
(directly), not on what is reported (indirectly). In this regard, he quotes Yazid b. Harun who asked
Hammad b. Laith: "O Abu Isma'il! Did Allah mention the Ahl al-Hadith (scholars of Hadith) in
the Qur'an?" He replied, "Yes! Did you not hear the saying of Allah,
If a party from every
expedition remained behind, they 21
could devote themselves to studies in religion and
admonish the people when they return to them, that thus they may guard themselves
(against evil)' (Qur'an, 9:l22).
This concerns those who set off to seek knowledge, and then
return to those who remained behind in order to teach them."22
Al-Hakim then remarks, "This
verse shows that the acceptable knowledge is the one which is being heard, not just received by
way of Irsal."23
9.Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 462) strongly supports the view of those who reject the Mursal except
if it comes through an elder Successor. He concludes, after giving a perusal of different opinions
about this issue, "What we select out of these sayings is that the Mursal is not to be practised, nor
is it acceptable as proof. We say that Irsal leads to one reporter being ambiguous; if he is
ambiguous, to ascertain his reliability is impossible. We have already explained that a narration is
only acceptable if it comes through a reporter known for reliability. Hence, the Mursal should not
be accepted at all."24
Al-Khatib gives the following example, showing that a narrative which has been reported through
both musnad and mursal isnads is acceptable, not because of the reliability of those who narrated
it by way of Irsal but because of an uninterrupted isnad, even though it contains less reliable
reporters:
The text of the hadith is: "No marriage is valid except by the consent of the guardian"; al- Khatib
gives two isnads going back to Shu'bah and Sufyan al-Thauri; the remainder of each isnad is:
Sufyan al-Thauri and Shu'bah --- Abu Ishaq --- Abu Burdah --- the Prophet.
This isnad is mursal because Abu Burdah, a Successor, narrates directly from the Prophet (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace). However, alKhatib
further gives three isnads going back to Yunus
b.Abi Ishaq, Isra'il
b. Yunus and Qais
b.al-Rabi';the remainder of the first isnad is:Yunus b.Abi Ishaq Abu Ishaq Abu Burdah Abu Musa the Prophet.The other two reporters narrate similarly, both of them including the name of Abu Musa, the
Companion from whom Abu Burdah has reported. Al-Khatib goes on to prove that both al-Thaurand Shu'bah heard this hadith from Abu Ishaq in one sitting while the other three reporters heard it in different sittings.Hence, this addition of Abu Musa in the isnad is quite acceptable.25
10.Ibn al-Salah (d. 643) agrees with al-Shafi'i in rejecting the Mursal Hadith unless it is proved to
have come through a musnad route.26
11.Ibn Taimiyyah (d. 728) classifies Mursal into three categories. He says, "There are some
acceptable, others unacceptable, and some which require further investigation: if it is known that
the reporter does so (i.e. narrates by Irsal) from reliable authorities, then his report will be
accepted; if he does so from both classes of authorities, i.e. reliable and unreliable, we shall not
accept his narration (on its own, without further investigation), for he is narrating from someone
whose reliability is unknown; all such mursal ahadith which go against the reports made by
reliable authorities will be rejected completely."27
12. Al-Dhahabi (d. 748) regards the Mursal of younger Successors such as al-Hasan al-Basri, al- Zuhri, Qatadah and Humaid al-Tawil as the weakest type of Mursal.28
Later scholars such as Ibn Kathir (d. 744), al- 'Iraqi (d. 806), Ibn Hajar (d. 852), al-Suyuti (d. 911),
Muhammad b. Ibrahim al-Wazir (d. 840), Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi (d. 1332) and Tahir al- Jaza'iri (d.
1338) have given exhaustive discussions about this issue, but none of them holds an opinion different to
those mentioned above. THE CLASSIFICATION OF HADITH: According to the number of reporters
involved in each stage of the isnad
Mutawatir & Ahad
Depending on the number of the reporters of the hadith in each stage of the isnad, i.e. in each generation
of reporters, it can be classified into the general categories of mutawatir ("consecutive") or ahad
("single") hadith. A mutawatir hadith is one which is reported by such a large number of people that
they cannot be expected to agree upon a lie, all of them together.29
Al-Ghazali (d. 505) stipulates that a mutawatir narration be known by the sizeable number of its
reporters equally in the beginning, in the middle and at the end.30 He is correct in this stipulation
because some narrations or ideas, although known as mutawatir among some people, whether Muslims
or non-Muslims, originally have no tawatur. There is no precise definition for a "large number of
reporters"; although the numbers four, five, seven, ten, twelve, forty and seventy, among others, have all
been variously suggested as a minimum, the exact number is irrelevant (some reporters, e.g. Imams of
Hadith, carry more weight anyway than others who are their contemporaries): the important condition is
that the possibility of coincidence or "organised falsehood" be obviously negligible.31
Examples of mutawatir practices are the five daily prayers, fasting, zakat, the Hajj and recitation of the
Qur'an. Among the verbal mutawatir ahadith, the following has been reported by at least sixty-two
Companions from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and has been widely-known
amongst the Muslims throughout the ages: "Whoever invents a lie and attributes it to me intentionally,
let him prepare his seat in the Fire."
Ahadith related to the description of the Haud Kauthar (the Basin of Abundant Goodness) in the
Hereafter, raising the hands at certain postures during prayer, rubbing wet hands on the leather socks
during ablution, revelation of the Qur'an in seven modes, and the prohibition of every intoxicant are
further examples of verbal mutawatir ahadith.32
A hadith ahad or khabar wahid is one which is narrated by people whose number does not reach that of
the mutawatir case. Ahad is further classified into:
Gharib, 'Aziz & Mashhur
A hadith is termed gharib ("scarce, strange") when only a single reporter is found relating it at some
stage of the isnad. For example, the saying of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace),
"Travel is a piece of punishment" is gharib; the isnad of this hadith contains only one reporter in each
stage: Malik --- Yahya b. Abi Salih --- Abu Hurairah --the Prophet (may Allah him and grant him peace). With regard to its isnad, this hadith is sahih, although most gharib ahadith are weak; Ahmad
b.Hanbal said, "Do not write these gharib ahadith because they are unacceptable, and most of them are weak."33
A type of hadith similar to gharib is fard ("solitary"); it is known in three ways:
1.similar to gharib, i.e. a single person is found reporting it from a well-known Imam;
2.the people of one locality only are known to narrate the hadith;
3.narrators from one locality report the hadith from narrators of another locality, such as the people
of Makkah reporting from the people of Madinah.34 If at any stage in the isnad, only two reporters are found to narrate the hadith, it is termed 'aziz ("rare,
strong"). For example, Anas reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) said, "None of you (truly) believes until I become more beloved to him than his father, his son,
and all the people."
Two reporters, Qatadah and 'Abdul 'Aziz b. Shu'aib, report this hadith from Anas, and two more
reporters narrate from each of them: Shu'bah and Sa'id report from Qatada, and Isma'il b. Ulayyah and
'Abd al-Warith from 'Abd al-'Aziz; then a group of people report from each of them.35
A hadith which is reported by more than two reporters is known as mashhur ("famous"). According to
some scholars, every narrative which comes to be known widely, whether or not it has an authentic
origin, is called mashhur. A mashhur hadith might be reported by only one or two reporters in the
beginnning but become widely-known later, unlike gharib or 'aziz, which are reported by one or two
reporters in the beginning and continue to have the same number even in the times of the Successors and
those after them. For example, if only one or two reporters are found narrating hadith from a reliable
authority in Hadith such as al-Zuhri and Qatadah, the hadith will remain either gharib or 'aziz. On the
other hand, if a group of people narrate from them, it will be known as mashhur.36
According to al-'Ala'i (Abu Sa'id Khalil Salah al-Din, d. 761), a hadith may be known as 'aziz and
mashhur at the same time. By this he means a hadith which is left with only two reporters in its isnad at
any stage while it enjoys a host of reporters in other stages, such as the saying of the Prophet (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace), "We are the last but (will be) the foremost on the Day of Resurrection."
This hadith is 'aziz in its first stage, as it is reported by Hudhaifah b. al-Yaman and Abu Hurairah only.
It later becomes mashhur as seven people report it from Abu Hurairah.37 THE CLASSIFICATION OF HADITH: According to the manner in which the hadith
is reported
Mudallas hadith & Tadlis
Different ways of reporting, e.g. (he narrated to us), (he informed us), (I heard), and (on the authority of)
are used by the reporters of hadith. The first three indicate that the reporter personally heard from his
shaikh, whereas the fourth mode can denote either hearing in person or through another reporter.
A mudallas ("concealed") hadith is one which is weak due to the uncertainty caused by tadlis. Tadlis
(concealing) refers to an isnad where a reporter has concealed the identity of his shaikh. Ibn al-Salah
describes two types of tadlis:
1.
tadlis al-isnad.
A person reports from his shaikh whom he met, what he did not hear from him, or
from a contemporary of his whom he did not meet, in such a way as to create the impression that
he heard the hadith in person. A mudallis (one who practises tadlis) here usually uses the mode
("on the authority of") or ("he said") to conceal the truth about the isnad.
2.
tadlis al-shuyukh.
The reporter does mention his shaikh by name, but uses a less well-known
name, by-name, nickname etc., in order not to disclose his shaikh's identity.38
Al-'Iraqi (d. 806), in his notes on Muqaddimah Ibn al-Salah, adds a third type of tadlis:
3.
tadlis al-taswiyyah.
To explain it, let us assume an isnad which contains a trustworthy shaikh
reporting from a weak authority, who in turn reports from another trustworthy shaikh. Now, the
reporter of this isnad omits the intermediate weak authority, leaving it apparently consisting of
reliable authorities. He plainly shows that he heard it from his shaikh but he uses the mode "on the
authority of" to link his immediate shaikh with the next trustworthy one. To an average student,
this isnad seems free of any doubt or discrepancy. This is known to have been practised by
Baqiyyah b. al-Walid, Walid b. Muslim, al-A'mash and al Thauri. It is said to be the worst among the three kinds of tadlis.39
Ibn Hajar classifies those who practised tadlis into five categories in his essay Tabaqat al- Mudallisin:
l Those who are known to do it occasionally, such as Yahya b. Sa'id al-Ansari.
l Those who are accepted by the traditionists, either because of their good reputation and relatively
few cases of tadlis, e.g. Sufyan al-Thauri (d. 161), or because they reported from authentic
authorities only, e.g. Sufyan Ibn 'Uyainah (d. 198).
l Those who practised it a great deal, and the traditionists have accepted such ahadith from them
which were reported with a clear mention of hearing directly. Among these are Abu 'l- Zubair alMakki,
whose ahadith narrated from the Companion Jabir
b.'Abdullah have been collected in Sahih Muslim.differ regarding whether they are acceptable or not.
l Similar to the previous category, but the traditionalists agree that their ahadith are to be rejected
unless they clearly admit of their hearing, such as by saying "I heard"; an example of this category
is Baqiyyah b. al- Walid.
l Those who are disparaged due to another reason apart from tadlis; their ahadith are rejected, even
though they admit of hearing them directly. Exempted from them are reporters such as Ibn
Lahi'ah, the famous Egyptian judge, whose weakness is found to be of a lesser degree. Ibn Hajar
gives the names of 152 such reporters.40
Tadlis, especially of those in the last three categories, is so disliked that Shu'bah (d. 170) said, "Tadlis is
the brother of lying" and "To commit adultery is more favourable to me than to report by way of
Tadlis."41
Musalsal
A musalsal (uniformly-linked) isnad is one in which all the reporters, as well as the Prophet (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace), use the same mode of transmission such as 'an, haddathana, etc., repeat
any other additional statement or remark, or act in a particular manner while narrating the hadith.
Al-Hakim gives eight examples of such isnads, each having a different characteristic repeated feature:
l use of the phrase sami'tu (I heard);
l the expression "stand and pour water for me so that I may illustrate the way my shaikh performed
ablution";
l haddad ana (he narrated to us);
l marani (he commanded me);
l holding one's beard;
l illustrating by counting on five fingers;
l the expression "I testify that ..."; and
l interlocking the fingers.42
Knowledge of musalsal helps in discounting the possibility of tadlis.
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