HADEETH Sciences

[ali]

Some hadith narrators are known by different names and this can give rise to error and confusion; hence a branch of hadith sciences is devoted exclusively to the knowledge of those who are known by different names (ma ‘ rifat man dhukira bi—asma’ mukhtalifa) .This is not just a function of the fact that Arabic names often consist of long series of attributions to father, son, mother, etc., but also that pen-names, nicknames and appellations were sometimes used by those who might have known the individual narrator by any of his other attributes or names.

Another branch of hadith sciences, known as ma’rifat al-mu ‘talif wa’l-mukhtalif min al-asma (knowledge of the look-alike but different names and genealogies) discusses names which are written similarly but pronounced differently. There are numerous names of this type, so much so that some have written individual works on the subject. Names such as Salam Sallam , ‘Umara and Imara, Kurayz and Kariz, Safr and Safar, etc., are written similarly in the Arabic script and text which may not provide the vowelling and declensions of words; and most often they are not given, hence the possibility of confusion of one name or narrator for another. Resembling this last branch of hadith sciences , there is yet another branch of hadith which addresses hadith narrators that had identical names and could easily be confused with one another. There were, for example, no less than six hadith narrators by the name Khalil ibn Ahmad , and four Ahmad b.Ja’far b Hamdan, all of whom lived in the same generation, and many other cases of this kind. These have been isolated and identified by reference to other indicators such as the father’s name, locality, teachers and disciples of the narrator in question, etc.

hadith studies by H Kamali page 7-8

[ali]

Gharib is defined as a hadith which is narrated by only one narrator at any one link of its isnad, be it the middle, lower or upper end. So long as there is a link in the isnad which consists of a single narrator , this would qualify the hadith as Gharib.

omission of narration

Al - hakim al- Nasburi wrote concerning this hadith that no one except Muhammad b. Suqah reported it from Muhammad b. al- Munkadir.

[ali]

Authenticity and soundness according to hadith experts is not determined on the quantitative factor of the number of the transmitters, nor indeed on how well-known , or less well-known , a hadith might be. Attention is paid instead to the reliability of the narrators, whether one , two or more, and strength and weakness of hadith is evaluated on that basis.

page 167

kamali's book hadeeth sciences.

[ali]

It is possible,as experience shows, that a person is most pious and trustworthy yet weak in respect of rentention and memory. Hadith transmitted by such persons may not be admitted on the merit only of thier piety. It is also possible, as hadith scholars have noted,that a person is sound and reliable at one time and his condition changes due to personal situations ,adoption of controversial views, illness and the like which may cast doubt on his reliability ,and his transmission,therefore,of hadith.The 'ulama' of hadith are normally careful not to accept narration of hadith from unknown people and persons of obscure identity and character.

page 47

comment : It should be emphasized though, that piety is a required quality though for a narrator.

[ali]

Isnad is defective if the narrator omits a link that may be unknown and replaces it with another name so as to make it look more reliable.

kamali's book page 101

on page 31 in

Ehrman's book forged

he quotes an ancient pagan scholar named David

"If someone is uninfluential and unknown , yet wants his writing to be read, he writes in the name of someone who came before him and was influential, so that through his influence he can get his work accepted."

[ali]

The proliferation of the isnad in the early centuries is electrifying. Suppose that in the first generation a single companion was privy to a statement made by the Prophet. In the second generation there would presumably be at least two or three, perhaps ten, students of his transmitting this incident, such that by the fifth generation (the period of the classical authours) we may uncover thirty or forty people relating the same subject through different channels crisscrossing the entire Islamic world, with a few relating the information from more than one source. The pattern of proliferation is not constant for all hadiths: in certain cases there may be only a single authourity transmitting a statement through each generation, though this is a rarity 13

13 For a detailed study of the 50 hadiths see studies in Early Hadith literature, pp. 14-103

Here is an example of hadith relating to prayer:

Abu Huraira reported that the Prophet said: “The Imam must be followed .So recite takbeer when he recites it, and bow down when he bows. And when he says ‘Allah hearkens to him who praises Him’ , say ‘O Allah , our Lord , praise be to You’ . And when he prostrates, you should prostrate. When he raises [his head] you should raise yours, taking care not to raise [your head] till he raises his. If he prays sitting, you should all pray sitting.”

This hadith, recorded at least 124 times, is reported by 26 third-generation authourities who unanimously trace its origin to Companions of the prophet. In this same form or with the same meaning , its found at ten locations simultaneously: Madina, Makah, Egypt, Basra, Hims, Yemen, Kufa, Syria, Wasit, and Taif. Three of the 26 authourities heard it from more than one source.Existing documentation shows that this hadith was transmitted by at leaste 10 companions ; details of the transmission chain for seven of these , who eventually settled in Madina, Syria, and Iraq, are available to us . See Figure 12.1

Limiting ourselves to just one companion, Abu Hurarirah, we note that atleast seven of his students transmitted this hadith from him, four of these belonged to Madinah, two to Egypt, and one to Yemen. They in turn transmitted to atleast twelve others : five from Madinah, two from Makkan, and one each from Syria, Kufa, Taif, Egypt , and Yemen. Similar patterns from the other companions indicate that the hadith marked its presence in other lands (Basra, Hims, and Wasit) while reinforcing itself in Madinah, Makkah, Kufa, Egypt , and Syria. The following figure , illustrating these massive chains of transmissions, is only for one hadith out of tens of thousands.

Azamis Book The history of the Qur’anic text page 169

[ali]

Supposing Hammad b Salama narrated a hadith from Ayub, from Ibn Sirin, from Abu Hurayra, from the Prophet. The hadith is found to be somewhat doubtful and needs to be confirmed. Firstly we look if any other reliable narrator, that is, other than Hammad, has narrated the same hadith from Ayyub. The search here may take the researcher to the six collections and the Muwatta' etc. If someone else is found to have also transmitted the same hadith from Ayyub then a confirmation is found, and this is known as a complete follow-up. But if no one other than Hammad is found to have transmitted the same hadith from Ayub, then one looks one level up to find if anyone other than Ayyub might have reported it from Ibn Sirin. If a confirmation is found at this level , it would be less than complete as it does not decend all the way down but it is located at a higher level, which is why it is called a deficient follow-up. But if the follow-up is unsuccessful at the level of Ayyub, then one tries to ascertain whether anyone other than Ibn Sirin might have reported the same hadith from Abu Hurayra, and if such confirmation is found, it would still be known as a deficient follow up. And lastly the search may be taken up to the highest level to find out whether any other Companion , that is other than Abu Hurayra, might have reported the same hadith from the Prophet.

[ali]

Another factor that contributed to this misgivings is the somewhat exaggerated references by the authours of subsequent works to hadith collections, citing figures in the order of hundreds of thousands of hadiths, which somehow overshadowed and minisculed the significance of the earlier collections. It is remarkable to hear that Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal collected seven hundred thousand ahadith, and similar figures are mentioned in conjunction with the works of the two leading scholars of hadith, al-Bukhairi and Muslim.It may be that these figures consisted mainly of the number of reports and reporters rather than of actual hadith. For the hadith innamal amaal bi nniyaat alone has been transmitted through seven hundred channels. If we were to eliminate repetition and reduce all of this to the actual number of hadith, we would have a much smaller number of ahadith left, that may or may not exceed ten thousand in number.

[ali]

http://islamqa.info/en/cat/244