Concept

Hadith

Overview

Hadith (Arabic: حديث) is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account [of an event]' and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle (companions in Sunni Islam, Ahl al-Bayt in Shia).

Statements attributed to Muhammad and used in various conversations in the period after his death, which circulated orally for several centuries, began to be compiled by Islamic scholars known as muhaddiths in the 7th-10th centuries. Each hadith is associated with a chain of narrators (isnad), a lineage of people who reportedly heard and repeated the hadith from which the source of the hadith can be traced. The authentication of hadith became a significant discipline, focusing on the isnad and matn (main text). In the 10th and 11th centuries, the Hadith began to be imposed by socio-political and spiritual authorities as the original words of Muhammad from the 14th century onward.

In the early Islamic society the use of hadith as it is understood today (documentation, isnads, etc.) came gradually. Sunnah originally meant a tradition that did not contain the definition of good and bad. Later, "good traditions" began to be referred to as sunnah and the concept of "Muhammad's sunnah" was established. Muhammad's sunnah gave way to the "hadiths of Muhammad" which were being transmitted orally, then recorded in the corpuses that continued to be collected, classified and purified according to various criteria in the following centuries. Scholars have categorized hadith based on their reliability, sorting them into classifications such as sahih ('authentic'), hasan ('good'), and da'if ('weak'). This process aimed to address and analyze contradictory or questionable statements within certain narrations and possessed a subjective nature, as the classification in question could vary depending on the individual conducting the work. Differences in classification and interpretation paved the way for various Islamic schools of thought to adopt divergent approaches regarding their understanding and application of Sharia.

Due to the widespread respect it commands in mainstream Islamic thought and its status as the second authority after the Quran, the hadith has been viewed in many major Islamic schools of thought as a record of the "Sunnah" and relied upon for religious and moral guidance; consequently, a significant portion of Sharia rules is derived from hadiths rather than the Quran. Throughout the history of early Islamic thought, there have been approaches that question the authenticity, epistemological value, or capacity of hadiths to generate law or doctrine, and that limit or —either partially or entirely— reject them. These include the Kharijites, the Mu'tazila, certain early jurists (known as Ahl al-Ra'y, and theologians. Western scholars and academic circles

participating in the field of hadith studies are generally skeptical of the value of hadith for understanding the true historical Muhammad. Reasons for skepticism include the late compilation of hadith (often compiled centuries after Muhammad's death), difficulties in verifying chains of transmission, the prevalence of hadith fabrication, and doubts about the traditional methods of hadith authentication. This skepticism extends even to hadith classified as sahih by Muslim scholars, as such narrations may still reflect later historical or theological concerns rather than the authentic teachings of Muhammad. Quranist Islam rejects the epistemic value of hadiths and does not attribute any sanctity to them.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

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Again, what reaches unto its Perfector and attaches itself to Him is safe against corruption, all the more so if even during disconnection from Him it has not undergone corruption. Wherefore the soul after death shall ever remain and continue unwavering [and undying] and attached to this noble essence, which is called generic universal mind, and in the language of the lawgivers the Divine Knowledge. As to the other…
Avicenna, A Compendium on the Soul
States what Hadith is; the author is tied to Hadith in the knowledge graph.
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A man who has instructed another in any subject, and has improved his knowledge, may in like manner be regarded as the parent of the person taught, because he is the author of that knowledge; and thus the pupils of the prophets are called “sons of the prophets,” as I shall explain when treating of the homonymity of ben (son). In this figurative sense, the verb yalad (to bear) is employed when it is said of Adam…
Moses Maimonides, The guide for the perplexed
States what Hadith is.
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All which is Opinion. And that which is alternate Appetite, in Deliberating concerning Good and Evil, the same is alternate Opinion in the Enquiry of the truth of Past, and Future. And as the last Appetite in Deliberation is called the Will, so the last Opinion in search of the truth of Past, and Future, is called the JUDGEMENT, or Resolute and Final Sentence of him that Discourseth. And as the whole chain of…
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
States what Hadith is.
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Hadith

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