An Introduction to the Science of Hadith

Suhaib Hassan, Al-Quran Society, London

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FOREWORD

·         Some commonly-quoted ahadith

SECTION A

·         Introduction

·         A brief history of Mustalah al-Hadith

·         Mustalah al-Hadith (the Classification of Hadith)

·         Rijal al-Hadith (the study of the reporters of Hadith)

SECTION B

·         THE CLASSIFICATION OF HADITH

o    According to the reference to a particular authority

o    According to the links in the isnad

o    According to the number of reporters in each stage of the isnad

o    According to the manner in which the hadith is reported

o    According to the nature of the text and isnad

o    According to a hidden defect found in the isnad or text of a hadith

o    According to the reliability and memory of the reporters

SECTION C

·         Further branches of Mustalah and Rijal

APPENDIX

·         Verdicts on the ahadith mentioned in the Foreword

FOREWORD

All Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. Peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and on his family and companions.We have undoubtedly sent down the Reminder, and We will truly preserve it. (Al-Qur’an, Surah al-Hijr, 15:9)The above promise made by Allah is obviously fulfilled in the undisputed purity of the Qur’anic text throughout the fourteen centuries since its revelation. However, what is often forgotten by many Muslims is that the above divine promise also includes, by necessity, the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), for it is the practical example of the implementation of the Qur’anic guidance, the Wisdom taught to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) along with the Scripture, and neither the Qur’an nor the Sunnah can be understood correctly without recourse to the other.Hence, Allah preserved the Qur’an from being initially lost by the martyrdom of its memorisers, by guiding the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, endorsed by the consensus of the Messenger’s Companions (may Allah bless him and grant him peace and may He be pleased with them), to compile the ayat (signs, miracles, “verses”) of the Qur’an into one volume, after these had been scattered in writing on various materials and in memory amongst many faithful hearts. He safeguarded it from corruption by its enemies: disbelievers, heretics, and false prophets, by enabling millions of believers to commit it to memory with ease. He protected its teachings by causing thousands of people of knowledge to learn from its deep treasures and convey them to the masses, and by sending renewers of His Deen at the beginning of every century.Similarly, Allah preserved the Sunnah by enabling the Companions and those after them (may Allah be pleased with them) to memorise, write down and pass on the statements of the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and the descriptions of his Way, as well as to continue the blessings of practising the Sunnah. Later, as the purity of the knowledge of the Sunnah became threatened, Allah caused the Muslim nation to produce outstanding individuals of incredible memory-skills and analytical expertise, who journeyed tirelessly to collect hundreds of thousands of narrations and distinguish the true words of precious wisdom of their Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) from those corrupted by weak memories, from forgeries by unscrupulous liars, and from the statements of the enormous number of ‘ulama’, the Companions and those who followed their way, who had taught in various centres of learning and helped to transmit the legacy of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) - all of this achieved through precise attention to the words narrated and detailed familiarity with the biographies of the thousands of reporters of Hadith. Action being the best way to preserve teachings, the renewers of Islam also revived the practice of the blessed authentic Sunnah.Unfortunately however, statements will continue to be attributed to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) although the person quoting them may have no idea what the people of knowledge of Hadith have ruled regarding those ahadith, thus ironically being in danger of contravening the Prophet’s widely-narrated stern warnings about attributing incorrect/unsound statements to him. For example, here are some very commonly-quoted ahadith, which actually vary tremendously in their degree of authenticity from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace):

1. “Surah al-Ikhlas is worth a third of the Qur’an.”
2. The hadith about the Ninety-Name Names of Allah.
3. Allah says, “I was a hidden treasure, and I wished to be known, so I created a creation (mankind), then made Myself known to them, and they recognised Me.”
4. Allah says, “Were it not for you (O Muhammad), I would not have created the universe.”
5. When Allah completed creation, He wrote in a Book (which is) with Him, above His Throne, “Verily, My Mercy will prevail over My Wrath.”
6. Allah says, “Neither My heaven nor My earth can contain Me, but the heart of My believing slave can contain Me.”
7. “He who knows himself, knows his Lord.”
8. “Where is Allah?”
9. “Love of one’s homeland is part of Faith.”
10. “I have left amongst you two things which, if you hold fast to them, you will never stray: the Book of Allah, and my Sunnah.”
11. “I have left among you that which if you abide by, you will never go astray: the Book of Allah, and my Family, the Members of my House.”
12. The hadith giving ten Companions, by name, the good tidings of Paradise.
13. “If the iman (faith) of Abu Bakr was weighed against the iman of all the people of the earth, the former would outweigh the latter.”
14. “I am the City of Knowledge, and ‘Ali is its Gate.”
15. “My companions are like the stars: whichever of them you follow, you will be guided.”
16. “The differing amongst my Ummah is a mercy.”
17. “My Ummah will split up into seventy-three sects: seventy-two will be in the Fire, and one in the Garden.”
18. Prophecies about the coming of the Mahdi (the guided one), Dajjal (the False Christ, the Anti-Christ) and the return of Jesus Christ son of Mary.
19. Description of punishment and bliss in the grave, for the wicked and pious people respectively.
20. Intercession by the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and the believers seeing Allah, on the Day of Judgment.
21. “Paradise is under the feet of mothers.”
22. “Paradise is under the shade of swords.”
23. “Seeking knowledge is a duty upon every Muslim.”
24. “Seek knowledge, even if you have to go to China.”
25. “The ink of the scholar is holier than the blood of the martyr.”
26. “We have returned from the lesser Jihad to the greater Jihad (i.e. the struggle against the evil of one’s soul).”

The methodology of the expert scholars of Hadith in assessing such narrations and sorting out the genuine from the mistaken/fabricated etc., forms the subject-matter of a wealth of material left to us by the muhaddithun (scholars of Hadith, “traditionists”). This short treatise is a humble effort to introduce this extremely wide subject to English readers. The author has derived great benefit from the outstanding scholarly work in this field, Muqaddimah Ibn al- Salah.A brief explanation of the verdicts from the experts in this field on the above ahadith is given in the Appendix.We ask Allah to accept this work, and make it beneficial to its readers.

SECTION A

INTRODUCTION

The Muslims are agreed that the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is the second of the two revealed fundamental sources of Islam, after the Glorious Qur’an. The authentic Sunnah is contained within the vast body of Hadith literature.1.A hadith (pl. ahadith) is composed of two parts: the matn (text) and the isnad (chain of reporters). A text may seem to be logical and reasonable but it needs an authentic isnad with reliable reporters to be acceptable; ‘Abdullah b. al-Mubarak (d. 181 AH), one of the illustrious teachers of Imam al-Bukhari, said, “The isnad is part of the religion: had it not been for the isnad, whoever wished to would have said whatever he liked.”2.During the lifetime of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and after his death, his Companions (Sahabah) used to refer to him directly, when quoting his sayings. The Successors (Tabi’un) followed suit; some of them used to quote the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) through the Companions while others would omit the intermediate authority - such a hadith was later known as mursal. It was found that the missing link between the Successor and the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) might be one person, i.e. a Companion, or two people, the extra person being an older Successor who heard the hadith from the Companion. This is an example of how the need for the verification of each isnad arose; Imam Malik (d. 179) said, “The first one to utilise the isnad was Ibn Shihab al- Zuhri” (d. 124).3.The other more important reason was the deliberate fabrication of ahadith by various sects which appeared amongst the Muslims, in order to support their views (see later, under discussion of maudu’ ahadith). Ibn Sirin (d. 110), a Successor, said, “They would not ask about the isnad. But when the fitnah (trouble, turmoil, esp. civil war) happened, they said: Name to us your men. So the narrations of the Ahl al-Sunnah (Adherents to the Sunnah) would be accepted, while those of the Ahl al-Bid’ah (Adherents to Innovation) would not be accepted.”4.

Brief history of Mustalah al-Hadith (Classification of Hadith)

As time passed, more reporters were involved in each isnad, and so the situation demanded strict discipline in the acceptance of ahadith; the rules regulating this discipline are known as Mustalah al-Hadith (the Classification of Hadith).Amongst the early traditionists (muhaddithin, scholars of Hadith), the rules and criteria governing their study of Hadith were meticulous but some of their terminology varied from person to person, and their principles began to be systematically written down, but scattered amongst various books, e.g. in Al-Risalah of al- Shafi’i (d. 204), the Introduction to the Sahih of Muslim (d. 261) and the Jami’ of al-Tirmidhi (d. 279); many of the criteria of early traditionists, e.g. al-Bukhari, were deduced by later scholars from a careful study of which reporters or isnads were accepted and rejected by them.One of the earliest writings to attempt to cover Mustalah comprehensively, using standard (i.e. generally-accepted) terminology, was the work by al-Ramahurmuzi (d. 360). The next major contribution was Ma’rifah ‘Ulum al-Hadith by al- Hakim (d. 405), which covered fifty classifications of Hadith, but still left some points untouched; Abu Nu’aim al-Isbahani (d. 430) completed some of the missing parts to this work. After that came Al-Kifayah fi ‘Ilm al- Riwayah of al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463) and another work on the manner of teaching and studying Hadith; later scholars were considered to be greatly indebted to al-Khatib’s work.After further contributions by Qadi ‘Iyad al- Yahsubi (d. 544) and Abu Hafs al-Mayanji (d. 580) among others, came the work which, although modest in size, was so comprehensive in its excellent treatment of the subject that it came to be the standard reference for thousands of scholars and students of Hadith to come, over many centuries until the present day: ‘Ulum al- Hadith of Abu ‘Amr ‘Uthman Ibn al-Salah (d. 643), commonly known as Muqaddimah Ibn al-Salah, compiled while he taught in the Dar al-Hadith of several cities in Syria. Some of the numerous later works based on that of Ibn al-Salah are:

• An abridgement of Muqaddimah, Al-Irshad by al- Nawawi (d. 676), which he later summarised in his Taqrib; al-Suyuti (d. 911) compiled a valuable commentary on the latter entitled Tadrib al-Rawi.
• Ikhtisar ‘Ulum al-Hadith of Ibn Kathir (d. 774), Al-Khulasah of al-Tibi (d. 743), Al- Minhal of Badr al-Din b. Jama’ah (d. 733), Al- Muqni’ of Ibn al-Mulaqqin (d. 802) and Mahasin al-Istilah of al-Balqini (d. 805), all of which are abridgements of Muqaddimah Ibn al- Salah.
• Al-Nukat of al-Zarkashi (d. 794), Al-Taqyid wa ‘l-Idah of al-’Iraqi (d. 806) and Al-Nukat of Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani (d. 852), all of which are further notes on the points made by Ibn al- Salah.
• Alfiyyah al-Hadith of al-’Iraqi, a rewriting of Muqaddimah in the form of a lengthy poem, which became the subject of several commentaries, including two (one long, one short) by the author himself, Fath al-Mughith of al-Sakhawi (d. 903), Qatar al-Durar of al- Suyuti and Fath al-Baqi of Shaykh Zakariyyah al-Ansari (d. 928).

Other notable treatises on Mustalah include:

• Al-Iqtirah of Ibn Daqiq al-’Id (d. 702). Tanqih al-Anzar of Muhammad b. Ibrahim al- Wazir (d. 840), the subject of a commentary by al-Amir al-San’ani (d. 1182).
• Nukhbah al-Fikr of Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani, again the subject of several commentaries, including one by the author himself, one by his son Muhammad, and those of ‘Ali al-Qari (d. 1014), ‘Abd al-Ra’uf al-Munawi (d. 1031) and Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Hadi al-Sindi (d. 1138). Among those who rephrased the Nukhbah in poetic form are al-Tufi (d. 893) and al- Amir al-San’ani.
• Alfiyyah al-Hadith of al-Suyuti, the most comprehensive poetic work in the field. Al-Manzumah of al-Baiquni, which was expanded upon by, amongst others, al-Zurqani (d. 1122) and Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan (d. 1307). Qawa’id al-Tahdith of Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi (d. 1332).
• Taujih al-Nazar of Tahir al-Jaza’iri (d. 1338), a summary of al-Hakim’s Ma’rifah.

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:

• 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 .
• 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).
• 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).
• 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: ===.]
• 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).
• 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).
• 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 experts, from amongst the Successors and those after them, were found to be of great help. Examples of such remarks, in descending order of authentication, are:

• “Imam (leader), Hafiz (preserver).”
• “Reliable, trustworthy.”
• “Makes mistakes.”
• “Weak.”
• “Abandoned (by the traditionists).”
• “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:

• 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 wordly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration was for what he migrated.”
• 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.
• 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 al-Abhari (d. 375), Al- Muwatta’ contains the following:

• 600 marfu’ ahadith,
• 613 mauquf ahadith,
• 285 maqtu’ ahadith, and
• 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

HE 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 — al-Zuhri — ‘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 al-Himmani (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.10If 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, 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’ hadithAl-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 bless him 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 hadithIbn 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.”12Authenticity of the Mursal HadithThere 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

1. 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).
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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.
5. 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
6. 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, al-Khatib 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-Thauri and 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
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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.29Al-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.31Examples 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.32A 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 bless 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.”33A 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.35A 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.36According 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:

1. 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:

• Those who are known to do it occasionally, such as Yahya b. Sa’id al-Ansari.
• 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).
• 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 al-Makki, whose ahadith narrated from the Companion Jabir b. ‘Abdullah have been collected in Sahih Muslim. Opinions differ regarding whether they are acceptable or not.
• Similar to the previous category, but the traditionists 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.
• 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:

• use of the phrase sami’tu (I heard);
• the expression “stand and pour water for me so that I may illustrate the way my shaikh performed ablution”;
• haddathana (he narrated to us);
• amarani (he commanded me);
• holding one’s beard;
• illustrating by counting on five fingers;
• the expression “I testify that …”; and
• interlocking the fingers.42

Knowledge of musalsal helps in discounting the possibility of tadlis.

THE CLASSIFICATION OF HADITH: According to the nature of the text and isnad

Shadhdh & Munkar

According to al-Shafi’i, a shadhdh (”irregular”) hadith is one which is reported by a trustworthy person but goes against the narration of a person more reliable than him. It does not include a hadith which is unique in its contents and is not narrated by someone else.43 In the light of this definition, the well-known hadith, “Actions are (judged) according to their intentions”, is not considered shadhdh since it has been narrated by Yahya b. Sa’id al-Ansari from Muhammad b. Ibrahim al-Taimi from ‘Alqamah from ‘Umar, all of whom are trustworthy authorities, although each one of them is the only reporter at that stage.44An example of a shadhdh hadith according to some scholars is one which Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi transmit, through the following isnad:
‘Abdul Wahid b. Ziyad — al-A’mash — Abu Salih — Abu Hurairah === the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace): “When one of you offers the two rak’ahs before the Dawn Prayer, he should lie down on his right side.” Regarding it, al-Baihaqi said,
“‘Abdul Wahid has gone against a large number of people with this narration, for they have reported the above as an act of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and not as his saying; ‘Abdul Wahid is alone amongst the trustworthy students of al-A’mash in narrating these words.”45According to Ibn Hajar, if a narration which goes against another authentic hadith is reported by a weak narrator, it is known as munkar (denounced).46 Traditionists as late as Ahmad used to simply label any hadith of a weak reporter as munkar.47 Sometimes, a hadith is labelled as munkar because of its contents being contrary to general sayings of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Al-Khatib (d. 463) quotes al-Rabi’ b. Khaitham (d. 63) as saying,
“Some ahadith have a light like that of day, which we recognise; others have a darkness like that of night which makes us reject them.” He also quotes al-Auza’i (d. 157) as saying,
“We used to listen to ahadith and present them to fellow traditionists, just as we present forged coins to money-changers: whatever they recognise of them, we accept, and whatever they reject of them, we also reject.”48
Ibn Kathir quotes the following two ahadith in his Tafsir, the first of which is acceptable, whereas the second contradicts it and is unreliable:

1. Ahmad === Abu Mu’awiyah === Hisham b. ‘Urwah — Fatimah bint al-Mundhir — Asma’ bint Abi Bakr, who said, “My mother came (to Madinah) during the treaty Quraish had made, while she was still a polytheist. So I came to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and said to him, ‘O Messenger of Allah, my mother has come willingly: should I treat her with kindness?’ He replied, ‘Yes! Treat her with kindness’.”
2. Al-Bazzar === ‘Abdullah b. Shabib === Abu Bakr b. Abi Shaibah === Abu Qatadah al- ‘Adawi — the nephew of al-Zuhri — al- Zuhri — ‘Urwah — ‘A’ishah and Asma’, both of whom said, “Our mother came to us in Madinah while she was a polytheist, during the peace treaty between the Quraish and the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). So we said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, our mother has come to Madinah willingly: do we treat her kindly?’ He said, ‘Yes! Treat her kindly’.”

Ibn Kathir then remarks:
“This (latter) hadith, to our knowledge is reported only through this route of al- Zuhri — ‘Urwah — ‘A’ishah. It is a munkar hadith with this text because the mother of ‘A’ishah is Umm Ruman, who was already a Muslim emigrant, while the mother of Asma’ was another woman, as mentioned by name in other ahadith.”49 In contrast to a munkar hadith, if a reliable reporter is found to add something which is not narrated by other authentic sources, the addition is accepted as long as it does not contradict them; and is known as ziyadatu thiqah (an addition by one trustworthy).50 An example is the hadith of al-Bukhari and Muslim on the authority of Ibn Mas’ud: “I asked the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), ‘Which action is the most virtuous?’ He said, ‘The Prayer at its due time’.” Two reporters, Al-Hasan b. Makdam and Bindar, reported it with the addition, “… at the beginning of its time”; both Al-Hakim and Ibn Hibban declared this addition to be sahih.51

Mudraj

An addition by a reporter to the text of the saying being narrated is termed mudraj (interpolated).52 For example, al-Khatib relates via Abu Qattan and Shababah — Shu’bah — Muhammad b. Ziyad — Abu Hurairah — The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who said,”Perform the ablution fully; woe to the heels from the Fire!”Al-Khatib then remarks,
“The statement, ‘Perform the ablution fully’ is made by Abu Hurairah, while the statement afterwards, ‘Woe to the heels from the Fire!’, is that of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). The distinction between the two is understood from the narration of al- Bukhari, who transmits the same hadith and quotes Abu Hurairah as saying, “Complete the ablution, for Abu ‘l-Qasim (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: Woe to the heels from the Fire!”.”53 Such an addition may be found in the beginning, in the middle, or at the end, often in explanation of a term used. Idraj (interpolation) is mostly found in the text, although a few examples show that such additions are found in the isnad as well, where the reporter grafts a part of one isnad into another.A reporter found to be in the habit of intentional idraj is generally unacceptable and considered a liar.54 However, the traditionists are more lenient towards those reporters who may do so forgetfully or in order to explain a difficult word.

THE CLASSIFICATION OF HADITH: According to a hidden defect found in the isnad or text of a hadith

Before discussing ma’lul (defective) ahadith, a brief note on mudtarib (shaky) and maqlub (reversed) ahadith would help in understanding ma’lul.

Mudtarib

According to Ibn Kathir, if reporters disagree about a particular shaikh, or about some other points in the isnad or the text, in such a way that none of the opinions can be preferred over the others, and thus there is uncertainty about the isnad or text, such a hadith is called mudtarib (shaky).55For example with regard to idtirab in the isnad, it is reported on the authority of Abu Bakr that he said, “O Messenger of Allah! I see you getting older?” He (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) replied, “What made me old are Surah Hud and its sister surahs.” Al-Daraqutni says,”This is an example of a mudtarib hadith. It is reported through Abu Ishaq, but as many as ten different opinions are held about this isnad: some report it as mursal, others as muttasil; some take it as musnad of Abu Bakr, others as musnad of Sa’d or ‘A’ishah. Since all these reports are comparable in weight, it is difficult to prefer one above another. Hence, the hadith is termed as mudtarib.”56As an example of idtirab in the text, Rafi’ b. Khadij said that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) forbade the renting of land. The reporters narrating from Rafi’ give different statements, as follows:

1. Hanzalah asked Rafi’, “What about renting for gold and silver?” He replied, “It does not matter if it is rent for gold and silver.”
2. Rifa’ah — Rafi’ — the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who said, “Whoever owns a piece of land should cultivate it, give it to his brother to cultivate, or abandon it.”
3. Salim — Rafi’ — his two uncles — the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who forbade the renting of farming land.
4. The son of Rafi’ — Rafi’ — the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who forbade the renting of land.
5. A different narration by Rafi’ from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who said, “Whoever owns a piece of land should either cultivate it or give it to his brother to cultivate. He must not rent it for a third or a quarter of the produce, nor for a given quantity of the produce.”
6. Zaid b. Thabit said, “May Allah forgive Rafi’! I am more aware of the hadith than he; what happened was that two of the Ansar (Helpers) had a dispute, so they came to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who said after listening to their cases, ‘If this is your position, then do not rent the farms.’ Rafi’ has only heard the last phrase, i.e., ‘Do not rent the farms’.”

Because of these various versions, Ahmad b. Hanbal said,
“The ahadith reported by Rafi’ about the renting of land are mudtarib. They are not to be accepted, especially when they go against the well-established hadith of Ibn ‘Umar that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) gave the land of Khaibar to the Jews on condition that they work on it and take half of the produce.”57

Maqlub

A hadith is known as maqlub (changed, reversed) when its isnad is grafted to a different text or vice versa, or if a reporter happens to reverse the order of a sentence in the text.As an example relating to the text, in his transmission of the famous hadith describing the seven who will be under the shelter of Allah on the Day of Judgment, Muslim reports one of the categories as, “a man who conceals his act of charity to such an extent that his right hand does not know what his left hand gives in charity.” This sentence has clearly been reversed by a reporter, because the correct wording is recorded in other narrations of both al-Bukhari and Muslim as follows: “… that his left hand does not know what his right hand gives …”58The famous trial of al-Bukhari by the scholars of Baghdad provides a good example of a maqlub isnad. The traditionists, in order to test their visitor, al-Bukhari, appointed ten men, each with ten ahadith. Now, each hadith (text) of these ten people was prefixed with the isnad of another. Imam al-Bukhari listened to each of the ten men as they narrated their ahadith and denied the correctness of every hadith. When they had finished narrating these ahadith, he addressed each person in turn and recounted to him each of his ahadith with its correct isnad. This trial earned him great honour among the scholars of Baghdad.59
Other ways in which ahadith have been rendered maqlub are by replacement of the name of a reporter with another, e.g. quoting Abu Hurairah as the reporter from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) although the actual reporter was someone else, or by reversal of the name of the reporter, e.g. mentioning Walid b. Muslim instead of Muslim b. Walid, or Ka’b b. Murrah instead of Murrah b. Ka’b.60

Ma’lul or Mu’allal

Ibn al-Salah says, “A ma’lul (defective) hadith is one which appears to be sound, but thorough research reveals a disparaging factor.” Such factors can be:

1. declaring a hadith musnad when it is in fact mursal, or marfu’ when it is in fact mauquf;
2. showing a reporter to narrate from his shaikh when in fact he did not meet the latter; or attributing a hadith to one Companion when it in fact comes through another.61

Ibn al-Madini (d. 324) says that such a defect can only be revealed if all the isnads of a particular hadith are collated. In his book al- ‘Ilal, he gives thirty-four Successors and the names of those Companions from whom each of them heard ahadith directly. For example, he says that al-Hasan al-Basri (d. 110, aged 88) did not see ‘Ali (d. 40), although he adds that there is a slight possibility that he may have seen him during his childhood in Madinah.62 Such information is very important, since for example, many Sufi traditions go back to al- Hasan al-Basri, who is claimed to report directly from ‘Ali.Being a very delicate branch of Mustalah al- Hadith, only a few well-known traditionists such as Ibn al-Madini (d. 234), Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi (d. 327), al-Khallal (d. 311) and al-Daraqutni (d. 385), have compiled books about it. Ibn Abi Hatim, in his Kitab al-’Ilal, has given 2840 examples of ma’lul ahadith about a range of topics.An example of a ma’lul hadith is one transmitted by Muslim on the authority of Abu Hurairah, who reports the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) as saying,
“Allah created the land on Saturday; He created the mountains on Sunday; He created the trees on Monday; He created the things entailing labour on Tuesday; He created the light (or fish) on Wednesday; He scattered the beasts in it (the earth) on Thursday; and He created Adam after the afternoon of Friday, the last creation at the last hour of the hours of Friday, between the afternoon and night.”63 Regarding it, Ibn Taimiyyah says,
“Men more knowledgeable than Muslim, such as al-Bukhari and Yahya b. Ma’in, have criticised it. Al-Bukhari said, ‘This saying is not that of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), but one of Ka’b al-Ahbar’.”64

THE CLASSIFICATION OF HADITH: According to the reliability and memory of the reporters

The final verdict on a hadith, i.e. sahih (sound), hasan (good), da’if (weak) or maudu’ (fabricated, forged), depends critically on this factor.Among the early traditionists, mostly of the first two centuries, ahadith were classified into two categories only: sahih and da’if; al- Tirmidhi was to be the first to distinguish hasan from da’if. This is why traditionists and jurists such as Ahmad, who seemed to argue on the basis of da’if ahadith sometimes, were in fact basing their argument on the ahadith which were later to be known as hasan.65We now examine in more detail these four important classes of ahadith.

Sahih

Al-Shafi’i states the following requirement in order for a hadith which is not mutawatir to be acceptable:”Each reporter should be trustworthy in his religion; he should be known to be truthful in his narrating, to understand what he narrates, to know how a different expression can alter the meaning, and report the wording of the hadith verbatim, not only its meaning. This is because if he does not know how a different expression can change the whole meaning, he will not know if he has changed what is lawful into what is prohibited. Hence, if he reports the hadith according to its wording, no change of meaning will be found at all. Moreover, he should be a good memoriser if he happens to report from his memory, or a good preserver of his writings if he happens to report from them. He should agree with the narrations of the huffaz (leading authorities in Hadith), if he reports something which they do also. He should not be a mudallis, who narrates from someone he met something he did not hear, nor should he report from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) contrary to what reliable sources have reported from him. In addition, the one who is above him (in the isnad) should be of the same quality, [and so on,] until the hadith goes back uninterrupted to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) or any authority below him.”66Ibn al-Salah, however, defines a sahih hadith more precisely by saying:”A sahih hadith is the one which has a continuous isnad, made up of reporters of trustworthy memory from similar authorities, and which is found to be free from any irregularities (i.e. in the text) or defects (i.e. in the isnad).”By the above definition, no room is left for any weak hadith, whether, for example, it is munqati’, mu’dal, mudtarib, maqlub, shadhdh, munkar, ma’lul, or contains a mudallis. The definition also excludes hasan ahadith, as will be discussed under that heading.Of all the collectors of hadith, al-Bukhari and Muslim were greatly admired because of their tireless attempts to collect sahih ahadith only. It is generally understood that the more trustworthy and of good memory the reporters, the more authentic the hadith. The isnad: al- Shafi’i — Malik — Nafi’ — ‘Abdullah b. ‘Umar — The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), is called a “golden isnad” because of its renowned reporters.67Some traditionists prefer Sahih al-Bukhari to Sahih Muslim because al-Bukhari always looked for those reporters who had either accompanied or met each other, even if only once in their lifetime. On the other hand, Muslim would accept a reporter who is simply found to be contemporary to his immediate authority in reporting.68The following grading is given for sahih ahadith only:

1. those which are transmitted by both al- Bukhari and Muslim;
2. those which are transmitted by al-Bukhari only;
3. those which are transmitted by Muslim only;

those which are not found in the above two collections, but

1. which agree with the requirements of both al-Bukhari and Muslim;
2. which agree with the requirements of al- Bukhari only;
3. which agree with the requirements of Muslim only; and
4. those declared sahih by other traditionists.69

Hasan

Al-Tirmidhi means by hadith hasan: a hadith which is not shadhdh, nor contains a disparaged reporter in its isnad, and which is reported through more than one route of narration.70Al-Khattabi (d. 388) states a very concise definition, “It is the one where its source is known and its reporters are unambiguous.”By this he means that the reporters of the hadith should not be of a doubtful nature, such as with the mursal or munqati’ hadith, or one containing a mudallis.Ibn al-Salah classifies hasan into two categories:

1. one with an isnad containing a reporter who is mastur (”screened”, i.e. no prominent person reported from him) but is not totally careless in his reporting, provided that a similar text is reported through another isnad as well;
2. one with an isnad containing a reporter who is known to be truthful and reliable, but is a degree less in his preservation/memory of hadith in comparison to the reporters of sahih ahadith.

In both categories, Ibn al-Salah requires that the hadith be free of any shudhudh (irregularities).71Al-Dhahabi, after giving the various definitions, says, “A hasan hadith is one which excels the da’if but nevertheless does not reach the standard of a sahih hadith.”72 In the light of this definition, the following isnads are hasan according to al-Dhahabi:

1. Bahz b. Hakam — his father — his grandfather;
2. ‘Amr b. Shu’aib — his father — his grandfather;
3. Muhammad b. ‘Amr — Abu Salamah — Abu Hurairah.

Reporters such as al-Harith b. ‘Abdullah, ‘Asim b. Damurah, Hajjaj b. Artat, Khusaif b. ‘Abd al- Rahman and Darraj Abu al-Samh attract different verdicts: some traditionists declare their ahadith hasan, others declare them da’if.73

Example of a hasan hadith

Malik, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi and al-Hakim reported through their isnads from ‘Amr b. Shu’aib — his father — his grandfather, that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said,”A single rider is a devil (i.e. disobedient), two riders are two devils, but three makes a travelling party.”Al-Tirmidhi declares this hadith to be hasan because of the above isnad, which falls short of the requirements for a sahih hadith.74Several weak ahadith may mutually support each other to the level of hasanAccording to the definitions of al-Tirmidhi and Ibn al-Salah, a number of similar weak ahadith on a particular issue can be raised to the degree of hasan if the weakness found in their reporters is of a mild nature. Such a hadith is known as hasan li ghairihi (hasan due to others), to distinguish it from the type previously-discussed, which is hasan li dhatihi (hasan in itself). Similarly, several hasan ahadith on the same subject may make the hadith sahih li ghairihi, to be distinguished from the previously-discussed sahih li dhatihi.However, in case the weakness is severe (e.g., the reporter is accused of lying or the hadith is itself shadhdh), such very weak ahadith will not support each other and will remain weak. For example, the well-known hadith, “He who preserves forty ahadith for my Ummah will be raised by Allah on the Day of Resurrection among the men of understanding”, has been declared to be da’if by most of the traditionists, although it is reported through several routes.75

Da’if

A hadith which fails to reach the status of hasan is da’if. Usually, the weakness is one of discontinuity in the isnad, in which case the hadith could be mursal, mu’allaq, mudallas, munqati’ or mu’dal, according to the precise nature of the discontinuity, or one of a reporter having a disparaged character, such as due to his telling lies, excessive mistakes, opposition to the narration of more reliable sources, involvement in innovation, or ambiguity surrounding his person.The smaller the number and importance of defects, the less severe the weakness. The more the defects in number and severity, the closer the hadith will be to being maudu’ (fabricated).76 Some ahadith, according to the variation in the nature of the weakness associated with its reporters, rank at the bottom of the hasan grade or at the top of the da’if grade. Reporters such as ‘Abdullah b. Lahi’ah (a famous judge from Egypt), ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Zaid b. Aslam, Abu Bakr b. Abi Maryam al-Himsi, Faraj b. Fadalah, and Rishdin b. Sa’d attract such types of varying ranks as they are neither extremely good preservers nor totally abandoned by the traditionists.77

Maudu’

Al-Dhahabi defines maudu’ (fabricated, forged) as the term applied to a hadith, the text of which goes against the established norms of the Prophet’s sayings (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), or its reporters include a liar, e.g. the forty ahadith known as Wad’aniyyah or the small collection of ahadith which was fabricated and claimed to have been reported by ‘Ali al-Rida, the eighth Imam of the Ithna ‘Ashari Shi’ah.78A number of traditionists have collected fabricated ahadith separately in order to distinguish them from other ahadith; among them are Ibn al-Jauzi in al-Maudu’at, al-Jauzaqani in Kitab al-Abatil, al-Suyuti in al-La’ali al- Masnu’ah fi ‘l-Ahadith al-Maudu’ah, and ‘Ali al- Qari in al-Maudu’at.Some of these ahadith were known to be spurious by the confession of their inventors. For example, Muhammad b. Sa’id al-Maslub used to say, “It is not wrong to fabricate an isnad for a sound statement.”79 Another notorious inventor, ‘Abd al-Karim Abu ‘l-Auja, who was killed and crucified by Muhammad b. Sulaiman b. ‘Ali, governor of Basrah, admitted that he had fabricated four thousand ahadith declaring lawful the prohibited and vice-versa.80Maudu’ ahadith are also recognised by external evidence related to a discrepancy found in the dates or times of a particular incident.81 For example, when the second caliph, ‘Umar b. al- Khattab decided to expel the Jews from Khaibar, some Jewish dignitaries brought a document to ‘Umar apparently proving that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) had intended that they stay there by exempting them from the jizyah (tax on non-Muslims under the rule of Muslims); the document carried the witness of two Companions, Sa’d b. Mu’adh and Mu’awiyah b. Abi Sufyan. ‘Umar rejected the document outright, knowing that it was fabricated because the conquest of Khaibar took place in 6 AH, whereas Sa’d b. Mu’adh died in 3 AH just after the Battle of the Trench, and Mu’awiyah embraced Islam in 8 AH, after the conquest of Makkah!82The author, in his Criticism of Hadith among Muslims with reference to Sunan Ibn Majah, has given more examples of fabricated ahadith under the following eight categories of causes of fabrication:83

1. political differences;
2. factions based on issues of creed;
3. fabrications by zanadiqah (enemies-within spreading heretical beliefs);
4. fabrications by story-tellers;
5. fabrications by ignorant ascetics;
6. prejudice in favour of town, race or a particular imam;
7. inventions for personal motives;
8. proverbs turned into ahadith.

Similar to the last category above is the case of Isra’iliyat (”Israelite traditions”), narrations from the Jews and the Christians84 which were wrongly attributed to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).

SECTION C

FURTHER BRANCHES OF MUSTALAH AND RIJAL AL-HADITH (classification of hadith and their reporters)

The above-mentioned classification of ahadith plays a vital role in ascertaining the authenticity of a particular narration. Ibn al- Salah mentions sixty-five terms in his book, of which twenty-three have been discussed above. Two further types not included by Ibn al-Salah, mu’allaq and mutawatir, have been dealt with from other sources. The remaining forty-two types follow in brief, which help further distinguish between different types of narrations.

1. Knowledge of i’tibar (”consideration”), mutaba’ah (”follow-up”) and shawahid (”witnesses”). Traditionists are always in search of strengthening support for a hadith which is reported by one source only; such research is termed i’tibar. If a supporting narration is not found for a particular hadith, it is declared as fard mutlaq (absolutely singular) or gharib. For example, if a hadith is reported through the following isnad: Hammad b. Salamah - — Ayyub — Ibn Sirin — Abu Hurairah — the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), research would be done to ascertain whether another trustworthy reporter has narrated it from Ayyub; if so, it will be called mutaba’ah tammah (full follow-up); if not, a reporter other than Ayyub narrating from Ibn Sirin would be sought: if so, it will be called mutaba’ah qasirah (incomplete follow-up). Whereas mutaba’ah applies to the isnad, i.e. other narrations from the same reporters, a narration which supports the text (meaning) of the original hadith, although it may be through a completely different isnad, is called a shahid (”witness”).85
2. Afrad (singular narrations).
3. The type of character required in an acceptable reporter.
4. The way a hadith is heard, and the different ways of acquiring ahadith.
5. How a hadith is written, and punctuation marks used.
6. The way a hadith is reported.
7. The manners required in traditionists.
8. The manners required in students of Hadith.
9. Knowledge of a higher or lower isnad (i.e. one with less or more reporters respectively).
10. Knowledge of difficult words.
11. Knowledge of abrogated ahadith.
12. Knowledge of altered words in a text or isnad.
13. Knowledge of contradictory ahadith.
14. Knowledge of additions made to an isnad (i.e. by an inserting the name of an additional reporter).
15. Knowledge of a well-concealed type of mursal hadith.
16. Knowledge of the Companions.
17. Knowledge of the Successors.
18. Knowledge of elders reporting from younger reporters.
19. Knowledge of reporters similar in age reporting from each other.
20. Knowledge of brothers and sisters among reporters.
21. Knowledge of fathers reporting from their sons.
22. Knowledge of sons reporting from their fathers.
23. Knowledge of cases where e.g. two reporters report from the same authority, one in his early life and the other in his old age; in such cases the dates of death of the two reporters will be of significance.
24. Knowledge of such authorities from whom only one person reported.
25. Knowledge of such reporters who are known by a number of names and titles.
26. Knowledge of unique names amongst the Companions in particular and the reporters in general.
27. Knowledge of names and by-names (kunyah).
28. Knowledge of by-names for reporters known by their names only.
29. Knowledge of nicknames (alqab) of the traditionists.
30. Knowledge of mu’talif and mukhtalif (names written similarly but pronounced differently), e.g. Kuraiz and Kariz.
31. Knowledge of muttafiq and muftariq (similar names but different identities), e.g. “Hanafi”: there are two reporters who are called by this name; one because of his tribe Banu Hanifah; the other because of his attribution to a particular Madhhab (school of thought in jurisprudence).
32. Names covering both the previous types.
33. Names looking similar but they differ because of the difference in their father’s names, e.g. Yazid b. al-Aswad and al-Aswad b. Yazid.
34. Names attributed to other than their fathers, e.g. Isma’il b. Umayyah; in this case Umayyah is the mother’s name.
35. Knowledge of such titles which have a meaning different from what they seem to be, e.g. Abu Mas’ud al-Badri, not because he witnessed the battle of Badr but because he came to live there; Mu’awiyah b. ‘Abdul Karim al- Dall (”the one going astray”), not because of his beliefs but because he lost his way while travelling to Makkah; and ‘Abdullah b. Muhammad al-Da’if (”the weak”), not because of his reliability in Hadith, but due to a weak physique.
36. Knowledge of ambiguous reporters by finding out their names.
37. Knowledge of the dates of birth and death of reporters.
38. Knowledge of trustworthy and weak reporters.
39. Knowledge of trustworthy reporters who became confused in their old age.
40. Knowledge of contemporaries in a certain period.
41. Knowledge of free slaves (mawali) amongst the reporters.
42. Knowledge of the homelands and home towns of reporters.86

Appendix & Endnotes

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APPENDIX

Verdicts on the ahadith mentioned in the Foreword

1. Mutawatir, as declared by many scholars, including Ibn Taimiyyah, al-Suyuti, Najm al-Din al-Iskandari (d. 981) and al-’Ijlouni (d. 1162). About this hadith, al-Daraqutni said, “It is the most authentic one regarding the virtues of any surah.” It is related by al-Bukhari, Muslim and others.
2. The following is the sahih hadith of al- Bukhari, Muslim, al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah and Ibn ‘Asakir: “Verily, Allah has Ninety-Nine Names which if a person safeguards them, he will enter the Garden.” In some narrations of this hadith found in al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, al-Hakim and others, the names are listed at the end; however, at least three different listings are given, e.g. one list being, “He is Allah, besides whom there is no other deity, the Merciful, the Compassionate, …, the Forbearing” while another is “Allah, the Unique, the Absolute, …, the One who has nothing like unto Him.” It is agreed that these latter narrations are da’if, and this is why al-Bukhari and Muslim did not include them in their Sahihs. Al-Tirmidhi says in his Sunan, “This (version of the) hadith is gharib; it has been narrated from various routes on the authority of Abu Hurairah, but we do not know of the mention of the Names in the numerous narrations, except this one.” Ibn Taimiyyah says, “Al-Walid (one of the narrators of the hadith) related the Names from (the saying of) one of his Syrian teachers … specific mention of the Names is not from the words of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), by the agreement of those familiar with Hadith.”87 Ibn Kathir says in his Tafsir, under verse 180 of Surah al- A’raf, that these narrations are mudraj. Ibn Hajar takes a similar view in his commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari. Various scholars have given different lists of 99 Names from their study of the Qur’an and Sunnah, including Ja’far al- Sadiq, Sufyan b. ‘Uyainah, Ibn Hazm, al-Qurtubi, Ibn Hajar and Salih b. ‘Uthaimin.
3. Ibn Taimiyyah says, “It is not from the words of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and there is no known isnad for it, neither sahih nor da’if”; al-Zarkashi (d. 794), Ibn Hajar, al-Suyuti and others agreed with him. Al-Qari says, “But its meaning is correct, deduced from the statement of Allah, I have not created the Jinn and Mankind, except to worship Me, i.e. to recognise/know me, as Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) has explained.” These statements are mentioned by al-’Ijlouni, who adds, “This saying occurs often in the words of the Sufis, who have relied on it and built upon it some of their principles.”88
4. Al-’Ijlouni says, “Al-Saghani (d. 650) said: Maudu’. I say: But its meaning is correct, even if it is not a hadith.” no. 2123. ‘Ali al- Qari says, “But its meaning is correct, for al- Dailami has related from Ibn ‘Abbas as marfu’: ‘that Jibril came to me and said: O Muhammad! Were it not for you, the Garden would not have been created, and were it not for you, the Fire would not have been created’, and in the narration of Ibn ‘Asakir: ‘Were it not for you, the world would not have been created’.” Al- Albani also quotes al-Saghani’s verdict, and comments on al-Qari’s words thus, “It is not appropriate to certify the correctness of its meaning without establishing the authenticity of the narration from al-Dailami, which is something I have not found any of the scholars to have addressed. Personally, although I have not come across its isnad, I have no doubt about its weakness; enough of an indication for us is that al-Dailami is alone in reporting it. As for the narration of Ibn ‘Asakir, Ibn al-Jauzi also related it in a long marfu’ hadith from Salman and said, ‘It is maudu’, and al-Suyuti endorsed this in al-La’ali.”89
5. Sahih - related by al-Bukhari and Muslim.
6. Al-’Ijlouni says, “Al-Ghazali mentioned it in Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din with the wording, Allah says, “Neither My heaven nor My earth could contain Me, but the soft, humble heart of my believing slave can contain Me.” Al-’Iraqi said in his notes on Al-Ihya’, “I do not find a basis (i.e. isnad) for it”, and al-Suyuti agreed with him, following al-Zarkashi. Al-’Iraqi then said, “But in the hadith of Abu ‘Utbah in al-Tabarani there occurs: … the vessels of your Lord are the hearts of His righteous slaves, and the most beloved to Him are the softest and most tender ones.” Ibn Taimiyyah said, “It is mentioned in the Israelite traditions, but there is no known isnad from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) for it.” Al-Sakhawi said in Al- Maqasid, following his shaykh al-Suyuti in Al- La’ali, “There is no known isnad from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) for it, and its meaning is that his heart can contain belief in Me, love of Me and gnosis of Me. But as for the one who says that Allah incarnates in the hearts of the people, then he is more of an infidel than the Christians, who specified that to Christ alone. It seems that Ibn Taimiyyah’s mention of Israelite tradition refers to what Ahmad has related in Al-Zuhd from Wahb b. Munabbih who said that Allah opened the heavens for Ezekiel until he saw the Throne, so Ezekiel said, ‘How Perfect are You! How Mighty are You, O Lord!’ So Allah said, ‘Truly, the heavens and the earth were too weak to contain Me, but the soft, humble heart of my believing slave contains Me’.” He also quoted from al- Zarkashi’s writing that one of the scholars said that it is a false hadith, fabricated by a renegade (from the religion), and that it is most-often quoted by a preacher to the masses, ‘Ali b. Wafa, for his own purposes, who says at the time of spiritual rapture and dance, “Go round the House of your Lord.” He further said that al-Tabarani has related from Abu ‘Utbah al- Khawlani as marfu’, “Truly, Allah has vessels from amongst the people of the earth, and the vessels of your Lord are the hearts of his righteous slaves, and the most beloved of them to Him are the softest and most tender ones”; in its isnad is Baqiyyah b. al-Walid, a mudallis, but he has clearly stated hearing the hadith.”90 Al-Albani rates this last hadith mentioned as hasan.91
7. Al-Nawawi said, “It is not established.” Ibn Taimiyyah said, “Maudu’.” Al-Sam’ani said, “It is not known as marfu’, but it is quoted as a statement of Yahya b. Mu’adh al-Razi.” Al- Suyuti endorsed al-Nawawi’s words, and also said, “This hadith is not authentic.” Al- Fairozabadi said, “It is not a Prophetic statement, although most of the people think it is a hadith, but it is not authentic at all. In fact, it is only related in the Israelite traditions: O Man! Know yourself: you will know your Lord.” Ibn al-Gharas said, after quoting al-Nawawi’s verdict, “… but the books of the Sufis, such as Shaykh Muhi al-Din Ibn ‘Arabi and others, are filled with it, being quoted like a hadith.” Ibn ‘Arabi also said, “This hadith, although it is not proved by way of narration, is proved to us by way of Kashf (’unveiling’, while in a trance).”92 Regarding this methodology, al-Albani says, “Authenticating ahadith by way of Kashf is a wicked innovation of the Sufis, and depending upon it leads to the authentication of false, baseless ahadith … This is because, even at the best of times, Kashf is like opinion, which may be right or wrong - and that is if no personal desires enter into it! We ask Allah to save us from it, and from everything with which He is not pleased.”93
8. Sahih. Related by Malik in Al-Muwatta’, al- Shafi’i in Al-Risalah (p. 110, Eng. trans.) and Muslim (1:382; Eng. trans. 1:272). This was the first of two questions which the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) put to a slave-girl to test her faith, the second one being, “Who am I?” She answered, “Above the heaven” and “You are the Messenger of Allah” respectively, to which he said, “Free her, for she is a believer.” Her first answer, which is found in the Qur’an (67:16-17, the word fi can mean ‘above/on’, as in 6:11, 20:71 & 27:8), means that Allah is above and separate from His creation, not mixed in with it, the erroneous belief which leads to worship of creation.
9. Maudu’, as stated by al-Saghani and others. Scholars differ as to whether its meaning is correct or not, in what way, and to what extent.94 It is sometimes used to justify divisive, anti- Islamic nationalism and patriotism!
10. Sahih. Related by Malik as mursal/mu’allaq/balaghat (depending on choice of terminology), and related twice as musnad by al- Hakim. The meaning of the hadith is contained in the Qur’an, in the mention of the Book and Wisdom (2:129, 2:151, 2:231, 3:164, 4:113, 33:34 & 62:2); al-Shafi’i says, “I have heard the most knowledgeable people about the Qur’an say that the Wisdom is the Sunnah” (Al-Risalah, Eng. trans., p. 111).
11. Sahih. Related by al-Tirmidhi, Ahmad, Ibn Abi ‘Asim, al-Hakim, al-Tabarani, al-Dailami and al-Tahawi.95 The phrase Ahl al-Bayt (members of the house) refers: (i) primarily to the Prophet’s wives (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), from the clear context of the relevant verse of the Qur’an (33:33); (ii) to ‘Ali, Fatimah, Hasan & Husain, from the “hadith of the garment” (cf. Sahih Muslim, Book of the Virtues of the Companions). It is imbalanced and unjust to exclude either of these categories from the hadith.
12. A sahih hadith related by Abu Dawud, al- Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah & Ahmad, and well-known amongst the people. The fullest narration is, “Abu Bakr will be in the Garden; ‘Umar will be in the Garden; ‘Uthman will be in the Garden; ‘Ali will be in the Garden; Talhah will be in the Garden; al-Zubair will be in the Garden; ‘Abd al-Rahman b. ‘Auf will be in the Garden; Sa’d b. Abi Waqqas will be in the Garden; Sa’id b. Zaid will be in the Garden; Abu ‘Ubaidah b. al-Jarrah will be in the Garden.”
13. Related by Ishaq b. Rahawaih and al-Baihaqi with a sahih isnad as a statement of ‘Umar. It is also collected by Ibn ‘Adi and al-Dailami from Ibn ‘Umar as marfu’, but in its isnad is ‘Isa b. Abdullah, who is weak. However, it is strengthened by another narration of Ibn ‘Adi, and also supported by the hadith in the Sunan that a man saw in a dream that Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was weighed against Abu Bakr, and was found to be heavier; then Abu Bakr was weighed against everyone else …96
14. Related by al-Hakim, al-Tabarani and others. It is also related by al-Tirmidhi with the wording, “I am the House of Wisdom, and ‘Ali is its Door”. Al-Daraqutni labelled the hadith as mudtarib, both in isnad and text; al-Tirmidhi said it is gharib and munkar; al-Bukhari said that it has no sahih narration; Ibn Ma’in said that it is a baseless lie. Similar dismissals of the hadith are reported from Abu Zur’ah, Abu Hatim and Yahya b. Sa’d. Al-Hakim declared the original hadith as sahih in isnad, but Ibn al- Jauzi regarded both versions as maudu’, and al- Dhahabi agreed with him. Several of the later scholars, including Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani, Ibn Hajar al-Makki and al-Suyuti declared it hasan due to its various routes of narration. Al- ‘Ijlouni says, “… none of this devalues the consensus of the Adherents to the Sunnah from the Companions, the Successors and those after them, that the best of the Companions overall is Abu Bakr, followed by ‘Umar …”, and quotes this view from Ibn ‘Umar and ‘Ali himself, as recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari.97 Al-Albani declares the hadith to be maudu’.98
15. A da’if or maudu’ hadith, as stated by Ahmad b. Hanbal, Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, al-Bazzar and many others. Ibn Hazm states that not only is the isnad unsound, but the hadith cannot be true for two further reasons: (i) the Companions were not infallible, and hence made mistakes, so it would be wrong to say that following any of them leads to guidance; (ii) the comparison with the stars is wrong, for not every star guides one through every journey! There is a different, authentic comparison with the stars given in Sahih Muslim: the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “The stars are the custodians of the sky, so when the stars depart, there will come to the sky what is promised for it (i.e. on the Day of Judgment). I am the custodian of my Companions, so when I depart, there will come to my Companions what is promised for them (i.e. great trials and tribulations). My Companions are the custodians for my Ummah, so when my Companions depart, there will come to my Ummah what is promised for it (i.e. schisms, spread of innovations, etc.).” (4:1961, Eng. trans. IV:1344)
16. No isnad exists for this hadith: al-Subki (d. 756) said, “It is not known to the scholars of Hadith, and I cannot find an isnad for it, whether sahih, da’if, or maudu’.” It, along with the previous one, is often used to justify the following two extremes: (i) blind following of the views of men, with no reference to the Qur’an and Sunnah; (ii) conveniently following whichever scholar holds the easiest view, or that most agreeable to one’s desires, again without reference to the fundamental sources.
17. Numerous narrations of this hadith are found in the collections of Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, al-Hakim, Ahmad and others: they vary in being sahih, hasan, or da’if, but the hadith is established. Among those who have authenticated this hadith are al-Tirmidhi, al- Hakim, al-Shatibi, Ibn Taimiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Dhahabi, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Hajar and al-’Iraqi. Most narrations mention the splitting-up of the Jews and the Christians into seventy-one or seventy-two sects, all being in the Fire except one, prior to mention of the Muslims dividing even more. In some of the narrations, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) describes the Saved Sect variously as “the Jama’ah (community, congregation, main body)”, “the largest body (al-sawad al-a’zam)” and “that which follows what I and my Companions are upon.” The hadith does not mean that the majority of Muslims will be in the Hellfire, for most of them (”the masses”) are not involved in intentional, divisive innovation; further, mention of the Fire does not necessarily imply that the seventy-two sects will remain there forever, or that those sects are disbelievers.
18. Although the Mahdi is not mentioned explicitly in the collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim, numerous sahih ahadith, which are mutawatir in meaning, speak of the coming of the Mahdi, a man named Muhammad b. ‘Abdullah and a descendant of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) through Fatimah, who will be the Leader (Imam, Khalifah) of the Muslims, rule for seven years and fill the world with justice and equity after it had been filled with tyranny and oppression. He will also fight the Dajjal along with Jesus son of Mary. The author, in his The Concept of the Mahdi among the Ahl al-Sunnah, has named 37 scholars who collected ahadith about the Mahdi with their own isnads and 69 later scholars who wrote in support of the concept, compared to 8 scholars who rejected the idea. The ahadith prophesying the Dajjal (False Christ), a one-eyed man who will have miraculous powers and will be followed by the Jews, and the return of Jesus Christ son of Mary (peace be upon them), who will descend in Damascus and pray behind the Mahdi, kill the Dajjal at the gate of Lod in Palestine, break the Cross, kill the Pig, marry and have children and live for forty years before dying a natural death, are mutawatir in meaning. They have been collected by al-Bukhari and Muslim, as well as other traditionists.
19. Mutawatir in meaning, and collected by al- Bukhari, Muslim and others.
20. Mutawatir in meaning, and collected by al- Bukhari, Muslim and others. Mention of the inadmissibility of intercession on the Day of Judgment in the Qur’an, e.g. 2:48 2:123, must be understood in the light of other verses, e.g. 20:109 and sahih ahadith. The reward of seeing Allah for the believers is referred to in the Qur’an, e.g. 75:22-23 and 83:15. These ahadith and those of the previous two categories were generally rejected by the classical Mu’tazilah (Rationalists), as well by those influenced by them today, on one or more of the following bases: (i) they contradict the Qur’an (in their view); (ii) they contradict Reason (in their view), and (iii) they are ahad, not mutawatir, and hence not acceptable in matters of belief (a flawed argument). Hence, the scholars who wrote the ‘aqidah (creed) of the Ahl al-Sunnah included these concepts in it, to confirm their denial of the wrong ideas of the Mu’tazilah. Other authentic ahadith rejected by the Mu’tazilah are many, and include those describing the Prophet’s Mi’raj (ascension to the heavens), which are again mutawatir in meaning.
21. The hadith with this wording is da’if, but its meaning is contained in the hadith of Ibn Majah and al-Nasa’i that a man came to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and said, “O Messenger of Allah! I intend to go on a (military) expedition, but I have come to ask your advice.” He said, “Is your mother alive?” He said, “Yes.” He said, “Then stay with her, for the Garden is under her feet.” This latter hadith is declared to be sahih by al-Hakim, al-Dhahabi and al-Mundhiri.99
22. A sahih hadith, collected by al-Bukhari, Muslim and others.
23. This hadith has many chains of narration on the authority of more than a dozen Companions, including twenty Successors apparently reporting from Anas alone. They are collected by Ibn Majah, al-Baihaqi, al-Tabarani and others, but all of them are da’if, according to Ahmad b. Hanbal, Ishaq b. Rahuwaih, Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, al- Bazzar and others, although some scholars authenticated a few of the chains. Al-Baihaqi said that its text is mashhur while its isnad is da’if, while al-Hakim and Ibn al-Salah regarded it as a prime example of a mashhur hadith which is not sahih. However, it is regarded by later scholars of Hadith as having enough chains of narration to be strengthened to the level of hasan or sahih, a view which is stated by al- Mizzi, al-’Iraqi, Ibn Hajar, al-Suyuti and al- Albani.100
24. This additional statement is found in a few of the (weak) narrations of the previous hadith, and is declared as maudu’ by Ibn Hibban, Ibn al- Jauzi, al-Sakhawi and al-Albani.101
25. Mentioned by al-Manjaniqi in his collection of ahadith of older narrators reporting from younger ones, on the authority of al-Hasan al- Basri. Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi said that it is maudu’ as a narration from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), but that it is a statement of al-Hasan al-Basri.102
26. Related as marfu’ by al-Baihaqi with a da’if isnad, according to al-’Iraqi. Ibn Hajar said that it is actually a saying of Ibrahim b. Abi ‘Ablah, a Successor.103

*NB: The scholars of Hadith agree that a da’if or maudu’ hadith must not be attributed to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), e.g. by saying, “The Prophet said: …”, even if the meaning is considered to be correct or if it is actually the saying of a Muslim scholar, for that would be a way of lying about the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).

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ENDNOTES

1. Ar. Sunnah: Way, Path, Tradition, Example. See An Introduction to the Sunnah by Suhaib Hasan (Understanding Islam Series no. 5, published by Al-Quran Society), for Qur’anic proofs of revelation besides the Qur’an, the importance of the Sunnah, and a brief history of the collections of Hadith. See also Imam al- Shafi’i’s al-Risalah for the authoritative position of the Sunnah (Eng. trans., pp. 109- 116).
2. related by Imam Muslim in the Introduction to his Sahih - see Sahih Muslim (ed. M.F. ‘Abdul Baqi, 5 vols., Cairo, 1374/1955), 1:15 & Sahih Muslim bi Sharh an-Nawawi (18 vols. in 6, Cairo, 1349), 1:87. The existing English translation of Sahih Muslim, by Abdul Hamid Siddiqi, does not contain this extremely valuable Introduction.
3. Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi, Al-Jarh wa l-Ta’dil (8 vols., Hyderabad, 1360-1373), 1:20.
4. Sahih Muslim, 1:15. See Suhaib Hasan, Criticism of Hadith among Muslims with reference to Sunan Ibn Maja (Ta Ha publishers / Al-Quran Society, London, 1407/1986), pp. 15-17 for discussion of this statement of Ibn Sirin.
5. Remarks like these are exceptions from the basic Islamic prohibition of backbiting (ghibah) another Muslim, even if the statement is true. Such exceptions are allowed, even obligatory in some cases, where general benefit to the Muslim public is at stake, such as knowing which ahadith are authentic. See e.g. Riyad al- Salihin of al-Nawawi, Chapter on Backbiting, for the justification for certain types of backbiting from the Qur’an and Sunnah.
6. Muhammad Adib Salih, Lamahat fi Usul al-Hadith (2nd ed., al-Maktab al-Islami, Beirut, 1389), p. 143.
7. Tahir b. Ahmad al-Jaza’iri, Taujih al-Nazar ila Usul al-Nazar (Maktaba ‘Ilmiyyah, Madinah, N.D.), p. 68.
8. Muhammad b. ‘Abdullah al-Hakim, Ma’rifah ‘Ulum al-Hadith (ed. Mu’azzam Husain, Cairo, 1937), p. 17.
9. ibid.
10. Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, Tadrib al-Rawi (ed. A.A. Latif, 1st ed., Cairo, 1379/1959), 1:197.
11. Al-Dhahabi, Talkhis al-Mustadrak (printed with Mustadrak al-Hakim, 4 vols., Hyderabad), 3:176.
12. Abu ‘l-Fida’ ‘Imad al-Din Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur’an al-Azim (4 vols., Cairo, N.D.), 1:80.
13. Yusuf b. ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abdul Barr, Tajrid al- Tamhid lima fi l-Muwatta’ min al-Asanid (Cairo, 1350), 1:2.
14. ibid.
15. al-Suyuti, 1:198.
16. For the discussion in detail, see al-Shafi’i, al-Risalah (ed. Ahmad Shakir, Cairo, 1358/1940, pp. 461-470; English translation: M. Khadduri, 2nd ed., Islamic Texts Society, Cambridge, 1987, pp. 279-284, where the mursal hadith has been translated as “interrupted tradition”).
17. al-Suyuti, 1:199; Muhammad b. Mustafa al- Ghadamsi, Al-Mursal min al-Hadith (Darif Ltd., London, N.D.), p.71.
18. Ibn al-Qayyim, I’lam al-Muwaqqi’in (2nd ed., 4 vols. in 2, Dar al-Fikr, Beirut, 1397/1977), 1:31.
19. Ibn Hazm, Al-Ihkam fi Usul al-Ahkam (Matba’ah al-Sa’adah, Cairo, 1345), 2:135.
20. Al-Hazimi, Shurut al-A’immah al-Khamsah (ed. M.Z. al-Kauthari, Cairo, N.D.), p. 45.
21. According to the different interpretations of this verse, “they” here could refer to those who stay behind, or those who go forth.
22. al-Hakim, p. 26.
23. ibid.
24. Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Al-Kifayah fi ‘Ilm al- Riwayah (Hyderabad, 1357), p. 387.
25. ibid., pp. 411-413.
26. Zain al-Din al-’Iraqi, Al-Taqyid wa ‘l-Idah Sharh Muqaddimah Ibn al-Salah (al-Maktabah al- Salafiyyahh, Madinah, 1389/1969), p. 72
27. Ibn Taymiyyah, Minhaj al-Sunnah an-Nabawiyyah fi Naqd Kalam al-Shi’ah wa ‘l-Qadariyyah (al- Maktabah al-Amiriyyah, Bulaq, 1322), 4:117.
28. Al-Dhahabi, Al-Muqizah (Maktab al-Matbu’at al- Islamiyyah, Halab, 1405), p. 40.
29. al-Jaza’iri, p. 33.
30. ibid.
31. Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani, Sharh Nukhbah al-Fikr (ed. M. ‘Aud & M.G. Sabbagh, Damascus, 1410/1990), pp. 8-9.
32. al-Jaza’iri, p. 49; Muhammad b. Isma’il al- Amir al-San’ani, Taudih al-Afkar (2 vols. ed. M.M. ‘Abdul Hamid, Cairo, 1366), 2:405.
33. al-San’ani, 2:409.
34. al-Hakim, pp. 96-102.
35. al-San’ani, 2:455.
36. al-’Iraqi, p. 268.
37. al-San’ani, 2:406.
38. al-’Iraqi, p. 96.
39. ibid.
40. Ibn Hajar, Tabaqat al-Mudallisin (Cairo, 1322), p. 7f.
41. al-’Iraqi, p. 98.
42. al-Hakim, pp. 30-34.
43. ibid., p. 119.
44. Ibn Kathir, Ikhtisar ‘Ulum al-Hadith (ed. Ahmad Shakir, 2nd imp., Cairo, 1951), p. 57.
45. al-Suyuti, 1:235; M. A. Salih, p. 260.
46. al-San’ani, 2:3.
47. ibid., 2:6.
48. al-Khatib, p. 431.
49. Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, 4:349.
50. Ibn Kathir, Ikhtisar, p. 62.
51. al-Suyuti, 1:248.
52. al-Hakim, p. 39.
53. al-’Iraqi, p. 129f.
54. al-Suyuti, 1:274.
55. Ibn Kathir, Ikhtisar, p. 72.
56. ibid.
57. Ibn ‘Abdul Barr, Al-Tamhid, 3:32, as quoted by Luqman al-Salafi, Ihtimam al-Muhaddithin bi Naqd al-Hadith, p. 381f.
58. Ibn Kathir, Ikhtisar, p. 88.
59. ibid., p. 87.
60. Shams al-Din Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Rahman al- Sakhawi, Fath al-Mughith Sharh Alfiyyah al- Hadith li ‘l-’Iraqi (Lucknow, N.D.), 1:278.
61. ‘Uthman b. ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Dimashqi Ibn al- Salah, ‘Ulum al-Hadith (commonly known as Muqaddimah, ed. al-Tabbakh, Halab, 1350), p. 116.
62. ‘Ali b. ‘Abdullah b. Ja’far Ibn al-Madini, Kitab al-’Ilal, p. 58. Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani mentions that the Imams of Hadith have agreed that al-Hasan al-Basri did not hear a single word from ‘Ali.
63. Sahih Muslim, 4:2149 (English transl., IV:1462, Sharh Nawawi, 17:133).
64. Ibn Taimiyyah, Majmu’ Fatawa (37 vols., ed. ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Qasim & his son Muhammad, Riyad, 1398), 18:18f. Ibn Taimiyyah mentions that Imam Muslim’s authentication of this hadith is supported by Abu Bakr al-Anbari & Ibn al- Jauzi, whereas al-Baihaqi supports those who disparaged it. Al-Albani says that it was Ibn al-Madini who criticised it, whereas Ibn Ma’in did not (the latter was known to be very strict, both of them were shaikhs of al-Bukhari). He further says that the hadith is sahih, and does not contradict the Qur’an, contrary to the probable view of the scholars who criticised the hadith, since what is mentioned in the Qur’an is the creation of the heavens and the earth in six days, each of which may be like a thousand years, whereas the hadith refers to the creation of the earth only, in days which are shorter than those referred to in the Qur’an (Silsilah al-Ahadith as-Sahihah, no. 1833).
65. al-Dhahabi, p. 27.
66. al-Shafi’i, p. 370f (Eng. trans., pp. 239- 240).
67. al-Dhahabi, p. 24.
68. al-Nawawi, Muqaddimah, p. 14.
69. al-Tibi, al-Husain b. ‘Abdullah, al-Khulasah fi Usul al-Hadith (ed. Subhi al-Samarra’i, Baghdad, 1391), p. 36.
70. ibid., p. 38.
71. al-Nawawi, Muqaddimah, p. 43.
72. al-Dhahabi, p. 26.
73. ibid., pp. 32-33.
74. al-Albani, Silsilah al-Ahadith al-Sahihah, no. 62.
75. al-Jaza’iri, p. 149.
76. al-Sakhawi, 1:99.
77. al-Dhahabi, pp. 33-34.
78. ibid., p. 36.
79. al-Sakhawi, 1:264.
80. ibid., 1:275.
81. al-Nawawi, Taqrib, 1:275.
82. see Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Manar al-Munif fi ‘l- Sahih wa ‘l-Da’if (ed. A.F. Abu Ghuddah, Lahore, 1402/1982), pp. 102-105 for a fuller discussion. Ibn al-Qayyim mentions more than ten clear indications of the forgery of the document, which the Jews repeatedly attempted to use to deceive the Muslims over the centuries, but each time a scholar of Hadith intervened to point out the forgery - such incidents occurred with Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 310), al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463) and Ibn Taimiyyah (d. 728), who spat on the document as it was unfolded from beneath its silken covers.
83. Suhaib Hasan, Criticism of Hadith, pp. 35-44.
84. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) allowed such narrations, but they are not to be confirmed nor denied, except for what is confirmed or denied by the Qur’an and Sunnah. See e.g. An Introduction to the Principles of Tafseer of Ibn Taimiyyah (trans. M.A.H. Ansari, Al-Hidaayah, Birmingham, 1414/1993), pp. 56-58.
85. ibid., p. 156.
86. see Muqaddimah Ibn al-Salah.
87. Fatawa Ibn Taimiyyah, 6:379-382.
88. Isma’il b. Muhammad al-’Ijlouni, Kashf al- Khafa’ (2 vols. in 1, Cairo/Aleppo, N.D.), no. 2016.
89. Al-Albani, Silsilah al-Ahadith al-Da’ifah, no. 282.
90. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 2256.
91. Sahih al-Jami’ al-Saghir, no. 2163; Silsilah al-Ahadith al-Sahihah, no. 1691.
92. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 2532; Al-Da’ifah, no. 66.
93. Al-Da’ifah, no. 58.
94. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 1102; Al-Da’ifah, no. 36.
95. Al-Sahihah, no. 1761.
96. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 2130.
97. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 618.
98. Da’if al-Jami’ al-Saghir, nos. 1410, 1416.
99. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 1078; Al-Da’ifah, no. 593.
100. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 1665; Sahih al-Jami’ al- Saghir, nos. 3913-4.
101. Al-Da’ifah, no. 416; Da’if al-Jami’ al- Saghir, nos. 1005-6.
102. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 2276.
103. Kashf al-Khafa’, no. 1362

 

Malik bin-Dinar (r.a.) narrated the following story about himself, saying, “I was a man who indulged in fun and enjoyment and suffered from an overwhelmingly addiction to wine. I bought a slave girl with whom I was very happy. She later gave birth to a beautiful girl who I loved dearly. I saw her progress from crawling to walking. Whenever I sat down for a drink, she would come and take the cup from my hands and spill the wine on the ground. At the tender age of two years she died and left me grieving. It was the night of the fifteenth of Sha’ban and I fell asleep drunk. I saw in my dream that it was the Day of Resurrection and I came out of my grave with a huge sea serpent after me. I began to run but it chased me. The faster I ran, the faster it came. I passed by an old rnan dressed in clean garments who was very weak. I called out to him “O Sheikh, please save me from this monster!” He replied, “O my son, I am a very old man and this monster is too powerful for me, I cannot prevail from it. Perhaps if you carry on someone else may be able to help you.” I continued to run, with serpent still following me. I passed by a pit of blazing fire and was about to fall into it, but someone said, ”You are not its inhabitant,” On hearing this I turned and ran towards the mountain, I found that there were many gates to it and each gate had guards. A voice called out, ”Let this wretched man in before his enemy captures him.” The gates opened and I saw a group of children there faces shone like the moon, and among them was my little girl! She came towards me like a beam of light and with her right hand hit the serpent, which then fled. She sat by me and said, ”O my father has not the time arrived for the heart of those who believe to submit to Allah’s reminder (Dhikr) and the truth (Quran) which has been revealed?” I replied, ‘O my child, do you know the Qur’an?’ She answered, ”I learnt it from you.” I the asked, ”O my daughter, what are you doing here?” She said we are Muslim children who have died and we will live here until the Day of Resurrection and wait for our parents.” At this I said, ” O my daughter, who was that monster chasing and trying to kill me?” She said, ”O my father, which was your bad deeds, which you accumulated and could have destroyed you.” I then asked, ”And who was that weak old man?” She said, ”He was you good deeds, which you weakened to such an extant that they had no power to defend you. Therefore, O my father, repents and turns towards Allah, and is not among those who will perish,” Suddenly I woke up. I repented for my sins and turned to Allah. The lesson we learn from this story is that when young children die in infancy and their parents show patience and control of their emotions, it becomes a means of their salvation in the Hereafter. Allah Most High has taught us, when He tries us with an affliction, to say: All praise is due to Allah. Truly, we are Allah’s and truly unto Him is the return.

UNDERSTANDING THE FOUR MADHHABS the problem with anti-madhhabism [revised edition now with footnotes (for Sidi Azhar Usman)]

© Abdal-Hakim Murad

The ummah’s greatest achievement over the past millennium has undoubtedly been its internal intellectual cohesion. From the fifth century of the Hijra almost to the present day, and despite the outward drama of the clash of dynasties, the Sunni Muslims have maintained an almost unfailing attitude of religious respect and brotherhood among themselves. It is a striking fact that virtually no religious wars, riots or persecutions divided them during this extended period, so difficult in other ways.

The history of religious movements suggests that this is an unusual outcome. The normal sociological view, as expounded by Max Weber and his disciples, is that religions enjoy an initial period of unity, and then descend into an increasingly bitter factionalism led by rival hierarchies. Christianity has furnished the most obvious example of this; but one could add many others, including secular faiths such as Marxism. On the face of it, Islam’s ability to avoid this fate is astonishing, and demands careful analysis.

There is, of course, a straightforwardly religious explanation. Islam is the final religion, the last bus home, and as such has been divinely secured from the more terminal forms of decay. It is true that what Abdul Wadod Shalabi has termed ‘spiritual entropy’[1] has been at work ever since Islam’s inauguration, a fact which is well-supported by a number of hadiths. Nonetheless, Providence has not neglected the ummah. Earlier religions slide gently or painfully into schism and irrelevance; but Islamic piety, while fading in quality, has been given mechanisms which allow it to retain much of the sense of unity emphasised in its glory days. Wherever the antics of the emirs and politicians might lead, the brotherhood of believers, a reality in the initial career of Christianity and some other faiths, continues, fourteen hundred years on, to be a compelling principle for most members of the final and definitive community of revelation in Islam. The reason is simple and unarguable: God has given us this religion as His last word, and it must

1

therefore endure, with its essentials of tawhid, worship and ethics intact, until the Last Days. Such an explanation has obvious merit. But we will still need to explain some painful exceptions to the rule in the earliest phase of our history. The Prophet himself (pbuh) had told his Companions, in a hadith narrated by Imam Tirmidhi, that “Whoever among you outlives me shall see a vast dispute”. The initial schisms: the disastrous revolt against Uthman (r.a.)[2], the clash between Ali (r.a.) and Talha, and then with Mu`awiyah[3], the bloody scissions of the Kharijites[4] - all these drove knives of discord into the Muslim body politic almost from the outset. Only the inherent sanity and love of unity among scholars of the ummah assisted, no doubt, by Providence overcame the early spasms of factionalism, and created a strong and harmonious Sunnism which has, at least on the purely religious plane, united ninety percent of the ummah for ninety percent of its history.[5]

It will help us greatly to understand our modern, increasingly divided situation if we look closely at those forces which divided us in the distant past. There were many of these, some of them very eccentric; but only two took the form of mass popular movements, driven by religious ideology, and in active rebellion against majoritarian faith and scholarship. For good reasons, these two acquired the names of Kharijism and Shi’ism. Unlike Sunnism, both were highly productive of splinter groups and sub-movements; but they nonetheless remained as recognisable traditions of dissidence because of their ability to express the two great divergences from mainstream opinion on the key question of the source of religious authority in Islam.

Confronted with what they saw as moral slippage among early caliphs, posthumous partisans of Ali (r.a.) developed a theory of religious authority which departed from the older egalitarian assumptions by vesting it in a charismatic succession of Imams. We need not stop here to investigate the question of whether this idea was influenced by the Eastern Christian background of some early converts, who had been nourished on the idea of the mystical apostolic succession to Christ, a gift which supposedly gave the Church the unique ability to read his mind for later generations. What needs to be appreciated is that Shi’ism, in its myriad forms, developed as a response to a widely-sensed lack of definitive religious authority in early Islamic society. As the age of the Righteous Caliphs came to a close, and the Umayyad rulers departed ever more conspicuously from the lifestyle expected of them as

2

Commanders of the Faithful, the sharply-divergent and still nascent schools of fiqh seemed inadequate as sources of strong and unambiguous authority in religious matters. Hence the often irresistible seductiveness of the idea of an infallible Imam.[6] This interpretation of the rise of Imamism also helps to explain the second great phase in Shi’i expansion. After the success of the fifth-century Sunni revival, when Sunnism seemed at last to have become a fully coherent system, Shi’ism went into a slow eclipse. Its extreme wing, as manifested in Ismailism, received a heavy blow at the hands of Imam al-Ghazali, whose book “Scandals of the Batinites” exposed and refuted their secret doctrines with devastating force.[7] This decline in Shi’i fortunes was only arrested after the mid-seventh century, once the Mongol hordes under Genghis Khan had invaded and obliterated the central lands of Islam. The onslaught was unimaginably harsh: we are told, for instance, that out of a hundred thousand former inhabitants of the city of Herat, only forty survivors crept out of the smoking ruins to survey the devastation.[8] In the wake of this tidal wave of mayhem, newly-converted Turcoman nomads moved in, who, with the Sunni ulama of the cities dead, and a general atmosphere of fear, turbulence, and Messianic expectation in the air, turned readily to extremist forms of Shi’i belief.[9] The triumph of Shi’ism in Iran, a country once loyal to Sunnism, dates back to that painful period.[10]

The other great dissident movement in early Islam was that of the Kharijites, literally, the seceders, so-called because they seceded from the army of the Caliph Ali when he agreed to settle his dispute with Muawiyah through arbitration. Calling out the Quranic slogan, “Judgement is only Gods”, they fought bitterly against Ali and his army which included many of the leading Companions, until, in the year 38, Imam Ali defeated them at the Battle of Nahrawan, where some ten thousand of them perished.[11]

Although the first Kharijites were destroyed, Kharijism itself lived on. As it formulated itself, it turned into the precise opposite of Shi’ism, rejecting any notion of inherited or charismatic leadership, and stressing that leadership of the community of believers should be decided by piety alone. This was assessed by very rudimentary criteria: the early Kharijites were known for extreme toughness in their devotions, and for the harsh doctrine that any Muslim who commits a major sin is an unbeliever. This notion of takfir (declaring Muslims to be outside Islam), permitted the Kharijite groups,

3

camping out in remote mountain districts of Khuzestan, to raid Muslim settlements which had accepted Umayyad authority. Non-Kharijis were routinely slaughtered in these operations, which brought merciless reprisals from tough Umayyad generals such as al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf. But despite the apparent hopelessness of their cause, the Kharijite attacks continued. The Caliph Ali (r.a.) was assassinated by Ibn Muljam, a survivor of Nahrawan, while the hadith scholar Imam al-Nasai, author of one of the most respected collections of sunan, was likewise murdered by Kharijite fanatics in Damascus in 303/915.[12]

Like Shi’ism, Kharijism caused much instability in Iraq and Central Asia, and on occasion elsewhere, until the fourth and fifth centuries of Islam. At that point, something of historic moment occurred. Sunnism managed to unite itself into a detailed system that was now so well worked-out, and so obviously the way of the great majority of ulama, that the attraction of the rival movements diminished sharply. What happened was this. Sunni Islam, occupying the middle ground between the two extremes of egalitarian Kharijism and hierarchical Shi’ism, had long been preoccupied with disputes over its own concept of authority. For the Sunnis, authority was, by definition, vested in the Quran and Sunnah. But confronted with the enormous body of

hadiths, which had been scattered in various forms and narrations throughout the length and breadth of the Islamic world following the migrations of the Companions and Followers, the Sunnah sometimes proved difficult to interpret. Even when the sound hadiths had been sifted out from this great body of material, which totalled several hundred thousand hadith reports, there were some hadiths which appeared to conflict with each other, or even with verses of the Quran. It was obvious that simplistic approaches such as that of the Kharijites, namely, establishing a small corpus of hadiths and deriving doctrines and law from them directly, was not going to work. The internal contradictions were too numerous, and the interpretations placed on them too complex, for the qadis (judges) to be able to dish out judgements simply by opening the Quran and hadith collections to an appropriate page.

The reasons underlying cases of apparent conflict between various revealed texts were scrutinised closely by the early ulama, often amid sustained debate between brilliant minds backed up with the most perfect photographic memories. Much of the science of Islamic jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh) was

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developed in order to provide consistent mechanisms for resolving such conflicts in a way which ensured fidelity to the basic ethos of Islam. The term taarud al-adilla (mutual contradiction of proof-texts) is familiar to all students of Islamic jurisprudence as one of the most sensitive and complex of all Muslim legal concepts.[13] Early scholars such as Ibn Qutayba felt obliged to devote whole books to the subject.[14]

The ulama of usul recognised as their starting assumption that conflicts between the revealed texts were no more than conflicts of interpretation, and could not reflect inconsistencies in the Lawgiver’s message as conveyed by the Prophet (pbuh). The message of Islam had been perfectly conveyed before his demise; and the function of subsequent scholars was exclusively one of interpretation, not of amendment. Armed with this awareness, the Islamic scholar, when examining problematic texts, begins by attempting a series of preliminary academic tests and methods of resolution. The system developed by the early ulama was that if two Quranic or

hadith texts appeared to contradict each other, then the scholar must first analyse the texts linguistically, to see if the contradiction arises from an error in interpreting the Arabic. If the contradiction cannot be resolved by this method, then he must attempt to determine, on the basis of a range of textual, legal and historiographic techniques, whether one of them is subject to takhsis, that is, concerns special circumstances only, and hence forms a specific exception to the more general principle enunciated in the other text.[15] The jurist must also assess the textual status of the reports, recalling the principle that a Quranic verse will overrule a hadith related by only one isnad (the type of hadith known as ahad), as will a hadith supplied by many isnads (mutawatir or mashhur).[16] If, after applying all these mechanisms, the jurist finds that the conflict remains, he must then investigate the possibility that one of the texts was subject to formal abrogation (naskh) by the other.

This principle of naskh is an example of how, when dealing with the delicate matter of taarud al-adilla, the Sunni ulama founded their approach on textual policies which had already been recognised many times during the lifetime of the Prophet (pbuh). The Companions knew by ijma that over the years of the Prophets ministry, as he taught and nurtured them, and brought them from the wildness of paganism to the sober and compassionate path of monotheism, his teaching had been divinely shaped to keep pace with their

5

development. The best-known instance of this was the progressive prohibition of wine, which had been discouraged by an early Quranic verse, then condemned, and finally prohibited.[17] Another example, touching an even more basic principle, was the canonical prayer, which the early ummah had been obliged to say only twice daily, but which, following the Miraj, was increased to five times a day.[18] Mutah (temporary marriage) had been permitted in the early days of Islam, but was subsequently prohibited as social conditions developed, respect for women grew, and morals became firmer.[19] There are several other instances of this, most being datable to the years immediately following the Hijra, when the circumstances of the young ummah changed in radical ways. There are two types of naskh: explicit (sarih) or implicit (dimni).[20] The former is easily identified, for it involves texts which themselves specify that an earlier ruling is being changed. For instance, there is the verse in the Quran (2:142) which commands the Muslims to turn in prayer to the Kaba rather than to Jerusalem.[21] In the hadith literature this is even more frequently encountered; for example, in a hadith narrated by Imam Muslim we read: “I used to forbid you to visit graves; but you should now visit them.”[22] Commenting on this, the ulama of hadith explain that in early Islam, when idolatrous practices were still fresh in peoples memories, visiting graves had been forbidden because of the fear that some new Muslims might commit shirk. As the Muslims grew stronger in their monotheism, however, this prohibition was discarded as no longer necessary, so that today it is a recommended practice for Muslims to go out to visit graves in order to pray for the dead and to be reminded of the akhira.[23]

The other type of naskh is more subtle, and often taxed the brilliance of the early ulama to the limit. It involves texts which cancel earlier ones, or modify them substantially, but without actually stating that this has taken place. The ulama have given many examples of this, including the two verses in Surat al-Baqarah which give differing instructions as to the period for which widows should be maintained out of an estate (2:240 and 234).[24] And in the hadith literature, there is the example of the incident in which the Prophet (pbuh) once told the Companions that when he prayed sitting because he was burdened by some illness, they should sit behind him. This hadith is given by Imam Muslim. And yet we find another hadith, also narrated by Muslim, which records an incident in which the Companions prayed standing while the Prophet (pbuh) was sitting. The apparent contradiction has been resolved by

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careful chronological analysis, which shows that the latter incident took place after the former, and therefore takes precedence over it.[25] This has duly been recorded in the fiqh of the great scholars.

The techniques of naskh identification have enabled the ulama to resolve most of the recognised cases of taarud al-adilla. They demand a rigorous and detailed knowledge not just of the hadith disciplines, but of history, sirah, and of the views held by the Companions and other scholars on the circumstances surrounding the genesis and exegesis of the hadith in question. In some cases, hadith scholars would travel throughout the Islamic world to locate the required information pertinent to a single hadith.[26] In cases where in spite of all efforts, abrogation cannot be proven, then the ulama of the salaf recognised the need to apply further tests. Important among these is the analysis of the matn (the transmitted text rather than the isnad of the

hadith).[27] Clear (sarih) statements are deemed to take precedence over allusive ones (kinayah), and definite (muhkam) words take precedence over words falling into more ambiguous categories, such as the interpreted (mufassar), the obscure (khafi) and the problematic (mushkil).[28] It may also be necessary to look at the position of the narrators of the conflicting hadiths, giving precedence to the report issuing from the individual who was more directly involved. A famous example of this is the hadith narrated by Maymunah which states that the Prophet (pbuh) married her when not in a state of consecration (ihram) for the pilgrimage. Because her report was that of an eyewitness, her hadith is given precedence over the conflicting report from Ibn Abbas, related by a similarly sound isnad, which states that the Prophet was in fact in a state of ihram at the time.[29]

There are many other rules, such as that which states that ‘prohibition takes precedence over permissibility.’[30] Similarly, conflicting hadiths may be resolved by utilising the fatwa of a Companion, after taking care that all the relevant fatwa are compared and assessed.[31] Finally, recourse may be had to qiyas (analogy).[32] An example of this is the various reports about the solar eclipse prayer (salat al-kusuf), which specify different numbers of bowings and prostrations. The ulama, having investigated the reports meticulously, and having been unable to resolve the contradiction by any of the mechanisms outlined above, have applied analogical reasoning by concluding that since the prayer in question is still called salaat, then the

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usual form of salaat should be followed, namely, one bowing and two prostrations. The other hadiths are to be abandoned.[33]

This careful articulation of the methods of resolving conflicting source-texts, so vital to the accurate derivation of the Shariah from the revealed sources, was primarily the work of Imam al-Shafi’i. Confronted by the confusion and disagreement among the jurists of his day, and determined to lay down a consistent methodology which would enable a fiqh to be established in which the possibility of error was excluded as far as was humanly possible, Shafi’i wrote his brilliant Risala (Treatise on Islamic jurisprudence). His ideas were soon taken up, in varying ways, by jurists of the other major traditions of law; and today they are fundamental to the formal application of the Shariah.[34] Shafi’i’s system of minimising mistakes in the derivation of Islamic rulings from the mass of evidence came to be known as

usul al-fiqh (the roots of fiqh). Like most of the other formal academic disciplines of Islam, this was not an innovation in the negative sense, but a working-out of principles already discernible in the time of the earliest Muslims. In time, each of the great interpretative traditions of Sunni Islam codified its own variation on these roots, thereby yielding in some cases divergent branches (i.e. specific rulings on practice). Although the debates generated by these divergences could sometimes be energetic, nonetheless, they were insignificant when compared to the great sectarian and legal disagreements which had arisen during the first two centuries of Islam before the science of usul al-fiqh had put a stop to such chaotic discord.

It hardly needs remarking that although the Four Imams, Abu Hanifa, Malik ibn Anas, al-Shafi’i and Ibn Hanbal, are regarded as the founders of these four great traditions, which, if we were asked to define them, we might sum up as sophisticated techniques for avoiding innovation, their traditions were fully systematised only by later generations of scholars. The Sunni ulama rapidly recognised the brilliance of the Four Imams, and after the late third century of Islam we find that hardly any scholars adhered to any other approach. The great hadith specialists, including al-Bukhari and Muslim, were all loyal adherents of one or another of the madhhabs, particularly that of Imam al-Shafi’i. But within each madhhab, leading scholars continued to improve and refine the roots and branches of their school. In some cases, historical conditions made this not only possible, but necessary. For instance, scholars of the school of Imam Abu Hanifah, which was built on the foundations of the

8

early legal schools of Kufa and Basra, were wary of some hadiths in circulation in Iraq because of the prevalence of forgery engendered by the strong sectarian influences there. Later, however, once the canonical collections of Bukhari, Muslim and others became available, subsequent generations of Hanafi scholars took the entire corpus of hadiths into account in formulating and revising their madhhab. This type of process continued for two centuries, until the Schools reached a condition of maturity in the fourth and fifth centuries of the Hijra.[35]

It was at that time, too, that the attitude of toleration and good opinion between the Schools became universally accepted. This was formulated by Imam al-Ghazali, himself the author of four textbooks of Shafi’i fiqh,[36] and also of Al-Mustasfa, widely acclaimed as the most advanced and careful of all works on usul, usul al-fiqh fil madhhab. With his well-known concern for sincerity, and his dislike of ostentatious scholarly rivalry, he strongly condemned what he falled ‘fanatical attachment to a madhhab’.[37] While it was necessary for the Muslim to follow a recognised madhhab in order to avert the lethal danger of misinterpreting the sources, he must never fall into the trap of considering his own school categorically superior to the others. With a few insignificant exceptions in the late Ottoman period, the great scholars of Sunni Islam have followed the ethos outlined by Imam al-Ghazali, and have been conspicuously respectful of each others madhhab. Anyone who has studied under traditional ulama will be well-aware of this fact.[38] The evolution of the Four Schools did not stifle, as some Orientalists have suggested,[39] the capacity for the refinement or extension of positive law.[40] On the contrary, sophisticated mechanisms were available which not only permitted qualified individuals to derive the Shariah from the Quran and Sunnah on their own authority, but actually obliged them to do this. According to most scholars, an expert who has fully mastered the sources and fulfilled a variety of necessary scholarly conditions is not permitted to follow the prevalent rulings of his School, but must derive the rulings himself from the revealed sources. Such an individual is known as a

mujtahid,[41] a term derived from the famous hadith of Muadh ibn Jabal.[42]

Few would seriously deny that for a Muslim to venture beyond established expert opinion and have recourse directly to the Quran and Sunnah, he must be a scholar of great eminence. The danger of less-qualified individuals misunderstanding the sources and hence damaging the Shariah is a very real

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one, as was shown by the discord and strife which afflicted some early Muslims, and even some of the Companions themselves, in the period which preceded the establishment of the Orthodox Schools. Prior to Islam, entire religions had been subverted by inadequate scriptural scholarship, and it was vital that Islam should be secured from a comparable fate.

In order to protect the Shariah from the danger of innovation and distortion, the great scholars of usul laid down rigorous conditions which must be fulfilled by anyone wishing to claim the right of ijtihad for himself.[43] These conditions include:

(a) mastery of the Arabic language, to minimise the possibility of misinterpreting Revelation on purely linguistic grounds;

(b) a profound knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah and the circumstances surrounding the revelation of each verse and hadith, together with a full knowledge of the Quranic and hadith commentaries, and a control of all the interpretative techniques discussed above;

(c) knowledge of the specialised disciplines of hadith, such as the assessment of narrators and of the matn [text]; (d) knowledge of the views of the Companions, Followers and the great imams, and of the positions and reasoning expounded in the textbooks of

fiqh, combined with the knowledge of cases where a consensus (ijma) has been reached;

(e) knowledge of the science of juridical analogy (qiyas), its types and conditions; (f) knowledge of ones own society and of public interest (

maslahah); (g) knowing the general objectives (maqasid) of the Shariah;

(h) a high degree of intelligence and personal piety, combined with the Islamic virtues of compassion, courtesy, and modesty.

A scholar who has fulfilled these conditions can be considered a mujtahid fil-shar, and is not obliged, or even permitted, to follow an existing authoritative madhhab.[44] This is what some of the Imams were saying when they forbade

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their great disciples from imitating them uncritically. But for the much greater number of scholars whose expertise has not reached such dizzying heights, it may be possible to become a mujtahid fi’l-madhhab, that is, a scholar who remains broadly convinced of the doctrines of his school, but is qualified to differ from received opinion within it.[45] There have been a number of examples of such men, for instance Imam al-Nawawi among the Shafi’is, Qadi Ibn Abd al-Barr among the Malikis, Ibn Abidin among the Hanafis, and Ibn Qudama among the Hanbalis. All of these scholars considered themselves followers of the fundamental interpretative principles of their own madhhabs, but are on record as having exercised their own gifts of scholarship and judgement in reaching many new verdicts within them.[46] It is to these experts that the Mujtahid Imams directed their advice concerning ijtihad, such as Imam al-Shafi’i’s instruction that ‘if you find a hadith that contradicts my verdict, then follow the hadith’.[47] It is obvious that whatever some writers nowadays like to believe, such counsels were never intended for use by the Islamically-uneducated masses. Imam al-Shafi`i was not addressing a crowd of butchers, nightwatchman and donkey-drovers. Other categories of mujtahids are listed by the usul scholars; but the distinctions between them are subtle and not relevant to our theme.[48] The remaining categories can in practice be reduced to two: the muttabi (follower), who follows his madhhab while being aware of the Quranic and hadith texts and the reasoning, underlying its positions,[49] and secondly the muqallid (emulator), who simply conforms to the madhhab because of his confidence in its scholars, and without necessarily knowing the detailed reasoning behind all its thousands of rulings.[50]

Clearly it is recommended for the muqallid to learn as much as he or she is able of the formal proofs of the madhhab. But it is equally clear that not every Muslim can be a scholar. Scholarship takes a lot of time, and for the ummah to function properly most people must have other employment: as accountants, soldiers, butchers, and so forth.[51] As such, they cannot reasonably be expected to become great ulama as well, even if we suppose that all of them have the requisite intelligence. The Holy Quran itself states that less well-informed believers should have recourse to qualified experts: So ask the people of remembrance, if you do not know (16:43).[52] (According to the tafsir experts, the people of remembrance are the ulama.) And in another verse, the Muslims are enjoined to create and maintain a group of specialists who provide authoritative guidance for non-specialists: A band from each

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community should stay behind to gain instruction in religion and to warn the people when they return to them, so that they may take heed (9:122). Given the depth of scholarship needed to understand the revealed texts accurately, and the extreme warnings we have been given against distorting the Revelation, it is obvious that ordinary Muslims are duty bound to follow expert opinion, rather than rely on their own reasoning and limited knowledge. This obvious duty was well-known to the early Muslims: the Caliph Umar (r.a.) followed certain rulings of Abu Bakr (r.a.), saying I would be ashamed before God to differ from the view of Abu Bakr. And Ibn Masud (r.a.), in turn, despite being a mujtahid in the fullest sense, used in certain issues to follow Umar (r.a.). According to al-Shabi: Six of the Companions of the Prophet (pbuh) used to give fatwas to the people: Ibn Masud, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Ali, Zayd ibn Thabit, Ubayy ibn Kab, and Abu Musa (al-Ashari). And out of these, three would abandon their own judgements in favour of the judgements of three others: Abdallah (ibn Masud) would abandon his own judgement for the judgement of Umar, Abu Musa would abandon his own judgement for the judgement of Ali, and Zayd would abandon his own judgement for the judgement of Ubayy ibn Kab.[53]

This verdict, namely that one is well-advised to follow a great Imam as ones guide to the Sunnah, rather than relying on oneself, is particularly binding upon Muslims in countries such as Britain, among whom only a small percentage is even entitled to have a choice in this matter. This is for the simple reason that unless one knows Arabic,[54] then even if one wishes to read all the hadith determining a particular issue, one cannot. For various reasons, including their great length, no more than ten of the basic hadith collections have been translated into English. There remain well over three hundred others, including such seminal works as the Musnad of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal,[55] the Musannaf of Ibn Abi Shayba,[56] the Sahih of Ibn Khuzayma,[57] the Mustadrak of al-Hakim,[58] and many other multi-volume collections, which contain large numbers of sound hadiths which cannot be found in Bukhari, Muslim, and the other works that have so far been translated. Even if we assume that the existing translations are entirely accurate, it is obvious that a policy of trying to derive the Shariah directly from the Book and the Sunnah cannot be attempted by those who have no access to the Arabic. To attempt to discern the Shariah merely on the basis of the hadiths which have been translated will be to ignore and amputate much of the Sunnah, hence leading to serious distortions.[59]

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Let me give just two examples of this. The Sunni Madhhabs, in their rules for the conduct of legal cases, lay down the principle that the canonical punishments (hudud) should not be applied in cases where there is the least ambiguity, and that the qadi should actively strive to prove that such ambiguities exist. An amateur reading in the Sound Six collections will find no confirmation of this.[60] But the madhhab ruling is based on a hadith narrated by a sound chain, and recorded in theMusannaf of Ibn Abi Shayba, the Musnad of al-Harithi, and the Musnad of Musaddad ibn Musarhad. The text is: “Ward off the hudud by means of ambiguities.“[61] Imam al-Sanani, in his book Al-Ansab, narrates the circumstances of this hadith: “A man was found drunk, and was brought to Umar, who ordered the hadd of eighty lashes to be applied. When this had been done, the man said: Umar, you have wronged me! I am a slave! (Slaves receive only half the punishment.) Umar was grief-stricken at this, and recited the Prophetic hadith, Ward off the hudud by means of ambiguities.”[62]

Another example is provided by the practice of istighfar for others during the Hajj. According to a hadith, ‘Forgiveness is granted to the Hajji, and to those for whom the Hajji prays.’ This hadith is not related in any of the collections so far translated into English; but it is narrated, by a sound isnad, in many other collections, including al-Mu`jam al-Saghir of al-Tabarani and the Musnad of al-Bazzar.[63] Another example pertains to the important practice, recognised by the madhhabs, of performing sunnah prayers as soon as possible after the end of the Maghrib obligatory prayer. The

hadith runs: Make haste to perform the two rakas after the Maghrib, for they are raised up (to Heaven) alongside the obligatory prayer. The hadith is narrated by Imam Razin in his Jami.

Because of the traditional pious fear of distorting the Law of Islam, the overwhelming majority of the great scholars of the past - certainly well over ninety-nine percent of them - have adhered loyally to a madhhab.[64] It is true that in the troubled fourteenth century a handful of dissenters appeared, such as Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim;[65] but even these individuals never recommended that semi-educated Muslims should attempt ijtihad without expert help. And in any case, although these authors have recently been resurrected and made prominent, their influence on the orthodox scholarship of classical Islam was negligible, as is suggested by the small

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number of manuscripts of their works preserved in the great libraries of the Islamic world.[66]

Nonetheless, social turbulences have in the past century thrown up a number of writers who have advocated the abandonment of authoritative scholarship. The most prominent figures in this campaign were Muhammad Abduh and his pupil Muhammad Rashid Rida.[67] Dazzled by the triumph of the West, and informed in subtle ways by their own well-documented commitment to Freemasonry, these men urged Muslims to throw off the shackles of taqlid, and to reject the authority of the Four Schools. Today in some Arab capitals, especially where the indigenous tradition of orthodox scholarship has been weakened, it is common to see young Arabs filling their homes with every hadith collection they can lay their hands upon, and poring over them in the apparent belief that they are less likely to misinterpret this vast and complex literature than Imam al-Shafi’i, Imam Ahmad, and the other great Imams. This irresponsible approach, although still not widespread, is predictably opening the door to sharply divergent opinions, which have seriously damaged the unity, credibility and effectiveness of the Islamic movement, and provoked sharp arguments over issues settled by the great Imams over a thousand years ago.[68] It is common now to see young activists prowling the mosques, criticising other worshippers for what they believe to be defects in their worship, even when their victims are following the verdicts of some of the great Imams of Islam. The unpleasant, Pharisaic atmosphere generated by this activity has the effect of discouraging many less committed Muslims from attending the mosque at all. No-one now recalls the view of the early ulama, which was that Muslims should tolerate divergent interpretations of the Sunnah as long as these interpretations have been held by reputable scholars. As Sufyan al-Thawri said: ‘If you see a man doing something over which there is a debate among the scholars, and which you yourself believe to be forbidden, you should not forbid him from doing it.’[69] The alternative to this policy is, of course, a disunity and rancour which will poison and cripple the Muslim community from within.[70]

In a Western-influenced global culture in which people are urged from early childhood to think for themselves and to challenge established authority, it can sometimes be difficult to muster enough humility to recognise ones own limitations.[71] We are all a little like Pharaoh: our egos are by nature resistant to the idea that anyone else might be much more intelligent or learned than ourselves. The belief that ordinary Muslims, even if they know

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Arabic, are qualified to derive rulings of the Shariah for themselves, is an example of this egotism running wild. To young people proud of their own judgement, and unfamiliar with the complexity of the sources and the brilliance of authentic scholarship, this can be an effective trap, which ends by luring them away from the orthodox path of Islam and into an unintentional agenda of provoking deep divisions among the Muslims. The fact that all the great scholars of the religion, including the hadith experts, themselves belonged to madhhabs, and required their students to belong to madhhabs, seems to have been forgotten. Self-esteem has won a major victory here over common sense and Islamic responsibility.[72] The Holy Quran commands Muslims to use their minds and reflective capacities; and the issue of following qualified scholarship is an area in which this faculty must be very carefully deployed. The basic point should be appreciated that no categoric difference exists between usul al-fiqh and any other specialised science requiring lengthy training. Shaykh Sa`id Ramadan al-Buti, who has articulated the orthodox response to the anti-Madhhab trend in his book: Non-Madhhabism: The Greatest Bida Threatening the Islamic Shari`a, likes to compare the science of deriving rulings to that of medicine. “If ones child is seriously ill”, he asks, “does one look for oneself in the medical textbooks for the proper diagnosis and cure, or should one go to a trained medical practitioner?” Clearly, sanity dictates the latter option. And so it is in matters of religion, which are in reality even more important and potentially hazardous: we would be both foolish and irresponsible to try to look through the sources ourselves, and become our own muftis. Instead, we should recognise that those who have spent their entire lives studying the Sunnah and the principles of law are far less likely to be mistaken than we are.[73]

Another metaphor might be added to this, this time borrowed from astronomy. We might compare the Quranic verses and the hadiths to the stars. With the naked eye, we are unable to see many of them clearly; so we need a telescope. If we are foolish, or proud, we may try to build one ourselves. If we are sensible and modest, however, we will be happy to use one built for us by Imam al-Shafi’i or Ibn Hanbal, and refined, polished and improved by generations of great astronomers. A madhhab is, after all, nothing more than a piece of precision equipment enabling us to see Islam with the maximum clarity possible. If we use our own devices, our amateurish attempts will inevitably distort our vision.

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A third image might also be deployed. An ancient building, for instance the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, might seem imperfect to some who worship in it. Young enthusiasts, burning with a desire to make the building still more exquisite and well-made (and no doubt more in conformity with their own time-bound preferences), might gain access to the crypts and basements which lie under the structure, and, on the basis of their own understanding of the principles of architecture, try to adjust the foundations and pillars which support the great edifice above them. They will not, of course, bother to consult professional architects, except perhaps one or two whose rhetoric pleases them nor will they be guided by the books and memoirs of those who have maintained the structure over the centuries. Their zeal and pride leaves them with no time for that. Groping through the basements, they bring out their picks and drills, and set to work with their usual enthusiasm.

There is a real danger that Sunni Islam is being treated in a similar fashion. The edifice has stood for centuries, withstanding the most bitter blows of its enemies. Only from within can it be weakened. No doubt, Islam has its intelligent foes among whom this fact is well-known. The spectacle of the disunity and fitnas which divided the early Muslims despite their superior piety, and the solidity and cohesiveness of Sunnism after the final codification of the Shariah in the four Schools of the great Imams, must have put ideas into many a malevolent head. This is not to suggest in any way that those who attack the great madhhabs are the conscious tools of Islam’s enemies. But it may go some way to explaining why they will continue to be well-publicised and well-funded, while the orthodox alternative is starved of resources. With every Muslim now a proud mujtahid, and with taqlid dismissed as a sin rather than a humble and necessary virtue, the divergent views which caused such pain in our early history will surely break surface again. Instead of four madhhabs in harmony, we will have a billion madhhabs in bitter and self-righteous conflict. No more brilliant scheme for the destruction of Islam could ever have been devised.[74]

ENDNOTES:

[1] Abdul Wadod Shalabi, Islam: Religion of Life (2nd ed., Dorton, 1989), 10. This is the purport of the famous hadith : ‘The best generation is my own, then that which follows them, then that which follows them’. (Muslim, Fada’il al-Sahaba, 210, 211, 212, 214)

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[2] The Khalifa was killed by Muslim rebels from Egypt, whose grievances included his alleged ‘innovation’ of introducing a standard text of the Holy Koran. (Evidently the belief among some modern Muslims that there can be no such thing as a ‘good innovation’ (bid`a hasana) has a long history!) For the full story, see pages 63-71 of M.A. Shaban, Islamic History AD 600-750 (AH 132): A New Interpretation (Cambridge, 1971).

[3] Shaban, 73-7.

[4] For the Kharijtes see Imam al-Tabari, History, vol. XVIII, translated by M. Morony (New York, 1987), 21-31. Their monstrous joy at having assassinated the khalifa `Ali ibn Abi Talib is recorded on page 22.

[5] For an account of the historical development of the fiqh, see Ahmad Hasan, The Early Development of Islamic Jurisprudence (Islamabad, 1970); Hilmi Ziya Ulken, Islam Dusuncesi (Istanbul, 1946), 68-100; Omer Nasuhi Bilmen, Hukuki Islamiyye ve Istalahati Fikhiyye Kamusu (Istanbul, 1949-52), I, 311-338.

[6] For a brief account of Shi’ism, see C. Glasse, The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam (london, 1989), 364-70.

[7] Fada’ih al-Batiniya, ed. `Abd al-Rahman Badawi (Cairo, 1964).

[8] For a detailed but highly readable account of the Mongol onslaught, see B. Spuler, History of the Mongols, based on Eastern and Western Accounts of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries (London, 1972); the best-known account by a Muslim historian is `Ala’ al-Din al-Juwayni, Tarikh-i Jihangusha, translated by J.A. Boyle as The History of the World-Conqueror (Manchester, 1958).

[9] For the slaughter of the ulema, see the dramatic account of Ahmad Aflaki, Manaqib al-`Arifin, ed. Tahsin Tazici (Ankara, 1959-61), I, 21, who states that 50,000 scholars were killed in the city of Balkh alone.

[10] The critical battle was fought in 873/1469, when the Mongol ruler of Iran was defeated by the Turkomans of the (Sunni) Ak Koyunlu dynasty, who were in turn defeated by Shah Isma`il, an extreme Shi`ite, in 906-7/1501, who inaugurated the Safavid rule which turned Iran into a Shi`i country. (The Cambridge History of Iran, VI, 174-5; 189-350; Sayyid Muhammad Sabzavari, tr. Sayyid Hasan Amin, Islamic Political and Juridical Thought in Safavid Iran [Tehran, 1989].)

[11] The Kharijites represent a tendency which has reappeared in some circles in recent years. Divided into many factions, their principles were never fully codified. They were textualist, puritanical and anti-intellectual, rejected the condition of

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Quraishite birth for their Imam, and declared everyone outside their grouping to be kafir. For some interesting accounts, see M. Kafafi, ‘The Rise of Kharijism’, Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Egypt, XIV (1952), 29-48; Ibn Hazm, al-Fisal fi’l-milal wa’l-nihal (Cairo, 1320), IV, 188-92; Brahim Zerouki, L’Imamat de Tahart: premier etat musulman du Maghreb (Paris, 1987).

[12] Probably because he had written a book celebrating the virtues of the caliph `Ali. See Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib (Hyderabad, 1325), I, 36-40.

[13] See, for example, Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni, al-Burhan fi usul al-fiqh (Cairo, 1400), §§1189-1252.

[14] Ibn Qutayba, Ta’wil Mukhtalif al-Hadith (Cairo, 1326). Readers of French will benefit from the translation of G. Lecomte: Le Traite des divergences du hadith d’Ibn Qutayba (Damascus, 1962). There is also a useful study by Ishaq al-Husayni: The Life and Works of Ibn Qutayba (Beirut, 1950). Mention should also be made of a later and inmost respects similar work, by Imam al-Tahawi (d. 321): Mushkil al-Athar (Hyderabad, 1333), which is more widely used among the ulema.

[15] Imam Abu’l-Wahid al-Baji (d. 474), Ihkam al-Fusul ila `Ilm al-Usul, ed. A. Turki (Beirut, 1986/1407), §§184-207; Imam Abu Ishaq al-Sirazi (d. 476), al-Luma` fi usual al-fiqh (Cairo, 1377), 17-24; Juwayni, §§327-52, 1247; Imam al-Shafi`i, tr. Majid Khadduri, Al-Shafi`i’s Risala: Treatise on the Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence (Cambridge, 1987), 103-8. Shafi`i gives a number of well-known examples of Koranic texts being subject to takhsis. For instance, the verse ‘As for the thief, male and female, cut of their hands as a retribution from Allah,’ (5:42) appears to be unconditional; however it is subject to takhsis by the hadith which reads ‘Hands should not be cut off for fruits, nor the spadix of a palm tree, and that the hand should not be cut off unless the price of the thing stolen is a quarter of a dinar or more.’ (Malik, Muwatta’, Abu Daud, Sunan; see Shafi`i, Risala, 105.)

[16] Mohammad Hashim Kamali, Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence (Cambridge, 1991), 356-65. This excellent book by a prominent Afghan scholar is by far the best summary of the theory of Islamic law, and should be required reading for every Muslim who wishes to raise questions concerning the Shari`a disciples.

[17] The verses in question were: 2:219, 4:43, and 5:93. See Kamali, 16-17.

[18] Kamali, 150; Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist’s Primer, tr. Imran Nyazee and Muhammad Abdul Rauf (Reading, 1994), 97. This new translation of the great classic Bidayat al-Mujtahid, only

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the first volume of which is available at present, is a fascinating explanation of the basic arguments over the proof texts (adilla) used by the scholars of the recognized madhhabs. Ibn Rushd was a Maliki qadi, but presents the views of other scholars with the usual respect and objectivity. The work is the best-known example of a book of the Shari`a science of `ilm al-khilaf (the ‘Knowledge of Variant Rulings’; for a definition of this science see Imam Hujjat al-Islam al-Ghazali, al-Mustasfa min `ilm al-usul, [Cairo, 1324] I, 5).

[19] Kamali, 150 quoting Shatibi, Muwafaqat, III, 63.

[20] Kamali, 154-160; Baji, §§383-450; Shirazi, 30-5; Juwayni, §§1412-1454; Ghazali, Mustasfa, I, 107-129. The problem was first addressed systematically by Imam al-Shafi`i. ‘There are certain hadiths which agree with one another, and others which are contradictory to one another; the abrogating and the abrogated hadiths are clearly distinguished [in some of them]; in others the hadiths which are abrogating and abrogated are not indicated.’ (Risala, 179.) For cases in which the Holy Koran has abrogated a hadith, or (more rarely) a hadith has abrogated a Koranic verse, see Ghazali, Mustasfa, I, 124-6; Baji, §429-39; Juwayni, §1440-3. The sunna is able to abrogate the Koran because it too is a revelation (wahy); as Imam al-Baji explains it, ‘The Blessed Prophet’s own sunnas do not in reality abrogate anything themselves; they only state that Allah has cancelled the ruling of a Koranic passage. Hence the abrogation, in reality, is from Allah, whether theabrogating passage is in the Koran or the Sunna.’ (Baji, §435.)

[21] For this as an instance of abrogation, see Shafi`i, Risala (Khadduri), 133.

[22] Muslim, Jana’iz, 100.

[23] Kamali, 154.

[24] Kamali, 155; see also Shafi`i, Risala (khadduri), 168.

[25] Sayf ad-Din Ahmed Ibn Muhammad, Al-Albani Unveiled: An Exposition of His Errors and Other Important Issues (London, 2nd ed., 1415), 49-51; Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist’s Primer, 168-170; Shafi`i, Risala (Khadduri), 199-202.

[26] M.Z. Siddiqi, Hadith Literature, its Origins, Development and Special Features (Revised ed. Cambridge, 1993), 3, 40, 126.

[27] Defects in the matn can sometimes make a hadith weak even if its isnad is sound (Siddiqi, 113-6).

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[28] Kamali, 361; Bilmen, I, 74-6, 82-4. The classification of revealed texts under these headings is one of the most sensitive areas of usul al-fiqh.

[29] Kamali, 361.

[30] Kamali, 362.

[31] Kamali, 235-44; Ghazali, Mustasfa, 1, 191,2; Juwayni, §343.

[32] For some expositions of the difficult topic of qiyas, see Kamali, 197-228; Shirazi, 53-63; Juwayni, §§676-95; Imam Sayf al-Din al-Amidi (al-Ihkam fi Usul al-Ahkam, Cairo, 1332/1914), III, 261-437, IV, 1-161.

[33] Kamali, 363-4.

[34] The accessible English translation of his best-known work on legal theory has already been mentioned above in note 15.

[35] The question is often asked why only four schools should be followed today. The answer is straightforward: while in theory there is no reason whatsoever why the number has to be four, the historical fact is that only these four have sufficient detailed literature to support them. In connection with the hyper-literalist Zahiri madhhab, Ibn Khaldun writes: ‘Worthless persons occasionally feel obliged to follow the Zahiri school and study these books in the desire to learn the Zahiri system of jurisprudence from them, but they get nowhere, and encounter the opposition and disapproval of the great mass of Muslims. In doing so they often are considered innovators, as they accept knowledge from books for which no key is provided by teachers.’ (Muqaddima, tr. F. Rosenthal [Princeton, 1958], III, 6.)

[36] These are (in order of length, shortest first), al-Khulasa, al-Wajiz, al-Wasit and Basit. The great Imam penned over a hundred other books, earning him from a grateful Umma the title ‘Hujjat al-Islam’ (The Proof of Islam). It is hardly surprising that when the ulema quote the famous sahih hadith ‘Allah shall raise up for this Umma at the beginning of each century someone who will renew for it its religion,’ they cite Imam al-Ghazali as the renewer of the fifth century of Islam. See for instance Imam Muhammad al-Sakhawi (d. 902AH), al-Maqasid al-Hasana fi bayan kathirin min al-ahadith al-mushtahira `ala al-alsina (Beirut, 1405), 203-4, who lists the ‘renewers’ as follows: `Umar ibn `Abd al-`Aziz, al-Shafi`i, Ibn Surayj, Abu Hamid al-Isfaraini, Hujjut al-Islam al-Ghazali, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Ibn Daqaq al-`Id, al-Balqini. Imam Ibn `Asakir (d. 571AH), in his famous work Tabyin Kadhib al-Muftari fima nusiba ila al-Imam Abi’l-Hasan al-Ash`ari, ed.

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Imam Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari (Damascus, 1347, reproduced Beirut, 1404), 52-4, has the following list: `Umar ibn `Abd al-`Aziz, al-Shafi`i, al-Ash`ari, al-Baqillani, al-Ghazali.

[37] Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Ihya `Ulum al-Din (Cairo: Mustafa al-Halibi, 1347), III, 65.

[38] ‘The most characteristic qualities of the great ulema are dignity and serenity, respect for other scholars, compassionate concern for the Umma, and following the Prophet, upon whom be blessings and peace, whose view was always broad, his wisdom perfect, and his toleration superb.’ Imam Yusuf al-Dajawi (d. 1365AH), Maqalat wa-Fatawa (Cairo: Majmu` al-Buhuth al-Islamiya, 1402), II, 583. `True fairness is to regard all the Imams as worthy; whoever follows the madhhab of a Mujtahid because he has not attained the level of Ijtihad, is not harmed by the fact that other imams differ from his own.’ (Shatibi, I`tisam, III, 260.) There are many examples cited by the scholars to show the respect of the madhhabs for each other. For instance, Shaykh Ibrahim al-Samadi (d. 1662), a pious scholar of Damascus, once prayed to be given four sons, so that each might follow one of the recognized madhhabs, thereby bringing a fourfold blessing to his house. (Muhammad al-Amin al-Muhibbi, Khulasat al-atar fi a`yan al-qarn al-hadi `ashar [Cairo, 1248], I, 48.) And it was not uncommon for scholars to be able to give fatwas in more than one madhhab (such a man was known technically as mufti al-firaq). (Ibn al-Qalanisi, Dhayl Tarikh Dimasq [Beirut, 1908], 311.) Hostility between the Madhhabs was rare, despite some abuse in the late Ottoman period. Al-Dhahabi counsels his readers as follows: ‘Do not think that your madhhab is the best, and the one most beloved by Allah, for you have no proof of this. The Imams, may Allah be pleased with them, all follow great goodness; when they are right, they receive two rewards, and when they are wrong, they still receive one reward.’ (al-Dhahabi, Zaghal al-`Ilm wa’l-Talab, 15, quoted in Sa`id Ramadan al-Buti, Al-Lamadhhabiya Akhtar Bid`a tuhaddid al-Shari`a al-Islamiya, 3rd edition, Beirut, 1404, 81.) The final words here (‘right … reward’) are taken from a well-known hadith to this effect (Bukhari, I`tisam, 21.)

[39] Most notoriously N. Couson, Conflicts and Tensions in Islamic Jurisprudence (Chicago, 1969), 43, 50, 96; but also I. Goldziher, Louis Ardet and Montgomery Watt.

[40] It will be useful here to refute an accusation made by some Orientalists, and even by some modern Muslims, who suggest that the scholars were reluctant to challenge the madhhab system because if they did so they would be ‘out of a job’, and lucrative qadi positions, restricted to followers of the orthodox Schools, would be barred to them. This is a particularly distasteful example of the modern tendency to slander men whose moral integrity was no less impressive than their learning: to suggest that the great Ulema of Islam followed the interpretation of Islam that they did simply for financial reasons is insulting and a disgraceful form of ghiba (backbiting). In any case, it can be easily refuted. The great ulema of the past were in almost every case men of

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independent means, and did not need to earn from their scholarship. For instance, Imam Ibn Hajar had inherited a fortune from his mother (al-Sakhawi, al-Daw’ al-Lami` li-Ahl al-Qarn al-Tasi` (Cairo, 1353-5), II, 36-40). Imam al-Suyuti came from a prominent and wealthy family of civil servants (see his own Husn al-Muhadara fi akhbar Misr wa’l-Wahira [Cairo, 1321], I, 153, 203). For examples of scholars who achieved financial independence see the editor’s notes to Ibn Jam`a’s Tadhkirat al-Sami` fi Adab al-`Alim wa’l-Muta`allim (Hyderabad, 1353), 210: Imam al-Baji was a craftsman who made gold leaf: ‘his academic associates recall that he used to go out to see them with his hand sore from the effects of the hammer’ (Dhahabi, Tadhkira, III, 349-50); while the Khalil ibn Ishaq, also a Maliki, was a soldier who had taken part in the liberation of Alexandria from the Crusaders, and often gave his fiqh classes while still wearing his chain mail and helmet (Suyuti, Husn al-Muhadara, I, 217.) And it was typical for the great scholars to live lives of great frugality: Imam al-Nawawi, who died at the age of 44, is said to have damaged his health by his ascetic lifestyle: for instance, he declined to eat of the fruit of Damascus, where he taught, because it was grown on land whose legal status he regarded as suspect. (al-Yafi`I, Mir’at al-Janan wa-`Ibrat al-Yaqzan [Hyderabad, 1338], IV, 1385.) It is not easy to see how such men could have allowed motives of financial gain to dictate their approach to religion.

[41] A mujtahid is a scholar qualified to perform ijtihad, defined as ‘personal effort to derive a Shari`a ruling of the furu` from the revealed sources.’ (Bilmen, I, 247.) His chief task - the actual process of derivation - is called istinbat, originally signifying in Arabic ‘bringing up water with difficulty from a well.’ (Bilmen, I, 247.)

[42] ‘When Allah’s Messenger, upon him be blessings and peace, wished to send Mu`adh ibn Jabal to the Yemen, he asked him: ‘How will you judge if an issue is presented to you for judgement?’ ‘By what is in Allah’s Book,’ he replied. ‘And if you do not find it in Allah’s Book?’ ‘Then by the Sunna of Allah’s Messenger.’ ‘And if it is not in the Sunna of Allah’s Messenger?’ ‘Then I shall strive in my own judgement’ (ajtahidu ra’yi). (Abu Daud, Aqdiya, 11.)

[43] Kamali, 366-393, especially 374-7; see also Amidi, IV, 219-11; Shirazi, 71-2; Bilmen, I, 247, 250, 251-2.

[44] Kamali, 386-8. Examples of such men from the time of the Tabi`un onwards include ‘Ibrahim al-Nakha`I, Ibn Abi Layla, Ibn Shubruma, Sufyan al-Thawri, al-Hasan ibn Salih, al-Awza`i, `Amr ibn al-Harith, al-Layth ibn Sa`d, `Abdullah ibn Abi Ja`far, Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, Abu `Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Salam, Abu Thawr, Ibn Khuzayma, Ibn Nasr al-Marwazi, Ibn Mundhir, Daud al-Zahiri, and Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, may Allah show them all His mercy.’ (Bilmen, I, 324.) It should be noted that according to some scholars a concession (rukhsa) exists on the matter of the permissibility of taqlid for mujtahid: Imam al-Baji and Imam al-Haramayn, for instance, permit a mujtahid to

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follow another mujtahid in cases where his own research to establish a matter would result in dangerous delay to the performance of a religious duty. (Baji, §783; Juwayni, §1505.)

[45] Kamali, 388; Bilmen, I, 248.

[46] ‘The major followers of the great Imams did not simply imitate them as some have claimed. We know, for instance, that Abu Yusuf and al-Shaybani frequently dissented from the position of Abu Hanifa. In fact, it is hard to find a single question of fiqh which is not surrounded by a debate, in which the independent reasoning and ijtihad of the scholars, and their determination to locate the precise truth, are very conspicuous. In this way we find Imam al-Shafi`i determining, in his new madhhab, that the time for Maghrib does not extend into the late twilight (shafaq); while his followers departed from this position in order to follow a different proof-text (dalil). Similarly, Ibn `Abd al-Barr and Abu Bakr ibn al-`Arabi hold many divergent views in the madhhab of Imam Malik. And so on.’ (Imam al-Dajawi, II, 584.)

[47] ‘Whenever a mujtahid reaches a judgement in which he goes against ijma`, or the basaic principles, or an unambiguous text, or a clear qiyas (al-qiyas al-jali) free of any proof which contradicts it, his muqallid is not permitted to convey his view to the people or to give a fatwa in accordance with it … however no-one can know whether this has occurred who has not mastered the principles of jurisprudence, clear qiyas, unambiguous texts, and anything that could intervene in these things; and to know this one is obliged to learned usul al-fiqh and immerse oneself in the ocean of fiqh.’ (Imam Shihab al-Din al-Qarafi, al-Furuq (Cairo, 1346), II, 109.)

[48] The ulema usually recognize seven different degrees of Muslims from the point of view of their learning, and for those who are interested they are listed here, in order of scholarly status. (1,2) The mujtahidun fi’l-shar` (Mujtahids in the Shari`a) and the mujtahidun fi’l-madhhab (Mujtahids in the Madhhab) have already been mentioned. (3) Mujtahidun fi’l-masa’il (Mujtahids on Particular Issues) are scholars who remain within a school, but are competent to exercise ijtihad on certain aspects within it which they know thoroughly. (4) Ashab al-Takhrij (Resolvers of Ambiguity), who are competent to ‘indicate which view was preferable in cases of ambiguity, or regarding suitability to prevailing conditions’. (5) Ashab al-Tarjih (People of Assessment) are ‘those competent to make comparisons and distinguish the correct (sahih) and the preferred (rajih, arjah) and the agreed-upon (mufta biha) views from the weak ones’ inside the madhhab. (6) Ashab al-Tashih (People of Correction): ‘those who could distinguish between the manifest (zahir al-riwaya) and the rare and obscure (nawadir) views of the schools of their following.’ (7) Muqallidun: the ‘emulators’, including all non-scholars. (Kamali, 387-9. See also Bilmen, I, 250-1, 324-6.) Of these seven categories, only the first three are considered to be mujtahids.

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[49] This is explained by Imam al-Shatibi in the context of the following passage, all of which is quoted here to furnish a further summary of the orthodox position on taqlid. ‘A person obliged to follow the rules of the Shari`a must fall into one of three categories. [I] He may be a mujtahid, in which case he will practice the legal conclusions to which his ijtihad leads him. [II] He may be a complete muqallid, unappraised of the knowledge required. In his case, he must have a guide to lead him, and an arbitrator to give judgements for him, and a scholar to emulate. Obviously, he follows the guide only in his capacity as a man possessed of the requisite knowledge. The proof for this is that if he knows, or even suspects, that he does not in fact possess it, it is not permissible for him to follow him or to accept his judgement; in fact, no individual, whether educated or not, should think of following through taqlid someone who he knows is not qualified, in the way that a sick man should not put himself in the hands of someone whom he knows is not a doctor. [III] He may not have attained to the level of the Mujtahids, but he understands the dalil and its context, and is competent to understand it in order to prefer some rulings over others in certain questions. In his case, one must either recognize his preferences and views, or not. If they are recognized, then he becomes like a mujtahid on that issue; if they are not, then he must be classed alone with other ordinary non-specialist Muslims, who are obliged to follow Mujtahids. (al-I`tisam [Cairo, 1913-4] III, 251-3.)

An equivalent explanation of the status of the muttabi` is given by Amidi, IV, 306-7: ‘If a non-scholar, not qualified to make ijtihad, has acquired some of the knowledge required for ijtihad, he must follow the verdicts of the Mujtahids. This is the view of the correct scholars, although it has been rejected by some of the Mu`tazilites in Baghdad, who state: “That is not allowable, unless he obtains a clear proof (dalil) of the correctness of the ijtihad he is following.” But the correct view is that which we have stated, this being proved by the Koran, Ijma` and the intellect. The Koranic proof is Allah’s statement, “Ask the people of remembrance if you do not know,” which is a general (`amm) commandment to all. The proof by Ijma` is that ordinary Muslims in the time of the Companions and the Followers used to ask the mujtahids, and follow them in their Shari`a judgements, while the learned among them would answer their questions without indicating the dalil. They would not forbid them from doing this, and this therefore constitutes Ijma` on the absolute permissibility of an ordinary Muslim following the rulings of a mujtahid.’ For Amidi’s intellectual proof, see note 51 below.

[50] A muqallid is a Muslim who practices taqlid, which is the Shari`a term for ‘the acceptance by an ordinary person of the judgement of a mufti.’ (Juwayni, §1545.) The word ‘mufti’ here means

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either a mujtahid or someone who authentically transmits the verdict of a mujtahid. ‘As for the ordinary person [`ammi], it is obligatory [wajib] upon him to make taqlid of the ulema.’ (Baji, §783.) The actual choice of which mujtahid an ordinary Muslim should follow is clearly a major responsibility. ‘A muqallid may only make taqlid of another person after carefully examining his credentials, and obtaining reliable third-party testimony as to his scholarly attainments’ (Juwayni, §1511). (Imam Ibn Furak, however holds that a mujtahid’s own self-testimony is sufficient.) Imam Juwayni goes on to observe (§1515) that is is necessary to follow the best mujtahid available; whichis also the positoin of Imam al-Baji (§794). See also Shirazi (p. 72): ‘It is not permissible for someone asking for a fatwa to ask just anyone, lest he ask someone who has no knowledge of the fiqh. Instead it is obligatory (wajib) for him to ascertain the scholar’s learning and trustworthiness.’ And Qarafi (II, 110): ‘The Salaf, may Allah be pleased with them, were intensely reluctant to give fatwas. Imam Malik said, “A scholar should not give fatwas until he is regarded as competent to do so both by himself and by others.” In other words, the scholars must be satisfied of his qualifications. Imam Malik did not begin to give fatwas until he had been given permission (ijaza) to do so by forty turbaned ones [scholars].’

[51] ‘The dalil for our position is Allah’s commandment: So ask the people of remembrance, if you do not know. For if we forbade taqlid, everyone would need to become an advanced scholar, and no-one would be able [have time] to earn anything, and the earth would lie uncultivated.’ (Shirazi, 71.) ‘The intellectual proof [of the need for taqlid] is that if an issue of the furu` arises for someone who does not possess the qualifications for ijtihad then he will either not adopt an Islamic ruling at all, and this is a violation of the Ijma`, or, alternatively, he will adopt an Islamic ruling, either by investigating the proofs involved, or by taqlid. But an adequate investigation of the proofs is not possible for him, for it would oblige him, and all humanity, fully to investigate the dalils pertaining to the issues, thereby distracting them from their sources of income, and leading to the extinction of crafts and the ruin of the world.’ (Amidi, Ihkam, IV, 307-8.) ‘One of the dalils for the legitimacy of following the verdicts of the scholars is our knowledge that anyone who looks into these discussions and seeks to deduce rulings of the Shari`a will need to have the right tools, namely, the science of the rulings of the Koran and Sunna and usul al-fiqh, the principles of rhetoric and the Arabic language, and other sciences which are not easily acquired, and which most people cannot attain to. And even if some of them do attain to it, they only do so after long study, investigation and very great effort, which would require that they devote themselves entirely to this and do nothing else; and if ordinary people were under the obligation to do this, there would be no cultivation, commerce, or other employments which are essential for the continuance of humanity - and it is the ijma` of the Umma that this is something

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which Allah ta`ala has not obliged His slaves to do. … There is therefore no alternative for them to following the ulema.’ (Baji, §793.)

[52] ‘There is ijma` among the scholars that this verse is a commandment to whoever does not know a ruling or the dalil for it to follow someone who does. Almost all the scholars of usul al-fiqh have made this verse their principle dalil that it is obligatory for an ordinary person to follow a scholar who is a mujtahid.’ (al-Buti, 71; translated also in Keller, 17.)

[53] See also Dajawi, II, 576: ‘The Companions and Followers used to give fatwas on legal issues to those who asked for them. At times they would mention the source, if this was necessary, while at other times they would limit themselves to specifying the ruling.’ Al-Ghazali (Mustasfa, II, 385) explains that the existence of taqlid and fatwa among the Companions is a dalil for the necessity of this fundamental distinction: ‘The proof that taqlid is obligatory is the ijma` of the Companions. For they used to give fatwas to the ordinary people and did not command them to acquire the degree of ijtihad for themselves. This is known necessarily (bi’l-darura) and by parallel lines of transmission (tawatur) from both the scholars and the non-scholars among them.’ See also Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddima (Bulaq ed., p. 216): ‘Not all the Companions were qualified to give fatwas, and Islam was not taken from all of them. That privilege was held only by those who had learnt the Koran, knew what it contained by what of abrogated and abrogating passages, ambiguous (mutashabih) and perspicuous (muhkam) expressions, and its other special features.’ And also Imam al-Baji (§793): ‘Ordinary Muslims have no alternative but to follow the Ulema. One proof of this is the ijma` of the Companions, for those among them who had not attained the degree of ijtihad used to ask the ulema of the Companions for the correct ruling on something which happened to them. Not one of the Companions criticized them for so doing; on the contrary, they gave them fatwas on the issues they had asked about, without condemning them or telling them to derive the rulings themselves [from the Koran and Sunna].’ See also Imam al-Amidi: in note 49 above.

A list of the muftis among the Companions is given by Juwayni (§§1494-9); they include the Four Khalifas, Talha ibn `Ubaydillah, `Abd al-Rahman ibn `Awf, and Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas. Others were not muftis, such as Abu Hurayra, who despite his many narrations of hadiths was never known for his judgements (§1497). Shirazi (p. 52) confirms the obvious point that some Companions are considered more worthy of being followed in legal matters than others.

[54] As we have seen above, the ulema regard a mastery of the Arabic language as one of the essential qualifications for deriving the Shari`a directly from the Koran and Sunna. See Juwayni,

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§§70-216, where this is stressed. Juwayni records that Imam al-Shafi`i was so expert in the Arabic language, grammar and rhetoric that at a very young age he was consulted by the great philologist al-Asma`i, who asked his help in editing some early and very difficult collections of Arabic poetry. (Juwayni, §1501.) We also learn that Imam `Ibn al-Mubarak, the famous traditionalist of Merv, spent more money on learning Arabic than on traditions [hadith], attaching more importance on the former than the latter, and asking the students of hadith to spent twice as long on Arabic than on hadith … al-Asma`i held that someone who studied hadith without learning grammar was to be categorized with the forgers of hadith.’ (Siddiqi, 84-5.)

[55] Published in 6 volumes in Cairo in 1313 AH. Another work by him, the Kitab al-Zuhd (Beirut, 1403), also contains many hadiths.

[56] Published in 13 volumes in Bombay between 1386 and 1390.

[57] Edited by M.M. al-A`zami, Beirut, 1391-97.

[58] This is an important collection of hadiths who accuracy Imam al-Hakim al-Nisaburi considered to meet the criteria of Imams al-Bukhari and Muslim, but which had not been included in their collections. Published in four large volumes in Hyderabad between 1334-1342.

[59] Needless to say, the amateurs who deny taqlid and try to derive the rulings for themselves are even more ignorant of the derivative sources of Shari`a than they are of the Koran and Sunna. These other sources do not only include the famous ones such as ijma` and qiyas. For instance, the fatwas of the Companions are considered by the ulema to be a further important source of legislation. ‘Imam al-Shafi`i throughout his life taught that diya (bloodmoney) was increased in cases of crimes committed in the Haramayn or the Sacred Months, and he had no basis for this other than the statements of the Companions.’ (Juwayni, §1001.)

[60] There is a version of this hadith in Tirmidhi (Hudu, 2), but attached to an isnad which includes Yazid ibn Ziyad, who is weak.

[61] Ibn Abi Shayba, Musannaf, XI, 70.

[62] Sakhawi, 74-5.

[63] Sakhawi, 742.

[64] For a complete list of the most famous scholars of Islam, and the madhhabs to which they belonged see Sayf al-Din Ahmad, Al-Albani Unveiled, 97-9.

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[65] For these writers see Ahmad ibn al-Naqib al-Misri, tr. Nuh Keller, Reliance of the Traveller (Abu Dhabi, 1991), 1059-60, 1057-9. The attitude of Ibn al-Qayyim is not consistent on this issue. In some passages of his I`lam al-Muwaqqi`in he seems to suggest that any Muslim is qualified to derive rulings directly from the Koran and Sunna. But in other passages he takes a more intelligent view. For instance, he writes: ‘Is it permissible for a mufti who adheres to the madhhab of his Imam to give a fatwa in accordance with a different madhhab if that is more correct in his view? [The answer is] if he is [simply] following the principles of that Imam in procedures of ijtihad and ascertaining the proof-texts [i.e. is a mujtahid fi’l-madhhab], then he is permitted to follow the view of another mujtahid which he considers correct.’ (I`lam al-Muwaqqi`in, IV, 237.) This is a broad approach, but is nonetheless very far from the notion of simply following the ‘dalil’ every time rather than following a qualified interpreter. This quote and several others are given by Shaykh al-Buti to show the various opinions held by Ibn al-Qayyim on this issue, which, according to the Shaykh, reveal ‘remarkable contradictions’. (Al-Buti, 56-60.)

[66] Many of Ibn Taymiya’s works exist only as single manuscripts; and even the others, when compared to the works of the great scholars such as al-Suyuti and al-Nawawi, seem to have been copied only very rarely. See the list of ancient manuscripts of his works given by C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (2nd. Ed. Leiden, 1943-9), II, 126-7, Supplement, II, 119-126.

[67] `Abduh, in turn, was influenced by his teacher and collaborator Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1839-97). Afghani was associated with that transitional ‘Young Ottoman’ generation which created the likes of Namik Kemal and (somewhat later) Zia Gokalp and Sati` al-Husari: men deeply traumatized by the success of the Western powers and the spectacle of Ottoman military failure, and who sought a cultural renewal by jettisoning historic Muslim culture while maintaining authenticity by retaining a ‘pristine essence’. In this they were inspired, consciously or otherwise, by the wider 19th century quest for authenticity: the nationalist philosophers Herder and Le Bon, who had outlined a similar revivalist-essentialist project for France and Germany based on the ‘original sources’ of their national cultures, had been translated and were widely read in the Muslim world at the time. Afghani was not a profound thinker, but his pamphlets and articles in the journal which he and `Abduh edited, al-`Urwat al-Wuthqa, were highly influential. Whether he believed in his own pan-Islamic ideology, or indeed in his attenuated and anti-historicist version of Islam, is unclear. When writing in contexts far from his Muslim readership he often showed an extreme scepticism. For instance, in his debate with Renan concerning the decline of Arab civilization, he wrote of Islam: ‘It is clear that where-ever it becomes established, this religion tried to stifle the sciences and it was marvellously served in

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its designs by despotism.’ (Reply to Renan, translated by N. Keddie in An Islamic Response to Imperialism: Political and Religious Writings of Sayyid Jamal al-Din ‘al-Afghani’ (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1968), 183, 187. It is hardly surprising that `Abduh should have worked so hard to suppress the Arabic translation of this work!

Afghani’s reformist ideology led him to found a national political party in Egypt, al-Hizb al-Watani, including not only Muslims, but in which ‘all Christians and Jews who lived in the land of Egypt were eligible for membership.’ (Jamal Ahmed, The Intellectual Origins of Egyptian Nationalism (London, 1960), 16.) This departure from traditional Islamic notions of solidarity can be seen as a product of Afghani’s specific attitude to taqlid. But his pupil’s own fatwas were often far more radical, perhaps because `Abduh’s ‘partiality for the British authority which pursued similar lines of reform and gave him support’ (Ahmed, 35). We are not surprised to learn that the British governor of Egypt, Lord Cromer, wrote: ‘For many years I gave to Mohammed Abdu all the encouragement in my power’ (Lord Cromer, Modern Egypt [ New York, 1908], II, 180). An example is the declaration in `Abduh’s tafsir (much of which is by Rida) that the erection of statues is halal. The same argument was being invoked by Ataturk, who, when asked why he was erecting a statue of himself in Ankara, claimed that ‘the making of statues is not forbidden today as it was when Muslims were just out of idolatry, and that it is necessary for the Turks to practice this art, for it is one of the arts of civilization’. (C. Adams, Islam and Modernism in Egypt [London, 1933], 193-4.)

[68] A poorly-argued but well-financed example of a book in this category is a short text by the Saudi writer al-Khajnadi, of which an amended version exists in English. This text aroused considerable concern among the ulema when it first appeared in the 1960s, and Shaykh Sa`id Ramadan al-Buti’s book was in fact written specifically in refutation of it. The second and subsequent editions of al-Buti’s work, which shows how Khajnadi systematically misquoted and distorted the texts, contain a preface which includes an account of a meeting between al-Buti and the Albanian writer Nasir al-Din al-Albani, who was associated with Khajnadi’s ideas. The three-hour meeting, which was taped, was curious inasmuch as al-Albani denied that Khajnadi was stating that all Muslims can derive rulings directly from the Koran and Sunna. For instance where Khajnadi makes the apparently misleading statement that ‘As for the Madhhabs, these are the views and ijtihads of the ulema on certain issues; and neither Allah nor His messenger have compelled anyone to follow them,’ Al-Albani explains that ‘anyone’ (ahad) here in fact refers to ‘anyone qualified to make ijtihad’. (Al-Buti, 13.) Al-Albani went on to cite several other instances of how readers had unfortunately misunderstood Khajnadi’s intention. Shaykh al-Buti, quite reasonably, replied to the Albanian writer: ‘No scholar would ever use language in such a loose way and make such generalizations, and intend to say something so different to what he actually and

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clearly says; in fact, no-one would understand his words as you have interpreted them.’ Albani’s response was: ‘The man was of Uzbek origin, and his Arabic was that of a foreigner, so he was not able to make himself as clear as an Arab would. He is dead now, and we should give him the benefit of the doubt and impose the best interpretation we can on his words!’ (al-Buti, 14.) But al-Albani, despite his protestations, is reliably said to believe even now that taqlid is unacceptable. Wa-la hawla wa-la quawwata illa bi’Llah.

[69] The ulema also quote the following guiding principles of Islamic jurisprudence: ‘That which is wrong (munkar) need not be condemned as [objectively] wrong unless all scholars agree (in ijma`) that it is so.’ (Dajawi, II, 583.) Imam al-Dajawi (II, 575) also makes the following points: ‘The differences of opinion among the ulema are a great mercy (rahma) upon this Umma. `Umar ibn `Abd al-`Aziz declared: “It would not please me if the Companions of Muhammad, upon whom be blessings and peace, had not disagreed, for had they not done so, no mercy would have come down.” Yahya ibn Sa`id, one of the great hadith narrators among the Followers (Tabi`un), said: “The people of knowledge are a people of broadness (ahl tawsi`a). They continue to give fatwas which are different from each other, and no scholar reproaches another scholar for his opinion.” However, if ordinary people took their rulings straight from the Koran and Sunna, as a certain faction desires, their opinions would be far more discordant than this, and the Four Schools would no longer be four, but thousands. Should that day come, it will bring disaster upon disaster for the Muslims - may we never live to see it!’ One could add that ‘that day’ seems already to be upon us, and that the resulting widening of the argument on even the most simple juridical matters is no longer tempered by the erstwhile principles of politeness and toleration. The fiercely insulting debate between Nasir al-Din al-Albani and the Saudi writer al-Tuwayjiri is a typical instance. The former writer, in his book Hijab al-Mar’a al-Muslima, uses the Koran and Sunna to defend his views that a woman may expose her face in public; while the latter, in his al-Sarim al-Mashhur `ala Ahl al-Tabarruj wa’l- Sufur, attacks Albani in the most vituperative terms for failing to draw from the revealed sources and supposedly obvious conclusion that women must always veil their faces from non-mahram men. Other example of this bitter hatred generation by the non-Madhhab style of discord, based in attempts at direct istinbat, are unfortunately many. Hardly any mosque or Islamic organization nowadays seems to be free of them.

The solution is to recall the principle referred to above, namely that two mujtahids can hold differing opinions on the furu`, and still be rewarded by Allah, while both

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opinions will constitute legitimate fiqh. (Juwayni, §§1455-8; Bilmen, I, 249.) This is clearly indicated in the Koranic verses: ‘And Daud and Sulayman, when they gave judgement concerning the field, when people’s sheep had strayed and browsed therein by night; and We were witness to their judgement. We made Sulayman to understand [the case]; and unto each of them We gave judgement and knowledge.’ (21:78-9) The two Prophets, upon them be peace, had given different fatwas; and Sulayman’s was the more correct, but as Prophets they were infallible (ma`sum), and hence Daud’s judgement was acceptable also. Understanding this is the key to recreating the spirit of tolerance among Muslims. Shaykh Omer Bilmen summarizes the jurists’ position as follows: ‘The fundamentals of the religion, namely basic doctrine, the obligatory status of the forms of worship, and the ethical virtues, are the subject of universal agreement, an agreement to which everyone is religiously obliged to subscribe. Those who diverge from the rulings accepted by the overwhelming majority of ordinary Muslims are considered to be the people of bid`a and misguidance, since the dalils (proof-texts) establishing them are clear. But it is not a violation of any Islamic obligation for differences of opinion to exist concerning the furu` (branches) and juz’iyyat (secondary issues) which devolve from these basic principles. In fact, such differences are a necessary expression of the Divine wisdom.’ (Bilmen, I, 329.)

A further point needs elucidating. If the jurists may legitimately disagree, how should the Islamic state apply a unified legal code throughout its territories? Clearly, the law must be the same everywhere. Imam al-Qarafi states the answer clearly: ‘The head of state gives a judgement concerning the [variant rulings which have been reached by] ijtihad, and this does away with the disagreement, and obliges those who follow ijtihad verdicts which conflict with the head of state’s to adopt his verdict.’ (Qarafi, II, 103; affirmed also in Amidi, IV, 273-4.) Obviously this is a counsel specifically for qadis, and applies only to questions of public law, not to rulings on worship.

[70] This was understood as early as the 18th century. Al-Buti quotes Shah Waliullah al-Dahlawi (Hujjat Allah al-Baligha, I, 132) as observing: ‘The Umma up to the present date … has unanimously agreed that these four recorded madhhabs may be followed by way of taqlid. In this there are manifest benefits and advantages, especially in these days in which enthusiasm has dimmed greatly, and souls have been given to drink of their own passions, so that everyone with an opinion is delighted with his opinion.’ This reminds us that Islam is not a totalitarian religion which denies the possibility and legitimacy of variant opinions. ‘The Muslim scholars are agreed that the mujtahid cannot incur a sin in regard to his legitimate ijtihad exercised to derive

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judgements of Shari`a. [Only the likes of] Bishr al-Marisi, Ibn `Aliyya, Abu Bakr al-Asamm and the deniers of qiyas, such as the Mu`tazilites and the Twelver Shi`a, believe that there is only one true ruling in each legal issue, so that whoever does not attain to it is a sinner.’ (Amidi, IV, 244.) This is of course an aspect of the Divine mercy, and a token of the sane and generous breadth of Islam. ‘Allah desires ease for you, not difficulty.’ (Koran, 2:185) ‘I am sent to make things easy, not to make them more difficult.’ (Bukhari, `Ilm, 12.) ‘Never was Allah’s Messenger, may blessings and peace be upon him, given the choice between two options but that he chose the easier of them, unless it was a sin.’ (Bukhari, Manaqib, 23.) But the process lamented in Dahlawi’s day, by which people simply ignored this Sunna principle, has nowadays become far more poisonous. What is particularly damaging is that egos have become so powerful that the old Muslim adab of polite tolerance during debate has been lost in some circles, as people find it hard to accept that other Muslims might hold opinions that differ from their own. It must be realized that if Allah tells Musa (upon him be peace) to speak ‘gently’ to Pharoah (20:43), and commands us ‘not to debate with the People of the Book save in a most excellent way,’ (29:46) then how much more important must it be to debate politely with people who are neither Pharoahs nor Christians, but are of our own religion?

[71] Probably because of an underlying insecurity, many young Muslim activists cannot bear to admit that they might not know something about their religion. And this despite the example of Imam Malik, who, when asked forty questions about fiqh, answered ‘I do not know’ (la adri) to thirty-six of them. (Amidi, IV, 221; Bilmen, I, 239.) How many egos nowadays can bear to admit ignorance even once? They should remember the saying: ‘He who makes most haste to give a fatwa, makes most haste to the Fire.’ (Bilmen, I, 255.) Imam al-Subki condemns ‘those who make haste to give fatwas, relying on the apparent meaning of the [revealed] phrases without thinking deeply about them, thereby dragging other people into ignorance, and themselves into the agonies of the Fire.’ (Taj al-Din al-Subki, Mu`id al-Ni`am wa-Mubid al-Niqam (Brill, 1908), 149. Even Imam al-Sha`bi (d.103), out of his modesty and adab, and his awareness of the great complexity of the fiqh, did not consider himself a mufti, only a naqil (transmitter of texts). (Bilmen, I, 256.)

[72] Cf. Imam al-Dajawi, II, 579: ‘By Allah, this view (that ordinary people should not follow madhhabs) is nothing less than an attempt to fling the door wide open for people’s individual preferences, thereby turning the Book and the Sunna into playthings to be manipulated by those deluded fools, driven by their compounded ignorance and their corrupt imaginings. It is obvious that personal preferences vary enormously, and that ignorant people will arrive at their conclusions on the basis of their own emotions and imaginings. So what will be the result if we put them in authority over the Shari`a, so that they are able to interpret it in the light of their own opinions, and play with it according to their preferences?’

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[73] Buti, 107-8. The same image is used by Imran Nyazee: ‘Taqlid, as distinguished from blind conversatism, is the foundation of all relationships based on trust, like those between a patient and his doctor, a client and his lawyer, and a business and its accountant. It is a legal method for ensuring that judges who are not fully-qualified mujtahids may be able to decide cases in the light of precedents laid down by independent jurists … The system of taqlid implies that as long as the layman does not get the training for becoming a doctor he cannot practice medicine, for example. In the case of medicine such a person may be termed a quack and may even be punished today, but in the case of Islamic law he is assuming a much graver responsibility: he is claiming that the opinion he is expressing is the law intended by Allah.’ (Introduction to The Distinguished Jurist’s Primer, xxxv.)

[74] It hardly needs adding, as a final observation, that nothing in all the above should be understood as an objection to the extension and development of the fiqh in response to modern conditions. Much serious ijtihad is called for; the point being made in this paper is simply that such ijtihad must be carried out by scholars qualified to do so.

Qur’an and Scientific Explanation

By Syed Iqbal Islam 

Introduction of The Qur’an 

 The Qur’an unlike all other writings is a unique book with a supreme author, an eternal message and a universal relevance. Its contents are not confirmed to a particular theme or style but contain the foundations for an entire system of life, covering a whole spectrum of issues which range from specific articles of faith and commandments to general moral teachings, rights and obligations, crime and punishment, personal and public law and a host of other private and social concerns. These issues are discussed in a variety of ways, such as direct stipulations, reminder of Allah’s favors on His creation, admonitions and rebukes. Stories of past communities are narrated followed by the lessons to be learned from their actions and subsequent fates.

 So well has it been preserved both in memory and in writing that the Arabic text we have today is identical to the text as it was revealed to the Prophet
. Not even a single letter has yielded to corruption during the passage of centuries. Muslims believe The Qur’an was revealed bit by bit over a period of twenty-three years starting from the month of Ramadan 610CE to Prophet Muhammad and the first verse was: Read in the name of your Lord who created, Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood. Read, for your Lord is most Generous, Who teaches by means of the pen, teaches man what he does not know. (Al-Alaq.96:1-5)₁    

Scientific Explanation 

 Abdullah-Ibn-Umar was asked about a scientific verse of the Qur’an, and his reply was that ”The best way to explain is to let time pass.”(Qurtubi)  

 Based on the exegesis of the Qur’an, I will look at how the advancement in science helps to further explain and give a better understanding about some of the verses in the Qur’an. I will select certain verses of the Qur’an and then look at what science has to say in regards to the subject with established fact and no ambiguity. 

Embryology Before Qur’anic Revelations  

 The first recorded embryological studies are in the books of Hippocrates (460 - 377 BC). He wrote on the nature of chicken embryos. Galen (2nd century C.E.) wrote a book called “On the Formation of the Fetus.” in which he described the placenta and fetal membranes. It appears that the fact that human beings are developed in the uterus (womb) has not been known until the 15th century. The first known illustration of a fetus in the uterus was drawn by Leonardo da Vinci. The Physicians in the 7th century C.E. did not know that the human embryo is developed in stages. However in the fourth century BC Aristotle had described the stages of development of the chick embryo. The fact that the human embryo develops in stages was not discussed and illustrated until the 15th century. 

 In 1673 Leeuwenhoek discovered a simple microscope and described the early stages of the chick embryo. Until 1941 the staging of human embryos was not described. 

The Qur’an on Human Embryonic Development 

 Verily We created man from a quintessence (of clay); Then We placed him as (a drop of) sperm in a place of rest, firmly fixed; Then We made the sperm into an alaqah (leech, suspended thing, and of congealed blood clot), then We made the alaqah into a mudghah (chewed substance)… (Al-Mumenoon 23:12-14) ₁ Was he not a drop of sperm emitted (in lowly form)? Then did he become a leech-like clot; then did (Allah) make and fashion (him) in due proportion. And of him He made two sexes, male and female.(Al-Qiyama.75:37-39) ₁

Literally, the Arabic word alaqah has three meanings:

(1) Leech

 In comparing a leech to an embryo in the alaqah stage, there is a similarity between the two as we can see in figure.  Also, the embryo at this stage obtains nourishment from the blood of the mother, similar to the leech, which feeds on the blood of others.

Drawings illustrating the similarities in appearance between a leech and a human embryo at the alaqah stage. (Leech drawing from Human Development as Described in the Qur’an and Sunnah, Moore and others, p. 37, modified from Integrated Principles of Zoology, Hickman and others.  Embryo drawing from The Developing Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 73.)

 (2) Suspended thing

 The second meaning of the word alaqah is “suspended thing.”  This is what we can see in figures, the suspension of the embryo, during the alaqah stage, in the womb of the mother.

We can see in this diagram the suspension of an embryo during the alaqah stage in the womb (uterus) of the mother. (The Developing Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 66.) 

In this photomicrograph, we can see the suspension of an embryo (marked B) during the alaqah stage (about 15 days old) in the womb of the mother.  The actual size of the embryo is about 0.6 mm. (The Developing Human, Moore, 3rd ed., p. 66, from Histology)

(3) Blood clot.

 The third meaning of the word alaqah is “blood clot.”  We find that the external appearance of the embryo and its sacs during the alaqah stage is similar to that of a blood clot.  This is due to the presence of relatively large amounts of blood present in the embryo during this stage. Also during this stage, the blood in the embryo does not circulate until the end of the third week. Thus, the embryo at this stage is like a clot of blood.

Diagram of the primitive cardiovascular system in an embryo during the alaqah stage.  The external appearance of the embryo and its sacs is similar to that of a blood clot, due to the presence of relatively large amounts of blood present in the embryo. (The Developing Human, Moore, 5th ed., p. 65.) 

So the three meanings of the word alaqah correspond accurately to the descriptions of the embryo at the alaqah stage.

The next stage mentioned in the verse is the mudghah stage.  The Arabic word mudghah means “chewed substance.”  If one were to take a piece of gum and chew it in his or her mouth and then compare it with an embryo at the mudghah stage, we would conclude that the embryo at the mudghah stage acquires the appearance of a chewed substance.  This is because of the somites at the back of the embryo that “somewhat resemble teeth marks in a chewed substance.” ₄ Photograph of an embryo at the mudghah stage (28 days old).  The embryo at this stage acquires the appearance of a chewed substance, because the somites at the back of the embryo somewhat resemble teeth marks in a chewed substance.  The actual size of the embryo is 4 mm. (The Developing Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 82, from Professor Hideo Nishimura, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.) 

 When comparing the appearance of an embryo at the mudghah stage with a piece of gum that has been chewed, we find similarity between the two.
A) Drawing of an embryo at the mudghah stage.  We can see here the somites at the back of the embryo that look like teeth marks. (The Developing Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 79.)
B) Photograph of a piece of gum that has been chewed. 

The Sequence in Development of Human Organs  It is He Who has created for you (the faculties of) hearing, sight, feeling and understanding: little thanks it is ye give!(Al-Mumenoon.23:78)₁ It is He Who brought you forth from the wombs of your mothers when ye knew nothing; and He gave you hearing and sight and intelligence and affections: that ye may give thanks (to Allah).(An-Nahl.16:78)₁ Verily We created Man from a drop of mingled sperm, in order to try him: So We gave him (the gifts), of Hearing and Sight.(Al-Insan.76:2)₁ 

 These verses refer to a number of senses given to human beings by Allah. These are always referred in a specific order in the Qur’an: hearing, sight, feeling and understanding. In a paper published in the Journal of the Islamic Medical Association, Dr. Keith Moore states that during the development of the foetus, the eye begins to form after the inner ear has assumed its first form. He says the brain, the centre of feeling and understanding, begins its development after the ear and the eye.  The foetus’ ears begin to develop as early as the twenty-second day of pregnancy and become fully functional in the fourth month. After that, the foetus can hear sounds in its mother’s womb. For that reason, the sense of hearing forms before the other vital functions for a new-born baby. The order set out in the Qur’an is striking from that point of view. _5  The information only recently obtained about the formation of the baby’s organs inside the mother’s womb is in complete agreement with that revealed in the Qur’an. 

 Now let man but think From what he is created! He is created from A drop emitted — Proceeding from between The back bone and the ribs.(At-Tariq.86:5-7) 

 In embryonic stages, the reproductive organs of the male and female, i.e. the testicles and the ovaries, begin their development near the kidney between the spinal column and the eleventh and twelfth ribs. Later they descend; the female gonads (ovaries) stop in the pelvis while the male gonads (testicles) continue their descent before birth to reach the scrotum through the inguinal canal. Even in the adult after the descent of the reproductive organ, these organs receive their nerve supply and blood supply from the Abdominal Aorta, which is in the area between the back bone (spinal column) and the ribs. Even the lymphatic drainage and the venous return go to the same area. 

The Qur’an on the Origin of the Universe  Do those who disbelieve not see that the heavens and the earth were sewn together and then We unstitched them and that We made from water every living thing? Will they not then believe?  (Al-Anbiya.21:30) ₁

 The word “ratq” translated as “sewn to” means “mixed in each, blended” in the Arabic vernacular. It is used to refer to two different substances that make up a whole. The phrase “we unstitched” is the verb “fataqa” in Arabic and implies that something comes into being by tearing apart or destroying the structure of things that are sewn to one another. The sprouting of a seed from the soil is one of the actions to which this verb is applied.₅

 Let us take a look at the verse again. In the verse, sky and earth are at first subject to the status of “ratq.” They are separated (fataqa) with one coming out of the other.  Intriguingly, when we think about the first moments of the Big Bang, we see that the entire matter of the universe collected at one single point. In other words, everything-including “the heavens and earth” which were not created yet-was in an interwoven and inseparable condition. Then, this point exploded violently, causing its matter to disunite. ₅

 Because the earth and the heavens (the sun, the moon, stars, planets, galaxies, etc.) have been formed from this same ‘smoke,’ we conclude that the earth and the heavens were one connected entity.  Then out of this homogeneous ‘smoke,’ they formed and separated from each other._4 The science of modern cosmology, observational and theoretical, clearly indicates that, at one point in time, the whole universe was nothing but a cloud of ‘smoke’ (i.e. an opaque highly dense and hot gaseous composition). This is one of the undisputed principles of standard modern cosmology.  Scientists now can observe new stars forming out of the remnants of that ‘smoke’.₄A new star forming out of a cloud of gas and dust (nebula), which is one of the remnants of the ‘smoke’ that was the origin of the whole universe. (The Space Atlas, Heather and Henbest, p. 50.) 

The Lagoon nebula is a cloud of gas and dust, about 60 light years in diameter.  It is excited by the ultraviolet radiation of the hot stars that have recently formed within its bulk. (Horizons, Exploring the Universe, Seeds, plate 9, from Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc.) 

 Then He turned to the heaven when it was smoke… (Fussilat.41:11)₁

 The illuminating stars we see at night were, just as was the whole universe, in that ‘smoke’ material.

Preservation of The Pharaoh of The Exodus 

 And We brought the Children of Israel across the sea, and Pharaoh with his hosts pursued them in rebellion and transgression, till, when the (fate of) drowning overtook him, he exclaimed: I believe that there is no Allah save Him in Whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am of those who surrender (unto Him). (It was said to him): “Ah now!- But a little while before, wast thou in rebellion!- and thou didst mischief (and violence)! “This day shall We save thee in the body, that thou mayest be a sign to those who come after thee! but verily, many among mankind are heedless of Our Signs!”(Yusuf.10:90-92₁

 The Qur’anic and Biblical versions on the Exodus and death of the Pharaoh are very similar. However in the Qur’an there is one additional piece of information relating to the death of Pharaoh which Muslims for hundreds of years could not understand.

 The Bible stated that the Pharaoh and his army will be drowned, but the Qur’an adds that after Pharaoh’s death, his body will be preserved as a sign to all prosperity.

 In 1898 a discovery was made in Egypt at theValley of
Kings of an ancient mummy, historical evidence showed that this was the mummy of the Pharaoh of Exodus.

 In 1975 Dr Maurice Buccaile along with a team of archaeologists sought permission and were granted by the Egyptian Government to examine that particular mummy. In their examination they came to the conclusion that this is the body of a man who died of asphyxiation of drowning, and additionally the body could not have been in the water for too long.₆

Method of preservations of The Holy Qur’an  The Companions who were literate used to keep a written record of several portions of the Qur’an. In this manner, the text of the Qur’an had been preserved in four different ways during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad : · The Prophet Muhammad had the whole text of the Qur’an from the beginning to the end committed to writing by the scribes of revelations. · Many of the Companions learned the whole text of the Qur’an, every syllable of it, by heart. · All the illustrious Companions , without an exception, had memorized at least some portions of the Qur’an, for the simple reason that it was obligatory for them to recite it during worship · A considerable number of the literate Companions kept a private record of the text of the Qur’an and satisfied themselves as to the purity of their record by reading it out to the Prophet Muhammad . 

 In the time of Hadhrat Uthman bin-Affan (644CE-656CE) copies of this original version were made and officially dispatched to the Capitals of the Islamic State. Two of these copies exist in the world today, one in Istanbul and the other in
Tashkent. In the last century, an Institute of Munich University in
Germany collected forty-two thousands copies of the Qur’an including manuscripts and printed texts produced in each period in the various parts of the Islamic World. Research work was carried out on these texts for half a century, at the end of which the researchers concluded that apart from copying mistakes, there was no discrepancy in the text of these forty-two thousand copies, even though they belonged to the period between the 1^st Century Hijra(610CE) to 14^th Century Hijra(1900CE) and had been procured from all parts of the world.

A Brief Introduction to Science of Tafsir or Exegesis (Technical Interpretation) of Qur’an 

 The Qur’anic verses are of two types. Some verses are very clear and understanding their meaning by following the Arabic lexicon can be achieved by any one who knows the Arabic language, that is why don’t get difference of opinion in the exegesis of theseVerses.  The other comprises verses that are comprehensive in meaning and in which there is some ambiguity or difficulty in explanation or, in order to grasp their meaning, it is necessary to study the background in which the verses were revealed. Or, they deal with delicate legal questions or deep unknown facts and knowledge. Only knowledge of Arabic language is not sufficient to comprehend such verses, but other information is needed to derive their proper exegesis.₂      Keeping this in view, there are six sources of the exegesis or Tafsir of Qur’an.  The first source of exegesis of the Qur’an is the Qur’an itself that is sometimes its verses explain each other. Something is left unsaid in a verse but said in detail in another verse. ₂For example, it is said in surah Al-Fatihah: Guide us Thou to the straight way, the way of those whom Thou hast blessed (Al-Fatihah.1:6-7) ₁ It is not clear in this verse as to who are the blessed people? But at another place it is stated: All who obey Allah and the messenger are in the company of those on whom is the Grace of Allah,- of the prophets (who teach), the sincere (lovers of Truth), the witnesses (who testify), and the Righteous (who do good): Ah! What a beautiful fellowship! (An-Nisa.4:69)₁ The second source of exegesis of the Qur’an is the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad  known as Hadith. The Qur’an has clarified at many places that the real purpose of prophet Muhammad was for him to explain the Qur’anic verses through his words and actions:  And We have not revealed to you the Book except that you may make clear to them that about which they differ, and (as) a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe. (An-Nahl.16:64)₁ The third source is the sayings of the companions of the prophet Muhammad who learnt the Qur’an directly from him. Some of them had devoted their entire lives to learn the Qur’an its exegesis and related knowledge directly from the sayings and actions of the prophet Muhammad . Their language was Arabic, and they were fully aware of the environment of revelation of the Qur’an. Rather than rely on their linguistic excellence they learnt the Qur’an verse by verse from the prophet .₂ Imam Abu Abdur Rahman Sulmi a renowned Tab’een (epigone) scholar said: Those (of the Companions) who used to teach the Qur’an, such as Uthman-bin-Affan and Abdullah-bin-Mas’ud and others told us that they did not proceed further with their lessons until they had learnt ten verses from the Prophet and until they had received all knowledge and practical applications related to it.(Al-Itqan,v2,p176 chapter 78)    The fourth source is the sayings of the Tab’een (successors of the companions ), Scholars differ whether the sayings of a Tab’een can be conclusive argument in exegesis or not? Ibn Kathir has stated that if a Tab’een has reported an exegesis from a Companion it will have the same status as that of a Companion . But if he gives his own interpretation then it will be seen whether another Tab’een differs from him. If that is so, his interpretation will not be acceptable and conclusion will be drawn on the basis of other sources of exegesis. If no difference exists among the Tab’een their opinion will be acceptable without doubt.₂ The fifth source is the Arabic language if its meaning is clear, and no ambiguity, doubt or confusion exists, nor any historical background is required to understand it. But when one is faced with ambiguity or deeper sense or religious laws are being drawn from the verse, interpretation may not be made by means of Arabic Lexicon alone. In such a situation the basic sources of exegesis would be the Qur’an itself, Prophetic Traditions and statements of the Companions and the Tab’een. Only after that will recourse be had to the Arabic language because Arabic is a very vast language and its words are used in several meanings, and a single sentence may be interpreted in several ways. Hence any inference drawn on the basis of language also may result in confusion.₂ 

 The Sixth source which is common sense that is needed for every thing in this world, and obviously it is required to draw interpretation from the above five sources also. The Qur’an is an endless ocean of deep mystic meanings. By means of the above five sources its subjects can, of course, be understood to the extent required but as far as its mysteries and commands are concerned, it can never be said that a climax has been reached and there is no room for any further deliberation. On the contrary, the door to ponder over and deliberate on its inner meanings shall remain open till the Last Day. This is why the commentators in every age have made additions to this chapter according to their understanding. This is exactly what the Prophet meant when he prayed for Abdullah ibn-Abb’as in these words: O Allah! Bestow on him the Sciences of Exegesis and Comprehension of religion. (Al-Burhan, v.2, p161)  But it should be remembered in this connections that only such realities and deeper meaning drawn through reasoning shall be reliable as do not clash with other religious principles and the foregoing five sources. If anything is deduced by disregarding the rules of exegesis, it will have no standing in religion.₂

What is Hadith 

 The Hadith is the sayings and conduct of Prophet Muhammad , which have been narrated by his Companions . The Hadith has come to supplement the Qur’an as a source of the Islamic religious law. The Hadith is the second pillar after the Qur’an upon which every Muslim rests his faith. Hadith is composed of two parts: the Mat’n (text) and the Isnad (chain of reporters). A text may seem to be logical and reasonable but it needs an authentic isnad with reliable reporters to be acceptable. The scholars of the Hadith literature divided the Traditions into categories according to the degree of authenticity and reliability; each category had to meet certain criteria.

 Example of an Hadith: Narrated by Jabir bin-Abdullah I heard the Prophet Muhammad saying, “If there is any healing in your medicines, then it is in cupping, a gulp of honey or branding with fire (cauterization) that suits the ailment, but I don’t like to be (cauterized) branded with fire.”₃  Conclusion The verses of the Qur’an which I selected deal with subjects that would have been very hard or impossible for the reader to comprehend or understand going back before the advancement of science in that field.  The scientific explanation in light of new discoveries does not in any way contradict what is said in the Qur’an but rather helps to elaborate it further and gives a better understand for a laymen or an expert in that field.  The thing that I found hard to comprehend and amazing at same time is the field of science that set for the study of Qur’an, apparently there’s about 30 fields and to be master of one of the field is something hard to be found at present time.

 I have come across various other topics which modern day science gives a better understanding of the verses at the same time not disregarding the rules of exegesis that has been set. Apparently most of the verses that deals with scientific field has been confirmed and proven by advancement and established scientific proof. However there are many other verses that are against some of the scientific theories that have not been established as a concrete proof.

 It would have been interesting to compare these topics with other Scriptures and see what they have to say in regards to these topics. However they have been covered by renowned scholars like Dr Maurice Buccaille, but I had very difficulty in trying to understand as the language of rhetoric that is used is difficult for me to comprehend.

 Going back to the statement made by Abdullah-Ibn-Umar who was asked about a scientific verse of the Qur’an, and his reply was that ”The best way to explain is to let time pass.”(Qurtubi) It would be good to study the Qur’anic verses and Hadith that mentions beneficial products i.e. fruits, fig, date, honey, olive, pomegranate, grapes etc and perhaps do more research in these foods and try to look for beneficial aspect through breakdown of nutrition’s or combination of these nutrients.  There are many books that have been written in the past by great scholars about Qur’an and Hadith which are still in their original text i.e. in Arabic or Farsi, and these books are not benefiting the people as it ought to because of the lack of infrastructure to use this information to advance in the field of Science. Perhaps if the books can be translated in English and also the Advanced Scientific Organisation can work with people who have access to these books, could lead to new discoveries and understandings. An example of this is that recently someone showed me a book translated in English called ‘’The Meaning of the Qur’an’’ by Syed Abu-Ala’ Maududi which is a six volume book that took 30 years to write in the 20^th century and in it there was commentary about existence of life in other planets in other galaxies, which I did not fully understand. 

References 

₁ The Noble Qur’an

₂ Usmani, Justice Mufti M. Taqi. 2000. An Approach to the QUR’ANIC SCIENCES. Darul-Ishaat
Karachi

₃ Khan, Dr M. Muhsin. 1994. Summarized Sahih Al-Bukhari (Arabic-English). Maktaba Dar-us-Salam
Riyadh

₄ Ibrahim,
I. A. 1997. A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam.
Darussalam Houston, Texas

₅ Yahya. H. MIRACLES OF THE QUR’AN

₆ Buccaille, Maurice, 2000. The Bible, The Qur’an and Science. Noida New
Delhi 

http://www.quran.org.uk/articles/ieb_quran_history.htm

http://www.al-islam.org/short/alhadith/Pages/Page1.html#what

http://www.answering-christianity.com/embryology.htm

http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_51_100/attitude_of_a_muslim_scholar_at.htm

http://www.uh.edu/~wahmed/islam/Quran_intro.html

 means,  Peace and blessing be upon Him.

 means, May Allah be pleased with them.

This is an article composed by Brother Yusuf al-Hanbali, I have posted some lectures by him also @ www.gems.mypodcast.com

IMPORTANCE & VIRTUES OF MARRIAGE

Our Beloved Messenger (saw) had said,

“Whoever marries has then completed half of his Deen, now let him
Fear Allah (SWT) for the remaining half.”

(BAIHAQI in his SHU’ABUL EEMAAN. Sheikh Albaanee
[rah] Stated “Hasan” in his SAHEEHUL JAAMI No 443)

In an almost identical report our Beloved Messenger (saw) had said,

“Whoever marries has then completed half his Eemaan, now let him
Fear Allah (SWT) for the remaining half.”

(Sheikh Albaanee [rah] Authenticated it
in his SAHEEHUL JAAMI No 6024)

SubhaanAllah – thus marriage is half of one’s Deen and Eemaan!!

However, it is the pious wife that is being referred to here for our Beloved Messenger (saw) had said on another occasion,

“Whoever Allah (SWT) provides with a pious wife has then been
Helped concerning half his Deen…”

(TABARANI, HAAKIM, BAIHAQI,
AL-HAITHAMI in MAJMA AZ-ZAWAA’ID,
TARGHEEB, KANZUL UMMAL Vol 16 Page 116)

Indeed, our Beloved Messenger (saw) had said,

“Whoever loves, hates, gives, withholds, and marries for the Sake of
Allah (SWT) has then perfected his Eemaan.”
(TIRMIDHI – “Hasan”)

Our Beloved Messenger (saw) had said,

“Whoever marries for the Sake of Allah (SWT) will then be (honoured
By being) crowned with “Taajul Mulk” the Crown of the Kingdom
(ie on the Day of Resurrection).”

(ABU DAWUD, MISHKAAT & Others)

Our Beloved Messenger (saw) clarified further when he said,

“Poor man, poor man, the one without a wife – even if he is rich.
Poor woman, poor woman, the one without a husband – even if she
Is rich.”

(RAZEEN, TARGHEEB & Others)

Our Beloved Messenger (saw) had instructed his Ummah,

“Marriage is my Sunnah.
Whoever does not follow my Sunnah then does not belong to me.”

(IBN MAJAH. Sheikh Albaanee [rah]
Authenticated it in his AS-SAHEEHAH No 2823)

In a different wording he (saw) had said,

“Marry!
For I (saw) want to be delighted by my numbers (ie of my Ummah).
Don’t practice monasticism like the Christians.”

(BAIHAQI. Sheikh Albaanee [rah] Authenticated it in his
SAHEEHUL JAAMI No 2941 & AS-SAHEEHAH No 1782)

In another report it is related that our Beloved Messenger (saw) had enquired from a Companion whether he had the means to get married, when he (ra) said yes (ie but had not married) then the Holy Prophet (saw) said to him,

“Then you are the brother of Shaytaan!”
(AHMAD in his MUSNAD)

Indeed in another report our Beloved Messenger (saw) had said,

“Allah’s (SWT) Curse is upon men and women who do not marry.”
(KANZUL UMMAL Vol 16 Page 167)

Such is it’s importance that our Beloved Messenger (saw) had said that in the Unseen world,

“Every morning 2 Angels (as) call out,
“Woe to men from women!
Woe to women from men!”

(IBN MAJAH, HAAKIM, TARGHEEB No 1623)

We ask Almighty Allah (SWT) to preserve us from all abomination – Ameen!!

THE INCREDIBLE WORTH OF A RIGHTEOUS MALE AND FEMALE

Before marrying our Beloved Messenger (saw) had instructed,

“Make a good choice for your seed.
Marry worthy (women) and marry them (to worthy men).”

(IBN MAJAH, HAAKIM & Others.
Sheikh Albaanee [rah] Authenticated it in his
SAHEEHUL JAAMI No 2928 & AS-SAHEEHAH No 1067)
Indeed, such is the worth of a righteous female that our Beloved Messenger (saw) had said,

“All the world is an aid (ie from which you can benefit), but the
Best aid is a righteous wife.”

(MUSLIM in his Sahih No 3645, NASAA’EE & Others)

Interestingly, our Beloved Messenger (saw) had also conversely said,

“All the world is an aid, but the best aid is a righteous husband.”
(TABARANI)

In another report our Beloved Messenger (saw) had clarified what true wealth entailed when he (saw) had said,

“(True wealth is) A grateful heart.
A remembering tongue. And;
A Believing wife who helps one of you upon the affairs of the
Hereafter.”

(TIRMIDHI No 3904, IBN MAJAH No 1856, AHMAD & Others)

In another Narration our Beloved Messenger (saw) had further clarified,

“The best woman is she who bears many children, is loving,
Comforting and tolerant – provide she has the fear of Allah (SWT).

And the worst of your women are those who display their charms
And swagger in their walk – they are indeed hypocrites.”

(BAIHAQI in his SUNAN. Sheikh Albaanee [rah] Authenticated it
in his SAHEEHUL JAAMI No 3330 & AS-SAHEEHAH No 1849)

Further clarifying, our Beloved Messenger (saw) had said,

“Good fortune is to have a righteous wife, spacious home and good
Transport.
Bad fortune is to have an unrighteous wife, cramped home and
Unreliable transport.”

(AHMAD – “Sahih”, TABARANI, HAAKIM,
BAZZAAR, IBN HIBBAAN – “Sahih”, TARGHEEB No 1634)

With regards to the male folk our Beloved Messenger (saw) had said,

“The best of men are (indeed) best to the women.”

(ABU DAWUD No 4682, TIRMIDHI No 1162 – “Hasan”, AHMAD)

In a slightly different wording our Beloved Messenger (saw) had said,

“The best of you are kindest to his wife – and I (saw) am the kindest
Amongst you to my Wives (raa).”

(TIRMIDHI No 3895, BAIHAQI 7/468)

Our Beloved Messenger (saw) had also informed the males,

“Spending on your wives is better than giving Sadaqah to beggars.”

(MUSLIM in his Sahih)

Conversely, our Beloved Messenger (saw) instructed the females,

“Service to your husband is (just like giving) Sadaqah.”

(KANZUL UMMAL Vol 16 Page 169)

It is related that a woman (raa) enquired from the Holy Prophet (saw),

“Men have taken all the rewards!
They offer Congregational Prayers, the Friday Prayer, they visit the
Ill, they offer the Funeral Prayer, they perform the Hajj and they
Fight in the Path of Allah (SWT) – how are we to compete?”

He (saw) answered,
“Inform the females that good treatment to their husbands and looking
After and obeying them entitles them to all these rewards!”
The woman left glorifying Allah (SWT).”

(BAIHAQI 6/421)

And finally, one should be patient and overlook the faults of one’s partner for our Beloved Messenger (saw) had said,

“If a husband shows patience with his wife he will then get the reward
Of Ay’yoob (as).
(Similarly) If a wife shows patience with her husband, she will get
The reward of Pharoah’s wife (ie Hadrat Aasiyah [raa]).”

(DHAHABI in his KABAA’IR)

All Praise be to Allah (SWT) Lord of the Worlds!