Validity of Hadiths

[Ashima33]

Salaam Everyone,

So, I haven't gotten into Hadiths much except for what is absolutely needed... i.e. wudu and prayer sequence. I'm doing a more intensive study on the Qur'an before I move onto hadiths.

Anyways... I was reading that the collection of Hadiths which are consider to be the most Authentic, Surah Bukhari, were compiled and collected 200 years after the passing of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Does anyone worry about this?

I know one of my huge hang ups about Jesus and the New Testament was that most of the accounts were written 35+ years after his "death." So, initially I can't help but feel the same way about these hadiths.

 

[Valerie]

I can't comment on the Hadiths, because I haven't gotten that far though. I do have to say that was one of the big issues I had with the New Testament though.

 

[Abu Talib]

:salam2:

Of what I know about Hadith of Bukhari I have heard from a Shiekh Fez that its the second most authentic book after Quran.

Imam Bukhari used to pray two rakahs for guidance before recording any hadith. He had learned from thousands of Scholars across various countries during his time.

 

[arzafar]

hadith collection and study is a science of its own. kindly refer to the following thread

http://www.turntoislam.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1392

the best collection of hadith is the sahih of bukhari. Unlike other religions sources of Islam are very clear cut. we don't know who mark, john are, where they were born and when did they write the text. Whereas we know for sure who bukhari, muslim, abu dawood, maalik etc. are. there are whole volumes written about them from their students. (how they prayed, how they ate etc)

just to show you how careful these scholars were in recording and reporting hadith. Bukhari devoted his life to collection of hadith and collected some 300 000 narrations attributed to Muhammad (saw). After extreme scrutiny he only included some 3000 (of the 300k) in his sahih (authentic) collection. that is an acceptance rate of 1 percent!!!

 

[Munawar]

:salam2:

Sahih Bukhari is a collection of sayings and deeds of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), also known as the sunnah. The reports of the Prophet's sayings and deeds are called ahadith. Bukhari lived a couple of centuries after the Prophet's death and worked extremely hard to collect his ahadith. Each report in his collection was checked for compatibility with the Qur'an, and the veracity of the chain of reporters had to be painstakingly established. Bukhari's collection is recognized by the overwhelming majority of the Muslim world to be one of the most authentic collections of the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh).


Hadiths are categorized as strong and weak. If there are very many narrators saying the same thing then that hadith is considered a strong hadith. e.g. The sermon of Prophet Mohammed on his last Hajj is narrated by many and there is definitely no doubt about it that it is authentic and is very strong.

The true and original texts of Hadiths are very boring because they contain a long series of the chain of narrators. Therefore in the commonly available hadith or on-line they only mention the first narrator.

 

[miq1]

Praise be to Allah (The Glorified and Exalted)


Yes, the hadith are an important aspect of Islam and must be followed.


1) Due to the manner in which the Qur'an was revealed, making it short, eloquent, and melodious in recitation, the Almighty did not reveal every aspect of His "religion" more specifically "way of life" in which He wants humans to live by, entirely by the Qur'anic revelation. Instead, the Almighty states within the Qur'an that people must refer to His prophet for further instruction. This is called the Sunnah (tradition or example of the Prophet), which is contained in the "Six Books" of hadith (sayings) or accounts. The "Six Books" are the following:

Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nisaa’i, and Ibn Majah. Of which Bukhari and Muslim are considered Sahih (Authentic sayings or accounts), meaning all of them come from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The other books are a mixture and may have some hadith that are weaker to prove that they came from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).

There are also other notable scholars (may Allah have mercy on them), such as Ahmad, from whose books the Sunnah may be learned.

The hadith are graded, the highest rating is "golden chain of transmission." This means that this account did come from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) 100%. All of the hadith or accounts are passed by narrators, all of their names and biographies are well known. They were not private, but rather publicly known individuals that were known to be pious and knowledgeable. If it is considered that there is a problem in the chain of narrators, then the Hadith or accounts lose some credibility and those are ranked lower, such as "weak" known as "da'eef" in Arabic, and some may be considered lies or "false accounts."

Go to the following site and read their analysis on a certain hadith: http://islamqa.com/en/ref/2534


2) In Islam, we believe that Allah (The Glorified and Exalted) will keep the practice of His religion on the Earth until the Day of Resurrection, by inspiring different persons to support His religion. This is done in various ways: The Almighty gives the individual a kind of personality type in which the individual possesses a great deal of wisdom and insight in his understanding, he understands human nature (i.e. he understands how some humans speak and behave and can anticipate what they would or would not do), he has been blessed with a photographic memory and can memorize a great deal of information, the Almighty will give him a strong inclination to religiosity, keep his character clean, and his intentions pure, the Almighty will also expose the individual to other learned men, so that this person will grow as a "scholar" in terms of knowledge and understanding of Islam. It is also the case that no other prophet will be sent to mankind before the Day of Judgment. Therefore, the Creator is going to keep the Qur'an and Islam in its puritan form up to the Day of Judgment, because He is going to use it as evidence by which He will judge everyone that came after the final Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, the Almighty is not going to allow the majority of the Muslims to become misguided, because people will then complain that they can not be judged because heretics were larger in terms of their numbers. The majority of the people that call themselves "Muslims," and the scholars of the religion, follow the Qur'an and Sunnah (from hadith and accounts), which the Prophet (peace be upon him) told them to do. This is how Islam has been preserved through the ages by the promise of Allah (The Glorified and Exalted).

3) It is also the case that the hadith were not written over 200 years after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). For example, Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) had a scroll with some things the Prophet (peace be upon him) had mentioned to him. Other people may have had similar things and written down accounts, this is how the narrations were preserved. People also passed them down by oral tradition and individuals preserved the Sunnah (example of the Prophet) through example in every day life. It just happens that Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him), a man chosen by Allah as mentioned above that some humans are chosen for this purpose, wrote his famous collection of hadith or accounts in a single book many years later. However, there are plenty of other accounts outside his Book that are also authentic as graded by other scholars. Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) simply found the hadith that were available to him during his time period and travels, and some he may have not accepted due to the individual that narrated it to him, perhaps he did not trust the judgment of that individual or the chain of narrators that were recorded, because the same hadith may also have other chain of narrators. This is why in his book, he mentions the same hadith by various different chains. The more accounts the better.

4) Due to its complexity, this is a topic for a student of religion within a university. A common Muslim must simply know that they must follow both Qur'an and hadith, in order to gain salvation.

And Allah (The Exalted) Knows Best.

 

[arzafar]

Praise be to Allah (The Glorified and Exalted)


Yes, the hadith are an important aspect of Islam and must be followed.


1) Due to the manner in which the Qur'an was revealed, making it short, eloquent, and melodious in recitation, the Almighty did not reveal every aspect of His "religion" more specifically "way of life" in which He wants humans to live by, entirely by the Qur'anic revelation. Instead, the Almighty states within the Qur'an that people must refer to His prophet for further instruction. This is called the Sunnah (tradition or example of the Prophet), which is contained in the "Six Books" of hadith (sayings) or accounts. The "Six Books" are the following:

Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nisaa’i, and Ibn Majah. Of which Bukhari and Muslim are considered Sahih (Authentic sayings or accounts), meaning all of them come from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The other books are a mixture and may have some hadith that are weaker to prove that they came from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).

There are also other notable scholars (may Allah have mercy on them), such as Ahmad, from whose books the Sunnah may be learned.

The hadith are graded, the highest rating is "golden chain of transmission." This means that this account did come from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) 100%. All of the hadith or accounts are passed by narrators, all of their names and biographies are well known. They were not private, but rather publicly known individuals that were known to be pious and knowledgeable. If it is considered that there is a problem in the chain of narrators, then the Hadith or accounts lose some credibility and those are ranked lower, such as "weak" known as "da'eef" in Arabic, and some may be considered lies or "false accounts."

Go to the following site and read their analysis on a certain hadith: http://islamqa.com/en/ref/2534


2) In Islam, we believe that Allah (The Glorified and Exalted) will keep the practice of His religion on the Earth until the Day of Resurrection, by inspiring different persons to support His religion. This is done in various ways: The Almighty gives the individual a kind of personality type in which the individual possesses a great deal of wisdom and insight in his understanding, he understands human nature (i.e. he understands how some humans speak and behave and can anticipate what they would or would not do), he has been blessed with a photographic memory and can memorize a great deal of information, the Almighty will give him a strong inclination to religiosity, keep his character clean, and his intentions pure, the Almighty will also expose the individual to other learned men, so that this person will grow as a "scholar" in terms of knowledge and understanding of Islam. It is also the case that no other prophet will be sent to mankind before the Day of Judgment. Therefore, the Creator is going to keep the Qur'an and Islam in its puritan form up to the Day of Judgment, because He is going to use it as evidence by which He will judge everyone that came after the final Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, the Almighty is not going to allow the majority of the Muslims to become misguided, because people will then complain that they can not be judged because heretics were larger in terms of their numbers. The majority of the people that call themselves "Muslims," and the scholars of the religion, follow the Qur'an and Sunnah (from hadith and accounts), which the Prophet (peace be upon him) told them to do. This is how Islam has been preserved through the ages by the promise of Allah (The Glorified and Exalted).

3) It is also the case that the hadith were not written over 200 years after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). For example, Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) had a scroll with some things the Prophet (peace be upon him) had mentioned to him. Other people may have had similar things and written down accounts, this is how the narrations were preserved. People also passed them down by oral tradition and individuals preserved the Sunnah (example of the Prophet) through example in every day life. It just happens that Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him), a man chosen by Allah as mentioned above that some humans are chosen for this purpose, wrote his famous collection of hadith or accounts in a single book many years later. However, there are plenty of other accounts outside his Book that are also authentic as graded by other scholars. Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) simply found the hadith that were available to him during his time period and travels, and some he may have not accepted due to the individual that narrated it to him, perhaps he did not trust the judgment of that individual or the chain of narrators that were recorded, because the same hadith may also have other chain of narrators. This is why in his book, he mentions the same hadith by various different chains. The more accounts the better.

4) Due to its complexity, this is a topic for a student of religion within a university. A common Muslim must simply know that they must follow both Qur'an and hadith, in order to gain salvation.

And Allah (The Exalted) Knows Best.

very well explained.
However i disagree with point 4. i think hadith should be studied (just like the quraan) even by average muslims. gaining knowledge is obligatory after all. It would also help in raising awareness of the importance of hadith

 

[kayleigh]

I initially worried about that, but you should read up on how they were compiled and what the requirements are for them to be considered authentic.

 

[Aapa]

Assalaam walaikum,

It is critical to read them. There are instructions about everything. Forgive me ...but for someone like me..they are the instruction guides for Muslim dummies. It is like the sourcebook for Islamic living. They are the primer for applied Islam. And they are an easy read. I think of them as study guides for living Muslim. It is not something to memorize but it breaks down the how and the why's of Islamic thought and action.

 

[samiha]

:salam2:

I don't really have time to elaborate ukhti... but trust me, when you look into the Qur'aan, you will assuredly find ahadeeth! They are inseparable and equally important for a Muslim. You will see once you go into the Tafseer of the Qur'aan, all of the authentic scholars use backing information from the Hadeeth to explain how this certain ayaah was taken by the Messenger of Allaah , how his companions applied it, what the situation of the Muslims was at that time. And I'm sure we all agree this is definitely needed in order so that the words of Allaah are not misinterpreted, like so many people like to do.

Our religion was kept secure by the spreading of the ahadeeth. Allaah sent the wahey in many ways, one was through the Qur'aan, and another through the actions of the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam. And there is countless evidence that the Sahabah would rely on his guidance and teachings to understand Islaam and their roles as Muslims. They would memorize the exact text the way he 'alayhi salaatu wa salaam said it, they would memorize the motions he used while narrating and repeat them, they would even memorize his facial expressions many times subhanAllaah. There is an entire science dedicated to hadeeth, their authentication and verification. Each person who would learn from a narrator has been evaluated, classed as either being truthful, doubtful, forgetful, a liar etc by the muhadditheen.

I am not knowledgeable enough to go into too much detail, but truly sister once you get an opportunity to actually study the texts of hadeeth, there isn't much room for doubt thereafter. It's a very thorough and dedicated field which even people today are studying, and Imaam Bukhaari rahimahullah was very diligent and quite strict about what kind of narrations he put in his book, however he was not the first collector of ahadeeth (which a lot of people try to make it seem like).

Before I have to go I also wanted to share the link to a previous thread about this: Question Regarding Hadeeth

Excerpt from a post I have there:

Were Ahadith Written Down for the First Time in the Third Century of Hijra?

The above proves that ahadith must have been protected. Were they? The very existence of a huge library of hadith -- the only one of its kind among the religions of the world -- answers the question in the affirmative. To dismiss all that as later day fabrication (#1A, #2) requires lots of guts -- and equal parts ignorance. Were ahadith written down for the first time in the third century of Hijra? Not at all. Actually hadith recording and collection started at the time of the Prophet, Salla-Allahu alayhi wa sallam. Abd-Allah ibn Amr ibn al-'As, Radi-Allahu unhu, sought and was given the permission to write everything he heard from the Prophet, Salla-Allahu alayhi wa Sallam, who said: "By the One in Whose Hands is my life! Whatever proceeds from here [pointing to his mouth] is the truth." He produced Sahifa Sadiqa, which contained more than six thousand ahadith. Anas ibn Malik, Radi-Allahu unhu, who spent ten years in Prophet's household, not only recorded the ahadith but also presented them to the Prophet, Salla-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, and got corrections. Abu Hurairah, Radi-Allahu unhu, had many volumes of his collections and even produced smaller compilations for his students. Prominent Hadith scholar Dr. Mustafa Azami has shown in his doctoral thesis that in the first century of Hijra many hundred booklets of hadith were in circulation. By the end of the second century, "by the most conservative estimate there were many thousands."

Of course most of these books do not exist today. They were simply absorbed into the encyclopedic collections that emerged in the third century. One manuscript from the first century was discovered in this century and published by Dr. Hamidullah. It is Sahifa Hammam ibn Munabbah, who was a disciple of Abu Hurairah, Radi-Allahu unhu. It contains 138 ahadith. Muhaddithin knew that the ahadith of this Sahifa had been absorbed into Musnad Ahmed and Muslim collections, which have been published continuously since their third century debut. After the discovery of the original manuscript it was naturally compared with the ahadith in Muslim and Musnad Ahmed that were thought to have come from that Sahifa. And what did they find? There was not an iota of difference between the two. Similarly Mussanaf of Abd al-Razzaq is extant and has been published. As has been Mu'ammar ibn Rashid's al-Jami. These recently discovered original manuscripts bear out the Sihah Sitta. The recent appearance of these original manuscripts should bring the most skeptical into the fold of believers.

Saheeh and the Gospels

Regarding comparison of Saheeh with Gospels (#2), let's listen to Dr. Hamidullah. "The compilation of the Gospels, their preservation and transmission from one generation to the other, has not taken place in the way which governed the books of Hadith... We do not know who wrote them, who translated them, and who transmitted them. How were they transferred from the original Aramaic to Greek? Did the scribes make arrangements for a faithful reproduction of the original? The four Gospels are mentioned, for the first time, three hundred years after Christ. Should we rely on such an unauthentic book in preference to that of Bukhari who prefaces every statement of two lines with three to nine references?"

Hope it helps a little bit!

wasalam

 

[Mohsin]

assalamu alaiki sister,

You have already received many wonderful explanations. You can see this thread by our dear brother, Mabsoot, for more information.

The Science of Hadith, What Are Hadith?

and you can also read the book on Hadith Classification by Sheikh Suhaib Hassan. --> Here

I found this one passage on the internet interesting so I copy it here verbatim.

"After one studies the science of hadith, he would realize that the authenticity of the gospels can be in no way compared to those of the authentic hadith. One who studies the preservation of hadith and the gospels would find the claim that the gospels are like the authentic hadith to be laughable since the gospels don't even pass the minimum criteria for acceptance by hadith scholars (for Christians don't have a chain of transmission to those who authored them and Christians are not even 100% sure of whether they have correctly attributed the authorship of the gospels to the right people)"