TRACEDTRUTH

Introduction to the Methodology of Hadith

Beginning with an example...

Imagine a ruler or someone incredibly important and powerful gives you a message and commands: "Transmit this exactly — no mistakes." You would be extremely careful, memorizing every word to avoid any error. Now imagine he offers you a million dollars if you can pass on his statement word-for-word, without changing anything. You would focus even harder, repeating it over and over to ensure total accuracy. This is the level of care the scholars of Hadith showed in preserving the words and actions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ — not for fear of rulers or for money, but out of duty to protect the religion itself.

Why this much care?

The scholars and narrators of hadith took great care in preserving the words of the Prophet ﷺ because of clear instructions from the Qur'an, direct commands and warnings from the Prophet himself, and combatting the trials that arose after his death.

In the Qur'aan, Allaah (The One True God worthy of worship) tells us to investigate the news brought to us by a disobedient person:

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِن جَآءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌۢ بِنَبَإٍۢ فَتَبَيَّنُوٓا۟ أَن تُصِيبُوا۟ قَوْمًۢا بِجَهَـٰلَةٍۢ فَتُصْبِحُوا۟ عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَـٰدِمِين

[O you who have believed, if there comes to you a disobedient one with information, investigate, lest you harm a people out of ignorance and become, over what you have done, regretful.] [49:6]

The Messenger Muhammad ﷺ commands us with conveying his statements, and he warned severely against anybody that dared to lie upon him when he said ﷺ:
بَلِّغُوا عَنِّي وَلَوْ آيَةً وَحَدِّثُوا عَنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ وَلَا حَرَجَ، وَمَنْ كَذَبَ عَلَيَّ مُتَعَمِّدًا فَلْيَتَبَوَّأْ مَقْعَدَهُ مِنَ النَّارِ

[Convey from me, even a single verse. Narrate from the children of Israel, for there is no blame in it... Whoever deliberately lies about me, let him take his seat in Hellfire.]
Intentional lies upon the Prophet ﷺ did not take place amongst his companions, however, lies and false stories began to be spread after the death of the Prophet ﷺ and the spread of Islam to different parts of the world. To combat this, narrations would no longer be accepted except from upright people, and the strictness in narrating was increased, Muhammad bin Sireen (an early scholar of hadith) said:
لَمْ يَكُونُوا يَسْأَلُونَ عَنِ الإِسْنَادِ، فَلَمَّا وَقَعَتِ الْفِتْنَةُ قَالُوا سَمُّوا لَنَا رِجَالَكُمْ

“They (i.e. the scholars of Hadeeth) did not used to ask about the chain of narration (Isnād or Sanad). But when the fitnah (trial, tribulation) occurred, they would question by asking: “Name us your men” [meaning who they would narrate from]"

How do we know who's reliable and whose not?

With each chain of naration, there are levels to the names of men mentioned, and there are those that are more virtous than others. It would be helpful to define some of these terms:



  • Companion (Sahabi), someone who heard directly from the Prophet
  • Student of the Companion (Taabi'ii)
  • Student of the Taabi'ii (Tabi' Taabi'ii)


If the narrator being examined is a Companion (Sahabi), then his narration is accepted without questioning, as it is inconceivable that the Companions — those who wept in prayer, feared the afterlife, and strictly followed the teachings of Islam — would ever lie about the Messenger ﷺ. Especially after hearing the severe warnings against fabricating statements about him.

However, if the narrator was other than a Companion, scholars would apply stricter scrutiny. They compiled detailed biographies in what became known as the "books of men" (Kutub al-Rijāl), recording each narrator's honesty, religious commitment, strength of memory, and the evaluations given by other scholars.


In this way, through analysing each narrator in the chain of a hadith, seeing whether or not they were trustworthy and reliable, starting from the one that compiled the hadith book, leading up to the Prophet ﷺ, scholars are able to determine which narrations are infact deemed authentic or otherwise.

In the next section, we will explore this science — known as Mustalah al-Hadith — and how scholars decided which narrations are authentic, good, weak, or even fabricated.