> Conditions of a Saheeh Hadeeth

[salman]

:

Question: What are the conditions of a saheeh hadeeth?

Answer: Praise be to Allah.

The phrase "saheeh hadeeth" may refer to one of two things:

In general terms it includes those which are mutawaatir (narrated from so many by so many in each stage of transmission that it is inconceivable that they could all have agreed upon a lie), saheeh li dhaatihi (sound in and of itself), saheeh li ghayrihi (sound because of corroborating evidence) and hasan (good).

Al-Haafiz ibn Hajar said: Most of the scholars of hadeeth do not differentiate between hasan and saheeh. End quote from al-Nukat (1/480),

In specific terms it includes saheeh li dhaatihi (sound in and of itself) and saheeh li ghayrihi (sound because of corroborating evidence) only.

Based on this definition, a saheeh hadeeth is one which is narrated by men of good character, who are known for their good memories and precision, with a continuous isnaad, and is not odd or faulty.

If the precision is lacking and is not complete, then it is hasan li dhaatihi (hasan in and of itself). If it has a number of isnaads, then it is saheeh li ghayrihi (saheeh because of corroborating evidence).

See Nakhbat al-Fikr by al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him).

From this definition we may sum up the conditions of a saheeh hadeeth as follows:

1. Good character of all its narrators
2. Good memory and precision on the part of narrators with regard to what they are narrating.
3. Continuous isnaad from beginning to end, meaning that each narrator heard the hadeeth from the one before him.
4. The hadeeth is free from any oddness in its isnaad or text. What is meant by "odd" is anything in which the narrator narrates something that contradicts the narration of a sounder narrator.
5. The hadeeth is free from faults in its isnaad and text. A "fault" is a subtle problem that undermines the soundness of the hadeeth, which can be detected only by the well versed scholars of hadeeth.

The definition of these conditions came about as the result of the later imams studying the words of the scholars of hadeeth and their applications. Hence you may find things in the words of the earlier scholars which point to these conditions.

For example: Imam al-Shaafa'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said in al-Risaalah (370-371):

Evidence cannot be established on the basis of a report narrated by a few unless several factors are present, such as:

The one who narrated it is trustworthy in his religious commitment, known to be truthful in his speech, understanding what he narrates, and knowledgeable about the wording and possible interpretation of the hadeeth; and he should be one of those who can narrate the hadeeth exactly as he heard it, not based on the meaning but with the exact wording, because if he if narrated on the basis of meaning and not with the exact wording, and he does not have knowledge of possible interpretations, he may inadvertently change what is halaal into haraam. But if he narrates it exactly, there is no fear that it may be changed.

And he should know the hadeeth very well, if he is narrating from memory or he should take get care of his book if he is narrating from his book. If he checks what he knows with the scholars of hadeeth, he should be in agreement with them, and he should not be mudallis, i.e., one who narrates from one who met (a narrator) but did not hear it from him, or who narrates from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) something that contradicts the narration of authentic scholars from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The same must be true for the narrators who came before him (in the isnaad), who narrated it to him, until the hadeeth ends with an uninterrupted chain all the way back to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) or to the one who narrated it from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). End quote.

If all these conditions are met then a hadeeth is saheeh according to scholarly consensus, as was narrated by Ibn al-Salaah (may Allah have mercy on him).

See: al-Muqaddimah fi "Uloom il-Hadeeth (8) and al-Dhahabi in al-Mooqidah, (24).

Some of the scholars did not list all these conditions:

Imam Maalik and Abu Haneefah accepted mursal hadeeth, which is compromising the condition of having a continuous isnaad all the way to the source of the hadeeth.

Some scholars accepted mudallas hadeeth even if the narrators did not state that they heard it.

Al-Dhahabi said in al-Mooqidah (24): The scholars of hadeeth added a condition that the hadeeth should be free from any oddness or fault. This is subject to further discussion according to the principles of the fuqaha', because many of what may be considered as faults are not accepted as such by them.

See: Tadreeb al-Raawi (1/68-75, 155).

What is meant is that the scholars' differences with regard to classing ahaadeeth as saheeh are due to two reasons:

1. Their differences regarding some of the conditions of soundness. That is because those who compromised on some of these conditions were bound to class as saheeh reports that others did not class as saheeh.
2. Their differences in applying these conditions to a specific hadeeth. They may differ as to the good character of some narrators or whether the isnaad is uninterrupted and so on.

It should be noted that these conditions are based on evidence from sharee'ah and evidence based on reason. These conditions are not just a ritualistic procedure, rather they are rational and serve a clear purpose. They are no less than the result of the efforts of thousands of scholars and the result of the tremendous efforts of the earlier scholars of hadeeth during the long years when the books of hadeeth were being compiled in the first three centuries and those who came after them.

Anyone who wishes to know more may read the book by al-Khateeb al-Baghdaadi entitled al-Kifaayah fi 'Ilm al-Riwaayah

And Allah knows best.

Source: Islam Question and Answer - Conditions of a saheeh (sound) hadeeth

[optimist]

Originally Posted by salman

From this definition we may sum up the conditions of a saheeh hadeeth as follows:

1. Good character of all its narrators
2. Good memory and precision on the part of narrators with regard to what they are narrating.
3. Continuous isnaad from beginning to end, meaning that each narrator heard the hadeeth from the one before him.
4. The hadeeth is free from any oddness in its isnaad or text. What is meant by "odd" is anything in which the narrator narrates something that contradicts the narration of a sounder narrator.
5. The hadeeth is free from faults in its isnaad and text. A "fault" is a subtle problem that undermines the soundness of the hadeeth, which can be detected only by the well versed scholars of hadeeth.

Salam,

Isn't there a glaring ommission? There is no mention of rejection of a hadith based on contradiction with Quran!!

wassalam

[salman]

^wa'alayka as-salam brother

a sahih hadith is never against the Qur'an - the apparent contradictions that may appear to people is only due to lack of their knowledge. A hadith which is against the Qur'an will never be sahih to begin with.

[optimist]

Originally Posted by salman

^wa'alayka as-salam brother

a sahih hadith is never against the Qur'an - the apparent contradictions that may appear to people is only due to lack of their knowledge. A hadith which is against the Qur'an will never be sahih to begin with.

I agree with you a hadith which is against Quran can not be authentic. While collecting hadiths, contradictions against Quran was not used as a criteria to reject hadiths. I can point out some of 'sahih hadiths' that contradict Quran if you do not label me as a rejector of all hadiths.

[salman]

^where did you get the idea that when ahadith were collected this criteria was not used? You do not realize the magnitude of your statement brother! Do you have mastery at the science of abrogation? Let us have a look at these sahih ahadith which contradict the Qur'an.

[optimist]

Originally Posted by salman

^where did you get the idea that when ahadith were collected this criteria was not used? You do not realize the magnitude of your statement brother! Do you have mastery at the science of abrogation? Let us have a look at these sahih ahadith which contradict the Qur'an.

Salam,

The five conditions used by the hadith compilers for for the acceptance of a Hadith were the followings;

1. Continuity of the chain (Isnad) of transmitters: The chain of transmitters had to be unbroken in order for a Hadith to be acceptable.
2. The integrity of the transmitters: The integrity of transmitters was established in terms of their outward observance of Islam.
3. Soundness of memory of the transmitters: It had to be verified through the biographical sciences of Hadith that each transmitter had a sound memory.
4. Conformity of the Hadith with other Hadith: It was important that the Hadith conform to similar Hadiths on the same topic.
5. The absence of defects in the Hadith: A defect is defined as a hidden defect in the Hadith that can only be detected after thorough investigation.

Here is some sample hadiths collected by Bukhari that contradict Quran;


No.1

Quran says; "Establish worship at the two ends of the day and in some watches of the night. Lo! Good deeds annul ill deeds. This is a reminder for the mindful." (11:114)

And now see the explanation recorded by Imam Bukhari:

Bukhari (ref: 6.209), narrated Ibn Masud: A man kissed a woman and then came to Allah's Messenger and told him that. So this Divine Inspiration was revealed to the Prophet: (11:114) “Establish worship at the two ends of the day and in some watches of the night. Lo! Good deeds annul ill deeds. This is a reminder for the mindful”. The man said, "Is this information for me only?" The Prophet said, "It is for all those of my followers who encounter a similar situation."

No.2

Quran says in chapter 33, Surah Al Ahzab, Verse 69;

“O, you who believe! Be you not like those who annoyed Moses, But Allah proved his innocence of that which they alleged, And he was honourable In Allah's Sight."

We may well ask how the people of Israel annoyed Moses, for which we will find clear answer in the Quran itself.

After Moses delivered the people of Israel from the Pharaoh, they said to him: “They said: “We have had (nothing but) trouble both before and after you came to us.” - (7:129)

When Allah gave them heavenly food they said: “Oh Moses! We can not endure one kind of food (always)”. - (2:61)

When passing through a valley, these people saw some people worshiping idols. Knowing fully well that Moses was dedicated to the worship of Allah alone they asked him: “They said: "O Moses! Fashion for us a god like unto the gods they have." He said: "surely ye are a people without knowledge” - (7:138)

Moses had shown them so many sings of Allah, but they said to him: “Oh Moses! We will not believe in you until we see Allah manifestly”. - (2: 55)

When Moses called them for war, they said: “…Go thou and thy Lord and fight ye two while we sit here (and watch)." - (5:24)

It was because of this behaviour of his people that Moses was annoyed: Look at this verse:

“And when Moses said to his people: O my people! Why do you annoy me? And you know indeed that I am Allah’s Messenger to you”. - (61:5)

By reading various verses in the Quran we get beautiful commentary for this verse. Now let us read the commentary given by Bukhari for the same verse 33:69;

Bukhari Volume 4, Hadith 616: “Allah's Apostle said, "(The Prophet) Moses was a shy person and used to cover his body completely because of his extensive shyness. One of the children of Israel hurt him by saying, 'He covers his body in this way only because of some defect in his skin, either leprosy or scrotal hernia, or he has some other defect.' Allah wished to clear Moses of what they said about him, so one day while Moses was in seclusion, he took off his clothes and put them on a stone and started taking a bath. When he had finished the bath, he moved towards his clothes so as to take them, but the stone took his clothes and fled; Moses picked up his stick and ran after the stone saying, 'O stone! Give me my garment!' Till he reached a group of Bani Israel who saw him naked then, and found him the best of what Allah had created, and Allah cleared him of what they had accused him of. The stone stopped there and Moses took and put his garment on and started hitting the stone with his stick. By Allah, the stone still has some traces of the hitting, three, four or five marks. This was what Allah refers to in His Saying: "O you who believe! Be you not like those who annoyed Moses, But Allah proved his innocence of that which they alleged, and he was honorable In Allah's Sight." - (33.69)

No.3

Bukhari (ref: 4.421), narrated Abu Dhar:

The Prophet asked me at sunset, "Do you know where the sun goes (at the time of sunset)?" I replied, "Allah and His Apostle know better." He said, "It goes (i.e. travels) till it prostrates itself underneath the Throne, and takes the permission to rise again, and it is permitted and then (a time will come when) it will be about to prostrate itself but its prostration will not be accepted, and it will ask permission to go on its course, but it will not be permitted, but it will be ordered to return whence it has come and so it will rise in the west. And that is the interpretation of the statement of Allah." Surah 36: Verse 38 reads “And the sun runs its fixed course for a term (decreed). That is the Decree of (Allah) the Exalted in Might, the All-Knowing.”

This kind of interpretation will be very strange for a person endowed with even a rudimentary knowledge of the movements of the sun and earth.

No.4

Bukhari (Ref: 7.658, 8.400, 4.400) Narrated by Aisha: Allah's Apostle was affected by magic, so much that he used to think that he had done something which in fact, he did not do, and he invoked his Lord (for a remedy).[...].

It is impossible to imagine a situation where the prophet was bewitched by someone as narrated in this Hadith. It goes completely against the Quran, which counters in many places the claim of the unbelievers that the prophet was bewitched.

Wassalam

[salman]

^what is this? I thought these were suppose to be contradictions.

can some other member respond to this brother because I do not think that I will be able to maintain good adab? Jazak Allah khayar

PS: did anyone notice that all of these come from modernist camp

[al-boriqee]

yes, inshallah I will respond to this as there seems to be a misunderstanding with some people here and there.

however, in order to be fair and simple since Im not able to bring forth a more researched material to this thread, i will just say that

The qur'an, in may of its narratives, are mostly generalities. The hadeth material brings forth specified aspects to these narratives for more "vivid" realities that the Qur'an remained silent about.This fact is inherent in every field of Qur'anic knowledge like heaven and hell, history, incidents, arguments, etc.

akhee optimist, the reason for shaykh Muhammad salman's affirmation of his lack of adaab oif he continues is mainly from two angles
1. his gheera for the sunnah, which is understandable because these arguments brought from you are reflective of a road or madhaab that leads to kufr, and is a road threaded upon by modernist, secular "muslims" and progressives (read regressives)
2. the intellectual defunctness into intertwining that these hadeeth contradict Qur'an (which is a miracle considering that no one with a sound mind who reviews these hadeeth sees them as a contradiction including the scientists and learned ones in modern times)

I can give you a break down of these issues to show you that it is a defunct aspect of people's understanding rather than the actual text clashing with the Qur'an.

for instance. I small example. the Qur'an says that all the animals sing the praise of their lord. according to the criterion that you brought, which was "according to what we know now of modern science" there is nothing mechanically, physically, or neurologically understood that animals praise and worship Allah. Now, do we deny that they do. NO. The reality is that these animals do worship and sing praise to Allah but we have no instrument or any capability to determine the manner of their worship and praising Allah. LIKEWISE we have no capability to understand how the sun prostrates under the Throne.

I will link you to a lecture that is the root cause and explains the fundamental problems with relying 1000 percent on pure human reasoning to understand matters of our religion that fall outside of the arena of human reasoning (meaning not everything can be envisioned by our intellect)
Addressing Modern Contentions

I suggest you listen to all three lectures, it is crucial for you for your future life and aakhira

however, the main one that discusses and breaks down your assumptions are in the second video entitles the role of reason and intellect in Islam and Im sure you will enjoy its jewels

anyways, the same can be said for the other aspects especiall regarding narratives. Just because something is not in the Qur'an does not make it an ipso facto a forgery of history. If you review the text by al-Bukharee carefully, it brings forth specifics, the intricacies of the same event with more vividness than the Qur'anic narrative, and the dictation of such additional information does not constitute that it is a false narration simply because it does not seem to correspond with the qur'an or that the qur'an has not narrated it.

as for the science of hadeeth aspect, when i get a chance, i'll highlight some other aspects, but from what i know up the top of my head now, the issue of using the principle of "discarding a hadeeth if it contradicts the qur'an" can only have two aspects two it.

1. it is so obvious, that the hadeeth would not even be reviewed with thoroughness which is what Salman was talking about

OR

2. it seems to contradict the qur'an but is merely specifies certain information

and this is the blunder of many who are ignorant of the Qur'an and hadeeth which is why Muhmmad Salman reacted in the way he did.

realistically, is something went against the qur'an, there would be no difference in discarding it.

however, if soemthing was not so obviously contradictory, thee is a whole range of aspects that needs to be inquired about
1. the knowledge concerning specifics and general
2. is there directly opposing forces or does it merely seem as it does. That is the reality of many of the people's misunderstanding which is that they do not know or fully grasp the reality of contradiction. A completely and full contradiction means there is a blatant clash with nothing that explains the clash and contextualizes this clash. That is why the people of Knowledge, insight, and wisdom were weary of discarding a hadeeth, because in reality, what someone is doing when they make a judgment on a hadeeth being fabricated or weak due to being in contradiction to the qur'an, is that this narration is unislamic.

secondly, there is another shariah principle that is applied to all of the islamic sciences. it is based on a hadeeth. it is

"whatever is established through certainty can only be removed through certainty"

these hadeeth were established through certainty and there was nothing that came our way of additional information that necessitated that these hadeeth be "deactivated" and weakened. Even with the entrance to the modern era, there is not a single learned scholar of hadeeth from any sect on earth who after being acquainted of the modern era somehow felt that the hadeeth of the sun prostrating needed to be revised and given a new ruling simply because our knowledge of modern science regarding the sun along with that hadedth does not academically give or breed a "contradiction". rather it is merely a perceived contradiction (which falls into category b that i listed above)

In other words, a real bonifide contradiction is like
Quran says "water is wet/ hadeeth says "water is dry"

however, the issue with the sun is

Qur'an say "its runs a fixed course until a term appointed/Hadeeth says "its runds its course and prostrates under the Throne"

that, to anyone with a spec of insight will tell anyone that that is not a contradiction, rather the hadeeth is specified.

secondlym that hadeeth corresponds to the other many hadeeth about the last major sign before the day of judgment is that the sun will rise up in the west.

So Allah is allowing for the sun to continue its course up until the day Allah will send it back to where it came from. so then it will rise in the west rather than its normal course.

Now, our modern science cannot explain how this can happen, so do we deny it will happen. NO. Allah is truthful, His messenger is truthful (both of them absolutely) and those who conveyed it are truthful (those who we accept as saheeh)

[optimist]

Originally Posted by salman

^what is this? I thought these were suppose to be contradictions.

can some other member respond to this brother because I do not think that I will be able to maintain good adab? Jazak Allah khayar

PS: did anyone notice that all of these come from modernist camp

salam,

If I am causing any problems here you may even block me for any further postings. You referred to 'modernist camp'. I am only a muslim and I only fear Allah and I will never ever associate with any camp.

"No human being, even if Allah blessed him with the code of law, administrative powers, and the office of prophethood, has the right to command the people to follow him and not to follow Allah. He can only tell them to follow the Book which they can read, reflect upon and to become the party of Allah." (3:79)

wassalam

[optimist]

Originally Posted by al-boriqee

akhee optimist, the reason for shaykh Muhammad salman's affirmation of his lack of adaab oif he continues is mainly from two angles
1. his gheera for the sunnah, which is understandable because these arguments brought from you are reflective of a road or madhaab that leads to kufr, and is a road threaded upon by modernist, secular "muslims" and progressives (read regressives)
2. the intellectual defunctness into intertwining that these hadeeth contradict Qur'an (which is a miracle considering that no one with a sound mind who reviews these hadeeth sees them as a contradiction including the scientists and learned ones in modern times)

I can give you a break down of these issues to show you that it is a defunct aspect of people's understanding rather than the actual text clashing with the Qur'an.

Salam,

Thank you brother for your post. I listened to the second video and Insha Allah I will listen to the other videos when I get sufficient time. I appreciate brother yasir Qadhi's presentation, though I am not convinced of his statement regarding infallibility of each and every recorded hadiths, Because we all know Bukhari collected only around 7000 Hadiths out of some 600,000 hadiths that he came across. It means he rejected 98% of the hadiths that he came across as not authentic. When Bukhari started collecting the hadiths, the vast majority of hadiths (98 %!!) in circulation were not authentic. Bukhari classified around 7000 hadiths as reliable reports based on the criteria he used for acceptance of a hadith and do not forget he is undertaking this laborious effort more than 200 years after the death of the prophet in a land that had neither paper nor the abundance of scribes to write anything down. His dependence was mainly on hearsay evidence alone. It is like we try to verify the truthfulness of the sayings of a person lived during the year 1750-1800. Isn’t there a chance that may be out of this 7000 collected as true by Bukhari 50 to 100 hadiths, or a few hundred hadiths are also likely to be not true (similar like 98% of the hadiths rejected by Bukhari)? How can we say that each and every hadith collected by Bukhari infallible?

I will quote for you another authentic hadith, this is collected by Muslim which goes completely against Quran;

Muslim (576), Narrated by Abu Huraira: the Prophet said: “Woman has been created from a rib, and will in no way be straightened for you. Had it not been for the children of Israel, food would not have gone stale or bad; and had it not been for Eve, a woman would never have been unfaithful to her husband”.

The Quran is very specific in numerous verses (no need to even quote any verse, because even a child in Islam knows) that no soul will bear the burden of another. It is one of the most important principles repeatedly mentioned in the Quran;

“No soul will earn any wrong except against itself. No one shall bear the burden of another.”

And further more, the Quran says both Adam and his wife learned words of forgiveness from Allah and Allah has forgiven them. And the issue is finished. And to hold Eve responsible for all the women in the world for being “unfaithful to their husband”, I do not know why Muslim thought it is a genuine hadith (report). He ought to have rejected this report (It looks like the concept of original sin in christianity) even without checking any chain of narrators. It is said that Muslim only accepted around 4000 Hadiths out of some 300,000 hadiths he came across. He should have included the above hadith in the rejected 97% of the Hadiths.

Brother, you mentioned "a real bonifide contradiction is like Quran says "water is wet/ hadeeth says "water is dry". The above hadith is one which says water is dry when quran says what is wet!

Brother, will you say it as “intellectual defunctness” (I borrow your words) to consider the above hadith as contradicting with Quran. In the presentation brother yasir Qadhi addressed only the issue of “prostration” of sun, and actually it is not where I find the contradiction. However, even when Allah says; “To Allah prostrate all things that are in the skies and on earth,- the sun, the moon, the stars; the hills, the trees.” [Surah Hajj: 18], here the prostration mentioned in the Quran is a continuous one, all of which submit to Allah all the time. The contradiction in not whether sun prostrates or not. The hadith narrates as if the sun travels and goes down in relation to earth which was the common belief of the people during that time. (even in the modern world a person who has no science knowledge might think in this way looking at the sun). The narrative of sun travels and goes down and gets permission again to rise has no relevance considering our present knowledge of science, may be it has relevance for the common people in those times, who had limitted science knowledge. Moreover, in this hadith it is mentioned that this is the interpretation for verse 36:38. Actually the meaning and the interpretation of this verse is clear for us without this hadith and this hadith only creates confusion to its interpretations.

wassalam