Welcome to Kitabi.net - Kitabi is Arabic for Book
An Introduction to the Hadith. What is it?
The Hadith is a set of additional books to the Quran which the large majority of Muslims use to build their beliefs of Islam upon. What we refer to as the Hadith is actually a collection of individual Hadiths[1]. For the Sunni sect of Islam (which makes up about 90% of Muslims) there are six sets of books while the Shia have four books, depending on which branch of the Shia sect they follow. In the articles I write on this subject will be mainly concentrating on the Sunni Hadith collections.
The word Hadith is Arabic for report or account or talk.
The claim is that the Hadith consists of a collection of the sayings and actions of Muhammad that are supposed to reveal further instructions on how a Muslim should live their lives, instructing them what they should do and what they should not do. It can not be overstated how important these Hadiths are to the beliefs and practices of Islam. The Quran claims to be the complete story of what Allah wants to reveal - “We have left nothing out of the Record [Quran], Surah 6:38”, but in reality it is lacking in details that a very religious religion would need to exist. Therefore it can be argued that it was only a matter of time before additional information was added to Islam. The Hadith are reportedly edited together something like two to three hundred years after Muhammad’s death (later for the Shia books). This of course raises questions as to their reliability. To counter this argument they have something known as the chain of narration or Isnad in Arabic.
The chain of narration or chain of transmission (Isnad)
Taking the Hadith that was compiled by Sahih Al Bukhari which is considered (along with the Hadith compiled by Sahih Muslim) the highest esteemed of the Hadiths by Sunnis. As an example; the isnad is a list of transmitters which refers to a list of people who passed on a tradition, from the original authority to whom the tradition is attributed, to the present person reciting or compiling that tradition. The isnād precedes the actual text (matn) and takes the form, “It has been related to me by A on the authority of B on the authority of C on the authority of D (usually a Companion of the Prophet) that Muhammad said or I heard the prophet say.
Forgery was a big problem so certain conditions had to be met before a Hadith could considered reliable. The following prerequisites were essential for trustworthy transmitters: faith, reputation for truthfulness, maturity, being of sound mind, and possessing a good memory. The Hadith that was transmitted had to agree with the Quran, or at least not contradict it, and Hadiths that came through multiple chains were considered more reliable.
The six Hadith of Sunni Islam (or seven)
As mentioned above Sunni Muslims have six Hadith collections but while five are agreed on, the sixth Hadith may vary depending on the Sunni sect.
The undisputed five are:
Sahih Al Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abu Dawood, Jami' al-Tirmidhi, and Al-Sunan al-Sughra
The sixth is Sunan ibn Majah but a sect known as Malilis reject this and instead use Muwatta Imam Malik in preference. Incidentally the Mu’watta of Malik is the earliest. He died about 180 years after the death of Muhammad.
The Shia Hadith collection
For the Twelver branch of the Shias, the Hadith collections are these books: Kitab al-Kafi, Man la yahduruhu al-Faqih, Tahdhib al-Ahkam, and Al-Istibsar.
The Shia branch known as Ismaili use the Da'a'im al-Islam collection.
The Sunnis and the Shias have a low regard for each others Hadiths.
The four grades of Hadith
The Hadiths were split into five levels of reliability. These are: Sahih (sound, authentic) which is the highest category. Hasan (good), which refers to an otherwise Sahih report suffering from minor deficiency, or a weak report strengthened due to numerous other corroborating reports. Da’if (weak), Mawdu (fabricated) and Munkar (denied).
Both Sahih and Hasan reports are considered acceptable for usage in Islamic legal discourse.
A collection of Hadiths could contain individual Hadiths that contain both Sahih and Sa’if within the collection but both Bukhari’s and Muslim’s only contain Sahih Hadiths. If a Hadith was found in both Bukhari and Muslim collections then that is referred to as muttafaqun alayh which means agreed upon.
Notes
[1] The plural of Hadith is Ahadith but we will use the term Hadiths in this page.
I can not leave it like this!
The purpose of this website is not about exposing the lies and deceit of your particular belief and then leave with no hope and nothing to believe in and no purpose in your life. While it may be a good thing to realise it if you have been lied to too or deceived, this does not mean there is no truth out there.
There is truth and something that you can believe in and commit to and it will change your life – not just for now but for all eternity. Now I am not saying all your problems and troubles will disappear while you are alive in this present world but what you can have is a peace that is greater than your worldly problems. I want to be clear on this – for some people, becoming a Christian could make your life a lot harder. But despite all this, you can have a purpose in your life despite what circumstances you find yourself in. You can have a real fellowship with the living God and actually have God himself dwelling inside you by His Holy Spirit. No one ever regrets becoming a Christian. In the end we will spend eternity with Jesus in paradise. As Paul said “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17). If you read the book of Acts and see what Paul went through, it is remarkable that he would describe them as “light and momentary troubles.”
The good news is that free and available to all of mankind. You don’t have to be clever or rich or gifted or be from a certain family or country. Anyone can receive it.
The Bible tells you all you have to do is “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” That is taken from Acts 16:31. One of the most famous verses from the Bible has the same message, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).
There are actually a lot of Bible verses that have the same message about salvation being free and simple but I will quote just one more on this which is Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
It is a very important principle to grasp that we can bring nothing to our salvation. It is a gift from God by His grace and we can not add any of our own works to it.
So what to do now?
Of course you can simply just commit your life to Jesus by asking him to forgive all your sins, and asking Him into your life as your Lord. Making Him your Lord will mean that you allow Him to be the Lord of all your life, which means you seek his will in all you do. On occassions you will fail to obey him, but "If we confess our sins,he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1John1:9)." If you feel you are not ready to take that step but would like to know more, I would recommend getting hold or download the Bible and start reading it. I would suggest starting in the New Testament but all of the Bible is good for you. It would also be helpful for you to find a good church and go along and ask all those questions that you would love to get answers to.
Also you are very welcome to contact me on my email gospeljohn14verse6@gmail.com and I will help in anyway that I can.
God Bless. Kevin.