Ḥadīth Terminology Summary

A ḥadīth is of four types:

1. Mutawātir
2. Mashhūr
3. ʿAzīz
4. Gharīb

Conditions for mutawātir:

1. There are several chains of narration.
2. It is narrated by so many people that it cannot be a lie.
3. There is a large number of narrators in every generation.
4. The last rāwī must clearly state that he personally heard or saw something directly from his teacher.
5. The listener must gain the benefit of ʿilm al-yaqīn.

Mashhūr: the aḥnāf consider mashhūr as any narration which started as a khabr wāḥid and then became mutawātir by the third generation, i.e. there are more than two narrators in every generation but it does not meet the conditions of being mutawātir. According to Imām al-Shāfiʿī it has three or more chains of narration in a given generation.

Mustafīḍ: a type of mashhūr where there is the same number of narrators in each generation.

ʿAzīz: at any stage in the isnād there are a minimum of two narrators found to report the ḥadīth.

Gharīb: at any stage in the isnād there is only one narrator found to report the ḥadīth. This is also of two types:

1. Fard muṭlaq: Gharābah in the origin of the sanad, i.e. only one tābiʿī narrates.
2. Fard nisbī: Gharābah lower down the sanad towards the end of the chain.

That which does not fulfil the conditions of mutawātir, i.e. mashhūr, ʿazīz, and gharīb, is also known as aḥād or khabr al-wāḥid. This is the definition according to the shawāfiʿ. Khabr wāḥid, according to the aḥnāf, is a ḥadīth which is either ʿazīz or gharīb.

These khabr wāḥid are either:

1. Maqbūl: accepted, i.e. has been narrated by truthful or acceptable narrators.
2. Mardūd: rejected, i.e. has not been narrated by truthful or acceptable narrators.

A maqbūl āḥād is of four types:

1. Ṣaḥīḥ li-dhātihi: all narrators are ʿādil, with kāmil ḍabṭ (precise in accuracy of relating ḥadīth), sanad muttaṣil (connected chain of narrators), and no ʿillah or shādhdh.
2. Ṣaḥīḥ li-ghayrihi: a combination of many narrations which are ḥasan li-dhātihi raises it to this level.
3. Ḥasan li-dhātihi: it fulfils the same conditions as ṣaḥīḥ li-dhātihi except that the ḍabṭ (memory) is weak.
4. Ḥasan li-ghayrihi: a ḍaʿīf ḥadīth where the conditions of ṣaḥīḥ li-dhātihi or ḥasan li-dhātihi are not found due to a deficiency in the rāwī or sanad; however, due to external factors (e.g. multiple asānīd) it is raised to the level of ḥasan.

A ḥadīth is ḍaʿīf if it does not meet the conditions of ṣaḥīḥ or ḥasan.

To determine whether a ḥadīth is maqbūl (ṣaḥīḥ and in some cases ḥasan) we look at five things:

1. ʿAdālah: the piety of the narrators.
2. Ḍabṭ: the competence of the narrator in terms of memory and precision in narrating.
3. Whether the sanad is connected.
4. Whether the narration is rare, i.e. does it contradict the Qurʾān or superior aḥādīth.
5. ʿIllah: whether the narration has a hidden defect which goes against our uṣūl or established rule of sharīʿah.

Ziyādah (addition) in narration:

1. Maqbūl: the ziyādah of a thiqah rāwī which is not opposed to the riwāyah of an awthaq (stronger) rāwī.
2. Shādhdh: a thiqah rāwī contradicts one stronger than him.
3. Maḥfūẓ: the opposite of shādhdh, where an awthaq rāwī contradicts a relatively weaker yet also thiqah rāwī.
4. Maʿrūf: the ziyādah of a thiqah rāwī goes against a ḍaʿīf rāwī.
5. Munkar: the opposite of maʿrūf, where the ziyādah of a ḍaʿīf narrator is contrary to a thiqah rāwī.

Mardūd: there are two reasons for rejecting a ḥadīth:

1. Saqṭ: omitting narrators, which is further divided:

   1. Wāḍiḥ: apparent.
   2. Khafī: hidden.

2. Ṭaʿn: weakness in narrators.

Saqṭ wāḍiḥ is the clear dropping of narrators when mentioning the isnād. This is of four types:

1. Muʿallaq: the narrator is dropped at the beginning of the chain, e.g. mentioning that the Prophet ﷺ said …
2. Mursal: the narrator is dropped at the end of the sanad after a tābiʿī, i.e. a tābiʿī says the Prophet ﷺ said … (This is considered maqbūl according to the aḥnāf.)
3. Muḍal: if two or more narrators are omitted consecutively anywhere in the chain, usually the middle.
4. Munqaṭiʿ: there is a break in the chain with a narrator missing, i.e. one rāwī is omitted from the middle, or more than one rāwī is omitted but not consecutively.

Ṭaʿn: criticism of a rāwī can be split into two parts, their ʿadālah (piety) and their ḍabṭ (precision in narrating).

ʿAdālah (righteousness). This has been sorted in order from worst to least worse:

1. Kidhb: a lie against the Prophet ﷺ, something made up. This will be classed as mawḍūʿ.
2. Tuhmat al-kidhb: a rāwī is accused of lying, or of narrating something which is highly unlikely or contradicts the religion. This will be classed as matrūk.
3. Fisq: the rāwī is an open sinner. This will be classed as munkar.
4. Jahālah: we do not know much about this person. Narrations from this rāwī will be classed as munkar.
5. Bidʿah: a rāwī who believes something is part of dīn when it is not established in the first three generations. Narrations from this type of rāwī will be classed as munkar.

Ḍabṭ is the competence of the rāwī in relating ḥadīth. The worst type, in descending order, is as follows:

1. Fuḥsh al-ghalaṭ: the rāwī is highly incompetent. Narrations from this type of rāwī will be classed as munkar.
2. Kathrat al-ghaflah: the rāwī is heedless and careless. Narrations from this type of rāwī will also be classed as munkar.
3. Wahm: the rāwī narrates aḥādīth with hidden defects which arouse suspicion, i.e. there is an ʿillah in the ḥadīth. Narrations from this type of rāwī will be classed as muʿallal (defective).
4. Mukhtalaf al-thiqāt: someone awthaq narrates a contradicting ḥadīth.
5. Sūʾ al-ḥifẓ: the rāwī has poor memory.

How do you know if a rāwī is a liar?

1. They say they lied.
2. Someone denounces them and says that they did not narrate to them.
3. Something impossible is narrated, e.g. narrated from a certain person when that person was either not alive at that time or a single meeting cannot be proven.
4. Narrates something against the Qurʾān and Sunnah, e.g. ʿAlī (raḍ. ʿanhu) will be a prophet.

There are a number of descriptions which can be used for aḥādīth, some of which are mentioned below:

1. Muḍṭarib: there is ikhtilāf as to whether the sanad is connected to the matn, or swapping people in the sanad or matn.
2. Maqlūb: the order of the sanad or matn has been mixed.
3. Mudraj: a rāwī has inserted words into the ḥadīth.
4. Mudraj al-sanad: combining two sanad together.
5. Muṣaḥḥaf: changing a word in a ḥadīth to something which has not been reported, i.e. when hearing or reading the ḥadīth wrong, e.g. when the appearance of the word is the same in Arabic when written without any ḥarakāt.
6. Muḥarraf: change of letters.

The chain of narration sometimes stops towards the end of the chain.

• Marfūʿ: that which is attributed to the Prophet ﷺ.
• Mawqūf: the chain of narration which stops at the ṣaḥābah.
• Maqṭūʿ: the chain of narration which stops at the tābiʿī.

Words used

1. حدثني / حدثنا
2. اخبرني / اخبرنا
3. سمعت / سمعنا
4. قرأت عليه
5. أنبأني / أنبأنا
6. قرى عليه وانا اسمع
7. عن
8. كتب اليّ
9. ناولني
10. شافهني

Other terminologies

• Kibār ṣaḥābah: elderly, around 30–40 AH, e.g. the four caliphs.
• Awsaṭ ṣaḥābah: middle, around 70–80 AH.
• Ṣighār ṣaḥābah: younger, roughly died around 90–101 AH.
• Mukhaḍramīn: lived in the time of the Prophet ﷺ but did not meet him, e.g. Uways al-Qaranī.
• Kibār tābiʿīn: elderly tābiʿīn.
• Awsaṭ tābiʿīn: middle, probably children of kibār tābiʿīn, would have met ṣighār ṣaḥābah.
• Ṣighār tābiʿīn: met the ṣaḥābah but did not relate anything from them, e.g. Abū Ḥanīfah.
• Tabaʿ tābiʿīn: those who met the tābiʿīn; they may have been around at the time of the ṣaḥābah but did not meet them, e.g. Ibn Jurayj.
• Kibār tabaʿ tābiʿīn: around 90–130 AH, e.g. Imām Mālik ibn Anas, Sufyān al-Thawrī.
• Awsaṭ tabaʿ tābiʿīn.
• Ṣighār tabaʿ tābiʿīn: around 170–180 AH, e.g. Imām al-Shāfiʿī.
• Kibār tabaʿ tabaʿ tābiʿīn: e.g. Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.
• Awsaṭ tabaʿ tabaʿ tābiʿīn: e.g. Imām al-Bukhārī.
• Ṣighār tabaʿ tabaʿ tābiʿīn: e.g. Imām al-Tirmidhī.