Hadith

Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval of the Islamic prophet Muhammad as transmitted through chains of narrators. In other words, the ḥadīth are transmitted reports attributed to what Muhammad said and did.

Hadith have been called by some as "the backbone" of Islamic civilization, J.A.C. Brown, ''Misquoting Muhammad'', 2014: p.6 and for many the authority of hadith as a source for religious law and moral guidance ranks second only to that of the Quran (which Muslims hold to be the word of God revealed to Muhammad). Most Muslims believe that scriptural authority for hadith comes from the Quran, which enjoins Muslims to emulate Muhammad and obey his judgements (in verses such as , ).

While the number of verses pertaining to law in the Quran is relatively few, hadith are considered by many to give direction on everything from details of religious obligations (such as or , ablutions An-Nawawi, ''Riyadh As-Salihin'', 1975: p.203 for prayer), to the correct forms of salutations An-Nawawi, ''Riyadh As-Salihin'', 1975: p.168 and the importance of benevolence to slaves. An-Nawawi, ''Riyadh As-Salihin'', 1975: p.229 Thus for many, the "great bulk" of the rules of Sharia (Islamic law) are derived from hadith, rather than the Quran.

is the Arabic word for things like speech, report, account, narrative. Unlike the Quran, not all Muslims believe that hadith accounts (or at least not all hadith accounts) are divine revelation. Different collections of hadīth would come to differentiate the different branches of the Islamic faith. J.A.C. Brown, ''Misquoting Muhammad'', 2014: p.8 Some Muslims believe that Islamic guidance should be based on the Quran only, thus rejecting the authority of hadith; many further claim that most hadiths are fabrications ( pseudepigrapha) created in the 8th and 9th century AD, and which are falsely attributed to Muhammad.Aisha Y. Musa, The Qur’anists, Florida International University, accessed May 22, 2013.Neal Robinson (2013), Islam: A Concise Introduction, Routledge, , Chapter 7, pp. 85-89

Because some hadith include questionable and even contradictory statements, the authentication of hadith became a major field of study in Islam. In its classic form a hadith has two parts—the chain of narrators who have transmitted the report (the ), and the main text of the report (the ). Individual hadith are classified by Muslim clerics and jurists into categories such as ("authentic"), ("good") or ("weak"). However, different groups and different scholars may classify a hadith differently.

Among scholars of Sunni Islam the term hadith may include not only the words, advice, practices, etc. of Muhammad, but also those of his companions. In Shia Islam, hadith are the embodiment of the sunnah, the words and actions of Muhammad and his family, the ( The Twelve Imams and Muhammad's daughter, Fatimah).

Etymology

In Arabic, the noun (  ) means "report", "account", or "narrative". Its Arabic plural is ( ). ''Hadith'' also refers to the speech of a person.

Definition

In Islamic terminology, according to Juan Campo, the term ''hadith'' refers to reports of statements or actions of Muhammad, or of his tacit approval or criticism of something said or done in his presence.

Classical hadith specialist Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani says that the intended meaning of ''hadith'' in religious tradition is something attributed to Muhammad but that is not found in the Quran.

Scholar Patricia Crone includes reports by others than Muhammad in her definition of hadith: "short reports (sometimes just a line or two) recording what an early figure, such as a companion of the prophet or Muhammad himself, said or did on a particular occasion, prefixed by a chain of transmitters". However, she adds that "nowadays, hadith almost always means hadith from Muhammad himself."

Contrastingly, according to the Shia Islam Ahlul Bayt Digital Library Project, "... when there is no clear Qur'anic statement, nor is there a Hadith upon which Muslim schools have agreed. ... Shi'a ... refer to Ahlul-Bayt he family of Muhammadfor deriving the Sunnah of Prophet"—implying that while hadith is limited to the "Traditions" of Muhammad, the Shia Sunna draws on the sayings, etc. of the i.e. the Imams of Shia Islam.

Distinction from

The word is also used in reference to a normative custom of Muhammad or the early Muslim community.

Joseph Schacht describes hadith as providing "the documentation" of the .

Another source (Joseph A. Islam) distinguishes between the two saying:

Whereas the 'Hadith' is an oral communication that is allegedly derived from the Prophet or his teachings, the 'Sunna' (quite literally: mode of life, behaviour or example) signifies the prevailing customs of a particular community or people. ... A 'Sunna' is a practice which has been passed on by a community from generation to generation en masse, whereas the hadith are reports collected by later compilers often centuries removed from the source. ... A practice which is contained within the Hadith may well be regarded as Sunna, but it is not necessary that a Sunna would have a supporting hadith sanctioning it.

Some sources ( Khaled Abou El Fadl) limit hadith to verbal reports, with the deeds of Muhammad and reports about his companions being part of the , but not hadith.

Distinction from other literature

Islamic literary classifications similar to hadith (but not ) are and . They differed from hadith in being organized "relatively chronologically" rather than by subject.
* (literally "way of going" or "conduct"), biographies of Muhammad, written since the middle of the eighth century. Similar writings called (literally "raid") preceded literature, focusing on military actions of Muhammad, but also included non-military aspects of his life. Therefore, there is overlap in meaning of the terms, though suggests military aspects rather than general biographical ones.
Other "traditions" of Islam related to hadith include:
* (literally news, information, pl. ) may be used as a synonym for hadith, but some scholars use it to refer to traditions about Muhammad's companions and their successors from the following generation, in contrast to hadith as defined as traditions about Muhammad himself. Another definition (by Ibn Warraq) describes them as "discrete anecdotes or reports" from early Islam which "include simple statements, utterances of authoritative scholars, saints, or statesmen, reports of events, and stories about historical events all varying in length from one line to several pages." Ibn Warraq, "Studies on Muhammad and the Rise of Islam", 2000: p.66
*Conversely, (trace, vestige) usually refers to traditions about the companions and successors, though sometimes connotes traditions about Muhammad.

Hadith compilation

The hadith literature in use today is based on spoken reports in circulation after the death of Muhammad. Unlike the Quran, hadith were not promptly written down during Muhammad's life or immediately after his death. Hadith were oral to in writing evaluated and gathered into large collections during the 8th and 9th centuries, generations after the death of Muhammad, after the end of the era of the Rashidun Caliphate, over from where Muhammad lived.

"Many thousands of times" more numerous than Quranic verses, J.A.C. Brown, ''Misquoting Muhammad'', 2014: p.94 hadith have been described as resembling layers surrounding the "core" of Islamic beliefs (the Quran). Well-known, widely accepted hadith make up the narrow inner layer, with a hadith becoming less reliable and accepted with each layer stretching outward.

The reports of Muhammad's (and sometimes his companions') behavior collected by hadith compilers include details of ritual religious practice such as the five (obligatory Islamic prayers) that are not found in the Quran, but also everyday behavior such as table manners, An-Nawawi, ''Riyadh As-Salihin'', 1975: chapter 100 dress, An-Nawawi, ''Riyadh As-Salihin'', 1975: chapters 117-122 and posture. An-Nawawi, ''Riyadh As-Salihin'', 1975: chapters 127,128,310 Hadith are also regarded by Muslims as important tools for understanding things mentioned in the Quran but not explained, a source for (commentaries written on the Quran).

Some important elements, which are today taken to be a long-held part of Islamic practice and belief are not mentioned in the Quran, but are reported in hadiths. Therefore, Muslims usually maintain that hadiths are a necessary requirement for the true and proper practice of Islam, as it gives Muslims the nuanced details of Islamic practice and belief in areas where the Quran is silent. An example are the obligatory prayers, which are commanded in the Quran, but explained in hadith.

Details of prescribed movements and words of the prayer (known as ) and how many times they are to be performed, are found in hadith. However, hadiths differ on these details and consequently is performed differently by different hadithist Islamic sects. Quranists, on the contrary, hold that if the Quran is silent on some matter, it is because God did not hold its detail to be of consequence; and that some hadith contradict the Quran, evidence that some hadith are a source of corruption and not a complement to the Quran.

Non-prophetic hadith

Joseph Schacht quotes a hadith by Muhammad that is used "to justify reference" in Islamic law to the companions of Muhammad as religious authorities—"My companions are like lodestars."

According to Schacht, (and other scholars) Brown, ''Rethinking tradition in modern Islamic thought'', 1996: p.7 in the very first generations after the death of Muhammad, use of hadith from ("companions" of Muhammad) and ("successors" of the companions) "was the rule", while use of hadith of Muhammad himself by Muslims was "the exception". Schacht credits Al-Shafi'i—founder of the Shafi'i school of (or )—with establishing the principle of the use of the hadith of Muhammad for Islamic law, and emphasizing the inferiority of hadith of anyone else, saying hadiths:

"...from other persons are of no account in the face of a tradition from the Prophet, whether they confirm or contradict it; if the other persons had been aware of the tradition from the Prophet, they would have followed it".

This led to "the almost complete neglect" of traditions from Companions and others.

Collections of hadith sometimes mix those of Muhammad with the reports of others. Muwatta Imam Malik is usually described as "the earliest written collection of hadith" but sayings of Muhammad are "blended with the sayings of the companions", (822 hadith from Muhammad and 898 from others, according to the count of one edition).
In ''Introduction to Hadith'' by Abd al-Hadi al-Fadli, is referred to as "the first hadith book of the (family of Muhammad) to be written on the authority of the Prophet". However, the acts, statements or approval of prophet Muhammad are called , while those of companions are called , and those of Tabi'un are called .

Components, schools, types (Hadith qudsi)

Impact

The hadith had a profound and controversial influence on '' tafsir'' (commentaries of the Quran). The earliest commentary of the Quran known as Tafsir Ibn Abbas is sometimes attributed to the companion Ibn Ab