Shia Sunnah Debate: Authentication Of Hadeeths

[Nur]

Mutakallim

 

Kowneyn

 

Viking

 

 

This is a an auxiliary side thread I posted to aid in the authentication process for hadeeths that we will use in the debate. If You have to post a Hadeeth that is said to be from Sunnah source as a proof to your point of view, please do not post without its accompanying classificationa dn Isnaad., such as Reporte by, Class Saxiix, etc.

 

 

As we debate the topic, we will probably disagree fundementally on sources, since the Shia scholars do not accept the Sunnah hadeeths except for those that aid their point of view, and vice versa, and since the background in which a Hadeeth was compiled is more important than the Hadeeth itself, I will post a summary process of the Sunnah Methodology that I compiled a while back for another discussion.

 

Likewsie, I Kindly ask you to post the method of authentication of hadeeths for the Shia scholars so that I also will not post a Shia hadeeth to supportt my claim which is not accepted by the Shia due to its failure in their methodology criteria.

 

 

Bismillah, wa bihi astacin, wa usalli wa usallim calaa Rasulih, wa aalih, wa saxbih wa man ittabacahum bi ixsaan iaa yowmil qiyaamah.

 

 

Summary Of Authentiction Of Hadeeths for Ahlul Sunnah Wal Jamaacah.

 

1. Definition of hadeeth,

 

2. Classifications Of Hadeeths,

 

 

1. Definitions for starters

 

Linguistically, the meaning of (Hadeeth) is from the Arabic word HADATHA, or news, incident, event etc.

 

Hadeeth ( News) linguistically is antonym with (Qadeem) past, old, history. Also, in the Arabic, the young kids are known as (Axdaath) new age ( not to be confused with new age religion).

 

The word Hadeeth in the religious context is reserved to all the news that were reported from the Prophet Mohammed SAWS. So the news needs verification. And the verifications of the story is the science of the Hadeeth. If the same rigorous method of cross verification, contextual, integrity, background, environment, etc verification is applied to Newsweek and Time Magazines, ( The contemporary Hadeeths), for example, they would not stand a chance in publishing a single issue, why you may ask, and the answer to that question leads to the next the following:

 

 

Types of Hadeeths

 

1. Category one : Saheeh (Correct )

 

A Hadeeth of this category enjoys the highest credibility, it is used in the Sharia as an augmentation of the explanation of the Quraan. Denial of a Hadeeth in this category is a grave sin and it can lead to Kufr.

 

This Category has many variations of Correctness, and ahadeeth to be ranked Sahih, or Correct must meet all of the criteria's of correctness, ( Political Correctness, is not considered in Islam ). As an introductory survey, we will mention three of the elements of correctness for an example.

 

1. Correct in terms of the line of narration (ISNAAD)

 

2. Correct in terms of the anthology ( Method of collection) :

 

Similar to police evidence collection methods ( Remember the Simpson Case?)

 

3. Correct in terms of the text itself (MATN).

 

So as you can deduce, a hadeeth can be correct in terms of line of narration and compilation, but still may fail the textual integrity, in this case we call this hadeeth a defective Hadeeth (maa' lool), failing to reach Sahih level, but still may qualify for other category as we will visit.

 

If on the other hand the hadeeth is textually correct, but the line of narration has a gab in the linkage of narrators, we call this hadeeth Broken chain hadeeth ( Munqadie).

 

If the hadeeth is compiled in a way different than the standard methods employed by the scolars ( Jumhur), then, that hadeeth does not enjoy the Saheeh category and we will visit the terminologies in the days to come in ShaAllah.

 

A hadeeth can further be Correct (Saheeh) for its own contents self support, ( This is like a travel document for a refugee, not a passport for a citizen) we call this category ( Saheeh li thaatih).

 

A Hadeeth can further be correct for the support of another Hadeeth only ( Saheeh li gheirih), or the Hadeeth can serve both roles.

 

In another category, the hadeeth can be saheeh on the conditions set by the compilers ( saheeh alaa shardeyhimaa), the compilers are Bukhaari and Muslim.

 

And the last category of this quick survey is the (Correct-but-Odd) category, (saheeh ghareeb), meaning the hadeeth has qualified for the saheeh category but was reported by only one narrator with top credibility clearance.

 

Criteria For the Classification of The Hadeeth

 

 

The following Five Criteria are used to classify a hadeeth to be a Saheeh

 

 

1. Al Sanad ( Chain of narrators ),

 

The chain is continuous, no missing links.

 

2.Adaalah, (Narrators Character, must be flawlessly perfect, in terms of piety, credibility, courage, generosity, wisdom and good judgment)

 

If this stringent condition is applied in politics, no US president or any other world leader today can fulfill such requirement.

 

3. Al Dhabd, ( meaning that the narrator have memorized the hadeeth beyond question, or recorded it in a tablet, and is able to recollect it with consistency whenever requested ).

 

This condition implies that he is mentally sharp, serious in delivering responsibilities. ( President Ronald Reagan would not have made it to the Whitehouse with his famous "I Do Not Recall" )

 

4. Cadam Al Shuduud , ( A Hadeeth must not be an odd hadeeth ) ,

 

Shuduud means that a narrator who is sufficiently credible provides a hadeeth that contradicts another hadeeth narrated by a more credible narrator, in terms of degree of their respective memorization competencies, lingusitic compprehension abilities ( Not failing their SAT) etc. ( This is analogous to two officers with different levels of security clearance presenting testimony to a judge to support a point of view. The testimony of the officer with the higher level of clearance supercedes the testimony of the lower clearance level officer)

 

5. Cadam Al E' laal . ( Free of any defective characteristic that compromises the hadeeth's credibility)

 

For example there is a mismatch in the names of the narrators, like saying, Ronald Kennedy reported this hadeeth from John Reagan), so although this hadeeth may have met other stringent requirements, it clearly has a defect (E'llah) although when closely viewed may not present serious infringement of the rules, if we patiently reconstruct the sequence, like ( Ronald Reagan reported form John Kennedy).

 

 

So Any Hadeeth that passes those criteria with flying colors is called Saheeh in general terms, because, there is more to calling a hadeeth saheeh than this survey of ours can cover.

 

 

Category Two. The Hassan hadeeth

 

 

Hassan Hadeeth is not as flawless as the Correct ( Saheeh) hadeeth we have discussed above, but is nevertheless a reliable hadeeth that passed key Non-Fatal error criteria to qualify for applicability with caution, this is like the yellow light when driving, you have to proceed with caution, relying on Quraan as a check, but still leveraging its value on areas were other more reliable hadeeths are not available. ( This is like physicists relying on a theory until they find a better explanation) This Category though, is much more reliable than the next category of the Daciif, weak hadeeth.

 

Al Tirmidhi , One of the major compilers of the Hadeeths has defined the Hassan Category as follows : Any hadeeth , whose narrators:

 

1. Character is not a Questionable issue , while some of the narrators in the chain may be known to be forgetful in some past narrations , but have never lied knowingly at any point in their lives ever.

 

2. The Stature of this narrator do not rise to the level of the reporters of the Saheeh category in the above five scoring criteria ( Meaning, they have lower level clearance ), yet, the narrators meets some minimum acceptability standard (beyond scope of this brief survey) to be considered a reliable hadeeth.

 

 

Final Category is the (Daeef ) category ( Weak hadeeth)

 

Any hadeeth who fails in the above two categories is Weak, A weak hadeeth is not advised to be followed or applied in any legal issue nor settle an ambiguity in faith matters nor business law dsiputes. Unfortunately, Many of the Hadeeths floating and causing confusion in the Muslim world belong to this last category, which promts the attack on the Sunnah and Hadeeth and. This type of hadeeth, is the kind of evidence a Judge will not hesitate to throw out of his court

 

 

Nur

 

2002 e-Nuri Legacy Traditions

Reliable Hadeeths , flow from Reliable Authentication Process.