Ilm Riwaya or Science of Narration

Abdullah Ibn Mubarak (d. 181 H.) in the book al-Jirah wat Tadeel says “hadith is part of the deen. Thus, when you narrate from someone you should research them thoroughly and examine them strictly” Ibn Abi Hatim also said that “whenever you want to use the narration of anyone you should examine their character, their religious life, prayers and piety.” Ibn Mehdi also said: “the one who reports a hadith without authenticating it does not deserve to hold the position of an Imam.”
The Science of Riwaya or narration focuses on the following.

1.      The narrators must be trustworthy

2.      The chain of narration should be continuous and unbroken from the beginning to end

3.      The complete chain of narrators and the number of narrators in different stages of narration.

4.      The origin of narration

5.      The method of narration

Based on these five principles, the traditionists categorized the ahadith. All ahadith contain the chains of narrators from the Prophet or from a companion or from a follower of the companions down to the last reporter till the end of the third century of the Hijra. The chain of narrators is called Isnad. Isnad are considered an indispensable part of a tradition. Thus, the traditionsts produced volumes of books on the biographies of the narrators and develop the system into a science known as Asma ur Rijal.

Sahih
The highest status in hadith literature belongs to the narration that is described Sahih. This is the hadith whose continuity reaches to the Prophet with a chain of narrators comprise trustworthy and truthful people. Imam Al-Shafi'i  states in his definition of Sahih "Each reporter should be trustworthy in his religion; he should be known to be truthful in his narrating, to understand what he narrates, to know how a different expression can alter the meaning, and report the wording of the hadith verbatim, not only its meaning. This is because if he does not know how a different expression can change the whole meaning, he will not know if he has changed what is lawful into what is prohibited. Hence, if he reports the hadith according to its wording, no change of meaning will be found at all. Moreover, he should be a good memoriser if he happens to report from his memory, or a good preserver of his writings if he happens to report from them. He should agree with the narrations of the huffaz (leading authorities in Hadith), if he reports something which they do also. He should not be a mudallis, who narrates from someone he met something he did not hear, nor should he report from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) contrary to what reliable sources have reported from him. In addition, the one who is above him (in the isnad) should be of the same quality, [and so on,] until the hadith goes back uninterrupted to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) or any authority below him." al-Shafi'i, p. 370f (Ar Risalam, Eng. trans., pp. 239- 240).

Ibn al-Salah, however, defines a sahih hadith more precisely by saying: "A sahih hadith is the one which has a continuous isnad, made up of reporters of trustworthy memory from similar authorities, and which is found to be free from any irregularities (i.e. in the text) or defects (i.e. in the isnad)."

Hasan

Al-Tirmidhi means by hadith hasan: a hadith which is not shadhdh, nor contains a disparaged reporter in its isnad, and which is reported through more than one route of narration.70

Al-Khattabi (d. 388) states a very concise definition, "It is the one where its source is known and its reporters are unambiguous."

Ibn al-Salah classifies hasan into two categories:

1. one with an isnad containing a reporter who is mastur ("screened", i.e. no prominent person reported from him) but is not totally careless in his reporting, provided that a similar text is reported through another isnad as well;

2. one with an isnad containing a reporter who is known to be truthful and reliable, but is a degree less in his preservation/memory of hadith in comparison to the reporters of sahih ahadith.

In both categories, Ibn al-Salah requires that the hadith be free of any shudhudh (irregularities). (al-Nawawi, Muqaddimah, p. 43).

Al-Dhahabi, after giving the various definitions, says, "A hasan hadith is one which excels the da'if but nevertheless does not reach the standard of a sahih hadith." (al-Dhahabi, Al-Muqizah (Maktab al-Matbu'at al- Islamiyyah)

Da'if

A hadith which fails to reach the status of hasan is da'if. Usually, the weakness is one of discontinuity in the isnad, in which case the hadith could be mursal, mu'allaq, mudallas, munqati' or mu'dal, according to the precise nature of the discontinuity, or one of a reporter having a disparaged character, such as due to his telling lies, excessive mistakes, opposition to the narration of more reliable sources, involvement in innovation, or ambiguity surrounding his person.

Maudu'

Al-Dhahabi defines maudu' (fabricated, forged) as the term applied to a hadith, the text of which goes against the established norms of the Prophet's sayings (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), or its reporters include a liar. al-Dhahabi, Al-Muqizah, pp 36)

 The traditionists focused on isnad for obvious reasons. They knew that they were relying primarily on human memory as the Prophet had not left any collection of ahadith approved and verified by him. In developing the biographies of narrators, the traditionists had to rely on what they heard from the one reporting to them. There was no source available to them to determine the character and reliability of the narrators from previous generations whom they had not met. Moreover, the traditionists differed in their evaluation of the character of narrators. 

Al-Mustadrak alaa al-Sahihain is a five volume hadith collection written by Hakim al Nishapuri (d. 405 H.). The author states that Imam Bukhari listed Hadiths taken from 434 people who were not accepted by Muslim in his book "Sahih Muslim" as good trustworthy people. On the other hand Muslim accepted in his book 625 people who narrated Hadiths, who were rejected by Bukhari.”

Obviously, for an average reader, it is almost impossible for to critically examine all the hadith literature and reach to a sound conclusion. He has to rely on the knowledge of an expert on the subject. However, if the experts are themselves not critical thinkers, they would repeat what they have heard from their predecessors. It is, thus, imperative for traditionists to critically examine the ahadith on the basis of the ilm riwaya and darayah continuously. To say that that whatever was collected in the six or seven known authentic books of ahadith is final is against the spirit of the fundamentals of the deen. The collection of ahadith is the outcome of human endeavor, unlike the Quran that has divine origin and that was compiled under the supervision of the one who had received it, i.e. Prophet Muhammad.

The next article will deal with the challenges before Muslims in understanding the hadith literature.