Fundamental of Hadith Interpretation (An English Translation of Mabadi Tadabbur-i Hadith)

128 Pages·2.234 MB·English

by  Amin Ahsan Islahi, trans. Tariq Mahmood Hashmi

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Fundamentals of Ḥadīth Interpretation

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An English Translation of
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Mabādī Tadabbur-e Ḥadīth of
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wAmeīn Aḥsan Iṣlāḥī
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T a riq TMraanhsmlaowteoddr ibHdya. sohramgmi idi.com

AL-MAWRID

51-K Model Town, Lahore

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Contents

Translator’s Introduction 1

Preface 10

Chapter 1: Difference between Ḥadīth and Sunnah 14

1.1 Ḥadīth 14
1.2 Types of Khabar 15

1.2.1 Khabar-i Mutawātir 15

1.2.2 Khabar-i Wāḥid 16

1.3w Categories of Aḥādīth according to Authenticity 16

w1.3.1 Genuine and Acceptable Aḥādīth 16

1.w3.2. jFabricated and Unacceptable A ḥādīth 17
1.3.3 aIndeterminable Aḥādīth 17

1.4 The Sunvnah 18
1.5 Imwportancee odf the Sunnah 19
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1.6 Mutual Harmoany of the Qu r’ān and the Sunnah 20
1.7 Naturew an.d Scophe of the Sunnah 20
1.8 The Sunnaah li-s not mbasaed on Aḥādīth 20
1.9 A Question t o mthe Munkdirīn-i Sunnah 22
1.10 Different Paradaigmatic gPractices of a Single
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Religio u s Issue 23w ri a
Chapter 2: I 22n ..t12e r reMGo lfa e uAnt ḥiḥeo asānmids o īmtofh fat h dt h e 2(e sQ7 wE uxsr)tr’ aāemsn Titshet eadP cSo.husoeinrtri nooganmfh st haoiednn SdiAh .tcuahtreohī ‘oḤmarhiat ad t īi tv2he6 n e2s5s
2.3 Aḥādīth and the Sunnah cannot abrogate the Qur’ān 28

2.4 Can a Sunnah or a Ḥadīth specify a General

Command of the Book? 30

Chapter 3: Fundamental Principles of Understanding Aḥādīth 35

3.1 The Qur’ān is the Measure of Truth 35

3.2 Collating the Narratives on a Single Topic 37

3.3 Language of Aḥādīth 37

3.4 Specification and Generalization, Situation and

Context, and the Nature of Address 38

3.5 Mutual Harmony of Religion, Fiṭrah and Reason 42

3.6 Conclusion 42

Chapter 4: Basic Criteria to Sift the Sound from the Unsound Aḥādīth 44

4.1 Religious Taste of the Believers and those Grounded

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Fundamentals of Ḥadīth Interpretation ii

in Knowledge 44

4.2 The Ma‘rūf 49

4.3 The Qur’ān 51

4.4 The Known Sunnah 52

4.5 Reason and Commonsense 54

4.6 Definitive Evidence 55

4.7 Conclusion 56

Chapter 5: Companions of the Prophet (sws) 57
5.1 Testimony of the Qur’ān 57

5.2 Testimony of Aḥādīth 57

5.3 Muḥaddithūn’s Viewpoint 58

w5.3.1 The First Group 59

w5.3.2 The Second Group 59

5.w3.3. jThe Third Group 59
5.4 Ṣaḥābiyyah according to the Qur’ān 60
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5.5 Conclusivon 63
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Chapter 6: Excellence of the Isnaād and its In herent Limitations 65
6.1 The Isnwād. and Ahsmā’ al-Rijāl 66
6.2 The Isnād:a oln-e of mthea Criteria 68
6.3 First Limitat iomn of the Idsnād 68
6.4 Second Lim itationa of the gIsnād 69
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6.5 Third Li mitation of wther iIsnāda 70
Chapter 7 : R66 7 ...i671w ā yFSC auo ohumn rbdm tiih taai Lorl-yniMm a l ai tA7‘a3nltli āoo:wn T aornfa ctneh seomd fI sRi.nsoisāwirdoāg ny m a b7hy2i db Mi ia.elca-Moniamn‘gn ā 7 47 6
7.2 Vulnerability of Riwāyah bi al-Ma‘nā 78

7.3 Pursuing Verbatim Narration 81

7.4 Conclusion 81

Chapter 8: Authoritativeness of Akhbār-i Āḥād 83

8.1 Definition 83

8.2 Mālikī View 83

8.3 Ḥanafī View 85

8.4 Shāfi‘ī View 87

8.5 The Principle View 90

8.6 Conclusion 91

Chapter 9: Causes of Ḥadīth Fabrication 92

9.1 Why were Aḥādīth Fabricated? 92

9.2 Pious Fabrications 92

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Fundamentals of Ḥadīth Interpretation iii

9.2.1 First Form 93

9.2.2 Second Form 94

9.3 Pious Reformers 96

9.4 Ḥadīth Fabrication for Evil Purposes 98

9.4.1 Fabrication for Fame 98

9.4.2 Fabrication for Innovations 99

9.5 The Muḥaddithūn on the Innovators 101

9.6 Conclusion 104

Chapter 10: Primary Sources of Ḥadīth Study 105

10.1 Natural Approach of Ḥadīth Study 106

10.2 The Primary Sources 107

10w.3 Distinguishing Qualities of Muwaṭṭā 109

10.4 wThe Status of the Two Ṣaḥīḥs 112

10.5 Dwis.tijnctive Qualities of Ṣaḥīḥ of Buk hārī 113
10.6 Distinctive Qualities of Ṣaḥīḥ of Muslim 115
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10.7 Concluvsion 116
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Translator’s Introduction

The present work by Imām Amīn Aḥsan Iṣlāḥī, a renowned

Pakistani scholar, the author of a nine volume commentary on

the Holy Qur’ān entitled Tadabbur-i Qur’ān, besides more than

a dozen other books on various important Islamic disciplines,

addresses some fundamental questions about the prophetic

traditions, generally believed to be the second source of religious

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knowledge in Iswlam besides the Qur’ān. The author ha s taken up
the fundamental qwuestions about the prophetic ḥadīth including
the authenticity of .tjhe traditions, the differenc e between the
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Sunnah and the Ḥadīthv, role of isnād, its importance and its
inherent limitationws, and seome basic questions about the process
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of riwāyah (transmission) anda dirāyah (t extual) investigation. He
sets forth principles ofw u.ndersthanding the aḥadīth as well as the
methodology of sifting thae ls-oundm fraom the unsound reports. It is

not, by form and content, amn introdduction to the Science of
Ḥadīth. Iṣlāḥī confines h imselaf to tgheh discussion of a few
fundamental issues wh i le presuminwgr ai basiac technical knowledge
owfpafroc otrtphskh e w eiSnthi cctii ch ether na c sdae ein tn osisowf e n Ḥ e tr –ha admotīr taathnhl ,yea t tea qxtuhutteueh saoetlrin o (dhin. aesos. f do adtnḥh.i soāect dhrurīgeestm has ade) udieadtr nh.ai den.I nctdp t iorishca miicagtty ihsc le aiomglf h (intti.heaedel.
sunan) – and their relation to the foundational text, the Qur’ān.

Muslims have always held that the Sunnah is the source of

religious knowledge next only, in terms of reliability, to the

Qur’ān. However, the question of its authoritativeness and its

relation to the Divine text has always been debated among them.

Many scholars came to hold that the prophetic tradition consists of

the traditions handed down to the subsequent generations by

individual-to-individual reports (akhbār-i aḥād). Most of the

authorities do not distinguish clearly between ḥadīth and sunnah.

Presuming the terms sunnah and ḥadīth to be interchangeable, the

scholars wrestled over the authenticity or lack of it in the prophetic

tradition. Subsequently some people took extreme positions in this

regard. Iṣlāḥī points out that a group of scholars declared all the

aḥādīth as spurious tales while another declared the aḥādīth equal
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Fundamentals of Ḥadīth Interpretation 2

to and even overruling the Qur’ān. Those who declared it equal to

the Qur’ān in authenticity and historicity did so while admitting it

to be akhbār-i āḥād. On the other hand those who rejected it

altogether rejected something which formed fundamental and

inseparable part of the religion transmitted through perpetual

adherence of the ummah in each generation.

One cannot deny that there has always existed in Muslim
scholarship, a vague understanding of the difference between the

terms ḥadīth and sunnah, yet mostly the picture was blurred to

admit of any clear distinction. I do not know of any treatise in

the entire Islamic literature which so clearly posits this

difference bewtween the two and treats both on scales they

individually mewrit, as the work presently before us. Iṣlāḥī tries to

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show that the most. jcrucial issue and the critic al question in

major discussions araound the interrelationship between the
Qur’ān and the prwophetivce tradition and the au thoritativeness and
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otherwise of aḥādītwh is resolved through recognizing a clear
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distinction between whwat. is denhoted by the two terms ḥadīth and
sunnah. The author achaielv-es tmhisa, in chapter 1, through an
analysis of the terms, natur e mof the cdoncepts denoted by ḥadīth,
sunnah, and mode of tran smissiaon of egach, and their respective
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roles in Islamic epistem ology. Thew mroist cruacial findings of Iṣlāḥī
iaginnneHcsdntlai eutivrusdai tentde igehod rin disi tv i aosei ntsfdi s n ttef hghrre utoei miofsbin hr e st etlhtidh eega vfeptre neotrhersmrpe a e sStttiihunuoecann eln.S aa ut nhhnd end dcaoPohe.r,noso swpnrishgohmtetie tcdn hite(d sppiwiser. nasca)cdno t itocaamnebu sgaoo hḥflt au edtaaeīnctldhhy

authentic and reliable source forming the fundamental part of the

religion, the ḥadīth literature can be treated on scientific

principles. For example, Iṣlāḥī argues, there is no need to defy

reason and declare individual-to-individual reports, whose

vulnerability has always remained clear to the Muslim

scholarship, as historically equal or superior to the Qur’ān.

Similarly there is no need to defy academic principles and

recklessly declare all the ḥadīth literature as spurious and

unreliable. This distinction between ḥadīth and sunnah proves

that the Qur’ān, an absolutely authentic source, does not stand in

need of aḥādīth, a probable truth. The Book of God and the

Sunnah of the Prophet (sws) are the only sources of Islam. The

aḥādīth come next to these sources as very useful record of the

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Fundamentals of Ḥadīth Interpretation 3

prophetic knowledge, explanation of the Qur’ānic text, historic

details regarding the formative phase of Islam and the best

example set by the Prophet (sws).

The remaining issues including the question of interrelation of

the Book and the Sunnah and the Ḥadīth branch from and

depend on the confusion regarding the boundaries of the Ḥadīth

and the Sunnah. The question whether the Qur’ān depends on the
Ḥadīth or vice versa is resolved once it is established that the

Sunnah is an independent source which does not rely on aḥādīth

and that the Sunnah is an absolutely authentic source of

knowledge, equal to the Qur’ān as far as the historicity of the

sources and twheir Prophetic origin is concerned. The precepts of

the faith of Islamw are set out in the Qur’ān in textual form and are

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complemented by th.ej practices instituted by the P rophet (sws) in

the form of the Sunnaha. Then, whereas the Qur’ān is the word of
God, the Sunnahw is thvee demonstrative for m of the religious
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performance institutwed by the Messenger of God. Both these
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sources emanate from wth.e Prophhet (sws) who taught them to the
generation of the Compaanl-ionsm (rata) who, in turn, by their
consensus and perpetual ad hemrence, hdanded it down to the next
generation and so on to ou r timeas. g
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In Iṣlāḥī’s view, the r elation of wther iBooka to the Sunnah is that
osSBaorfuog unotulhn.km ea I hteh s ncaoatasus n n lb dn wet ooiett t h nham e atobhḤr uoge aldu dd yhe īo.det hlr Tp br hceyoeas f hnI bṣaneolpoxādetaḥ y mīto hhpvtehael ressrosr od.uutu olg.Hle oh ateo drt rh gjtaaumeect sricotmci ondoasramc dil.tc mhctoaoerano dindbtmid. ne rsTgle i hecotfaeof ti t vtthtehhhadeeet

Ḥadīth can override the Qur’ān as erroneous. Being clear on the

authenticity of the Qur’ān and the Sunnah on the one hand and

the probability of the aḥādīth on the other, he is able to show that

the less reliable source has to be in accord with the more reliable

one. This interrelation of the three important sources of religious

law in Islam has been explicated in chapter 2.

The above mentioned facts and observations have a direct

bearing on the process of ḥadīth interpretation. The principles of

understanding the aḥādīth therefore assume clear and concrete

shape. The cornerstone of Iṣlāḥī’s approach towards

understanding the ḥadīth literature is his concept of the

overarching authority of the Qur’ān. While introducing the

principle of understanding the ḥadīth literature (Chapter 3), the

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Fundamentals of Ḥadīth Interpretation 4

author stresses the importance of the consequences of the

interrelation of the Qur’ān, the Sunnah and the Ḥadīth, for

Muslim jurisprudence. He highlights the status of the Qur’ān

over the rest of the sources and asserts that, being the word of

God, a textual evidence of absolute certainty, the Book is the

basic criterion of true religious knowledge. A summary of the

principles of interpretation of ḥadīth literature, that we find
emerging in Iṣlāḥī’s work is as follows:

a) The aḥādīth, which are only probably true, are to b e

interpreted in the light of the Qur’ān. They are a branch of the

root, the book of God. The aḥādīth only explicate the themes of

the Book. Thwerefore, the material of the aḥādīth must accord to

the themes of thwe Book. For whatever the Prophet (sws) said or

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did always accorded. jperfectly to the dictates of the Book. This

entails that a student oaf the aḥādīth should look for the basis of
the traditions in thwe Boovke and understand the m in the light of the
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word of God. w
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b) Since a ḥadīth repwor.t is to hbe seen as the part of a sprawling
literature, one has to havae lc-ompmreahensive understanding of the
whole corpus and one shou ld minterpredt the part in the light of the
whole. If a report does no t fit waell in tghe overall structure it has
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to be either reinterpret e d to make wit friit withain the whole or has to
bofafecdc t))rth eOtAegh nrnpaee trt i oftnah upltseleh lo rey pp t n rirdocee i ptest ecdrhr aase dr ottdiif octe i ḥodhtran.aa dsv d .īe itt hai o sgnhoso ouadll wdu anaydldsseo r.s sorpteaermangmkda iiinnnigd ca oio .gfnc istvohceeimon lu acsno gonuft eatxghtee.

Losing the trail of the context risks a misunderstanding of the

words of the Prophet (sws). There are examples which show that

ignoring this fact has sometimes led people to hold what defies

the foundations of the religion.

e) Similarly, one needs to appreciate that the Prophet (sws) is

not expected to defy reason and the fiṭrah (human nature) for the

Faith does not contain any element that violates the fiṭrah or the

human reason. Therefore, the traditions should be pondered over

in the light of the dictates of reason and fiṭrah. The Book of God

itself adduces reason and fiṭrah to prove many of its fundamental

premises.

Transmitted through individual-to-individual mode of transfer

the ḥadīth narratives contain all types of reports, sound and the

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