THINKING MUSLIM : HADITH

"Ye have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a Beautiful pattern (of conduct) For any one whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, and who engages much in the praise of Allah." al-Qur'an 33:21 (trans Yusuf Ali)

"So take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you." al-Qur'an 59:7 (trans Yusuf Ali)

In Islam, the Arabic word 'sunnah' has come to denote the way Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), the Messenger of Allah, lived his life. The Sunnah is the second source of Islamic jurisprudence, the first being the Qur'an. Both sources are indispensable; one cannot practice Islam without consulting both of them. The Arabic word hadith (pl. ahadith) is very similar to Sunnah, but not identical. A hadith is a narration about the life of the Prophet (peace be upon him) or what he approved - as opposed to his life itself, which is the Sunnah.

A hadith consists of two parts: the 'matn' is the the text of the report containing the actual narrative, and the 'isnad' is the chain of narrators which documents the route by which the report has been transmitted right through to the Prophet. Within the science of hadith, there are several classifications of hadith. At the final verdict, ahadith are rated according to the reliability and memory of their reporters. We end up with 3 rankings: sahih (sound), da'if (weak) and maudu' (fabricated, forged).

Ibn al-Salah (577/1181 643/1245), a hadith expert defines a sahih hadith precisely: "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)."