Ḥadīth were verified by ʿUlamāʾ in different ways, and they established new sciences such as:
- ʿIlm al-Rijāl (biographies of narrators)
- Muṣṭalaḥ al-Ḥadīth/ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth (terminologies of Ḥadīth)
- Naqd al-Rijāl (criticism of the narrators)
All these sciences were applied and compiled from early generations. The Muḥaddithīn were not blindly reporting but they verified and critiqued.
Note: The critique of Ḥadīth is to verify its authenticity, not to criticise the verified Ḥadīth itself.
Brief history of books which were authored to introduce the science of ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth
[From “Lamaḥāt min Tārīkh Al-Sunnah wa ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth” by Shaykh ʿAbdul Fattāḥ Abū Ghuddah and “Al Wajīz fī Shayʾ min Muṣṭalaḥ al-Ḥadīth al-Sharīf” by Shaykh ʿAbdul Mālik]
First century
- Initially transmitted orally without anything written about Muṣṭalaḥ al-Ḥadīth.
Second century
- Imām ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī (b. 161 – d. 234) – he authored a book about different types of ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth, this book is no longer available.
- Shaykh ʿAbdul Fattāḥ analyses that, in the early days, it was not a norm to structure books like they are today i.e formally with an introduction, with chapters and conclusions. Rather, many would write small chapters on topics and distribute these.
[Shaykh ʿAbdul Fattāḥ adds that a book can be dated prior to that of Imām ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī:]
- Imām Shāfiʿī (d. 204), although he did not write a book on Muṣṭalaḥul Ḥadīth, he mentioned many Muṣṭalaḥāt in his Kitāb: “al-Risaalah”
[Shaykh ʿAbdul Mālik says that if Imām Shāfiʿī is included, then the following can also be added]
- Imām ʿIsā ibn Abān Al-Ḥanafī (d. 221) who wrote “Kitāb al-Ḥujjah al-Ṣaghīr” wherein he explains Akhbār.
Third century
This science of Muṣṭalaḥ al-Ḥadīth formally developed from the third century and reached Kamāl (completion) in the fifth century
Many ʿUlamāʿ added their criteria about the Ḥadīth before or after their compilations of Ḥadīth
- Imām Dārimī (d. 255): “Muqaddimah Sunan/Musnad al-Dārimī” – he discussed different terminologies of Ḥadīth.
- Imām Muslim (d. 261): “Muqaddimah Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim” – discusses Muṣṭalaḥ al-Ḥadīth
- Imām Abū Dāwūd (d. 275): “Risālah Imām Abū Dāwūd Ilā Ahl Makkah” – this letter discussed different terms of gradings of Ḥadīth.
- Imām Tirmidhī (d. 279): “Al-ʿIlal Al-Ṣaghīr” added to the end of “Sunan al-Tirmidhī” – discusses the criticism and terms of Ḥadīth
- Imām Abū Bakr al-Bazzār (d. 292): “Maʿrifatu man Yutraku Ḥadīthuhu aw Yuqbal” – Imām Bazzār wrote a book about the criticism of the narrators, but unfortunately, it did not survive.
[Shaykh Abdul Malik adds:]
- Imām Abū Jaʿfar Ṭaḥāwī Al-Ḥanafī (b. 239, d. 321):
- “Sharḥ Maʿānā al-Āthar” – where Imām Tahawi critiqued the chains of narrations for many Ḥadīth
- “Sharḥ Mushkil al-Āthar”.
- “Al-Taswiyah bayn Ḥaddathanā wa Akhbaranā” (did not survive)
Fourth century
- Imām Abū Muḥammad Ḥasan ibn Khallād Rāmahurmuzī (d.360): “al-Muḥaddith al-Fāṣil bayn al-Rāwī wal-Wāʿī” he read all the books and try to compile and structure all the previous books
[Shaykh Abdul Malik adds:]
- Abū ʿAbdillāh al-Ḥākim Nishapūrī (b. 321, d. 405) – he wrote many books about ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth such as “Maʿrifat ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth” and “Al-Madkhal ilā Maʿrifati Kitāb al-Iklīl” (which survived, and Al Madhkhal Ilā Maʿrifati Aḥādīth al-Mustadrak did not survive)
Fifth century
- Imām Abū Bakr Khaṭīb Baghdādī (b. 392, d. 463): “Al Kifāyah fī Ma’rifati Uṣūl ‘Ilm al-Riwāyah” and “Al-Jāmi’ li Akhlāq al-Rāwī wa Ādāb al-Sāmiʿ” and many more books, that are not found today.
- Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr (d. 463): “Al-Tamhīd limā fī al-Muwaṭṭaʾ min al-Maʿānī wa al-Asānīd”, a detailed Sharh for his Muwaṭṭaʾ in the Muqaddimah
[Shaykh Abdul Malik adds:]
- Imām Bayhaqī (d. 458): had two books to accompany his own books – “Al-Madhkhal Ilā Kitāb al-Sunan (Muqaddimah to Sunan al-Kubrā)” and “Al-Madkhal Ilā Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah”
Sixth century
- Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ al-Mālikī (b. 479, d. 544, Moroccan scholar): “al-Ilmāʿ Ilā Maʿrifati Uṣūl al-Riwāyati wa Taqyīd al-Samāʿī”. It is widely printed and available worldwide
Seventh century
- Abū ʿAmr ʿUthmān bin ʿAbdur Raḥmān (Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ) (b. 577, d. 643): “Maʿrifatu Anwāʿ ʿIlm al- Ḥadīth” (known as Muqaddimah Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ). His Kitāb became very well-known, and everyone used his Kitāb. He had many resources of the past 6 centuries, which he compiled together and structured it well.
Eighth and Ninth century
Works related to Ibn al-Salaah’s work:
- Imām Nawawī (b. 631, d.676): “Al-Irshād” summary of Muqaddimah ibn al-Ṣalāḥ, as he was a direct student of Ibn al-Salah. This was summarised and named “al-Taqrīb”.
- Imām Suyūṭī (d. 911): “Tadrīb al-Rāwī”, an explanation of Taqrīb al-Nawawī. This book is well known. the best edition is the one with the Taḥqīq of Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAwwāmah.
- ʿAllāmah Badruddīn bin Jamā’ah al-Ḥamawī al-Shafi’ī (d. 733): wrote a shorter version of Muqaddimah Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ.
- ʿAllāmah Ibn Kathīr (d. 774): “Al Bāʿith al-Ḥathīth”, a summarised version of Muqaddimah ibn al-Ṣalāḥ. This is now edited by Shaykh Ahmad Shakir.
- ʿAllāmah Badruddīn al-Zarkashī (d. 794): “Nukat ʿAlā Muqaddimah ibn al-Ṣalāḥ”
- ʿAllāmah Ibn Ḥajar ʿAsqalānī (b. 773 d. 852) – “Nukat ʿAlā Muqaddimah ibn al-Ṣalāḥ”. He was an expert who dedicated his life to Hadith. He also wrote “Nukhbah al-Fikar” and its Sharḥ: “Nuzhat al-Naẓr.’ He successfully summarised many of the rulings of ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth with the exception of some parts.
Other works:
- ʿAllāmah Ibn Rajab Ḥanbalī (d. 795): “Sharḥ ʿIlal at-Tirmidhī”. This is printed in two volumes; the best copy is the one edited by Shaykh Nūruddīn ʿIṭr.
Note: Majority of the scholars of ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth are from the Shāfiʿī background, so the Shawāfiʿ have a great impact on Muṣṭalaḥ al-Ḥadīth. Thus, when dealing with Ḥanafī Fiqh, students should bear in mind the Uṣūl of Ḥadīth from the Ḥanafī stance. Such as:
- “Dirāsāt fī Uṣūl al-Ḥadīth ʿAlā Manhaj al-Ḥanafīyah” by ʿAbdul Majīd al-Turkumānī (a student of ʿAllāmah ʿAbdul Ḥaleem Chistī).
Works on ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth by Indian subcontinent scholars
Many of the scholars of the Indian subcontinent wrote Sharḥ of the Kutub Sittah, and oftent they wrote Muqaddimāt to those commentaries which included and contributed to Muṣṭalaḥ al-Ḥadīth:
- Shaykh ʿAbdul Ḥaqq Muḥaddith Dehlawī (d. 1052): He wrote two Sharḥ on Mishkāt: 1) “Ashiāʾat al-Lamaʿāt” (Persian). 2) “Lamaʿāt al-Tanqīh” (Arabic) the muqaddimah of this discusses topics on Muṣṭalaḥ al-Ḥadīth. He revived Ḥadīth study in Hindustan. He was a student of Mullā ʿAlī Qārī. Shaykh Waliyullāh Dehlawī (d. 1176) continued this contribution to ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth
- ʿAllāmah Shabbīr Aḥmad ʿUthmānī (d. 1369): “Fatḥ al-Mulhim”, with an introduction which Shaykh ʿAbdul Fattāḥ Abū Ghuddah printed separately as “Mabādiʿ Fī ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth”.
Other books:
- ʿAllāmah ʿAbdul Ḥayy Laknawī (d. 1304): “Ẓafar al-Amānī bi Sharḥ Mukhtaṣar al-Jurjānī” about Muṣṭalaḥ al-Ḥadīth, “Al-Rafʿ wa al-Takmīl fī al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl”, “Al-Ajwibah al-Fāḍilah ʿan Asʾilah al-ʿAsharah al-Kāmilah”, and the Muqaddimah of “Al-Taʿlīq al-Mumajjad ʿalā Muwaṭṭaʾ Muḥammad”. Many of his works were published and edited by Shaykh ʿAbdul Fattāḥ Abū Ghuddah.
- Shaykh Muḥammad Akram al-Sindhī: “Imʿāʾ al-Naz̧ar”, a Sharḥ of Nukhbah al-Fikar.
- ʿAllāmah Ẓafar Aḥmad Thānawī (d. 1394) (nephew of Ml. Ashraf ʿAlī Thānwī): “Qawāʿid fi ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth”, a muqaddimah to Iʿlāʾ al-Sunan, edited by Shaykh ʿAbdul Fattāḥ Abū Ghuddah.
- Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAbdul Mālik (from Dhaka, Bangladesh): “Al-Madhkhal Ilā ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth al-Sharīf”, “Al-Wajīz fī Shayʾ min Muṣṭalaḥ al-Ḥadīth al-Sharīf” and “Inʿām al-Naẓr Sharḥ Nukhbah al-Fikar” (not published).
[This article is extracted from Ustadh Mahfuz Ahmad’s lesson of Hadith at Madani Madrasah London. The notes were taken by M B Shuaib and D M Al-Madani.]
