A reminder on Hadeeth Saheeh
The early scholars of hadeeth from the first two centuries generally classified hadeeths into two broad categories: as-Saheeh (authentic)and ad-Da'eef (inauthentic). Imamat-Tirmidhi was the first to distinguish the category of Hasan (reliable) from that of da'eef.
Hadeeth Saheeh
A hadith must meet the five criteria in order to be accepted according to Islamic law as a source of legal ordinance. Ibn as--Salah definedthe hadeeth as-Saheeh as follows: "Ahadeeth as-Saheeh is one which has a continuous isnad, made up of trustworthy narrators narrating from trustworthy narrators, which is found to be free from any irregularities or defects.
Ittisal as-Sanad (Continuity of the chain of transmitters)
The chain of narrators or transmitters, who are relating the Matn (text), has to be unbroken for the hadeeth to be considered. That is none of the transmitters must be missing from the chain and each narrator. Raawee, has to have met the transmitter directly preceding him as well as the one directly following him. Each Raawee has to be a known individual; otherwise he is classified as majhool (unknown) and the sanad misclassified as broken.
Adalah (Integrity)
The integrity of the narrators is the second key condition for a hadeeth to be considered valid. By integrity we mean that the narrator was a practicing Muslim and was not known to have done any of the major (forbidden things). If he was a known liar he is classified as kadhdhaab and the hadeeth that he has transmitted is classified as da'eef. These are the conditions verified through the references of the biographical science of hadeeth known as Kutub ar-Rijaal.
The accuracy of the text is determined by two factors either of which is sufficient by itself.
Dabt as-Sadr (Soundness of memory)
Each narrator must be known for his ability to memorize and repeat with a high degree of accuracy. If a narrator had a tendency to repeat hadeeth in a number of different ways such a hadeeth is classified as Mudtarib (confused) and any other hadeeth that he narrates will be classified as da'eef. When the narrator’s level of accuracy is mediocre but the other conditions for authenticity are fulfilled, the hadith is classified as Hasan.
Dabt al-Kitabah (Written accuracy)
Each narrator who does not fulfil the previous precondition above must be known for recording his hadith in books accurately and his narrations only be from his books, these two preconditions Foundation of Hadeeth (3.1. & 3.2.)are also verified by Kutub ar-Rijaal (books on Biographies of narrators).
It is critical that the hadeeth conform to similar hadeeth narrated on the same topic whose chains are stronger. If the text of a hadeeth contradicts that of another well-known text whose chain of narration is stronger, or it is in conflict with a group of other narrators of a similar status, it is classified as shadh (errant), which is one of the categories of hadeeth da'eef.
The hidden defect is one that causes the hadeeth to appear to be sound and only become evident after deep investigation. For a hadeeth to be considered sound (saheeh) it has to be free of hidden defects. A hadeeth with hidden defects is called ma’lool ormu'allal. Ibn al-Madeeni said that a defect can only be revealed if all the isnads of the hadeeth are collated. In his book, al-illal, he listed 34 Successors and the names of the. Companions they heard hadeeth directly from. For example, he said that al-Hasan al-Basri did not meet Ali, although there is a slight possibility that he may have seen him during his childhood in Madeenah. Such information is very important as it disproves the many Sufi traditions in which they claim that al-Hasan heard from 'Ali. Only a few hadeeth scholars compiled books on this topic, among them, Ibn Abi Hatim ar-Razi, al-Khallaland ad-Daraqutni.
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited