Scrutinising Hadiths

As Muslims, we acknowledge that the Qur'an and the Sunnah is our reference, and this is clearly established in the Qur'an. In numerous places, the Qur'an instructs us to obey Allah (swt) AND HIS MESSENGER, and this is a settled issue among Muslims. What may NOT be clear is how to determine which hadiths are authentic and must be followed. As for the Qur'an, it is clear in the minds of every Muslim that every word in the Qur'an must be followed as the entire Qur'an from cover to cover is the Words of Allah (swt) the Creator. However, while the Sunnah as a body must be considered a source of legislation and part of the revelation, when it comes individual hadiths, it is known that, among the hadiths that are sound and conclusive (and hence considered part of the revelation like the Qur'an), there are also many hadiths that are weak, questionable, or fabricated. Therefore, there must be a filtering mechanism for scrutinizing the hadiths. Muslims in the past realized the importance of preserving the Sunnah as the Sunnah is part of the revelation and the Message of Islam itself. As a result, many scholars have dedicated their lives to compiling the hadiths as well as scrutinizing the hadiths and those who reported the hadiths. Thus, as part of the effort to purify our thoughts and understanding of Islam, it is essential that we understand this filtering mechanism.

Before, discussing the details of scrutinizing the hadiths, it is necessary to establish some general points.

1). We must realize that the Sunnah AS A COLLECTIVE BODY was preserved, and the evidence for this is textual, intellectual, and historical. Allah (swt) affirmed in the Qur'an that He will preserve the Message of Islam, and part of this message is the Sunnah. To claim that the Sunnah is not part of the Message defeats the entire purpose of sending Messengers, and defeats the purpose of the Message itself. Because the Message is meant to be applied, then it is necessary for the Message to have a practical example that human beings can relate to. To claim otherwise is to imply that Allah (swt) does not know His own Creation or that Allah (swt) does things in vain. In addition, the Qur'an states that Islam is complete, and this completeness cannot be realized WITHOUT the Sunnah. Thus, if Islam cannot be complete without the Sunnah, and the Sunnah was not preserved, then this indicates that Allah (swt) failed to deliver in His promise and He selected the wrong mechanism to preserve the Sunnah, and such deficiencies cannot be attributed to the All-Mighty Creator. Additionally, the historical evidence shows that the Muslims began documenting the hadiths from the time of the Prophet (saaws), and later they developed a rigorous criteria to compile, classify, and scrutinize the hadiths.

2). While the Sunnah as a body was preserved (and the evidence for this is conclusive), this does not mean that each individual hadith is authentic. AND THIS FACT CANNOT BE USED TO UNDERMINE THE AUTHORITY OF THE SUNNAH BECAUSE THE CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING THE SUNNAH IS DIFFERENT THAN THE CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING EACH INDIVIDUAL HADITH. The authority and preservation of the Sunnah, as mentioned previously, is established through conclusive textual and intellectual evidence. However, to establish the credibility of an individual hadith, the hadith must be evaluated for its Sanad (chain of reporters) and its Riwaya (the meaning of the text). In a similar fashion, we cannot reject Science as an institution because there are many weak and faulty experiments. Rather, we must recognize Science as a necessary institution. At the same time, each individual experiment should be checked based on a certain criteria. Therefore, the argument that the Sunnah is not valid based on the presence of weak and fabricated hadiths is incorrect. Such an argument ignores the existence of the many authentic and conclusive hadiths, in addition to failing to account for the tremendous efforts that the scholars of hadiths dedicated towards classifying and documenting the hadiths, as well as the methodology that they developed to screen the hadiths.

3). Many scholars of hadiths dedicated tremendous effort in compiling and classifying the hadiths, and they developed very stringent requirements for the hadiths to be considered authentic. However, we should realize that the works of these scholars is NOT absolute, and none of these scholars ever claimed that their work was absolute in its contents. Rather, the works of these scholars should be viewed in their proper context - AS A TOOL TO UNDERSTAND THE REFERENCE, BUT NOT AS A REFERENCE IN ITSELF. For this reason, these scholars did their job of classifying and compiling the hadiths, based on a certain methodology, AND they left behind the methodology they used for future generations to use and to build upon. Thus, if there are hadiths that are weak or questionable found in the works of these scholars, this cannot be used as a justification for undermining the validity of the Sunnah.

4). Scrutinizing the hadith should NEVER be done in order to justify a pre-set mind or a political agenda. Unfortunately, some Muslims fell into this trap, and this greatly impacted the Muslim Ummah in a negative fashion. One example was the Khawaarij, who had a pre-set political agenda, and as a result, they would filter the hadiths and even twist the meaning of the Qur'an in order to justify their political aspirations. If the Muslims succumb to such a mindset, then this will kill objectivity in the Ummah and will destroy the fields of Tafseer, Hadith, Fiqh, and Usul, which will ultimately lead to a destruction of the Deen itself. And worse still, Islam will devolve into a cult, where each sect will blindly adhere to a pre-set mind and scavenge for ayahs and hadiths to defend their mindset. Ultimately the adherence to the pre-set mind will become the objective, rather than understanding the text, and the ayahs and hadiths will be twisted to accommodate this mindset. Therefore, the Muslims must be extremely aware not to fall into this mindset and should NEVER approach the Islamic text with a pre-set mind. Rather, the text should be scrutinized objectively, and the results should lead us to the conclusion. We should not start with a conclusion and then twist the text to accommodate this pre-established conclusion.


With this in mind, we can present an overview of the methodology for scrutinizing and evaluating the hadiths that the scholars have developed over the centuries. In general, for a hadith to be considered authentic, two aspects are scrutinized: The Sanad (chain of reporters) and the Riwaya (textual content). Regarding the Sanad, the biography of each and every individual who ever narrated or reported a hadith is documented in detail. Even the biographical details of those who reported weak and fabricated hadiths are documented, and their names are well known. The scholars of hadith laid down extremely stringent qualifications for somebody to be considered a reliable source. Among the many requirements that would qualify an individual as a reliable source, that individual must be trustworthy, he cannot be considered a liar or even accused of being a liar (if an individual lied or gave a false testimony even once, then this would disqualify him as a credible reporter), and he must possess sound memory and not be prone to forgetfulness. Thus, in documenting the life history of each hadith reporter and placing stringent requirements, the scholars of hadith created a safeguard for filtering the hadiths.

Equally important in verifying the hadith is the Riwaya, or the actual content of the hadith text. In this regard, the scholars of hadith laid down many criteria to verify the hadith. For example, if the hadith contradicts a conclusive text or contradicts the Islamic Aqeedah or any aspect of the Islamic Aqeedah, then the hadith is considered weak or fabricated, and it is rejected. For example, there is a hadith that is unfortunately quoted on many occasions in which a man came to one of the Sahabah and told him to recite Ayat al-Kursi as this would give protection from the Shaytan. When the Sahabi reported the incident to the Prophet (saaws), the Prophet (saaws) told that Sahabi that the man was the Shaytan himself, and he told the truth, even though he is a liar. Such a hadith must be rejected outright because it contradicts conclusive text in the Qur'an in which Allah (swt) states that no good can emanate from the Shaytan. Also, the hadith is rejected on grounds that it conflicts with the entire notion of Prophethood and revelation. The hadith implies that Allah (swt) can give revelation to somebody other than the Prophet (saaws).

Many other criteria were laid down to check the credibility of the hadith based on its textual content. For instance, if the hadith mentions an unrealistically large reward for an extremely small deed or an unrealistically severe punishment for a very minor sin, then such a hadith is rejected. Also, if the hadith mentions words that were not familiar to the Arabs at the time, then the hadith is considered fabricated and rejected immediately. In one such hadith, the word ''April'' appears, even though the Gregorian months were not known to the Arabs at the time.

Conclusion

One question may come to mind: Despite these stringent criteria, why did some hadiths that have questionable material appear in trusted works such as Sahih al-Buhkari or Sahih Muslim? Answering this question requires us to mention two points. First, it should be noted that these scholars, despite their sincere and meticulous efforts, are human beings, and as such, as previously mentioned, their works are not considered absolute. Furthermore, none of these scholars ever considered their works as absolute, and for this reason, not only did they compile and report the hadith to the best of their abilities, but they established a methodology for scrutinizing the hadith and left this methodology for successive generations to utilize. This shows that the scholars of hadith never considered their work as finished; rather, the process of scrutinizing the hadith was meant to be an ongoing process. Secondly, many of these scholars did not bother to filter the hadith because the filtering mechanism was already existing in the society at the time. Muslims in the past had a very high level of understanding, and the society was characterized by a high level of thinking and awareness. In this context, many of these scholars simply reported and compiled the hadiths and left it to the reader to do the filtering, as it was safe to assume that this filtering mechanism was there. And despite this, not all of the scholars reported hadith using this methodology. Many scholars not only compiled the hadith but also scrutinized and evaluated the hadiths. Nowadays we cannot make such an assumption because the Muslim Ummah is devoid of thinking, let alone Islamic thinking. Many Muslims will blindly take any hadith without any consideration to its contents, simply because it is reported in Sahih al-Buhkari or Muslim. Such a statement is by no means discrediting or undermining the works of these great scholars; what it does indicate is the absence of this filtering mechanism among the Muslims.

Therefore, the issue for Muslims today is not simply a matter of memorizing hadith books or regurgitating information and become like mobile libraries. The hadiths are there - neatly classified, compiled, and preserved in the books of hadiths. What is needed is to build the thinking of the Muslims and re-establish this filtering mechanism so that we can purify our thoughts and the Muslims will be able to understand the Islamic text with clarity.

Unfortunately, nowadays, the Muslim Ummah has so much information, perhaps more information than at any other time in its history, and we have so many individuals who have memorized the Qur'an and even many hadiths. Yet the capacity to utilize this information to produce original work that reflects serious and profound thinking and creativity is virtually non-existent, primarily for two reasons. First, there is no Islamic system that can effectively cultivate such personalities and create the environment that will be conducive to producing original work, and secondly, the level of thinking of the Muslim Ummah is in a very declined state.

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