The definition as preferred by the fuqahāʾ is that which is attributed to the Prophet ﷺ, whether it is a saying, an action, or a tacit approval. The muḥaddithīn are also interested in the condition (aḥwāl) of the Prophet ﷺ, ie. his description, when he was born, and so on. The fuqahāʾ are generally not focused on this aspect unless they are determining whether something has been abrogated (nāsikh) or not (mansūkh).
The meaning of tacit approval is that which one did or said in the presence of the Prophet ﷺ, and he did not deny it nor prevent them from doing so; rather, he remained silent and therefore approved of it.
| Ḥadīth qudsī | Qurʾān |
| Not all of it is mutawātir (ظني) | All of it is mutawātir (قطعي) |
| Understood meaning from Allāh, wording of the Prophet ﷺ | Actual meaning and wording of Allāh |
| غير متلو, not recited in ṣalāh | متلو, recited in ṣalāh |
Ḥadīth literally means that which is said. The following words are often used interchangeably: ḥadīth, athar, riwāyah, khabr, sunnah.
The Prophet ﷺ is the broad subject matter.1
According to ʿAllāmah Kirmānī, it is to attain success in both this world and the hereafter.
In terms of ranking, first comes the Qurʾān and then the ḥadīth.
ʿIlm al-ḥadīth can be classified into two disciplines:
ʿIlm dirāyat al-ḥadīth can be further split into two categories:
See the discussion by al-Suyūṭī in Tadrīb al-Rāwī. ↩
Definitions of majhūl al-ḥāl, majhūl al-ʿayn and mastūr, with the Aḥnāf classification of narrators and the five rulings on aḥādīth from a majhūl narrator.
How the muḥaddithīn, fuqahāʾ and uṣūliyyīn differ in their working definitions of ḥadīth, and why those differences track back to their respective objectives.
The threefold division of ḥadīth study: ʿilm riwāyat al-ḥadīth, ʿilm dirāyat al-ḥadīth, and ʿilm uṣūl al-ḥadīth (muṣṭalaḥ al-ḥadīth).
According to the Aḥnāf, Jamhūr Mutakallimūn, Imām al-Ḥaramayn al-Shāfiʿī Īmān does not increase or decrease. On the other hand, Imam …
