Usul al-Hadith
The methodology by which hadith are weighed and graded.
The classical sciences of hadith, also known as 'ulūm al-ḥadīth or muṣṭalaḥ al-ḥadīth. Notes cover the categories of narrators, the gradations of soundness (ṣaḥīḥ, ḥasan, ḍaʿīf, and the technical sub-classes), the conditions of authentication, and the foundational works of the tradition — Nukhbat al-Fikr, the Bayqūniyyah, Nuzhat al-Naẓar, and Taysīr Muṣṭalaḥ al-Hadith.
This is a discipline that rewards careful reading: the terminology is precise, the gradations are real, and small differences in language carry large consequences in practice.
Classical texts
2 series
A working summary in the sciences of hadith — terminology, gradations of soundness, and the foundational distinctions of the muṣṭalaḥ tradition.
25 lessonsOpen seriesIbn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī's terse summary of the disciplines of hadith.
2 lessonsOpen series
Articles & biographies
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