Rules Governing The Criticism Of Hadith

An summarised text detailing the rules governing the Criticism of Hadeeth From its introduction ’A hadith pl ahadith is composed of two parts the matn text and the isnad chain of reporters A text may seem to be logical and reasonable but it needs an authentic isnad with reliable reporters to be acceptable ’Abdullah b al Mubarak d 181 AH is reported to have said The isnad is part of the religion had it not been for the isnad whoever wished to would have said whatever he liked During the lifetime of the Prophet SAS and after his death his Companions Sahabah used to refer to him when quoting his sayings The Successors Tabi’un followed suit some of them used to quote the Prophet SAS through the Companions while others would omit the intermediate authority such a hadith was known as mursal loose It was found that the missing link between the Successor and the Prophet SAS might be one person i e a Companion or two persons the extra person being an older Successor who heard the hadith from the Companion ’