How hadith were preserved and checked

8 min read

Anyone can type "the Prophet said" on social media. So how do Muslims know which sayings really come from the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him? For centuries, Muslim scholars checked every report with great care. This lesson explains simply how they did it, and how you can bring the same care to what you read and share.

Why such care

The companions, and the scholars after them, were careful because the Prophet gave a serious warning:

Whoever tells a lie about me intentionally, let him take his seat in Hellfire.
Sahih al-Bukhari 110 and the introduction of Sahih Muslim

The companion Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, said this hadith was one reason he did not narrate a great many hadith (Sahih al-Bukhari 108). The Prophet also said that whoever narrates something from him while thinking it is false is one of the liars (Sahih Muslim, introduction). Being careful is not a lack of love for the Prophet. It is a sign of it.

The chain and the text

Every hadith has two parts. The isnad (chain) is the list of people who passed it on, one to the next, all the way back to the Prophet. The matn (text) is what was actually said or done. Here is the chain of the very first hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari, the hadith "Actions are by intentions":

Imam al-Bukhari heard it from al-Humaydi,
who heard it from Sufyan,
who heard it from Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Ansari,
who heard it from Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Taymi,
who heard it from Alqamah ibn Waqqas al-Laythi,
who heard Umar ibn al-Khattab say it from the pulpit,
and Umar heard it from the Prophet himself.

Scholars studied the people in every chain. Were they honest? Was their memory precise? Did each one really hear from the person before him? Is anyone missing from the chain? Does the text contradict something more reliable? They wrote entire books about the narrators, their lives, and their reliability.

The grades

Based on this study, scholars grade each hadith. The main grades are:

Sahih (authentic): a connected chain of honest narrators with precise memory, free of hidden flaws and of contradiction with stronger reports.
Hasan (good): like sahih, but with a narrator whose memory was slightly less precise. A hasan hadith is also accepted as evidence.
Da'if (weak): something is missing or doubtful in the chain or the text. In general, scholars do not rely on a weak hadith to establish what Muslims must believe or do.
Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet. It must never be passed on as his words, except to warn people about it.

The famous collections

Scholars gathered hadith into books. Six are especially well known:

Sahih al-Bukhari, compiled by Imam al-Bukhari, and Sahih Muslim, compiled by Imam Muslim. Scholars describe these two as the most authentic books ever compiled. When a hadith appears in both, it is called muttafaqun 'alayh, "agreed upon".
The four Sunan: Sunan Abi Dawud, Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Sunan an-Nasa'i, and Sunan Ibn Majah. They contain many authentic hadith along with some weaker ones, and scholars have graded their hadith one by one.

You have already seen these names in the sources of earlier lessons. Now you know what they mean.

Before you share: check

The Quran teaches this care for all news:

O you who have believed, if there comes to you a disobedient one with information, investigate, lest you harm a people out of ignorance and become, over what you have done, regretful.
Quran 49:6 (Saheeh International translation)

And the Prophet said: "It is enough of a sin for a person to repeat everything he hears." (Sunan Abi Dawud 4992, graded sahih by al-Albani). Many posts online quote the Prophet with no source at all, or pass on weak and even fabricated reports. You do not need to be a scholar to be careful. A few habits are enough:

Before you share a hadith

Tick each step as you do it.

Look for the reference: which book, and which number?

Check the grade. Is it sahih or hasan?

Use trusted websites that show the grade, such as the Hadith Encyclopedia (hadeethenc.com) or sunnah.com.

If you cannot find it, or it is weak, do not share it as the Prophet's words. Ask someone with knowledge.

Be especially careful with posts that promise huge rewards for tiny acts, or that ask you to forward them.

0 of 5 done

You see a post that begins "The Prophet said..." with no reference. What is the best thing to do?

Remember

Before you say "the Prophet said", check the source and the grade. Being careful with his words is part of loving him.

Next: five short authentic hadith to live by, each with its Arabic, its meaning, and a way to practice it.

Sources

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Up next: Five hadith to live by

Step 5: The Sunnah and hadith, 8 min

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