Can We Trust Hadith Literature? Understanding the Processes of Transmission and Preservation
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
Abstract
How has Islamic civilization maintained the rich literary heritage of Ḥadīth developed by early Muslim scholars? What guarantee is there that the collections of ḥadīths in our possession have reached us accurately and that they were compiled by their purported authors? Far from being exhaustive, this paper addresses these questions. It begins by examining the procedures scholars instituted to ensure accurate transmission of Ḥadīth books. It then describes the practice of oral/aural transmission (samāʿ) and public reading sessions and their influence in preserving the Ḥadīth literature. Thereafter, it builds on three arguments that Ibn al-Wazīr al-Yamānī (d. 840 AH) delineated in response to those who doubt the authorship of the major Ḥadīth collections. Before concluding, it sheds light on the usage of wijādah in transmission and practice.
Marks of ink on one’s mouth and clothes are emblems of honor.
1
– Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī (d. 96 AH)
Procedures for preservation
The attention and care scholars gave to the vast literature of Ḥadīth to ensure that the efforts of their predecessors were not in vain is truly awe-inspiring. They were methodical in their treatment of the Ḥadīth literature. They laid out guidelines on issues like book authorization, auditions, and the handling of manuscripts and registers. Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ’s (d. 544 AH) al-Ilmāʿ ilā Maʿrifat Uṣūl al-Riwāyah wa Taqyīd al-Samāʿ is among the most prominent titles on the subject.
2
Despite being an oft-cited authority on the subject, Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ was by no means the first to address this topic. In fact, he drew extensively from earlier works like al-Rāmahurmuzī’s (d. 360 AH) al-Muḥaddith al-Fāṣil and al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī’s al-Kifāyah fī ʿIlm al-Riwāyah and al-Jāmiʿ li Akhlāq al-Rāwī wa Ādāb al-Sāmiʿ. At times, scribes devised creative techniques to prevent confusion when reading their manuscripts. For instance, Shuʿbah ibn al-Ḥajjāj (d. 160 AH) narrated the ḥadīth of Abū al-Ḥawrāʾ to a student who wrote the ḥadīth and further added the word “ḥūr ʿīn” (wide-eyed damsel) as a note beneath the name Abū al-Ḥawrāʾ. The reason for this peculiar note was the presence of a narrator by the name of Abū al-Jawzāʾ in the same generation as Abū al-Ḥawrāʾ. To avoid confusing the two similarly named yet distinct narrators, the student diligently wrote ḥūr as a note to remind him of al-Hawrāʾ, which is the singular form of ḥūr.
3
Muslims rightfully pride themselves on the countless volumes Ḥadīth scholars produced in order to detail the lives of the narrators whose names fill the chains of transmissions of ḥadīths. But they did not stop there. They also wrote biographical dictionaries on the lives of the narrators who transmitted the collections that contained these ḥadīths. A researcher can easily access the biographical details of the narrators that Abū Dāwūd (d. 275 AH), for instance, cites in his Sunan when transmitting a ḥadīth. They can also find the biographical details of those who transmitted the Sunan from Abū Dāwūd and of those who in turn transmitted it from them, et cetera,
4
in works written for this purpose like Abū Bakr Ibn Nuqṭah’s (d. 629 AH) al-Taqyīd li Maʿrifat Ruwāt al-Sunan wa al-Masānīd.
5
As such, the major Ḥadīth collections were transmitted by people whose lives are well documented.
6
The tradition of oral/aural transmission (samāʿ) ensured the preservation of the literature. Ḥadīth scholars disseminated their works by teaching them to students, who in turn taught them to their students, ensuring scholarly supervision of Ḥadīth books as they were being transmitted.
7
Prior to the canonization of the Ḥadīth corpus,
8
transmitting a book for which one did not have oral/aural transmission was an offense not taken lightly in Ḥadīth circles.
9
Muḥammad ibn Ṭāhir al-Maqdisī (d. 507 AH) impugned Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Kāmikhī because he transmitted the Musnad of Imām al-Shāfiʿī from a non-samāʿ copy.
10
Abū Bakr al-Qaṭīʿī’s (d. 368 AH) copy of a book was destroyed in a flood, so he rewrote it from another copy. Despite having heard the original from a teacher, he was criticized for transmitting the second copy because it lacked oral transmission.
11
Al-Ḥākim al-Naysābūrī (d. 405 AH) announced that he was in possession of a copy of al-Naḍr ibn Shumayl’s Gharīb al-Ḥadīth but dutifully added that it lacked oral transmission.
12
Failure to understand this culture of transmission led Alphonse Mingana (d. 1937 CE) to erroneously criticize the authorship of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Based on a manuscript—perhaps the earliest extant
13
—via the recension of Abū Zayd al-Marwazī (d. 371 AH) from al-Firabrī (d. 320 AH), the prime transmitter from al-Bukhārī, Mingana argues that since the chains of transmission include the name of al-Bukhārī,
14
the Ṣaḥīḥ could not have been authored by him, but rather by a later source like al-Firabrī or al-Marwazī.
15
Apart from the fact that this objection indicates a lack of awareness regarding the methodology of transmitting Ḥadīth books, it is problematic on several grounds. To mention one, in addition to al-Firabrī, there are multiple recensions of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī including that of Ibrāhīm ibn Maʿqil (d. 295 AH) and Ḥammād ibn Shākir (d. 311 AH);
16
likewise, besides al-Marwazī, there are other routes from al-Firabrī, such as Abū Isḥāq al-Mustamlī (d. 376 AH) and Abū al-Haytham al-Kushmīhanī (d. 389 AH). Based on the chains found in the aforementioned manuscript, if it is argued that al-Firabrī or al-Marwazī authored the Ṣaḥīḥ, how does one account for parallel chains through the other recensions/routes from al-Bukhārī that mention the same ḥadīths?
17
Public reading sessions of Ḥadīth books also helped to ensure their textual integrity. Apart from the cross-analysis of the auditioned books, details about the participants in these reading sessions were methodically documented. Based on information detailed in manuscript notes and reading certificates, a recent study restructured a micro-history of the reading sessions of Ibn ʿAsākir’s (d. 571 AH) mammoth Tārīkh Madīnat Dimashq in Damascus, determining thereby “the background of individual participants in terms of cultural milieu, social position, and status.”
18
Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī’s multi-volume compendium, al-Sunan al-Kubrā, is another prime example.
19
Abū ʿAmr Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ (d. 643 AH) dictated the entire book to a congregation of scholars in 757 sessions. The following are some of the points that were noted after he dictated the 8th volume: the number of sessions held; personal details of the attendees (e.g., names, lineages, and honorifics); the state of the attendees (e.g., who spoke during the dictation); the date of completion; the venue; and the name of the registrar.
20
Considering the minutiae noted about the attendees, one gets a sense of how scrupulous Ḥadīth scholars were in their analyses of the books they were dictating. The fact that Tārīkh Madīnat Dimashq and al-Sunan al-Kubrā are not from the six canonical books is significant as it demonstrates the care given to more important, and less voluminous, collections. The unparalleled audition of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī in Damascus around the year 666 AH headed by the celebrated Ḥadīth scholar, Sharaf al-Dīn al-Yūnīnī (d. 701 AH), and the renowned linguist, Ibn Mālik (d. 672 AH), in a gathering of scholars who utilized critically acclaimed manuscripts and recensions of the Ṣaḥīḥ for cross-referencing is a case in point.
21
ʿAbd Allah ibn Sālim al-Baṣrī (d. 1134 AH) is on record for his meticulous treatment of the six canonical books and Musnad Aḥmad, spending twenty years in refining and cross-referencing his personal copy of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī with other manuscripts.
22
About The Author
