Mutawatir & Ahad
Depending on the number of the reporters of the
hadith in each stage of the isnad, i.e. in each
generation of reporters, it can be classified
into the general categories of mutawatir
("consecutive") or ahad ("single") hadith.
A mutawatir hadith is one which is reported by
such a large number of people that they cannot
be expected to agree upon a lie, all of them
together.
Al-Ghazali (d. 505) stipulates that a mutawatir
narration be known by the sizeable number of its
reporters equally in the beginning, in the
middle and at the end. He is correct in this
stipulation because some narrations or ideas,
although known as mutawatir among some people,
whether Muslims or non-Muslims, originally have
no tawatur. There is no precise definition for
a "large number of reporters"; although the
numbers four, five, seven, ten, twelve, forty
and seventy, among others, have all been
variously suggested as a minimum, the exact
number is irrelevant (some reporters, e.g. Imams
of Hadith, carry more weight anyway than others
who are their contemporaries): the important
condition is that the possibility of coincidence
or "organised falsehood" be obviously
negligible.
Examples of mutawatir practices are the five
daily prayers, fasting, zakat, the Hajj and
recitation of the Qur'an. Among the verbal
mutawatir ahadith, the following has been
reported by at least sixty-two Companions from
the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace), and has been widely-known amongst the
Muslims throughout the ages:
"Whoever invents a lie and attributes it to me
intentionally, let him prepare his seat in the
Fire."
Ahadith related to the description of
the Haud Kauthar (the Basin of Abundant
Goodness) in the Hereafter, raising the hands at
certain postures during prayer, rubbing wet
hands on the leather socks during ablution,
revelation of the Qur'an in seven modes, and the
prohibition of every intoxicant are further
examples of verbal mutawatir ahadith.
A hadith ahad or khabar wahid is one which is
narrated by people whose number does not reach
that of the mutawatir case. Ahad is further
classified into:
Gharib, 'Aziz & Mashhur
A hadith is termed gharib ("scarce, strange")
when only a single reporter is found relating
it at some stage of the isnad. For example, the
saying of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace),
"Travel is a piece of punishment" is gharib;
the isnad of this hadith contains only one
reporter in each stage: Malik --- Yahya b. Abi
Salih --- Abu Hurairah --- the Prophet (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace). With
regard to its isnad, this hadith is sahih,
although most gharib ahadith are weak; Ahmad b.
Hanbal said, "Do not write these gharib ahadith
because they are unacceptable, and most of them
are weak."
A type of hadith similar to gharib is fard
("solitary"); it is known in three ways:
- similar to gharib, i.e. a single person is
found reporting it from a well-known Imam;
- the people of one locality only are known
to narrate the hadith;
- narrators from one locality report the
hadith from narrators of another locality, such
as the people of Makkah reporting from the
people of Madinah.
If at any stage in the isnad, only two reporters
are found to narrate the hadith, it is termed
'aziz ("rare, strong"). For example, Anas
reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace) said,
"None of you (truly) believes until I become
more beloved to him than his father, his son,
and all the people."
Two reporters, Qatadah and 'Abdul 'Aziz b.
Shu'aib, report this hadith from Anas, and two
more reporters narrate from each of them:
Shu'bah and Sa'id report from Qatada, and
Isma'il b. Ulayyah and 'Abd al-Warith from 'Abd
al-'Aziz; then a group of people report from
each of them.
A hadith which is reported by more than two
reporters is known as mashhur ("famous").
According to some scholars, every narrative
which comes to be known widely, whether or not
it has an authentic origin, is called mashhur.
A mashhur hadith might be reported by only one
or two reporters in the beginnning but become
widely-known later, unlike gharib or 'aziz,
which are reported by one or two reporters in
the beginning and continue to have the same
number even in the times of the Successors and
those after them. For example, if only one or
two reporters are found narrating hadith from a
reliable authority in Hadith such as al-Zuhri
and Qatadah, the hadith will remain either
gharib or 'aziz. On the other hand, if a group
of people narrate from them, it will be known as
mashhur.
According to al-'Ala'i (Abu Sa'id Khalil Salah
al-Din, d. 761), a hadith may be known as 'aziz
and mashhur at the same time. By this he means
a hadith which is left with only two reporters
in its isnad at any stage while it enjoys a host
of reporters in other stages, such as the saying
of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant
him peace),
"We are the last but (will be) the foremost on
the Day of Resurrection."
This hadith is 'aziz in its first stage, as it
is reported by Hudhaifah b. al-Yaman and Abu
Hurairah only. It later becomes mashhur as
seven people report it from Abu Hurairah.
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