Kinds of
hadīth-i sherīfs are defined as follows on the one hundred and thirty-sixth page of the first chapter of the book Makhzanululūm, which was printed in Istanbul in the hijrī year 1308, and on the third page of the book Ashiat-ul-lamāt:
1- Hadīth-i mursel: Those hadīths that are quoted by one of the Tābiīn directly in the name of Rasūlullahs sall-Allāhu alaihi wa sallam utterance without the name of any of the Sahāba radiy-Allāhu taālā anhum ajmaīn being mentioned.
2- Hadīth-i musnad: Those hadīths that are given together with the name of the Sahabī radiy-Allāhu taālā anhum ajmaīn who ascribes them to Rasūlullah sall-Allāhu alaihi wa sallam. Musnad hadīths are either muttasil or munqati:
3- Hadīth-i musnad-i muttasīl: Those hadīths that are ascribed to Rasūlullah sall-Allāhu alaihi wa sallam by an unbroken chain of transmitters; that is, not even one of their transmitters is lacking.
4- Hadīth-i musnad-i munqati: Those hadīths whose one or more transmitters, except the Sahabī radiy-Allāhu taālā anhum ajmaīn, are not recorded.
5- Hadīth-i mawsūl: Is the kind of hadīth-i musnad-i muttasil which the Sahabī radiy-Allāhu taālā anhum ajmaīn quoted by saying, I have heard Rasūlullah say so. Such hadīths are called Hadīth-i marfū on the thirty-fourth page of the translation of the second volume of Mawāhib-i ladunniyya and in the forty-second hadīth in Imām-i-Nawawīs rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh Hadīth-i arbaīn, translated by Ahmad Naīm Bey rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh.
6- Hadīth-i mutawātir: Those hadīths that several Sahabīs heard from Rasūlullah sall-Allāhu alaihi wa sallam and which several other people heard from them, and which were written in a book not before having been heard always from several people who are not ever likely to have agreed on a lie. It is absolutely necessary to believe and to obey the hadīths that are mutawātir; he who disbelieves them becomes a kāfir.
7- Hadīth-i mashhūr: Those hadīths that became well-known in the second century though they had been reported by only one person in the first century (of Islam). That is, they are the hadīths that were heard from Rasūlullah sall-Allāhu alaihi wa sallam by one person, and from him several other people heard them later, and from them again, other people heard them; they were
transmitted as mutawātir up to the last person. He who disbelieves mashhūr hadīths becomes a kāfir, too. (See the book Ibni Ābidīn, p.176)
8- Hadīth-i mawqūf: Those hadīths of which all the transmitters are recorded up to a Sahabī radiy-Allāhu taālā anhum ajmaīn and about which the Sahabī did not say, I have heard Rasūlullah sall-Allāhu alaihi wa sallam say so, but said, I have heard that Rasūlullah sall-Allāhu alaihi wa sallam said so.
9- Hadīth-i sahīh: Those musnad-i muttasil, mutawātir and mashhūr hadīths heard only from people who are learned in the knowledge of hadīth.
10- Khabar-i āhād: Those musnad-i muttasil hadīths that have always been transmitted by one person (to another).
11- Hadīth-i muallaq: Those hadīths whose first transmitter is not known, or a few of whose transmitters are not known, or none of whose transmitters is known. Mursel and munqati hadīths are muallaq. A hadīth whose first transmitter only is not recorded is called Mudallas. Tadlīs (concealing the authority for a tradition in order to lead people to suppose it more trustworthy) is makrūh.
12- Hadīth-i qudsī: Those hadīths of which the meanings are from Allāhu taālā but uttered by Rasūlullah sall-Allāhu alaihi wa sallam. Whenever our master the Prophet sall-Allāhu alaihi wa sallam uttered a hadīth-i qudsī he was covered by a nūr, and it was known by his appearance.
13- Hadīth-i qawī: Any hadīth after saying which he recited an āyat.
14- Hadīth-i nāsikh: Those hadīths which he said towards the end of his life.
15- Hadīth-i mansūkh: Those hadīths which he said during the early age (of Islam) but which were changed (by other hadīths) later.
16- Hadīth-i ām: Those hadīths that were said for all people.
17- Hadīth-i khās: Those hadīths that were said for one person only.
18- Hadīth-i hasan: Those hadīths whose transmitters are faithful and trustworthy but without as strong a memory and understanding as those who transmit sahīh hadīths.
19- Hadīth-i maqtū: They are the hadīths transmitted from
the Tābiin-i kirām rahmatullāhi taālā alaihim ajmaīn, and their transmitters up to the Tābiūn are known.
20- Hadīth-i shādh: Those hadīths which a person says he heard from a savant of hadīth. They are accepted, but they cannot be documents or proofs. If the person who is said to be a savant is not well known, they will not be accepted.
21- Hadīth-i gharīb: Any hadīth-i sahīh that was transmitted by only one person. Or it is a hadīth of which one of the transmitters was repudiated by a hadīth savant.
22- Hadīth-i daif: Those hadīths that are not sahīh or hasan. One of their transmitters had a slack memory or was unjust, or there was doubt in his belief. Much worship is done in accordance with daīf hadīths. But they are not relied on for ijtihād.
23- Hadīth-i muhkam: Those hadīths which do not need an interpretation.
24- Hadīth-i mutashābih: Those hadīths that need an interpretation.
25- Hadīth-i munfasil: Those hadīths with more than one forgotten transmitters in between.
26- Hadīth-i mustafīd: Any hadīth with more than three transmitters.
27- Hadīth-i muddarib: Those hadīths that were reported to authors of books through various incongruous ways.
28- Hadīth-i merdūd: An expression that does not bear any meaning or any of the conditions of hadīth-transmitting.
29- Hadīth-i muftarī: Words of Musaylamat-ul-kazzāb. Or they are the concocted words of those munāfiqs, zindiqs and irreligious people disguised as Muslims who succeeded him. Savants of Ahl as-sunnat found those hadīths that are merdūd or muftarī and discarded them. Books written by religious superiors do not contain such words.
30- Hadīth-i mawdū: Explained in the previous pages.
31- Athar: Means a mawqūf or maqtū hadīth, or a merfū hadīth teaching a prayer. Sanad means a savant who transmits hadīths rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh.
GREAT HADĪTH SAVANTS: Hadīth savants are very exalted people. He who knows by heart a hundred thousand hadīths together with their transmitters is called a Hāfiz. He who has memorized the entire Qurān is not called a hāfiz, he is called Qāri. Because there is nobody today who knows hadīths by heart
we erroneously say hāfiz instead of qāri. He who knows two hundred thousand hadīths by heart is called Shaikh-ul-hadīth. He who has memorized three hundred thousand is called a Hujjat-ul-Islām. He who knows by heart more than three hundred thousand hadīths together with their transmitters and proofs is called an Imām of hadīth or Mujtahid of hadīth. Todays world does not have such an Islamic savant. The knowledge of hadīth is now in the hands of junior and unimportant people. Of the hadīth books that have been unanimously confirmed to be correct by all Islamic savants, six have become famous all over the world. These six books are called Kutub-i sitta. [It is stated in ijmā (unanimity of scholars) that the hadīth-i-sherīfs in these books are sahīh.] The six savants who wrote the Kutub-i sitta are:
1- Imām-i Bukhāri rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh. His name is Muhammad bin Ismāīl. He is briefly signified with the letter (H). There are seven thousand two hundred and seventy-five hadīths in his book entitled Sahīh-i-Bukhārī. He selected these out of six hundred thousand hadīths. Before writing down each hadīth, he would perform ghusl, perform a namāz of two rakats, and then go to sleep for istikhāra. He wrote his Bukhārī-i sherīf in sixteen years. He was born in Bukhāra in 194 hijrī and died in Semerkand in 256, on the night before fitr bayram [Iyd-i fitr].
2- Imām-i Abdul-Husayn Muslim Nishāpūrī rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh. He is briefly signified with the letter (M). He wrote his book entitled Jāmius-sahīh with selections from three hundred thousand hadīths. He was born in 206 and died in 261.
3- Imām-i Mālik bin Enes rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh. He is signified with the letters (Mā). His book entitled Muwattā is the first hadīth book written. He was born in Medīna in 95, and died there in 179. It is written in the book Mawdūāt-ululūm that when listing the names of the Kutub-i sitta some savants mentioned the book Sunan by Ibni Māja instead of Muwattā.
4- Imām-i Tirmuzī rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh. His name is Muhammad bin Īsā. He is signified with the letter (T). His book entitled Jāmius-sahīh is so valuable. He was born in 209, and died in 279.
5- Abū Dāwūd Suleymān bin Ashas Sijstānī rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh. He is signified with the letter (D). There are forty-eight hundred hadīths in his book entitled Sunan. He selected these from among half a million hadīths. He was born in 202, and died in Basra in 275.
6- Imam-i Nasāī rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh. His name is Abū Abdurrahmān Ahmad bin Alī. He is signified with the letter (S). His two books, one entitled Sunan-i kebīr and the other Sunan-i saghīr, are very valuable. Sunan-i saghīr is one of the Kutub-i sitta. He was born in 215, and died in 303.
It is written in the book Mawdūāt-ululūm that the word Sunan, when used alone, is construed as one of the books of four savants. These are Abū Dāwūd (D), Tirmuzī (T), Nasāī (S) and Ibni Māja. Ibni Māja is briefly signified with the letters (MJ). When the word Sunan is mentioned in reference to books other than these four, it is used together with the name of its author. For example, Sunan-i Dāra Qutnī (QTin) and Sunan-i kebīr-i Bayhakī (Hak).
Of the famous and very precious hadīth books, Musnad by Imām-i Ahmad bin Hanbal is signified with (HD), Abū Yalās Musnad is signified with (Yalā), Abdullah Dārimīs Musnad is signified with (DR), and Ahmad Bezzars Musnad is signified with (Z). These books are called Masānīd.