Hadith on Times of Conflict and Civil War
As civil war and terrorism wreak havoc on Muslim countries, some words of the Prophet addressing how Muslims should behave in times of fitna (chaos, civil war, conflict). Most of these hadith are selected from the collection of abu Dawud, a hadith scholar whose books are amongst the sahih-sitta (six books of Prophetic Traditions considered most authentic) and while they immediately addressed the ...

The Obligations of Seeking Knowledge, Exemplified by Aisha
The first obligation for a woman is to know her religion by studying the Holy Book, al-Quran, reciting and understanding it. She also has to be familiar with the science of Hadith and the life (Sirah) of the Prophet (peace be upon Him), and the other women Companions and those who followed them (Taba`un) and those who were model virtuous women. Sayyidah A`isha (Allah be pleased with her) was exc...

The Views of Orientalists on the Hadith Literature
A CHRONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS (1848-1950) The question of the value of the hadith literature (sayings of the Prophet) as a legal source is a broad one in which orientalists, not only those working on hadiths, but also those in other areas, including Islamic law, Islamic history and the Quran, are interested. For this reason, the discussion here needs to be limited according to some parameters. Focusin...

The Question of Prophet Muhammad's Ijtihad (Judgement)
The life style of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) or the way he lived in accordance to God’s revelation, the Quran, can in general be called the sunnah. It might also be said that this sunnah of the Prophet, who was the last of the prophets and best example for all humanity, is both a practical application of the Quran in a particular historical setting and a universal and meta-historical interpret...

Reasons for Opposition to Hadith
The word "hadith" is the name of an infinitive meaning "to explain, inform, the thing explained/informed about, news, and words." The word was taken from this broad dictionary meaning and began to be used for some special news. Thus, in time this particular meaning developed which relates to news about the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). This news includes everything about the Prophe...

Hadith and the Classification of Hadith
In religious terminology, the term hadith is used for "the words of the Prophet", and later came to be used for "his words, deeds and explanations". Moreover, the words and deeds of the Companions and the following generation -with even a reference to maqtu (sayings of the following generation) and mauquf (sayings of the Companions) - are also called hadith. In this sense, the...

Fabricated Hadith
It is one of the peculiarities of human nature that allows us to transmit events in a way that differs from how they actually occurred or to flatter people whom we love or have sympathy for.Another aspect of this kind of behavior is that we can act in a certain way for some kind of spiritual or material gain. Clearly this characteristic of human nature can lead a person to exaggerate, or even lie...

The Science of Hadith
Sciences that have reached a certain level of development require the individual study of some of the subjects. The science of hadith (sayings of the Prophet) is a treasury of learning that demands such a study. Therefore, we believe it will be helpful if several of the existing disciplines in the science of hadith that are worth studying separately are presented; whether they are related to the ...

On the Value of the Classic and Modern Hadith Methodologies
In order to talk about any science, it is crucial to have an explicit methodology for discussing subjects on a particular ground besides a common language. In fact, the methodology of a science is the entire method that scholars follow in the communication process they built with their individual views in their individual areas of interest. Until the modernization process which started with the E...

The Sociological Aspects of the Hadith Transmission System
  The hadith transmission network, or chains of narration, which has covered the entire Islamic world, from Malaysia to Central Asia, and from Hijaz to Morocco for fifteen centuries, functioning as the nervous system of the Muslim world, is an interesting form of social organization, which makes social transmition of knowledge/information possible between generations and among different regions. ...

The Social and Oral Structure of Isnad (Chain of Transmission ):
The more than 1400 year-old social network of hadith (sayings of the Prophet) scholars is known traditionally as the isnad (chain of transmission) system which includes innumerable scholars in Islam’s broad geography. The intellectual pursuit of these scholars is known as the science(s) of hadith. Here the ilim (science) faces a systematic accumulation of knowledge. As an academic pursuit, the Sc...

A Critique and Evaluation of Narrations Concerned with the Reco
It is an undeniable fact that writing plays a significant role in passing information on to future generations. However, recording information is not sufficient on its own for reliable transfer, as the soundness of information is not so much related to whether it has been recorded or not, but rather is connected with the reliability of the transmitters. As a matter of fact, there are many written...