Categories of the Khabar al-Ahad

Categories of the Khabar al-Ahad

 

The khabar al-ahad (isolated report) in its three forms: gharib, 'aziz or mashur, whether marfu', mawquf or maqtu' is divided by the scholars of hadith, in terms of its acceptance or rejection, into three categories: sahih, hasan, da'eef. The following is a clarification of each category:

1. Sahih

The hadith whose isnad continues through transmission of the reliable ('adl) narrator whose retention is accurate (dhabit) from another reliable (‘adl) transmitter who has an accurate retentive ability, and so on until the end of the chain, and is not shadh (irregular) or mu'allal (defective).

In other words, the isnad of the hadith continues through by the transmission of the reliable ('adl) and accurate (dhabit) narrator from another of same quality until it ends with Rasool Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم or a Sahabi or someone after him.

The statement of the scholars of hadith that the ' the isnad of the hadith continues through the transmission of the reliable ('adl) and accurate (dhabit) narrator from another same as him', excludes the mursal, munqati' and mu'dhil hadiths, from the category of sahih.

The mursal is what the Tabi'un have narrated from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم without mentioning the Sahabi.

The munqati' is when a single narrator is omitted in one or more places in the isnad.

The mu'dhil has two or more narrators missing from one or more places in the isnad.

These three all have discontinued isnads which takes them out of the sahih category. The statement that "the hadith should not be shadh" (irregular) excludes from the sahih hadith the shadh report where a trustworthy narrator goes against the narration of narrators who are more reliable than him. Their statement: ‘It should not be mu'allal (defective)' excludes from the sahih hadith the mu'allal report which has a defect. The 'illah (defect) consists of a weakness in the hadith, causing its rejection, a matter which appears to the critics when collecting and examining the various transmission routes of the hadith.

For example, the chain of a narrator being continuous while a group has transmitted it as mawquf. Their statement: ‘By the transmission of the reliable (‘adl) narrator', it excludes the report narrated by a transmitter whose apparent and hidden condition is not known, majhul al-'ayn (not known personally), or he is known to be weak. Such a hadith is not considered as sahih. Their statement: ‘by the transmission of a narrator who has accurate retentive ability (dhabit)' excludes what has been narrated by someone who is not retentive and aware, that is his transmission is negligent and he commits many mistakes. This report is not considered a sahih hadith, rather, all the conditions which have been clarified should be met in the sahih ahadith. If one condition is missing then the hadith is not sahih.

2. Hasan

It is a report whose collector is known and its transmitters are well known. It is the most regular hadith, and most scholars accept it, and it is used by the fuqaha generally, meaning that in its isnad there are no narrators that have been charged with lying, nor it is a shadh (irregular). It is of two types:

First: a hadith whose isnad is not free from a transmitter who is mastur (of hidden condition) and whose capacity is not realized, but not negligent nor prone to make many mistakes or charged with mendacity. However, a hadith of similar matn might have been narrated from another way, and it is thus excluded from being shadh or munkar (rejected).

Second: The narrators must be known for their trustworthiness and honesty, but they do not attain the level of the transmitters of the sahih category in retention and percesion; and what he narrates of reports singularly is not considered as munkar (rejected), nor is the matn irregular (shadh)or defective (mu'allal). So the hasan ahadith is the report transmitted by a reliable ('adl) narrator who is of lesser retentive capacity, but its isnad is continuous and not irregular (shadh) or defective (mu'allal). The hasan hadith is used as proof exactly as the sahih hadith.

3. Da'eef

It is the hadith which does not have the qualifications of the sahih or hasan hadiths. The weak hadith is not used as evidence at all. It is a mistake to say that when a da'eef hadith comes via numerous lines of transmission then it rises to the level of hasan or sahih. For when the hadith is weak because its narrator has actually committed transgression or has been accused of actual lying, and the hadith came through other lines of transmission which are of this type, then it has increased in iweakness. As for when the meaning contained in the da'eef hadith is also contained in the sahih ahadith, then the sahih hadith is cited and the da'eef hadith is rejected. Therefore, the da'eef hadith is not used as proof in any way whatsoever.