CLASSIFICATION OF HADITH (The Sahih, The Hassan and The Da’if)

The Sahih

This is the authentic Hadith. It is the first category among the excellent Hadith. Any Hadith under this category is genuine and has passed all tests. The reputation of reporters of Hadith in this category is of high status due to high level of scrutiny before accepting the Hadith. One of such collectors was Muhammad b. Ismail Abu Abd Allah Al-Ju’fi popularly knows as Imam Al Bukhari.

The Hadith in this category are highly rated by Muslims. For instance Al-Bukhari laboured for 16 years on the compilation of his sahih. He also sought the aid of prayer before committing traditions to writing. He was also reported to have interrogated over one thousand scholars living in places so distance as Balkh, Merv, Nisabur, Hijaz, Egypt and Syria.

Qualification of a Transmitter of Hadith

The following are the qualifications of a transmitter of Hadith:

1. Any transmitter of Hadith must belong to either the group of companions of the Prophet or their contemporaries. These were the people who saw the Prophet and heard him saying certain things at a particular time. They were in the best position to quote the Prophet correctly.

2. A transmitter of Hadith, if not a companion, must belong to the group of the tabi’un that is those who met the companions of the Prophet even though they did not see the Prophet himself. Their interactions with the companions of the Prophet gave them an advantage of getting the correct statement as well as the recording made by the companions of the Prophet.

Conditions for Accepting Hadith

There were certain conditions that must be fulfilled before any Hadith is accepted as statements of the Prophet S.A.W. They include:

i. The Hadith should not be at variance with the teachings of the Holy Qur’an or any of the accepted principles of Islam.

ii. The Hadith should not be contrary to the well known traditions already accepted in Islam.

iii. The Hadith should not be against reason or laws of nature as well as common experience.

Link between Hadith and Sunnah

There is a close link between the Hadith and the Sunnah. In fact, some scholars use the two terms interchangeably. While the actions, approvals, disapprovals and altitudes of the prophets constitute his Sunnah, the Hadith represents his statements, wise sayings as well as decorators.

The Hadith is a documentation of reports which were compiled by the prophet and passed down from one follower to another. Some of them wrote down these reports which later generation read and studied. In the case of the Sunnah, these are the habits, as well as traditions of the Prophet his companion copied from and use in their daily activities.