Difference between Quran and Hadith

Quran

• Speech of Allah sent down upon the prophet Muhammad pbuh through the angel Gabriel in its precise meaning and wording transmitted to us by numerous persons both verbally and in writing

• It is inimitable and unique • Protected by God-mentioned in the Quran

Hadith• Linguistic meaning of Hadith are news, reports

or narrations • In Islamic context a particular report (verbal

and written) about the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad

• What is Sunnah?– Literal meaning is the road or practice – Religious context what has been described by

Prophet Muhammad and what he said and did in continuous manner so that others follow.

continued

1. Saying of Prophet Muhammad pbuh2. Action of Prophet Muhammad pbuh3. Approval (silent) of Prophet Muhammad

pbuh in other actions (companions)• Action on the Prophet Muhammad pbuh that

are related to Islam and the Prophet pbuh wanted us to act upon directly or indirectly by mentioning the virtue of such act

Hadith Qudsi

• Meaning from Allah while wording from the Prophet Muhammad pbuh

• Communicated from Allah through revelation or in dreams then communicated by Prophet Muhammad pbuh in his own words

• Prophet relates to the people what Allah has said or did (does) but not a part of Quran

Continued

• Hadith:– Abu Hurairah reported that Allah’s messenger said

“Allah mighty and exalted is He; said if my servant like to meet me I like to meet him, if he dislike me to meet I dislike to meet him.

The Condition for the Acceptance of Hadith

• A Hadith must meet the following five criteria in order to be accepted in Islamic law as a source of legal ordinance

1.Continuity of the change of transmitters: – chain of transmitters has to be unbroken in order for the

hadith to be accepted. – The transmitter must not be missing from the chain of

narrators – Transmitter must have heard the hadith directly from the

transmitter before him– It is verified with biographical science of hadith

continued

2. The integrity of the transmitters: • Integrity of transmitters is established in terms how

they practice Islam.• They are not engaged in doing forbidden things and

must be righteous and pious• Again should be verified through the biographical

science of Hadith

3. Soundness of Memory of transmitters– must be verified through biographical science of Hadith

that transmitter has a sound memory or his books were accurate and directly transmitted from his book

continued

4. Conformity of the Hadith– The conformity should be both in the chain of

transmitters and in the text

5. Absence of Defects– A defect in hadith is defined as hidden defect in the

hadith which takes away from its authenticity– Hadith which appears to be free from all defects in

beginning but after thorough investigation finds some defects which can be in the chain of transmitters or in the text

Classification of Hadith• There are 2 types of Hadiths:A. The recurrent Hadith (al-Hadith al-mutawatir)– This type of hadith is decisive, has no doubt that it actually

came from Prophet Muhammad pbuh– Conditions of Mutawatir Hadith- Recurrent Hadith• 1. at Least four different people must have narrated the

hadith • 2. Must be impossible for those four or more people to

concur on a lie.• 3. They must have narrated the hadith from the same

people (first 2 conditions being applicable) from the beginning of the chain of transmitters until the end of it

• 4. The narration on the Hadith must rely on the mind and the senses.

continuedB. The non recurrent Hadith (al-hadith al-ahad)

• Any Hadith which is not recurrent (mutawatir) is called non-recurrent (ahad). This category is divided into three sub categories according to number of narrator of the Hadith.

1. The well known Hadith (al-Hadith al-mashhur). This hadith which has been narrated by three or more people in the chain of transmitters but did not arrive at the rank of the recurrent hadith

2. The strong hadith (al-hadith al-aziz) this is a hadith in which there are no less than 2 narrators in each part of the chain on narrators

3. The rare Hadith (al-hadith al-gharib) this is a hadith which is narrated by a single person at one point in the chain of transmitters

continued

• The non-recurrent is also sub divided in the three more classifications regarding the beginning of the chain of transmitters1. Elevated Hadith (al-hadith al-Marfu) This is a

hadith the chain or narrators fro which begins prophet Muhammad pbuh

2. The Suspended Hadith (al-Hadith al-mawquf) this hadith the chain of narrators does not trace the Prophet pbuh but instead a companion of the Prophet

continued

3. Cut-off Hadith (al-hadith al-maqtu). This is a hadith the chain of narrators for which traces back only to a successor of the companions of the Prophet pbuh

• Non recurrent Hadith is classified into 3 classifications regarding their acceptance as a source of Islamic law

Continued

1. Authentic Hadith (al-hadith as-sahih). This is a hadith which satisfies the 5 criteria of acceptance of hadith.

2. The good Hadith (al-hadith al-hasan) this is the hadith which like the authentic hadith also satisfies the five criteria except the third criteria of soundness of memory of the transmitters is only slightly satisfied.

continued

3. The weak hadith (al-hadith al-da’if) This is hadith which does not satisfy all the five criteria for acceptance of hadith

A. Weakness in the Hadith due to lacking continuity

1. Continuity is missing at the end of the chain, hanging (mu’allaq)

2. Continuity is missing in the middle of the chain of transmitters, interrupted (munqati’)

continued

3. It 2 successive transmitters or more are missing in the middle of the chain or transmitters , problematic (mu’dil)

4. If the first transmitter, a companion of Prophet Muhammad pbuh is missing from the chain of transmitters, the hadith is called incompletely transmitted (mursal)

B. Weakness in Hadith due to lack of integrity (‘adalah) in narrators

continued

1. A hadith which has been fabricated- mawdu2. If a hadith is transmitted who is charged with lying and that hadith

known only through his transmission then the hadith has to be abandoned

3. Three sub groupings of hadith are classified as:1. Forged transmitters- hadith which transmitter had transmitted from other

transmitter who he has met but under whom he did not study, implying that he heard from him

2. Forged regarding teachers3. Forged regarding naming of transmitters

4. If one of the transmitter of the hadith is not named it is called obscure

5. If something has been added to the hadith then it is known as interpolated

continued

C. Weakness due inaccuracy of memories of transmitters 1. Transmitted by a different weak channel -shaky2. Change in wording of the hadith- interpolated3. Inversion in the words of the chain of narrators

or text of the hadith –inverted