Part 3 (A) - From Darkness To Bright Light
A Scientific Process
- The Hadith
Hadith: An Islamic Overview
Indeed, Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah - peace and blessings upon him - explained to the people, completely and clearly, what their Lord had revealed for them; both the detailed matters and the important ones, the apparent matters and the hidden ones, to such an extent that he - peace and blessings upon him - taught them what they needed to know with respect to drawing closer to Allah - the Most High, as well as in matters of eating, drinking, marriage, clothing and housing. He taught them the etiquette's of social behaviour, such as kindness to parents, keeping ties of kinship, caring for the neighbour and keeping good companionship. He explained to them all that was pleasing the Creator of the heavens and of the earth and those things made forbidden for them, in fact, to such a complete extent that his Companion Abu Dharr said: "Indeed the Messenger of Allah - peace and blessings upon him - passed away and there is not a bird flapping its wings in the sky, except that he mentioned to us some knowledge about it." [Ahmad 5/153]
This then was the example, the living teaching of the final Messenger sent to the whole of mankind. He did not hesitate in calling the people back to their Lord in accordance with what he had been commanded:
"O Messenger! Proclaim that which has been sent down to you from your Lord." [Qur'an 5:67]
"We have sent down to you the Reminder, that you may explain to mankind what has been revealed to them, that perhaps they may reflect." [Qur'an 16:44]
The Messenger of Allah - peace and blessings upon him - would explain the intent of the Revelation often by means of a statement, at other times he would do so by an act, and yet other times he would do so by means of both. For example, the Qur'an commanded the Believers to establish regular Prayer, so the Prophet - peace and blessings upon him - prayed among his followers and then told them: <<Pray as you have seen me praying.>> [Bukhari 1/604] On some occasions an act would be performed in his presence or with his knowledge or similarly a statement made about which he would not express disapproval, thereby indicating its permissibility. Accordingly, the Creator made obedience to His Messenger an obligation upon the people, to follow his example and receive his teaching:
"Whatsoever the Messenger gives you take it, and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain from it." [Qur'an 59:7]
"Indeed in the Messenger of Allah you have the best example to follow for him who hopes in the meeting with Allah and the Last Day and remembers Allah often." [Qur'an 33:21]
It is for these reasons that the Companions of the Prophet were meticulous about his teachings. All his actions served them as an ideal, and hence a precedent (Sunnah); every word which he uttered was a law to them, while his moral choices, so different from those of their age, yet so immediate in their impartial wisdom, provided them with a system of personal and social virtue which they tried to follow faithfully. Given this intense devotion to the Prophet - peace and blessings upon him, inspired by his charisma and integrity, the Companions made a point of observing his life and recording for posterity everything that they could. Thus we find that Abu Hurairah kept his constant company, sacrificing all worldly pursuits, in order to see and hear what the Prophet - peace and blessings upon him - said and did, and regularly devoted a period of time to fixing in his memory the words he had heard; so much so that the Prophet - peace and blessings upon him - said to him on one occasion: <<O Abu Hurairah! I have thought that none will ask me about this hadith before you, as I know your longing for hadith.>> [Bukhari 8/574] Even those Companions who may have lived at a distance and were unable to attend the Prophet every day, made an agreement with other Companions that they would be present with him on alternate days, and report to each other everything they saw or heard from him. It is said to have been a common practice among the Companions that whenever any two of them met, one would inquire from the other whether there was any hadith, and the other would tell him what he knew.
The Prophet - peace and blessings upon him - himself attached the utmost importance to the knowledge of his own hadith and would encourage his followers to be attentive when he was imparting the message with which he was sent. Often he would be seen to repeat his words to ensure that they had been properly retained. We find the Companion Anas ibn Malik declaring: "Whenever the Prophet - peace and blessings upon him - spoke a sentence, he used to repeat it thrice so that the people could understand it properly from him." [Bukhari 1/95] He would ask his Companions to make his hadith as widely known as possible by instructing: <<It is incumbent upon those who are present to inform those who are absent . . . >> [Bukhari 1/67] and would also say: <<May Allah make joyful a person who heard my saying and preserved it, them transmitted it from me...>> [Ibn Majah 1/236]
The Companions did not simply commit as many of the hadith as they could to memory. Some of them collected them in books known as Sahifas, which they used as a basis for lectures, and which were later preserved by their families, and by the next generation of Muslims, the Successors. This writing of knowledge was directly from the command of the Prophet - peace and blessings upon him - himself. When on one occasion he had delivered an address to the people he was asked: "O Messenger of Allah, have that written for me." So he ordered his Companions to write it out for him [Bukhari 1/112]. A bu Hurairah himself describes that a book was kept by Abdullah ibn Amr al-Aas [Bukhari 1/113], and concerning this we find Nabia Abbott declaring: "The sources are unanimously emphatic that Abdullah ibn Amr al-Aas from the start recorded hadith and sunnah." [Abbott, Studies, Vol. II, p.37] M. M. Azami in his Studies in Early Hadith Literature (pp.34-60) gives details of 50 Companions who at one time or another preserved the hadith in writing. The letters which the Prophet - peace and blessings upon him - himself had sent to various provinces are no different from his hadith.
As mentioned, the writings compiled by the Companions were often preserved and passed on by their families before being incorporated into later works. This led to numerous family chains of transmission about which Abbott writes: "Family isnads of several generations of literate traditionists imply continuos written transmission, an implication that is reinforced by the large number of traditions accredited to the members of such families and by the appearance of clusters of such traditions in the standard collections." [Abbott, ibid, p.37] She also concludes that: "The development of the family isnad and continuos written transmission lead to the third inescapable conclusion, namely that the bulk of the hadith and sunnah as they had developed by about the end of the first century was already written down by someone somewhere . . . " [ibid, p.39]
In this way, the hadith literature originated in the early life of the Prophet - peace and blessings upon him, developed largely through his lifetime and immediately after, and spread simultaneously with the spread of Islam throughout the new Muslim dominions. The Muslim armies which reached Syria, Palestine, Persia and Egypt included a large number of Companions who carried the hadith with them. In particular, hadith flourished not only in Makkah and Medinah, but also Kufah, Basrah, Damascus, Fustat and Merv. Even the distant lands of North Africa and Spain received the hadiths before the end of the first century. And to the east, the message of the Qur'an and the Sunnah had been received by India even before the conquest of Sind.
The death of the Prophet - peace and blessings upon him - signalled the end of direct Revelation. With this the importance of hadith inevitably increased and the Companions were no less anxious in seeking out and acquiring that knowledge which had been missed by them during the Messenger's lifetime. Abdullah ibn Abbaas (himself a Companion) relates: "When the Messenger of Allah died, I said to one Ansaari, 'Let us ask the Companions of the Prophet as there are still a lot!' He replied to me, 'Quite curious, do you think, O Ibn Abbaas, that people will be in need of you while a great number of the Companions of the Prophet are still surviving?' Ibn Abbaas continued: 'So I left him and started asking the Companions. Sometimes when a hadith was reported to me by anyone of them, I used to approach their houses and found them taking rest at noon. So I would rest my head on my cloak at their door while the wind blew dust on my face till the man came out and said: 'O cousin of the Prophet, what brought you here?' Why did you not call for me; so that I could come to you myself?' I would say: 'No, you deserved to be visited by me.' Then I asked him concerning the hadith." [Mustadrak 1/107] It will be noted that this comprises an early isnad, namely, one Companion narrating from another, from the Prophet - peace and blessings upon him. Abu Ayyub al-Ansari travelled to Uqba ibn Amir in order to ask him about a hadith which, no one who remained alive, had heard it direct from the Prophet, except them. He said to the Governor of Egypt: "A hadith which I heard from the Prophet and now no one except me and Uqba are alive who heard it from the Prophet. So please provide me with anyone who can guide me to his house. So he sent for a person who showed him the house of Uqba. Uqba on hearing the news of his arrival came out hurriedly as well and said: 'What brought you here, O Abu Ayyub?' He replied: 'A hadith about protecting a believer which I heard from the Prophet and no one else except me and you are left who heard it from the Prophet.' Uqba said: Yes, I heard the Prophet saying: <<Whoever protects a believer from being disgraced, Allah will protect him on the Day of Resurrection.>> Abu Ayyub said: 'You have told the truth.'" [al-Haakim, Marifat, pp.7-8]
The Companions settled themselves in the various towns and provinces of the Islamic empire. In these towns they were surrounded by a large number of Muslims who had not met the Prophet - peace and blessings upon him - and who were eager to hear reports of his words and deeds from those who had associated with him and had heard his counsels. These Successors not only learnt from them the hadiths but also acquired the ethos and questing for the Traditions, and their careful cultivation and preservation. Upon them devolved the preservation and propagation of the narrations for over a century, firstly in association with the Companions, and, when the latter had passed away, with the help of their own pupils. These descending generations shared in common an astonishing zeal for the pursuit of hadith. Rich men and women among them sacrificed their wealth for its sake, while the poor devoted their lives to it in spite of their poverty. James Robson writes: "It may safely be assumed that from the very beginning Muslims were interested in what the Prophet said and did, and that after his death, when Islam spread widely, new converts would be anxious to hear about him. Those who associated with him would be listened to eagerly as they told about him. While this was largely conveyed by word of mouth, there is reason to believe that some men made small collections for their own use. These can hardly be called books, but nevertheless the material they contained was incorporated in later works." [James Robson, Mishkat al-Masabih, Vol.1, p.iii, Lahore: 1991]
M. M. Azami (pp.60-106) gives details of over 100 Successors who wrote down hadith. The Successors, with the disappearance of eyewitnesses, realised the need to preserve and ensure the authenticity of the statements attributed to the Prophet - peace and blessings upon him. An isnad (chain of transmission) was therefore indispensable to them, though signs of its use had appeared during the time of the Companions themselves. Abbott writes: "There was no call for emphasis on source until the first Civil War, which occurred in the fourth decade, and until the Successors were brought into the chain of transmission." [Nabia Abbott, Studies, Vol. II, p.1]
We therefore have the famous statement of Ibn Sirin (d.110H): "They did not ask about the isnad until when the Fitna (Civil War) arose they said: 'Name to us your men.' Those who belonged to the People of the Sunnah, their traditions were accepted and those who were innovators, their traditions were neglected." [Muslim]
This statement implies that isnad were used even before the Fitna. After the Civil War they became more cautious and began to inquire about the sources of information and scrutinise them. The Companion Ibn Abbaas had himself already said: "We used to report from the Prophet when the lies were not credited to him but when the people mixed up, we abandoned reporting from them." [Muslim] These were amongst the first signs of ascertaining the status of the narrator, liars, as always were not to be trusted in their reports. At the end of the first century the science of isnad was fully developed. James Robson writes: "There is therefore reason to believe that Ibn Sirin is to be credited with the words attributed to him. If that is granted, it would support Horovitz's theory that the isnad entered the literature of tradition in the last third of the first century, as its use so early would be bound to be represented soon in writing." [Robson, Isnad in Muslim Tradition, pp.21-22]
Such was the importance of the isnad that Muslim scholars, both early and late, have warned the people from neglecting it and insisted on its preservation. From them:
Al-Awzaa'ee (d.157H) said: "The passing away of knowledge is not except the loss of the isnad." [at-Tamheed 1/57]
Ibn al-Mubarak (d.181H) said: "The isnad is part of the Religion, if it were not for the isnad then anybody would have said whatever they liked." [Muslim]
Ibn al-Arabee (d.543H) said: "Allah has honoured this Nation with the isnad which He did not give to anyone else. So beware of following the way of the Jews and the Christians, will you narrate without isnad, and thus remove Allah's blessing from yourselves. Opening yourselves to attack and seeking to keep your position whilst you are partners with a people whom Allah has cursed and is angry with, and following their way." [Fihrisul-Fahaaris 1/80]
Al-Manawee (d.1031H) said: "Allah has favoured this Nation with the isnad and has made it one of those things particular to it to the exclusion of others. And He inspired them to strictly check and research it." [Faydul-Qadeer 1/434]
With the earlier dispersion of the Companions throughout the Muslim lands and their imparting the narrations known to them over such a wide area, it was felt, in the period of the Successors, to travel extensively and gather together these narrations. The Caliph Umar ibn Abdul-Aziz (d.101H) took steps to bring about their collection. He wrote to the great Traditionist of Medinah, Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazm (d.120H) requesting him to write down the hadith for him [see Bukhari, Vol.1, p.79]. He also asked Ibn Shihab az-Zuhri (d.124H) to collect hadiths in the form of books in order to have these circulated throughout his dominions. According to Abu Nu'aym's 'History of Isfahan', Umar also wrote a circular letter asking the hadith scholars living in the various parts of his country to collect in the form of books as many hadiths as were available. All of this was going on whilst individual scholars were themselves traveling to collect hadith for their own private collections.
Makhul (d.112H) travelled through Egypt, Syria, Iraq and the Hijaz and gathered the knowledge of all the hadith which he could obtain from the Companions who still lived there. He used to boast that for the sake of knowledge he had 'travelled round the world' [Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1/71]. Al-Sha'bi (d.104H) said when asked how he had gathered the knowledge of such a voluminous quantity of hadiths: "By hard work, long travels, and great patience" [Ibn Abdul-Barr, Jaami, 1/95]. Masruq (d. 63H) travelled so widely for the sake of learning that he was known as 'the father of travelling'. Saeed ibn al-Musayyib (d.94H) used to travel for days just to learn a single hadith from its narrator. One author wrote: "The migration of the Companions, the scholars' open sessions in Makkah and Medina, especially during the annual pilgrimage season, and the journeys in search of knowledge speeded the transmission of Tradition. Evidence of continuous written transmission of Tradition from the second quarter of the first century onward is available in early and late Islamic sources." [The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature, p.297]
Coupled with the appearance of these literary works an elaborate method of teaching was employed. A teacher would often read from his book to his students, this being the most preferred method of transmission at this stage. Even if regular meetings were held for the teaching, only a few narrations were taught in one lesson, perhaps three or four. On other occasions the book would be read by the student back to the teacher or by a reciter and other students compared the narrations with their individual books or only listened attentively. On other occasions, the teacher would write the hadith himself for the student. Many other such methods were employed. A regular record of attendance was kept and after the reading of a book was completed, a note was written by the teacher giving details of attendance, e.g. who listened to the complete reading of a book and who joined partially, what part they read and what part was missed by them, giving dates and places. In this way permission was only granted to pass on those hadith for which a student had been in attendance. It helped to ensure that individual narrators had taken their knowledge in the correct manner and were capable of passing on what they had acquired. A student would often stay with a teacher for many years.
Comparing the narrations of various students was one of many excellent ways of ensuring the continuos accuracy of the hadith. A prime example is that of Yahya ibn Ma'een (d.233 H) who travelled to see eighteen of the pupils of Hammaad ibn Salamah in order to compare their hadith and ascertain if any of them had been mistaken in their reporting [Ibn Hibbaan, al-Majruheen]. The employment of such a method guaranteed that fabricated narrations would not go unnoticed if transmitted in this way. If a student was seen to narrate a hadith which was previously unknown or rare (perhaps because he had fabricated it) then it would be a simple task to compare his report with other students who sat with him in the company of their teacher, and it would be found that none of them had heard this narration from their teacher except him though they had all been in attendance at his sittings! He would then be suspected of forging that narration.
With such activities thriving and with more and more people being continually exposed to the hadith, the value and importance of the Prophet's words, however, were never forgotten and always kept to the forefront. The status of the Messenger of Allah - peace and blessings upon him - and the awe in which he was held by the people ensured that his words were given the utmost respect that they deserved and that they were not altered or amended in any way. Ibn Taymiyyah (d.728H) in his Qaaidah Jaleelah Tawwassul wal-Waseelah (p.92), whilst describing the early generations and their respect for the status of the Prophet - peace and blessings upon him - writes: "It is mentioned that Malik (d.179H) was asked about Ayyub as-Sakhtiyanee, so he said: 'He is the most excellent from those whom I narrate hadith to you from. He performed Hajj twice and I did not hear (narrate) from him until I observed that as the Prophet was mentioned he wept until I felt mercy for him. When I saw what I saw about his veneration for the Prophet I wrote hadith from him.' Malik ibn Anas would also relate: 'I have seen Muhammad ibn al-Munkadar - and he was a leading reciter - that whenever he was asked to narrate hadith, he wept until we had mercy on him. I have seen Jafar ibn Muhammad - he was very facetious and given to laughter - that whenever the Prophet was mentioned to him, he would turn pale, and I have never seen him narrating except in a state of purification. Whenever Abdur-Rahmaan ibn al-Qaasim mentioned the Prophet, he turned pale as if the blood in his face dried up and his tongue turned dumb with awe of the Messenger of Allah - peace and blessings upon him. I have seen az-Zuhree - he was jolly and very sociable - that when the Prophet was mentioned to him, he would become so perturbed that he would not recognise you nor would you recognise him. I visited Safwaan ibn Saleem - and he was one of the true worshippers and jurists - that whenever he mentioned the Prophet he cried and did not cease crying until the people would get up and leave him.'"
It is therefore not surprising to learn that the scholars were extremely exacting in their verification of the narrations and would question deeply the ones who reported hadith to them. Such sincere enthusiasts were not content with the mere scrutiny of the reporters. They also attempted to publicise for the whole Islamic community the character of those responsible for forgery, or for incompetent and erroneous reporting. Likewise, they would highlight those individuals who were known for their accuracy and care for the Prophetic hadith, mentioning their teachers, students, and often times extremely detailed descriptions of their lives. These came to be known as the 'books of rijaal', giving authenticating or disparaging remarks against 1000's of reporters. In the earliest period, the critics of the narrators was comparatively small because of the small number of weak reporters, and the reduced chances of mistakes and forgeries. When, towards the middle of the second century, less reliable narrators increased in number, a group of important traditionists discussed the subject, and debated the integrity and reliability of various reporters.
There existed then, as there continues to do so in every generation to this present day, a core of committed and competent scholars, men and women, who take it upon themselves to dedicate their lives towards carefully ascertaining what was authentic, preserving its purity and genuiness, and propagating it among the community at large. They would not accept narrations related by persons who held heretical views, nor persons who were known to commonly tell lies (even if they were not accused of it in connection with hadith), or people with weak memories, or who were unfamiliar with the subject matter of the material they were reporting, however pious and eminent they might appear. This careful scrutiny of those who related traditions continued with unabated vigour at each stage of transmission. Montgomery Watt writes: "The chains of transmitters were therefore carefully scrutinised to make sure that the persons named could in fact have met one another, that they could be trusted to repeat the story accurately, and that they did not hold any heretical views. This implied extensive biographical studies; and many biographical dictionaries have been preserved giving the basic information about a man's teachers and pupils, the views of later scholars (on his reliability as a transmitter) and the date of his death. This biography-based critique of Traditions helped considerably to form a more or less common mind among many men throughout the caliphate about what was to be accepted and what rejected." [W. Montgomery Watt, What is Islam?, pages 124-125, Longman Group Ltd: 1979]
Thanks to the precision and vigour of the elite, the vital core of the hadith literature was preserved intact. Abbott concludes: "Deliberate tampering with either the content or the isnads of the Prophet's Traditions, as distinct from the sayings of and deeds of the Companions and Successors, may have passed undetected by ordinary transmitters, but not by the aggregate of the ever watchful, basically honest, and aggressively outspoken master traditionists and hadith critics" [Nabia Abbott, Studies, Vol. II, p.132].
Thus, through the energy and scrupulousness of the Companions, the Successors and the later generations of Muslims collected together the reports of the sayings and deeds of the Prophet - peace and blessings upon him - which had been scattered throughout the length and breadth of the Islamic world. Once begun, the collection of hadiths accelerated rapidly. Within two hundred years almost all the important hadith works were compiled. Scholars traced the lives and discussed the characters of all the reporters of traditions, and produced, sided by side with their collections, a vast literature on the reporters as an aid to the formal criticism of hadith.
Professor Margoliouth was indeed right when he stated that: " . . . its value in making for accuracy cannot be questioned, and the Muslims are justified in taking pride in their science of tradition." [Lectures on Arabic Historians, p.20. Calcutta University: 1920]
Sahifah of Hammam ibn Munabih:
To take one of the above documents as an example, the Sahifah of Hammam ibn Munabih, the student of the Companion Abu Hurairah. He must have compiled his work before 58H because this is the date when Abu Hurairah died.
We can see that of the 138 narrations in the Sahifah, 98 of them are faithfully witnessed in the later collections of Bukhari and Muslim, both through narrations of Abu Hurairah and witnessing narrations from other Companions.
We also see that all but two of the narrations are found in one section of the Musnad of Imaam Ahmad, again witnessing the preservation of hadith and that earlier works were faithfully rendered in later documents.
The History of Isnad:
Arbitrary use of an isnad (chain of transmission) has been traced to the Indians long before Islam. An occasional use, for instance, can be found in ancient Hindu, Buddhist and Jain literature. In the Mahabharata, we read: 'Vysda composed it, Ganesa served as a scribe, and the work was handed down by Vaisampayana, who communicated it to the king Janamejaya; Sautim who was present at the time, heard it and narrated it to the assembly of sages.' [Mahabharata, Book 1, Canto 1]. The Puranas also contain some short isnads of this type. The Sutras (exegetical works of Vedic literature) contain brief chains mentioning some of the transmitters through whom they have been handed down. It appears that isnad was used casually in some literature in the pre-Islamic Arabia in a vague manner. The system was also used to some extent in transmitting pre-Islamic poetry. [Nasiruddin Asad; Masadir Shi'r al-Jahili, pp.255-267, 2nd Edition. Cairo:1962]
When did the Isnad system begin in Islam?
Many Western non-Muslim scholars who have made an in-depth study of the subject have differed as to an exact date for the commencement of the use of an isnad when transmitting items of Islamic knowledge (including Prophetic hadith, commentaries of the Qur'an, biographies etc.) Many of them placing it at a very early period, from them we read:
Nabia Abbott - Placing it from the very earliest period to 40AH:
She writes: "Analysis of the content and the chains of transmission of the traditions of the documents and of their available parallels in the standard collections, supplemented by the results of an extensive study of the sources on the sciences of Tradition - ulum al-hadith - lead me to conclude that oral and written transmission went hand in hand almost from the start . . . " [Nabia Abbott, Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri, Vol. II, p.1. Chicago: 1967]
She also says: "There was no call for emphasis on source until the first Civil War, which occurred in the fourth decade of Islam, and until the Successors were brought into the chain of transmission." [Nabia Abbott, Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri, Vol. II, p.1. Chicago: 1967]
Josef Horovitz - Placing it prior to 75AH:
Horovitz concluded that the first appearance of isnads was not later than the last third of the first Muslim century. After adducing a series of facts to demonstrate this, he says: "Isnad in its primitive form was then - somewhere about the year 75AH - already established, and one has not right, merely because it appears only incidentally in the letters, to deny to Urwa (d.92AH) without further consideration, those ahadith supplied with statements of authorities for which he stands as sponsor . . . Isnad was, indeed, already customary in his (Urwa's) time, but it was not yet an absolute necessity." [Josef Horovitz, The Earliest Biographies of the Prophet and their Authors, pp.550-51: 1927]
R. S. Humphreys writes: "A number of very capable modern scholars have defended the general authenticity of isnads. An important early contribution was Josef Horovitz, Alter Und Ursprung des Isnad, Islam, viii (1918), 39-47, 299; xi (1921), 264-65, who connected the earliest use of isnads to the turmoil of the second civil war of the 60s/680s when it became an urgent matter to be able to identify the provenance of doctrinally loaded statements concerning Muhammad and the Companions." [R. S. Humphreys, Islamic History - Revised Edition, p.82. Princeton University Press: 1995]
Ignaz Goldziher - Placing it at a very early period:
Goldziher, an Orientalist, whose views on hadith and conclusions are at most times highly questionable, yet even he has to admit the use of isnad at a very early stage in the history of Islam. He studied under the Ottamanist scholar and revert to Islam, Arminius Vambery. He writes: "Many a Companion of the Prophet is likely to have carried his Sahifa (book) with him and used it to dispense instruction and edification to his circle. The contents of these Sahifas were called matn al-hadith (lit. text of the hadith); those who disseminated these texts named in succession their immediate authorities, and thus the isnad came into being." [Ignaz Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II p.22. London: 1967]
It would be of interest here, and not out of place, to quote Goldziher's view of Islam in general. We find him boasting in 1890 whilst writing in Damascus that: "I truly entered in those weeks into the spirit of Islam to such an extent that ultimately I became inwardly convinced that I myself was a Muslim and judiciously discovered that this was the only religion which, even in its doctrinal and official formulation, can satisfy philosophical minds. My ideal was to elevate Judaism to a similar rational level." [Raphael Patai, Ignaz Goldziher and His Oriental Diary, p.20. Wayne State University Press: 1987]
Compare this with his study and findings in respect of Christianity, he says that: "Islam signifies a mighty advance in relation to Christianity." In recollecting in 1890 the impression Christianity made on him he lets loose one of his most vehement attacks. He writes: "In this abominable religion, which invented the Christian blood libel, which puts its own best sons to the rack, they want to entice away the believers in the one and only Jehova - in Muslim lands. This is an insolence of which only Christians, the most abominable of all religions, is capable. It has no forehead to become aware of the insolence that forms its historical character. The forehead of a whore, that is the forehead of Christianity." [Raphael Patai, Ignaz Goldziher and His Oriental Diary, p.21. Wayne State University Press: 1987]
Smith says: "What's more, the science of ISNAD, which set about to authenticate those very isnads only began in the tenth century, long after the isnads in question had already been compiled, and so have little relevance for our discussion. (Humphreys 1991:81)" Smith quotes the gist of what Humphreys has to say and then adds his own words into the reference, again casting doubt on his ability to accurately interpret what his sources are trying to convey. To give the full excerpt from Humphreys, he says on page 81: "Medieval Muslim scholars were of course aware of this and ultimately evolved a very elaborate science on this subject. Unfortunately, the procedures of this science were not fully articulated until the 4th/10th century, well after the major compilations of hadith and historical akhbar had been assembled. Even so, isnads and the principles which govern them are only intelligible through the work of Muslim scholars; any modern analysis must reflect a sound knowledge of their critique."
In comparing Smiths claims with that of his reference, we may ask the following questions:
1. Where does Humphreys state that the science of isnad "only began in the tenth century"? Rather he says that they were not "fully articulated" until that time; that is to say, they reached their perfection then and the works appeared more numerously, not that nothing existed before this time!
2. Where does Humphreys state or imply that such works "have little relevance for our discussion"? Rather he categorically states that they must be relied upon when he confirms that " . . . isnads and the principles which govern them are only intelligible through the work of Muslim scholars; any modern analysis must reflect a sound knowledge of their critique."
Neither has Smith relied on the works of Muslim scholars nor does he reflect any sound knowledge of their critique, thereby producing laughable errors when dealing with even the most basic principles.
The references compared, lets take another look at Smith's claims in this paragraph, for he has indeed reached erroneous conclusions, defied common sense and copied blindly without verification:
1. If he had bothered to carry out any meaningful research he would have found strong evidence of isnad analysis and criticism well before the period to which he alludes. The following examples, most of which are available in print, shows the futility of his baseless comments:
- Ar-Risalah of ash-Shafi'ee (containing specific sections on the standards and criteria for an authentic hadith as well as a chapter on the authenticity of narrations which come through only one chain of transmission)
- Tareekh ar-Rijaal wal-Ilal of Yahya ibn Maeen (evaluating the narrators in the isnad as well as discussing hidden defects which might be contained in the chain).
- Al-Ilal of Ali Ibn al-Madini.
- Ar-Ruwaat ad-Du'afaa of al-Fallaas (discussing weak narrators in the isnad)
- Al-Ilal wa Marifat al-Rijal of Ahmad ibn Hanbal (evaluating the narrators in the isnad as well as discussing hidden defects which might be contained in the chain).
- Tarikh al-Kabir of al-Bukhari (evaluating the isnad through its narrators).
- Tamyiz of Muslim (The methodology of hadith criticism)
- Abu Dawud in his famous letter to the citizens of Makkah (describing, for the benefit of his readers, the varying degrees of authenticity of the hadith in his Sunan).
2. Smith himself has already indicated that the likes of Bukhari took a vast quantity of hadith, accepting some of them and rejecting others. We know from their respective works that both Bukhari and Muslim set themselves the task of only collecting some of those hadith which were of the sahih class. How could they have gone about this duty if, as Smith claims, the science of evaluation "only began in the tenth century"? Whats more, the books from the tenth century onwards are full of praise for Bukhari and Muslim for fulfilling their task accurately, showing that the science of hadith analysis was already in place in their time.
3. The Sunan works of at-Tirmidhee and Abu Dawud contain the authors comments after many of the hadith showing the reliability or weakness of the isnad. How could they have done this if the science of evaluation "only began in the tenth century"?
4. There are the critical comments of the likes of Malik ibn Anas, az-Zuhri, Sufyan ibn Uyainah, Yahya ibn al-Qattan, Shu'bah and numerous others littered throughout the biographical works, all speaking of the science of hadith and the evaluation of the narrations.
5. James Robson writes: "By the second century the criticism of traditions was well developed, and warnings were given against unreliable transmitters." [James Robson, Mishkat al-Masabih - English translation, Vol.1, Introduction, p.iii. Lahore: 1991]
Despite all of this, what difficulty does it pose - if it were true - that the science of isnad analysis was not developed until the tenth century? We are only today perfecting techniques for the authentication and verification of age old artefacts. Are we to say then that such verification is of no value because it was only developed and carried out years after the artefacts first went into circulation? The application of Smith's arguments into other fields shows their complete absurdity.
Smith says: "Consequently, because it is such an inexact science . . . " Smith finds it easy to make such sweeping statements, largely based on his own fractured research (or lack of it). From what has preceded and that which is to follow we can see the futility of Smith's assertions and the weak foundation upon which he has built his argument.
Bernard Lewis writes: "But their careful scrutiny of the chains of transmission and their meticulous collection and preservation of variants in the transmitted narratives give to medieval Arabic historiography a professionalism and sophistication without precedent in antiquity and without parallel in the contemporary medieval West. By comparison, the historiography of Latin Christendom seems poor and meagre, and even the more advanced and complex historiography of Greek Christendom still falls short of the historical literature of Islam in volume, variety and analytical depth." [Bernard Lewis, Islam in History, p.105. Open Court Publishing:1993]
Professor D. S. Margoliouth says: " . . . its value in making for accuracy cannot be questioned, and the Muslims are justified in taking pride in their science of tradition." [Lectures on Arabic Historians, p.20. Calcutta University:1920]