Classification of Hadith: Difference between revisions

Traditionally, religious scholars were pursuing classification and sorting of Hadiths for the sake of more accessibility. At first, in the time of [[Ahl al-Bayt (a)]], the companions wrote what they heard from them without any special order and because of that, it was difficult to refer to these sporadic Hadiths in the next centuries. To solve this problem, some religious scholars tried to propose some classification of Hadiths. Some ones assorted Hadiths based on the Imam who stated it; another group classified them based on Hadith transmitter, and again, the other tried to sort them based on the first letter of Hadiths' sentences.

During the second century, a general movement of Hadith classification was simultaneously formed among different hadith collectors and some works appeared under the names such as al-Sunan, al-Jami', al-Muwatta' and al-Musannaf.

One of the contributors of the project of jurisprudential Hadiths classification was [[Abu Bakr b. Abi Shayba]] (850/235) in his book ''al-Musannaf''. Likewise, in the second generation of Hadith collectors, when [[Bukhari]] wrote his book ''al-Jami' al-Sahih'', we still see some defects and inconsistency in the classification of hadiths; and the best reason for this claim is the presence of some chapters without any Hadiths as well as the presence of the same Hadith with different references which are scattered in different chapters of the book.

Likewise, in the Shi'a school of thought, the first Hadiths collectors were [[Safwan b. Yahya]], Husayn b. Sa'id, Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Khalid Barqi who made early categories. The turning point in this movement is ''al-Kafi'' by [[al-Kulayni]] which exerted great influence on the later system of Shi'a Hadith classification due to both validity of its contents and comprehensiveness of its topics. Al-Kulayni started this book with some general discussion on the intellect and science, then he proposed some theological topics including monism, prophet-hood and Imamate; afterwards, he stated some historical discussion on the lives of [[infallibles]] and in the next part we see a big chapter which include jurisprudential subjects. The last chapter is actually a selective and brief part of religious thoughts.

The next three books out of the so-called "[[Four books]]", which were limited to jurisprudential subjects, were actually a reformation of the classification of ''al-Kafi''. But then, we see the book ''Da'a'im al-Islam'' by Qadi Nu'man Maghribi which was completely different with the Four books and follows a distinct method of classification. It is worthy to note that this new classification was later used in some jurisprudential books –not Hadith ones- specially ''al-Kafi'' by Abu Salah Halabi.

In the recent centuries, one of the most impressive Hadith books is the unparalleled book ''Bahar al-Anwar'' by [['Allama Majlisi]] which is known as a comprehensive Hadith book which is written in consistence with modern rationality. According to Majlisi, this book follows an unprecedented order. The author paid attention to the previous style, however, he added some new branches of Hadith such as "Kitab al-Sama' wa al-'Alam" (the book of sky and universe) which were neglected by previous Hadith scholars. Moreover, unlike al-Kulayni, al-Majlisi did not separate the history of the lives of infallibles from theological discussion of prophet-hood and Imamate; and he considers both theoretical and historical aspects in discussing on prophet-hood. Likewise, in the theological topics, he proposed some independent sections for the topics relevant to resurrection and justice.

During the 9th-10th centuries/3rd century, along with the improvement of Hadith classification, some opponent movements appeared; in the [[Sunni]] school of thought, some of the recent scholars of As-hab al-Hadith (companions of Hadith) and on top of them [[Ahmad Hanbal]] opposed to any subject classification of Hadith and as a result he inclined to writing Musnad instead of al-Jami' books. Likewise, in the Shi'a school of thought, it seems that, in the half of 9th-10th centuries/3rd century, there were two contradictory movements, especially apparent in Qom; The first group tended to classify Hadith based on the subjects, and their first figure was Dawud b. Kura (913/300) who classified some of the previous important books based on the subject order such as ''al-Mashikha'' written by Hasan b. Mahbub and ''al-Nawadir'' written by Ahmad b. Muhammad b. 'Isa. And the second group whose figures are Ahmad b. 'Isa and 'Abd allah b. Ja'far Hemyari. Ahmad b. Muhammad b.'Isa himself wrote the book ''al-Nawadir'' without any subject classification.

Masanid (the plural of Musnad), writing of which started in 9th-10th centuries/3rd century, were some Hadith writing classified based on [[Sahaba]] (companions of the prophet) instead of subjects and different topics. Sahaba were the first agents in the chain of Hadith who narrated Hadiths form the prophet (s) himself. In some early examples of Masanid such as Musnad of Tayalisi, Ahmad b. Hanbal, Royani, Abu Ya'la Musili, one part is devoted to each Sahaba but there is no special order in every part. But in the other variety of Masanid which were written later, in the relevant part of each Sahaba, there are a special order based on the second narrators and even third narrators; Musnad of Ishaq b. Rahway, Musnad of Abu Bakr, Musnad of Haytham b. Kalib chachi are some examples of these Masanid.

Consequently, in those Masanid limited to just a single Sahaba, it is more natural to expect the second narrators order and even third narrators. This can be witnessed in some of the Masanid such as Musnad of 'Umar from Ya'qub b. Shayba, Musnad of Ibn Abi Aufa from Yahya b. Sa'id and the Musnad of Sa'd b. Abi Waqqas from Dawraqi.

Sorting Hadiths of one book based on the infallibles Imams is still another kind which is close to the previous one; we can see such Hadith collections in Shi'a school, for example ''Tuhaf al-'Uqul'' of Ibn Shu'ba, ''al-Ihtijaj'' of Abu Mansur Tabarsi and ''Nazha al-Nazir'' Halwani. Al-Mu'jam al-Shuyukh, local history books, and Rijal books are included some other Hadiths from different resources with different kind of classifications which can be searched just with one narrator in the chain of references. From early Shi'a scholars, Ahmad b. Husayn b. 'Abd al-Malik wrote the book ''al-Mashiykha'' of Hasan b. Mahbub based on the names of Shuyukh (prominent Hadith scholars in every century)

Along the continuous century, another method of classification emerged; according to this method, the first letter of Hadiths sentences is the criterion of the classification and the purpose is proposing an alphabetic order of Hadiths. The oldest known example of this kind of hadith books are some Shi'a texts which have been written based on this order such as ''Jami' al-Ahadith'' of Ja'far b. Ahmad b. Razi (included the prophet's traditions), ''Ghurar al-Hikam'' of Abu al-Fath Amudi (included Imam 'Ali's traditions). Likewise, from 15th-16th centuries/10th century, it is used in the recognition of Hadiths in Sunni's Majami', an example of which is ''al-Jami' al-Saghir'' of [[al-Sayuti]].

Cataloging of Hadiths started with the book ''al-Mu'jam al-Mufahras -Li l-Alfaz al-Hadith al-Nabawi'' written by A.Y. Winsink which is published by Brill in Leiden (Netherlands) in 1936-1969. But then, some Shi'a and Sunni scholars tried to provide such cataloging books. Moreover, as an example of subject index for Hadiths, see the book ''Miftah Kunuz al-Sunna'' which has been originally written by A.Y. Winsink and is translated to Arabic by 'Abd al-Baqi; ever since, we see several works and similar books in this regard from both Sunni and Shi'a schools of thought.

During 9th-10th centuries/3rd century up to 11th-12th centuries/5th century, the biggest Hadith collections had been written and the most important figures of the next century tried to interpret and commentate on these collections instead of writing unwritten Hadiths.

It might be said that at the end of 11th century, the religious scholars felt that the most important steps for collecting Hadiths had been taken and regarding the "Four books" of Shi'a and the "[[Six Sihah]]" of Sunnis, there is no considerable threat of diminishing or misusing of Hadiths; and in the next century, some books wrote for preaching Hadiths without any citing of references. The scholars of these books didn't feel any need to reciting references and it is called Tajrid.

Writing books with ethical subjects and full of preaching and apothem, leads to remarkable consideration of ethical Faqihs to these Mojarrad (without any references) Hadiths; some of these books are as follow: ''Adab al-Dunya wa al-Din'' of Abu al-Hasan Mawirdi and ''Ihya 'Ulum al-Din'' written by [[al-Ghazzali]].

Likewise, the other Shi'a texts with this approach are as follows, ''Karajuki'', ''Rawza al-Wa'izin'' of Fattal Nayshaburi, ''Nazhat al-Nazir'' of Husayn b. Muhammad Halwani, ''Ghurar al-Hikam'' of Amudi, ''al-Ihtijaj'' of Ahmad b. 'Ali Tabarsi and ''Makarim al-Akhlaq'' of Hasan b. Muhammad Tabarsi.

As an example of this kind of Hadith books,''Tuhaf al-'Uqul'' of Ibn Sha'ba Harrani can not be easily dated. In the six century, there were some preacher such as Ibn Jawzi who had both kinds of Hadih books, Musnad and Mujarrad; some of his works were Musnad that corresponded to early method and his other works were Mujarrad such as ''Bustan al-Wa'izin''.

At the beginning of 13th century, at the time of Mongol empire's attack to the east part of Islamic world, the scientific schools declined and this depression was dominant in all fields including Hadith sciences; many of the resources diminished and the approach of writing Mujarrad books increased. During the 13th and 14th centuries, and in the Sunni schools, we see some Hadith works such as ''al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib'' of 'Abd al-'Azim Mundhari and ''al-'Arba'in'' of Muhyi al-Din Nawawi; and also, in the shi'a school, some great religious scholars such as Radi al-Din Ibn Tawus follow this method.

In addition to Mujarrad Hadiths in preaching works, there were some other Mujarrad Hadiths in Sufi books as well as [[Ghali]] literature which were without any references. During these centuries, this type of Hadiths had found their way to the works by famous authors since it had become normal to use Mujarrad Hadiths. Hence, we can find, in the middle centuries works of both Shi'a and Sunni, many of Mujarrad Hadiths which could not be found in the classical resources.

Some of the Hadith scholars such as Zayn al-Din 'Araqi (who tried to predicate the book ''Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din'' of al-Ghazali) and Ibn Hajar 'Asqalani (who tried to predicate Hadiths of ''al-Kashshaf'' by al-Zamakhshari) have repeatedly mentioned such sentences as "this Hadith was not find in any references"

This phenomenon called "undocumented Hadith" which usually are common, whether were the results of fabrication or the conclusions of writing Hadiths, leads to a worry for Hadith scholars; and they tried to provide some book for purification of these undocumented Hadiths, such as the book ''al-Ahadith al-Dakhila'' and their documents.