Classification of Hadith: Difference between revisions

One of these books was a Hadith book classified based on jurisprudential topics and was written by one of Shi'a Hadith scholars, [[Muhammad b. 'Ali Halabi]], and was one of Shi'a reference books for a long time.

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, prophethood and Imamate; afterwards, he stated some historical discussions 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 from 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 ''[[Bihar 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 discussions of prophethood and Imamate; and he considers both theoretical and historical aspects in discussing on prophethood. Likewise, in the theological topics, he proposed some independent sections for the topics relevant to [[resurrection]] and justice.

During the third century/9th-10th centuries, along with the improvement of Hadith classification, some opponent movements appeared; in the [[Sunni]] school of thought, some of the recent scholars of Ashab al-Hadith (companions of Hadith) and on top of them Ahmad Hanbal opposed 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 third century/9th-10th centuries, 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 (300/913) 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 third century/9th-10th centuries, 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 Awfa from Yahya b. Sa'id and the Musnad of [[Sa'd b. Abi Waqqas]] from Dawraqi.

Sorting Hadiths of one book based on the infallible 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 (book)|Tuhaf al-'uqul]]'' of Ibn Shu'ba, ''al-Ihtijaj'' of Abu Mansur Tabarsi and ''Nuzhat al-Nazir'' Halwani. Al-Mu'jam al-Shuyukh, local history books, and Rijal books include some other Hadiths from different resources with different kind of classifications which can be searched just with one narrator in the chain of reference. 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).

Writing books with ethical subjects and full of preaching and apothem, leads to remarkable consideration of these Mojarrad (without any references) Hadiths by those Faqihs with ethical inclination. 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.

At the beginning of seventh century/13th century, at the time of Mongol empire's attack to the eastern part of the 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 seventh century/13th-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.

This phenomenon called "undocumented Hadith" which usually is common, whether a result of fabrication or considering something as Hadith which is not, leads to a worry for Hadith scholars; and they tried to provide some books for the purification of these undocumented Hadiths, such as the book ''al-Ahadith al-Dakhila'' and their documents.