Understanding a hadith: chain, grade of authenticity and the major collections

What is a hadith?

The word حديث (hadith) means “account, saying.” In Islam, it designates what is reported from the Prophet ﷺ: a saying, an action, a silent approval or a description of his person. The whole of this teaching forms the سنة (sunna), the way of the Prophet ﷺ.

The Quran entrusts the Prophet ﷺ with the mission of explaining the Revelation. This is why Muslims took great care, very early on, to preserve his words:

Prayer, for example, is commanded in the Quran, but its number of units and its movements are known through hadiths. Understanding how a hadith is transmitted and judged is therefore understanding where a large part of daily practice comes from.

Two parts: the chain and the text

Every hadith is made up of two elements:

• the إسناد isnad (literally “support”): the chain of persons who transmitted it, from generation to generation;
• the متن matn (“the body”): the text itself, what the Prophet ﷺ said or did.

Let us take a real example. In his collection, al-Bukhari writes in Arabic: “Yahya ibn Yusuf related to me…”. The complete chain reads as follows:

1. al-Bukhari heard it from Yahya ibn Yusuf,
2. who had it from Abu Bakr ibn ‘Ayyash,
3. from Abu Hasin,
4. from Abu Salih,
5. from Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him), a Companion who heard it from the Prophet ﷺ.

Then comes the text:

In our articles, only the last link appears (“narrator: Abu Hurayra”), to keep things readable. But the whole chain exists in the collection, and it is the chain that scholars have examined. The scholar ‘Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak used to say that the isnad is part of the religion and that, without it, everyone would say whatever he wished; his saying is quoted by Muslim in the introduction to his collection.

The grades of authenticity

To judge a hadith, specialists verify five conditions. A hadith is called صحيح sahih (authentic) when:

1. the chain is continuous: each transmitter received the hadith directly from the one before him;
2. each transmitter is upright, known for his integrity;
3. each transmitter is accurate, with a good memory or reliable writings;
4. the hadith does not contradict a stronger transmission;
5. it has no hidden defect, as detected by the experts.

From there, several grades are distinguished:

• sahih: all the conditions are met;
• حسن hasan (good): conditions met, but one transmitter has slightly lesser accuracy; the hadith is still accepted as evidence;
• ضعيف da‘if (weak): a condition is missing (broken chain, unreliable transmitter…); it is not attributed to the Prophet ﷺ with certainty;
• موضوع mawdu‘ (fabricated): an invented text, which it is forbidden to spread as a saying of the Prophet ﷺ.

Compound expressions are also encountered. At-Tirmidhi often uses “hasan sahih.” The terms sahih li-ghayrihi or hasan li-ghayrihi mean that a hadith has been strengthened by other chains. The hadith of the she-camel is a fine example:

At-Tirmidhi himself notes that this chain coming from Anas is isolated, and he points out another transmission with a similar meaning. More recent scholars, such as Ahmad Shakir and al-Albani, judged it hasan. We can see that the grade of a hadith is the fruit of a study, not of an impression.

This rigor has a serious reason: the Prophet ﷺ warned against attributing words to him carelessly.

The major collections

In the 2nd and 3rd centuries of the Hijra, scholars traveled for years to gather the hadiths with their chains, then classified them by theme.

The two Sahihs

• Sahih al-Bukhari, by Muhammad ibn Isma‘il al-Bukhari (died in 256 AH);
• Sahih Muslim, by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (died in 261 AH).

Scholars accepted these two books as authentic by consensus. When a hadith appears in both, it is called متفق عليه muttafaq ‘alayh (“agreed upon”).

The Sunan and the Jami‘

Four other collections complete the “six books”: the Sunan of Abu Dawud, an-Nasa’i and Ibn Majah, and the Jami‘ of at-Tirmidhi. They contain sahih, hasan and sometimes da‘if hadiths. For these, one therefore looks at the ruling given on each hadith: that of the author when he gives it (at-Tirmidhi often does), and that of scholars such as al-Albani, Ahmad Shakir or Shu‘ayb al-Arna’ut.

Other useful works

The Muwatta’ of Imam Malik and the Musnad of Imam Ahmad are also major sources. To begin, the anthologies of an-Nawawi, such as Riyad as-Salihin and The 40 Hadiths, select texts drawn from these collections and give their references.

Reading a reference: “Sahih al-Bukhari no. 6116”

A reference is read in two steps: the collection, then the number of the hadith in that collection. We follow the numbering of sunnah.com, the most widespread online, and sometimes write it in short form: bukhari:6116.

For Sahih Muslim, you will sometimes see a letter after the number, as in Muslim no. 2564c. The number is that of the edition of Muhammad Fu’ad ‘Abd al-Baqi; the letter distinguishes the different versions of the same hadith (a, b, c…). Here, the third version contains the sentence: “Allah does not look at your appearances or your wealth, but He looks at your hearts and your deeds.”

Finding a hadith on sunnah.com

The site sunnah.com, free of charge, presents the major collections in Arabic and English. Here is how to verify a reference:

Before sharing a hadith

A message that begins with “The Prophet ﷺ said…” without any reference deserves to be checked before being forwarded. The Quran asks us to verify a piece of news before relaying it:

For example, the hadith “anger comes from the Devil… make your ablution” (Abu Dawud no. 4784) circulates widely; yet it is judged weak by al-Albani.

Finally, knowing a hadith is not enough to draw a ruling from it on one’s own: it must be brought together with the other texts, the Quran and the understanding of scholars. For a personal question, turn to a qualified person.

Going further

• How we verify each reference: Methodology and sources.
• Browse the hadith collections in Tawakoul.
• The book of knowledge in Riyad as-Salihin.
• The other pillar of study: Understanding the Quran, where to start.