usul al-hadith lecture 8

8/10/2019 Usul Al-Hadith Lecture 8

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ISLAMIC SCIENCES AND RESEARCH ACADEMY OF AUSTRALIA

Lecture 8:Unfamiliar Expressions

in Hadith and Abrogation



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Gharib al-Hadith

•This field is concerned with odd and unfamiliarexpressions that are encountered in hadith.

• The third generation spoke on this subject first.

• When the meet a unfamiliar word or expressions they

searched the meanings.

• Arabic language have been greatly affected fromnone Arabic sources, so the later generations did notunderstand pure Arabic very well.

• The mission of the Prophet Muhammad was notconfined to the Qurayshite of Makka; he had toaddress and communicate with all the tribes ofArabia.




Unfamiliar Expressions

• Arab tribes had different dialects some of which

were easy and light whereas others were unfamiliareven to the nearby tribes and were not well-knownat all.

• Qur’an was revealed upon the seven dialects.

• The non-Arabic words infiltrated into Arabic andwere absorbed into the Arabic language.

• The foreigners had difficulty in mastering thelanguage of the Qur’an and hadith.

• Then there came a time when the ‘ulama’ andscholars of hadith were prompted to address theissue of unfamiliar words and expressions which hadentered into the corpus of hadith.




Unfamiliar Expressions• The early scholars of hadith were very careful in this

issue;• Once Ahmad b. Hanbal was asked about the

precise meaning of a letter of an unfamiliardescription in a hadith and he said;

• “Ask those who are expert in al-gharib, for I amreluctant to speculate concerning the sayings of theMessenger of God”.

• al-Asma’i (d. 216 H) was once asked about the

meaning of the hadith “al-jaru ahaqqu bi-saqabihi,”.He said; “I do not wish to interpret the hadith, but theArabs tend to use ‘al-saqab’ in the sense of“immediately adjacent” (inna al-saqab al-laziq).




Unfamiliar Expressions

• “the neighbour has a greater claim to what is

immediately adjoining his property.”• Abu ‘Ubayd Ma’mar b. al-Muthanna al-Taymi (d. 209

H) is the first scholar who wrote in this field; gharib al-hadith.

• This work is a small book in which he explainedunfamiliar expressions in hadith by reference toIslamic or pre-Islamic origins of the words and howthey might have been used in poetry and prose and

the meaning they conveyed in the particular hadithin which they occurred

• Other scholars; Abu ‘Ubayd al-Qasim b. Sallam (d.224)and Muhammad b. al-Qasim al-Anbari (d. 328)


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Unfamiliar Expressions• Abu Ubayd’s work is comprehensive as it is said that

it is the result of forty years of scholarship.

• Al-Nihaya fi Gharib al-Hadith wa’l-Athar, by Majdal-Din Abi’l- Sa’adat b. al-Athir (d. 606 H) is veryimportant work in this field.

•It has combined and consolidated preceding workson the subject and is accepted as a work ofreference on gharib al-hadith.

• Arabic words such as baha’ (to take pride), abha’

(houses), labata (to fall, also to enjoy), bughaysh(rainfall), hudhayya (tiding, good news) and manymore such expressions that occur in ahadith areunfamiliar even to native speakers of Arabic.



Explaining Unfamiliar Expressions

• There are basically two ways to explain the

unfamiliar expressions in hadith;• A) to look into other ahadith or works of hadith

• B) through recourse to dictionaries, both generaland specialised, as well as works on the subject of

gharib al-hadith.• One of the most commonly used works of reference

on the subject is Al-Fa’iq li-Gharib al-Hadith by al-Zamakhshari.

• Four scholars have contributed Islam a lot; ImamShafi in Uṣūl al-Fiqh, Abu Ubayd in Gharīb al-Hadith,

Yahya ibn Main in cleaning forgery in Hadith andAhmad bin Hanbal remained firm against mihna.



Explaining Unfamiliar Expressions

• Al-Nisaburi has quoted a number of ahadith and

explained the unfamiliar expressions in them;• “Khabuthat nafsi” (my soul indulged in filth), and

the Prophet said concerning it “Let none of you saykhabuthat nafsi, but say rather “laqisat nafsi ”

synonymous to “daqat nafsi”.• Al-Nisaburi has also quoted some words that the

Prophet spoke affectionately while playing with hisgrandson al-Husayn, which have been

subsequently explained by experts in the language.• Quoted also is a poem cited by ‘Ali b. Abi Talib

which contains unfamiliar words.



al-Nasikh wa’l-Mansukh fi’l-Hadith

• According to al-Zuhri, even the learned jurists areoften unaware of the abrogator and abrogated inhadith.

• Imam Shafi contributed a lot in this field.

• Other prominent scholars who wrote on the subjectinclude Ahmad b. Ishaq al-Tanukhi (d. 318/930),

Muhammad b. Bahr al-Isfahani (d. 332/934), ‘Umarb. Shahin al-Baghdadi (d. 385/995) and Abu BakrMuhammad b. Musa al-Hamdani (d. 584 H), whowrote Al-I’tibar fi’l-Nasikh wa’l-Mansukh min al-

Athar.




• Abrogation is defined as the removal or suspension

of one Shari’a ruling by another, provided that thelatter is of a subsequent origin and the two rulingsare enacted separately from one another.

• The occasion for naskh arises only when there is a

clear conflict between two ahadith and the conflictbetween their respective rulings cannot bereconciled nor can the one be distinguished fromthe other in regard to its subject matter, time or

circumstance.• Abrogation, whether in the hadith itself or between

the Qur’an and hadith, is of relevance mainly todefinitive rulings especially in the area of the ahkam.



Naskh and Its Conditions• Naskh in its wider sense falls within the ambit more of

usul al-fiqh than hadith.

• There are different opinions among the leadingscholars regarding naskh.

• Imam Shafi holds that the Qur’an and the Sunna

can only abrogate themselves but that they do notabrogate one another.

• Prerequisites of Naskh;

• 1) two Hadith are in clear conflict

• 2) The abrogating hadith is of a later origin than theone that it abrogates.

• 3) The subject matter of hadith must also be onethat is amenable to abrogation (mainly ahkam)



Naskh and Its Conditions

• 4) Naskh does not apply to purely rational subjects

nor does it apply to factual statements that are inthe nature of news and reports.

• There are four types of abrogation in hadith;

• 1) Explicitly known from the saying of the Prophet

himself; “I had forbidden you from visiting thegraves. You may now visit them”.

• “O Messenger of God! We go out in the sea andcarry with us a little water; if we use that water for

ablution we would not have enough for drinking.Can we make ablution by sea water? The Prophet,peace be on him, said to him: “The sea is clean, itswater is clean and so is the dead of the sea.”



Types of abrogation• 2) Known from the saying of a Companion rather

than the text of the hadith itself.

• “Refresh your ablution after consuming what ischanged (cooked) by fire”.

• Jabir b. ‘Abd Allah has said; ablution is not vitiated

by consuming food that is changed by fire (orcooked by fire)• “The deceased is tortured by the weeping of his relatives over his

death”.

• ‘A’isha; “May God bless Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman (i.e. Ibn ‘Umar ) who

has not lied but has forgotten or mistaken that when the Messengerof God passed by a (deceased) Jewish woman whose relativeswere crying over her, he said: They are crying while she is beingtortured in her grave” (stating thus two separate things, i.e. not thatthe one had caused the other)



Types of abrogation• 3) Known through an historical or chronological

sequence of events.

• “cupping breaks the fast of both the cupper and thecupped”

• Ibn ‘Abbas; “The Prophet (pbuh) cupped while hewas fasting”.

• 4) Abrogation in hadith may be known throughgeneral consensus (ijma’) such as the hadith “onewho drinks liquor shall be lashed, but if he repeated it

four times, he shall be killed”.• It is abrogated on general consensus; so those

people are not killed.

• The Prophet punished a man for drinking on a fourth

occasion by beating but did not kill him.



Books on Naskh• Asbab wurud al-hadith is very important in naskh.

•

It is explaining and specifying occasions of theoccurrence, or pronouncement of hadith.

• The works in the filed of naskh in Hadith are;

• al-Hafiz Abu Bakr Muhammad b. al-Athram (d. 261);

Nasikh al-Hadith wa Mansukhuh.• al-Hafiz Abi Hafs ‘Umar b. Ahmad al-Baghdadi (d.

385); Nasikh al-Hadith wa Mansukhuh

• al-Hafiz Abu Bakr Muhammad b. Musa al-Hazimi (d.584); Al-I’tibar fi’l-Nasikh wa’l-Mansukh min al-Athar



Ziyadat al-Thiqat



Ziyadat al-Thiqat• Two different versions of a hadith are sometimes

reported by two different but reliable narrators, oreven by the same narrator at different points of time,one of which adds a segment to the shorter version orrecords some kind of variation to the words.

• The question then arises as to the admissibility orotherwise of the additional data to the hadith inquestion.

• Two situations are envisaged here, one of which is

that the additional part to a hadith either opposesthe substance of the shorter version and stands inconflict with it or that it merely reiterates andendorses it.



Ziyadat al-Thiqat

• There is basically no problem when the additionalinformation confirms totally the existing part.

• But there are often cases where the additional

segment, nevertheless, contains a juristic addition.• In the event where the additional part conflicts

directly with the existing portion of the hadith, theissue will be treated as one of conflict and

preference (al-ta’arud wa’l-tarjih) to which therules that apply to this subject will apply.




Method to Solve Conflicts

• This would necessitate looking into the

circumstances and occasions of the two reports,the cause, if any, of the addition, and retentivenessof the narrators involved.

• If the additional elements, whether in the text of the

hadith or in its chain of transmission, are manifestlyodd and isolated and are not supported by themuch larger number of reported cases of the samehadith, then the addition itself will be ignored.

• The other important thing is were the two ahadithuttered at one and the same meeting or occasionwhen the Prophet actually pronounced them ondifferent occasions?




Method to Solve Conflicts• If they happened in different occasions then a conflict

may be less likely to arise and both versions may beaccepted as they are.

• If two versions happened at the same time, then versionthat is transmitted by more narrators will prevail over thatwhich is variantly transmitted by one.

• Consequently the additional part of the hadith which istransmitted by a single narrator is isolated and rejectedfor the simple reason that error by one person is morelikely than by a multitude.

• But if the single narrator is an eminently reliable personand more knowledgeable on the subject, then hisversion, will be preferred over the variant report of manywho are known for careless reporting.





• The preference of one over the other version may

be determined on juridical grounds and the greaterproximity that might be exhibited by one or theother with the Qur’an and the relevant principles ofShari’a.

•

As for the situation where the longer version of thesame hadith confirms and reiterates the shorterversion, two possibilities can arise;

• 1) Both versions are reported by the same narrator

who has merely quoted the same hadith but haselaborated it further on the subsequent occasion byadding something to it. There is no problem in thiscase.





• 2) If the longer version of the hadith adds a new point

that does not exist in the shorter hadith, then the longerhadith is considered as a separate hadith that isreported by a reliable narrator, and each part may beseparately quoted.

• When the two parts of a hadith are concerned with twodifferent subjects, it is also permissible to quote only therelevant part in a context where the other part is left out.

• Hudhayfa; “... the earth has all of it been made into a mosque forus, and its soil has been purified for us.”

• Abu Malik b. Tariq al-Ashja’i is the only one who has narrated thishadith with the additional elements at the end, especially thereference to the soil “turbatuha” which is absent in other reports.

• Ibn Umar; “and the earth has been made into a mosque for us and

purified.”





• As it appears here the additional version does not

oppose the shorter version of the hadith; both aretherefore accepted and this is what Imam Malik andAbu Hanifa have also held, and it is the correct position.

• Another example; ‘Abd Allah b. Mas’ud who said that “I

asked the Prophet, peace be on him: what is the best ofall deeds? And he said “prayer when performed at thebeginning of its time segment.” Then I asked “thenwhat?” and the Prophet, peace be on him, said

“struggle in the way of God”; then I said “what else?” towhich the Prophet replied “being good to one’sparents”.

• “At the beginning of its time segment” only reported byHasan b. Mukarram and is accepted.




• ‘A’isha reports that the Prophet, peace be on him,

said: “when a woman is married without thepermission of her guardian (wali) and two uprightwitnesses, her marriage is null and void; if themarriage is consummated, she is entitled to the

dower, and if there is a dispute, then the ruler is thewali of one who has no wali.”

• Nisaburi said; the phrase “and two uprightwitnesses” is not reported by anyone else except

by Abu ‘Ali al-Hafiz.• The version of hadith without this additional phrase

is the verified and correct version.





Addition in Isnad

• Addition (ziyada) can also occur in the isnad of a

hadith.• Credibility is given to that version which is narrated by a

larger number of narrators, and the other version isconsequently considered odd or isolated.

•

Abu Murthad al-Ghanawi, that “I heard the Prophet,peace be on him, saying: “Do not sit by the graves norperform prayers toward them.”

• Ibn al-Salah wrote that the reference to Sufyan in theisnad of this hadith is an addition which is a mistake,and so is the reference to Abu Idris.

• As a number of reliable narrators have quoted thishadith from ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Yazid b. Jabir directly.




Addition in Isnad

• Additions and discrepancies that are observed in the

isnad, might amount to the same hadith having beenreported as a Mursal by a group of narrators whereasonly one narrator has rendered is as a Musnad.

• Hadith methods are applied to prefer the sound version

of Hadith;• The rules of validation and impugnment (al-jarh wa’l-

ta’dil) and those which apply to the veracity andretentiveness of the narrators would thus be applicable.

• Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463 H) has authored a bookon the subject of additions to hadith bearing the titleKitab al-Tamyiz al-Mazid fi Muttasil al-Asanid

Additi i M t




Addition in Matn

• The Prophet said in his Farewell pilgrimage: “May

God gladden one who heard my speech and didnot add anything to it and conveyed it to others.May the conveyer then deliver it to one who is evenmore attentive in preserving it.”

•

Some hadith scholars have held it permissible toshorten a hadith which the narrator has narrated infull on a previous occasion.

• It is not permissible to reduce a hadith or omit a part

of it if or leave out a ruling, condition or provisiontherein that would undermine the integrity of thehadith, especially when it is concerned with religiousobservances and ‘ibadat.




Addition in Matn

• But if the hadith contains two separate parts oneof which is not dependent on the other, nor is it acondition nor exception thereto, then it ispermissible for the narrator to cite only the partthat is relevant to his purpose.

• Once the complete version of hadith is verified, itbecomes permissible to summarise it for purposes

of brevity. (Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161) used to dothis)




Conclusion• al-Baghdadi wrote categorically that addition of

elements to hadith by a reliable narrator isacceptable regardless of the nature of its subjectmatter;

• be it concerned with legal rulings (ahkam) oroutside this sphere,

•

provided that the narrator is “upright, retentive,careful and accurate,”

• and that there is general agreement amonghadith scholars on this.



END

usul al-hadith lecture 8

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