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An Introduction to Islam

Sunnah, hadith and the sources of Islamic authority

  • 3 things to know
  • AS

Overview

Two parts of a hadith, grades into which hadith are classified and principal Sunni hadith collections.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Define sunnah.

Key term

Distinguish hadith from sunnah.

Key term

Name the grades into which hadith are classified.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Define sunnah.

    Model answer

    The sunnah is the trodden path of the Prophet: what he said, what he did and what he approved of in others, taken together as the pattern of a rightly lived Muslim life.

  2. 2

    Distinguish hadith from sunnah.

    Model answer

    The sunnah is the Prophet's practice itself, while a hadith is an individual report about that practice transmitted from those who witnessed it, so the hadith literature is the evidence from which the sunnah is known.

  3. 3

    Name the two parts of a hadith.

    Model answer

    A hadith has an isnad, the chain of transmitters naming who heard it from whom, and a matn, the text of what was said or done.

  4. 4

    Name the grades into which hadith are classified.

    Model answer

    Hadith are graded sahih or sound, hasan or good, da'if or weak, and mawdu' or fabricated, according to the reliability and continuity of the chain and the soundness of the text; the biographical science of the transmitters, ilm al-rijal, exists to test whether each named person was truthful, accurate and could actually have met the one quoted.

  5. 5

    Name the principal Sunni hadith collections.

    Model answer

    Sunni Muslims recognise six collections, of which those of al-Bukhari and Muslim are held in the highest regard, the others being those of Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa'i and Ibn Majah.

  6. 6

    Which collections do Shi'a Muslims use?

    Model answer

    Shi'a Muslims use their own Four Books, of which al-Kulayni's al-Kafi is the best known, and they accept reports transmitted through the Prophet's family alongside those from the companions.

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