Course Overview

This course provides an overview of the hadith sciences. It introduces the subject of hadith as a source of Islamic law and offers a history of its development and taxonomy, and how they were compiled and recorded through chains of narrations. The course touches upon the most famous hadith collections and the compilers behind these works, such as Imam Malik, Imam Ahmad, Imam Bukhari, and Imam Muslim. The second part of the unit focuses on the rigorous scientific methods employed in evaluating isnad (chains of narration).

الإِسْنَادُ مِنَ الدِّينِ وَلَوْلاَ الإِسْنَادُ لَقَالَ مَنْ شَاءَ مَا شَاءَ

“The isnad is from the religion; were it not for the isnad anyone could say anything they wanted.”
[Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak in Sahih Muslim]

This introductory course introduces the development of the science of hadith narration; from the origins of reporting hadith to a detailed exposition of isnad evaluation (chains of narration).

Learning Objectives

• Upon successful completion of this module students should be able to:
• Understand the historical development of the reporting and narrating hadith
• Accurately describe the science of hadith classification (mustalah)
• Accurately describe the science of isnad criticism and knowledge of biographies (‘ilm al-rijal)