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Breif History of Classification of
Hadīth
As time passed, more
reporters were involved in each isnād, and so the
situation demanded strict discipline in the acceptance
of ahādīth; the rules regulating this discipline are
known as Mustalah al-Hadīth (the Classification of
Hadīth).
Amongst the early traditionists
(muhaddithīn, scholars of Hadīth), the rules and
criteria governing their study of Hadīth were meticulous
but some of their terminology varied from person to
person, and their principles began to be systematically
written down, but scattered amongst various books, e.g.,
in Al-Risālah of al-Shāficī (d. 204), the
Introduction to the Sahīh of Muslim (d. 261) and
the Jāmih of al-Tirmidhī (d. 279); many of the
criteria of early traditionists, e.g. al-Bukhārī, were
deduced by later scholars from a careful study of which
reporters or isnāds were accepted and rejected by
them.
One of the earliest writings to attempt to
cover Mustalah comprehensively, using standard (i.e.
generally-accepted) terminology, was the work by
al-Ramahurmuzī (d. 360). The next major
contribution was Ma'rifah Ulūm al-Hadīth by
al-Hākim (d. 405), which covered fifty
classifications of Hadīth, but still left some points
untouched; Abū Nu'aim al-Isbahanī (d. 430)
completed some of the missing parts to this work. After
that came Al-Kifayah fi Ilm al-Riwayah of
al-Khatīb al-Baghdādī (d. 463) and another work on
the manner of teaching and studying Hadīth; later
scholars were considered to be greatly indebted to
al-Khatīb's work.
After further
contributions by Qadi 'Iyad al-Yahsubī (d. 544)
and Abū Hafs al-Mayanjī (d. 580) among others,
came the work which, although modest in size, was so
comprehensive in its excellent treatment of the subject
that it came to be the standard reference for thousands
of scholars and students of Hadīth to come, over many
centuries until the present day: Ulum al- Hadīth of
Abū cAmr cUthmān Ibn al-Salah (d. 643),
commonly known as Muqaddimah Ibn al-Salah,
compiled while he taught in the Dār al-Hadīth of
several cities in Syria. Some of the numerous later
works based on that of Ibn al-Salah
are:
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An abridgement of
Muqaddimah, Al-Irshād by al-Nawāwī (d.
676), which he later summarised in his Taqrīb;
al-Suyūtī (d. 911) compiled a valuable commentary
on the latter entitled Tadrīb al-Rāwī
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Ikhtisār cUlūm
al-Hadīth of Ibn Kathīr (d. 774), Al-Khulasah
of al-Tībī (d. 743), Al-Minhāl of Badr al-Dīn
b. Jama'ah (d. 733), Al-Muqnic of Ibn
al-Mulaqqin (d. 802) and Mahasin al-Istilah of
al-Balqinī (d. 805), all of which are abridgements
of Muqaddimah Ibn al-Salah.
-
Al-Nukat of
al-Zarkashī (d. 794), Al-Taqyid wa 'l-Idah of
al-cIraqī (d. 806) and Al-Nukat of Ibn Hajar
al-cAsqalanī (d. 852), all of which are further
notes on the points made by Ibn al-Salah.
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Alfīyyah
al-Hadīth of al-cIraqī, a rewriting of Muqaddimah
in the form of a lengthy poem, which became the
subject of several commentaries, including two (one
long, one short) by the author himself, Fath
al-Mughith of al-Sakhawī (d. 903), Qatar
al-Durar of al-Suyūtī and Fath al-Baqī of
Shayth Zakariyyah al-Ansarī (d. 928).
Other notable
treatises on Mustalah include:
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Al-Iqtirah of
Ibn Daqiq al-'Id (d. 702).
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Tanqih
al-Anzar of Muhammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Wazīr (d. 840),
the subject of a commentary by al-Amīr al-Sancānī (d.
1182).
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Nukhbah
al-Fikr of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalānī, again the
subject of several commentaries, including one by the
author himself, one by his son Muhammad, and those of
Alī al-Qari (d. 1014), Abd al-Ra'uf
al-Munawī (d. 1031) and Muhammad b. Abd al-Hādī
al-Sindī (d. 1138). Among those who rephrased the
Nukhbah in poetic form are al-Tūfi (d. 893) and
al-Amīr al-Sancānī.
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Alfiyyah
al-Hadīth of al-Suyūtī, the most comprehensive
poetic work in the field
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Al-Manzumah of
al-Baiqunī, which was expanded upon by, amongst
others, al-Zurqānī (d. 1122) and Nawāb
Siddīq Hasan Khān (d. 1307).
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Qawa'id
al-Tahdīth of Jamāl al-Dīn al-Qāsimī (d.
1332).
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Taujih
al-Nazar of Tahir al-Jaza'irī (d. 1338), a summary
of al-Hākim's Ma'rifah
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