In the study of Hadith, biographies known as “Ilm al-Rijal” (the science of narrators) are considered crucial for assessing the reliability and credibility of Hadith transmitters. These biographies provide detailed information about the lives, characters, and trustworthiness of the individuals in the chains of narration (isnads).
Today, these biographical dictionaries are used to confirm a Hadith’s authenticity by assessing the reliability of each narrator in the chain. Scholars classify narrators into categories such as trustworthy (thiqa), weak (da’if), and unknown (majhul) based on the information provided in these works. The biographies aim to provide historical context and insights into narrators’ lives and conditions and are foundational for Hadith Sciences.
Most people today assume that the biographies came before the most notable collection of Hadith with their respective gradings, except, as we will see, this was not the case. Historically, the Hadith compilations were first produced, and then later, the biographies were created to justify the claims of the Hadith compilers. Or, put another way, the biographical information came after the compilation of the Hadith and was derived from the Hadith.
LIST OF PROMINENT BIOGRAPHIES
We can understand this by evaluating the dates of the different biographies, starting with the earliest compilations.
“Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir” by Ibn Sa’d
Author: Muhammad ibn Sa’d ibn Mani’ al-Basri, commonly known as Ibn Sa’d or Ibn Sa’d al-Baghdadi.
Date Completed: ~845 CE / 230 AH
# of Biographies: thousands
Content: “Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir” is one of, if not the earliest, biographical dictionary in Islamic literature we have. The book provides biographies of the Prophet Muhammad, his companions (Sahabah), and the subsequent generations of scholars and narrators (Tabi’in and Tabi’ al-Tabi’in).
“Tarikh al-Kabir” by Imam al-Bukhari
Author: Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari (d. 870)
Date Completed: ~866 CE / 252 AH
# of Biographies: Originally ~12,300 men (no women), later updated (most likely by others) to include <40,000 biographies of both men and women.
Content: This biographical dictionary focuses on Hadith narrators and mostly details regarding where each narrator resided.
“Al-Jarh wa al-Ta’dil” by Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi
Author: Ibn abi Hatim al-Razi
Date Completed: ~938 CE / 327 AH
# of Biographies: ~9,000
Content: This work systematically categorizes narrators into levels of reliability and provides critiques from various scholars.
“Al-Kamil fi Du’afa’ al-Rijal” by Ibn Adi
Author: Ibn Adi
Date Completed: ~976 CE / 365 AH
# of Biographies: ~4,000
Content: This work focuses on weak narrators, providing detailed critiques and the reasons why they are considered unreliable.
“Mizan al-I’tidal” by Al-Dhahabi
Author: Al- Dhahabi
Date Completed: ~1347 CE / 748 AH
# of Biographies: ~11,000
Content: This biographical dictionary includes both reliable and unreliable narrators, offering critical evaluations and justifications for their classifications.
“Siyar A’lam al-Nubala” by Al-Dhahabi
Author: Al- Dhahabi
Date Completed: ~1351 CE / 751 AH
# of Biographies: ~6,000
Content: This is a biographical encyclopedia covering prominent figures in Islamic history, including Hadith narrators.
“Lisan al-Mizan” by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
Author: Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani (d. 852 AH)
Date Completed: ~1426 CE / 830 AH
# of Biographies: ~5,600
Content: A supplement and expansion of Al-Dhahabi’s “Mizan al-I’tidal,” it includes additional narrators and further details.
“Tahdhib al-Tahdhib” by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
Author: Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani (d. 852 AH)
Date Completed: ~1428 CE / 831 AH
# of Biographies: ~12,000
Content: This is a biographical dictionary that summarizes the evaluations of earlier scholars regarding the narrators of Hadith.
“Taqrib al-Tahdhib” by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
Author: Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani (d. 852 AH)
Date Completed: ~1439 CE / 841 AH
# of Biographies: ~8,000
Content: A condensed version of “Tahdhib al-Tahdhib,” providing brief evaluations and classifications of narrators.
BIOGRAPHIES CAME AFTER THE HADITH COMPILATIONS
When we contrast the books of biographies against the six canonical compilations of Hadith (Kitab al-Sittah), we see that all of these biographies, except “Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir” by Ibn Saad, came after the compilations. As we will see later, even Bukhari’s Tarikh al-Kabir was not created or used prior to his Sahih compilation.
Sahih al-Bukhari:
Author: Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari (d. 870 CE / 256 AH)
# of Hadith: ~7,275
Grading: Sahih
Sahih Muslim:
Author: Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (d. 875 CE / 261 AH)
# of Hadith: ~7,500
Grading: Sahih
Sunan Abu Dawood:
Author: Abu Dawood (d. 888 CE / 275 AH)
# of Hadith: 5,274 hadiths
Grading: Sahih, Hasan, Da’if
Sunan at-Tirmidhi:
Author: Muhammad ibn Isa at-Tirmidhi (d. 892 CE / 279 AH)
Content: This collection includes hadiths and explanations of their authenticity. It contains around 4,400 hadiths.
Sunan an-Nasa’i:
Author: Ahmad ibn Shu’ayb an-Nasa’i (d. 915 CE / 303 AH)
# of Hadith: ~5,800
Grading: Sahih, Hasan, Da’if
Sunan Ibn Majah:
Author: Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Majah (d. 887 CE / 273 AH)
# of Hadith: ~4,341
Grading: Sahih, Hasan, Da’if
CREDIBILITY OF NARRATORS
In Hadith studies, narrators are critically assessed based on several criteria to determine their reliability and trustworthiness. Here are the primary criteria used by Hadith scholars:
1. Adalah (Integrity)
Definition: The narrator must be morally upright, demonstrating strong adherence to Islamic principles and ethics.
Assessment: Scholars look at the narrator’s character, including their honesty, piety, and avoidance of major sins. Any known instances of lying or unethical behavior would disqualify a narrator.
2. Dhabt (Accuracy)
Definition: The narrator must have a strong memory and precise retention of Hadith.
Assessment: This includes the ability to accurately recall and transmit Hadith without mistakes. Scholars also consider whether the narrator took written notes and how meticulous they were in preserving and conveying Hadith.
3. Consistency
Definition: The narrations of a particular Hadith by a narrator must be consistent and free from contradictions.
Assessment: Scholars compare different transmissions of the same Hadith by the narrator to ensure consistency. Inconsistencies or contradictions can affect the reliability of the Hadith.
4. Conformity with Other Reliable Narrators
Definition: The narrations should conform to what is known from other reliable sources.
Assessment: A Hadith is cross-checked with other narrations from reliable narrators to ensure there is no significant deviation.
5. Reputation among Scholars
Definition: The opinions of other recognized scholars about the narrator’s reliability.
Assessment: Scholars such as Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Al-Dhahabi, and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani have documented their assessments of various narrators. A positive consensus about a narrator’s reliability strengthens their credibility.
The irony is that the Hadith compilers and the biographers make these determinations post facto, hundreds of years after the narrator’s death. While the Hadith compilers had to do this based on their Hadith selections, later biographers would use the Hadith compiler’s selection and the content of the Hadith to try to retroactively confirm what the Hadith compilers provided them. Additionally, these individuals didn’t have a database to compare the hundreds of thousands of reports they supposedly scoured to determine errors. Instead, realistically, they had to do this by memory and intuition.
AGE OF NARRATORS
A significant tool in determining the authenticity of the isnad is knowing the birth and death of an individual in the chain of transmitters. This information will indicate that the two people in the chain of transmitters, at a minimum, lived in the same time period. If they did not, then the best case is that the Hadith has a broken chain, and the worst case is that it is a fabrication. But if this determination is being extrapolated by the isnad itself, then that becomes problematic because there is no neutral source by which to gauge the authenticity of this claim.
Because the ages of the narrators are generally inferred from the isnad, their ages are highly speculative. This is why there are often wide estimates of what year someone was born and how old they were when they died. Even for the most notable figures of Hadith, this information is uncertain. This is not limited to even relatively unknown transmitters. There is much uncertainty regarding the exact dates of birth and death of many of the most prominent individuals, including the prophet’s wife ‘Aisha, the Hadith scholar Ibn Shihab az-Zuhri, Anas ibn Malik, the companions Abu Bakr and Umar, and even the prophet himself. If the history is unclear for such notable individuals, how less reliable should we consider it for the multitude of individuals listed in the isnad?
Additionally, the isnad does not provide the year and age of the narrator when they narrated the report. In Hadith sciences, the age requirement for reliable transmitters of Hadith is that they should have reached the age of maturity and intellectual competence. This typically means they should be mentally mature and capable of understanding and accurately transmitting the Hadith. The exact age at which one is considered mature can vary in different contexts and among scholars, but it generally aligns with the age at which a person is considered an adult in their society. However, a common practice was to include the names of children deemed to be five years or older in the books as authorized recipients of traditions.
Aside from the ridiculousness of such practices, as stated in the excerpt above, this poses a more practical problem. It is one thing to know that the transmitter is only five years old. It is another when it is unclear if the transmitter was a child or an adult when they originally heard the Hadith. It is very likely that someone might have heard the Hadith when they were a child and not of sound mind, but later on, be taught the Hadith at an older age, but make their isnad to remove that intermediary.
For example, ‘ Abd al-Razzaq was an eighth-century Yemeni hadith scholar who compiled a hadith collection known as the Musannaf of Abd al-Razzaq, and when he died in 211 AH at the age of 80, his student, Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Dabari, who transmitted his work was not more than 7 years old. 6
Despite this being stated by the Khatib, Kifayah, p. 64 and Studies in Hadith Methodology and Literature p. 23, others claim that it was al-Dabari’s father who transmitted it to his son at an older age and that al-Dabari omitted his name from the transmission and only put his own which would reduce the length of the isnad.
Another common practice was that of “ ijaza” (permission for transmission). According to p. 45 of “Hadith Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World” by Jonathan A.C. Brown:
Ijaza for transmission meant that instead of reading an entire hadith collection in the presence of an authorized transmitter, a student might only read part of it and receive ‘permission’ from the teacher to transmit the rest. Although it was a less rigorous form of authentication, ijaza still provided scholars with isnads for books. Although this practice existed in some forms even in the ninth century, by the mid 1000s it had become very common. Al-Hakim al-Nayasburi, author of the massive Mustadrak, thus gave a group of students an ijaza to transmit his works provided they could secure well-written copies of them.
Of course if you could get an ijaza for a book you had not actually read in the presence of a teacher, you could get ijazas for any number of books that the teacher was able to transmit. This led to the practice of acquiring a ‘general ijaza (ijaza ‘amma)’ for all the books a teacher had. In the 1000s many scholars also accepted the practice of getting ijazas from teachers one had not actually met at all through writing letters. This ijaza for the non-present person (ijaza al-ma’dum)’ meant that scholars could acquire ijazas for their infant children or even for children not yet born!
BUKHARI EXAMPLE
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī ( صَحِيحُ الْبُخَارِي) is the first hadith collection of the Six Books of Sunni Islam and is considered the most authentic of all the Hadith compilations. It was compiled by Persian scholar al-Bukhari (810-870 CE / 194-256 AH).
Some sources claim that Bukhari wrote his Tarikh al-Kabir after his Sahih, but this does not match the dates associated with each publication. Historically, “Sahih al-Bukhari” was compiled over a period of 16 years, starting from around 831 CE / 216 AH when Imam al-Bukhari was approximately 22 years old. Therefore, Sahih al-Bukhari was completed around 846 CE / 231 AH. Then, roughly twenty years later, around the year 866 CE / 252 AH, he completed his “Tarikh al-Kabir,” which contained his biographies.