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Presented at the Summer School on Islamic Studies held in Kolkata, India, April 21-25, 2025, by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule Sr.
1.0 CONCISE FACTS WITH DEEP MEANING AND IMPLICATIONS.
- Knowledge and learning in Islam have special characteristics that many of us ignore. I'd like to highlight some of them.
- فُضِّلْتُ على الأنبياءِ بسِتٍّ: أُعطيتُ جوامعَ الكلِمِ ونُصِرْتُ بالرُّعبِ وأُحِلَّتْ لي الغنائمُ وجُعِلت لي الأرضُ طَهورًا ومسجدًا وأُرسِلْتُ إلى الخَلقِ كافَّةً وخُتِم بي النَّبيُّونَ – رواه ابن حبان عن ابي هريرة
- The number of hadith is limited, but they cover all aspects of our lives. Fiqh based on hadith does not require amendments; there is wide room to solve new problems based on ijtihad.
- Compare that with the law books of any country and the number of regulations that have to be amended continuously.
2.0 SAHIH AL BUKHARI
- There are 7563 Hadith in Sahih Albukhari, but if we discount repetitions, we end up with 2450 hadith in 9 volumes.
- Bukhari collected 600,000 hadith and recorded a few of them. What he left out did not fulfill his strict criteria for accepting hadith, but also would have added little because their content was already covered.
- Commentaries on hadith explain and extend the concise message. The best commentary on Sahih al Bukhari in Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani in 15 volumes.
3.0 MUSNAD IBN HANBAL
- There are 28,199 hadith in Musnad Al `Imaam Ahmad, and this is the biggest collection of hadith arranged according to the names of the companions in 12 volumes.
- Imaam Ahmad memorized a thousand thousand hadith (1,000,000) but recorded very few, but even the few seem many.
- Only recently have we seen a commentary on the Musnad.
- ال"المجالس المدنية في شرح مسند الإمام أحمد بن حنبل حافظ السنة النبوية"، للإمام "الشريف أبي علي محمد المنتصر بالله بن محمد الزمزمي الكتاني الحسيني" (1332 1419 هـ)،
4.0 The AUTHENTIC 6 PRIMARY COLLECTION
- Sahih al-Bukhari (9th century) – 9 volumes.
- Sahih Muslim (9th century) – 5 volumes.
- Sunan Abu Dawood (9th century) – 5 volumes.
- Sunan al-Tirmidhi (9th century) – 6 volumes.
- Sunan al-Nasa'i (9th-10th century) – 7 volumes.
- Sunan ibn Majah (9th century) – 5 volumes.
5.0 THE AUTHENTIC 9 PRIMARY COLLECTIONS 6+3
- Muwatta Imam Malik (8th century) – 2 volumes.
- Sunan al-Darimi (9th century) – 2 volumes.
- Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal (9th century – 12 volumes.
6.0 SECONDARY COLLECTIONS
- Mishkat al-Masabih
- Riyadh al-Saaliheen (The Meadows of the Righteous)
- Bulugh al-Maram (Achievement of the Goal)
- Al-Jami' al-Saghir of Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti
- At-Targhib wat-Tarhib
- Masabih al-Sunnah
- Majma al-Zawa'id
- Kanz al-Ummal
- Zujajat al-Masabih
- Al-Mawdū'āt Al-Kubrā (A Great Collection of Fabricated Traditions)
- Silsalat al-Hadith as-Sahiha of Shaykh al-Albani
- Al-Jami al-Kamil (The Authentic Hadith Encyclopaedia) of Ziya-ur-Rahman Azmi
JOINT REPORTING (متفق عليه)
- 1520 hadith were reported by both Bukhari and Muslim
- 414 hadith reported by Bukhari alone
- 575 hadith reported by Muslim alone
- Reported by the SIX
- Reported by the NINE
CONCLUSION
- Hadith literature is very concise and conveys the complete message.
- There are many hadith collections, but the hadiths are repeated; there is even repetition within one book.
- Repetition is proof of authenticity because the collectors did not live or work together; each one looked at the hadiths from different narrators, and in the end, they concurred.
SECRET BEHIND THE PRECISION
- Only one source from Allah through the Prophet and companions who were protected from errors (معصوم).
- The message of Islam has a fixed message as principles and guidelines which unify its expression and conveyance so that there are no contradictions.
- The general purposes (مقاصد) provide an underlying unity and cohesion.
- The great maqasid are:
- حفظ الدين
- حفظ النفس
- حفظ النسل
- حفظ اعقل
- حفظ المال