Is it Permissible to Say حدّثنا فلان إبن فلان If You Hear a Hadith From Your Teacher From a Pre-recorded Audio Lecture?
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
Is it permissible to say حدّثنا فلان إبن فلان if you hear a hadith from your teacher from an audio lecture – pre-recorded- and they gave the full chain from themselves to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and you memorize the hadith and the chain, or is it a condition to be present, live, in-person etc?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.
It would be permissible to say it if he is your hadith teacher; however, by adding the following words: حدّثنا فلان بمحاضرة صوتية مُسجلة مُسبقًا إبن فلان (audio lecture – pre-recorded).
However, one should always narrate a hadith in the ways mentioned in the books of hadith nomenclature (mustalah), such as Ibn al-Salah’s Muqaddima and its commentaries and in Al-Taqrib and its commentary, like Tadrib al-Rawi after having obtained permission to narrate (ijaza).
Ways of Bearing and Transmitting Hadith
The first way is directly hearing the teacher’s wording by dictation or direct narration (tahdith) without dictation, each of which is from the teacher’s memory or his book.
The second way is reading to a teacher. Most of the scholars of Hadith called this presenting (ard).
The third way is being licensed (ijaza), which is permission to narrate by word or writing.
The fourth way is presentation (munawala), which is when the teacher gives a book to his student containing the narrations that he has heard directly.
The fifth way is by writing. This is when the teacher writes what he had for someone who is present or to someone absent, to whom he then sends it.
The sixth way is through informing (I’lam), which is when the teacher informs the student that the hadith or book is what he heard directly from so and so.
The seventh way is by bequest (wasiyya)
The eighth way is finding (wijada), which is when someone discovers hadith in the handwriting of the one who narrated them.
Please refer to the actual book for further details.
[Sirajuddin al-Husayni, Sharh al-Mandhuma al-Bayquniyya]
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I pray this helps answer your question.
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel has received traditional education in various countries. He started his schooling in the UK and completed his hifz of the Quran in India. After that, he joined an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied secular and Aalimiyya sciences. Later, he traveled to Karachi, Pakistan, and other Middle Eastern countries to further his education. Mawlana has served as an Imam in the Republic of Ireland for several years and taught the Quran and other Islamic sciences to both children and adults. He also worked as a teacher and librarian at a local Islamic seminary in the UK for 12 years. Presently, he lives in the UK with his wife and is interested in books and gardening.
