Mastering Hadith: The Science of Preservation
This is the second in a series of articles on mastering the hadith sciences, drawn from Shaykh Issam Eido’s seminar. You can find the full seminar here: Mastering the Core Islamic Sciences: Hadith.
What did scholars want to preserve as hadith collection continued into the late second century? The answer had narrowed: the words of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) himself, set apart from everything and everyone else.
The Third Century and the Musnad Project
The third century took up a project distinct from the one before it. Scholars of this era included Imams Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Maja, and Abu Dawud (Allah have mercy on them), and their shared aim is visible in a single word within the full title of Sahih al-Bukhari: musnad.
A musnad work gathers statements coming solely from the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), excluding those of the Companions and their followers.
Sahih al-Bukhari does contain some statements from the Companions and their followers, but these do not form the core of the book. Rather, they appear in the chapter titles and headings, where they reflect Imam Bukhari’s own legal opinion.
Building on the Canonical Books
In the fourth and fifth Islamic centuries, some scholars set out to build upon the canonical works compiled in the third. Examples include the Mustadrak of Imam Hakim, the Mustakhraj of Abu ʿAwana, and the Sunan of Imam Bayhaqi (Allah have mercy on them).
The aim was to compile new works meeting the same conditions and standards as the third-century collections, and many such books were authored during this period.
The Six Books and a Scholarly Divide
From the sixth century onward came comprehensive, sweeping collections: Jamiʿ al-Usul, Mishkat al-Masabih, al-Masabih li-l-Baghawi, and others, each aiming to gather hadith from the most important books compiled across Islamic history.
Ibn al-Athir al-Jazari identified six books as the most significant in Islam’s history so far: Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abi Dawud, Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Sunan al-Nasaʾi, and the Muwatta of Imam Malik (Allah have mercy on them). He compiled these into a single work, Jamiʿ al-Usul.
Other scholars named Sunan Ibn Maja in place of the Muwatta, marking two distinct camps in this period: those who counted the six canonical books with Ibn Maja, and those who counted them with the Muwatta instead.
The Nature of Transmission
Transmission (riwaya) rests on the audition and license (ijaza) system, a system that remains highly relevant today.
Hadith sessions today centre on recitation and reading. It is straightforward to attend any gathering, sit, and listen to or recite hadith without engaging in the fuller intellectual process.
Two Approaches to Licensing Students
Within the licence (ijaza) system, two broad approaches have long existed.
Some scholars took a highly critical approach, withholding the licence from students who were not yet qualified or able. Other scholars were far more flexible, granting a license to those who attended only one session, or none at all. A number of them even wrote in their books’ introductions that they granted a license to anyone who simply read the work.
At the stricter end, a student who had not read a book cover to cover would not receive a licence for it. Where only half a book had been read, the licence recorded precisely that.
Even so, the licence remains deeply significant today. Many students and seekers attend these sessions above all for blessings and seeking a connection between themselves and the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace).
Preserving the Sunna
Among the most important gatherings of the first three centuries of Islamic history were the gatherings of hadith. These sessions occupied the highest standing at that time.
Their core purpose was to preserve the Sunna. Every license, every audition, every hadith session of that era served this single aim — and yet, as the next stage of this series will show, scholars kept holding fast to those same sessions long after the Sunna itself was secure.
The next article turns to why scholars kept seeking license to transmit hadith, long after every major collection had already been compiled.
Related Article
Mastering Hadith: The Science of Transmission – A look at how hadith formed through its early centuries, outlining its two branches and the early efforts of preservation.
