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Hadith methodology (mustalah al-hadith)

علم مصطلح الحديث

Mustalah al-hadith is the science of the states of chain and text — sahih, hasan, da'if; mawquf, marfu', maqtu'; muttasil, munqati', mu'dal, mursal — and the reconciliation and hidden defects of transmissions. It began in the early muhaddithun's obiter dicta, then gained its own manuals; the earliest surviving systematic statement is Muslim's introduction to his Sahih, later epitomised in works like Ibn al-Salah's Muqaddima.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Umayyad Period · The Early Abbasid Caliphate · Abbasid Fragmentation
Region
Arabia
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Scripture and its sciences

Overview

The science of the terminology of hadith comprises the rules for knowing the states of the chain and the text: the sound, the good, and the weak; the mawquf, the marfu', and the maqtu'; the connected, the disconnected, the mu'dal, and the mursal. 1

It arose in the service of the Prophetic hadith, and its relation to the chain of transmission is close. Its origin lies in the observations of the early hadith scholars, and afterwards books were composed on it. 1

Among the oldest foundational texts that survive is Muslim's introduction to his Sahih. The summary of the school in books such as the introduction of Ibn al-Salah needs a further source.

Connections

Explore the connections

Related to
Isnad· Criticism and vindication of narrators (jarh wa-ta'dil)· Writing down the hadith· Hadith· Transmitting a hadith by its meaning (riwaya bil-maana)

People and things also explored

Hadith· Isnad· The Prophetic Sunna· Fabrication of hadith (wad' al-hadith)· Criticism and vindication of narrators (jarh wa-ta'dil)· Writing down the hadith· Transmitting a hadith by its meaning (riwaya bil-maana)· Shama'il Muhammadiyya

Sources

  1. Sahih Muslim
  • The Method of Documenting the Prophetic Sunna — Muhammad Ibrahim al-Fayyumi
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Hadith methodology (mustalah al-hadith)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/mustalah-al-hadith/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Hadith

Hadith is what is transmitted of the Prophet's words, deeds, tacit approvals and descriptions, reaching us through a chain of narrators ending at him; it is Islam's second source after the Qur'an, expounding its generals and fixing the details of worship, dealings, biography and conduct. It was gathered into works arranged by legal chapter or by narrator's musnad, most famously the six books.