Hadith ( or ; ) in Islamic religious use is often translated as “prophetic traditions”, meaning the corpus of the reports of the teachings, deeds and sayings of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The hadith literature was compiled from oral reports that were in circulation in society around the time of their compilation long after the death of Muhammad. Bukhari’s collection is considered the most reliable by many traditional religious scholars who are Sunnis. The Shi’as believe in an entirely separate body of hadith. Still other Muslims reject the authority of the Hadith, citing numerous verses of the Quran, such as the following: “[Say], Then is it other than Allah I should seek as judge while it is He who has revealed to you the Book explained in detail?”. The hadith also had a profound and controversial influence on moulding the commentaries (tafsir) on the Quran. The earliest commentary of the Quran by Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari is mostly sourced from the hadith. The hadith was used in forming the basis of ‘Shariah’ Law. Much of early Islamic history available today is also based on the hadith and is challenged for lack of basis in primary source material and contradictions based on secondary material available. Each hadith is based on two parts, a chain of narrators reporting the hadith (isnad), and the text itself (matn). Hadiths are still regarded by traditional Islamic schools of jurisprudence as important tools for understanding the Quran and in matters of jurisprudence. Hadith were evaluated and gathered into large collections during the 8th and 9th centuries. These works are referred to in matters of Islamic law and history to this day. The largest denominations of Islam, Sunni, Shiʻa, and Ibadi, rely upon different sets of hadith collections. Ahmadis generally rely upon Sunni Hadith collections. Clerics and jurists of all denominations classify individual hadith as sahih (“authentic”), hasan (“good”) and da’if (“weak”). However, different traditions within each denomination, and different scholars within each tradition, may differ as to which hadith should be included in which category.
