The document summarizes the key differences between the Quran and Hadith. It provides details on: 1) The Quran is the direct word of God revealed to Muhammad, protected from error. Hadith are reports about the sayings and actions of Muhammad. 2) Hadith must meet criteria like continuous chains of transmission and transmitter integrity to be accepted. They are classified as recurrent/mutawatir (definitive) or non-recurrent/ahad (weaker). 3) Non-recurrent hadith are further evaluated based on strength of transmission and graded as authentic, good, or weak depending on how well they meet the acceptance criteria.

1. Difference between Quran and
Hadith

2. Quran
• Speech of Allah sent down upon the prophet
Muhammad pbuh through the angel Gabriel
in its precise meaning and wording
transmitted to us by numerous persons both
verbally and in writing
• It is inimitable and unique
• Protected by God-mentioned in the Quran

3. Hadith
• Linguistic meaning of Hadith are news, reports
or narrations
• In Islamic context a particular report (verbal
and written) about the sunnah of the Prophet
Muhammad
• What is Sunnah?
– Literal meaning is the road or practice
– Religious context what has been described by
Prophet Muhammad and what he said and did in
continuous manner so that others follow.

4. continued
1. Saying of Prophet Muhammad pbuh
2. Action of Prophet Muhammad pbuh
3. Approval (silent) of Prophet Muhammad
pbuh in other actions (companions)
• Action on the Prophet Muhammad pbuh that
are related to Islam and the Prophet pbuh
wanted us to act upon directly or indirectly
by mentioning the virtue of such act

5. Hadith Qudsi
• Meaning from Allah while wording from the
Prophet Muhammad pbuh
• Communicated from Allah through revelation
or in dreams then communicated by Prophet
Muhammad pbuh in his own words
• Prophet relates to the people what Allah has
said or did (does) but not a part of Quran

6. Continued
• Hadith:
– Abu Hurairah reported that Allah’s messenger said
“Allah mighty and exalted is He; said if my servant
like to meet me I like to meet him, if he dislike me
to meet I dislike to meet him.

7. The Condition for the Acceptance of
Hadith
• A Hadith must meet the following five criteria in
order to be accepted in Islamic law as a source of
legal ordinance
1.Continuity of the change of transmitters:
– chain of transmitters has to be unbroken in order for
the hadith to be accepted.
– The transmitter must not be missing from the chain
of narrators
– Transmitter must have heard the hadith directly from
the transmitter before him
– It is verified with biographical science of hadith

8. continued
2. The integrity of the transmitters:
• Integrity of transmitters is established in terms how
they practice Islam.
• They are not engaged in doing forbidden things
and must be righteous and pious
• Again should be verified through the biographical
science of Hadith
3. Soundness of Memory of transmitters
– must be verified through biographical science of
Hadith that transmitter has a sound memory or his
books were accurate and directly transmitted from his
book

9. continued
4. Conformity of the Hadith
– The conformity should be both in the chain of
transmitters and in the text
5. Absence of Defects
– A defect in hadith is defined as hidden defect in
the hadith which takes away from its authenticity
– Hadith which appears to be free from all defects in
beginning but after thorough investigation finds
some defects which can be in the chain of
transmitters or in the text

10. Classification of Hadith
• There are 2 types of Hadiths:
A. The recurrent Hadith (al-Hadith al-mutawatir)
– This type of hadith is decisive, has no doubt that it actually
came from Prophet Muhammad pbuh
– Conditions of Mutawatir Hadith- Recurrent Hadith
• 1. at Least four different people must have narrated the
hadith
• 2. Must be impossible for those four or more people to
concur on a lie.
• 3. They must have narrated the hadith from the same
people (first 2 conditions being applicable) from the
beginning of the chain of transmitters until the end of it
• 4. The narration on the Hadith must rely on the mind
and the senses.

11. continued
B. The non recurrent Hadith (al-hadith al-ahad)
• Any Hadith which is not recurrent (mutawatir) is called
non-recurrent (ahad). This category is divided into three
sub categories according to number of narrator of the
Hadith.
1. The well known Hadith (al-Hadith al-mashhur).
This hadith which has been narrated by three or
more people in the chain of transmitters but did
not arrive at the rank of the recurrent hadith
2. The strong hadith (al-hadith al-aziz) this is a hadith
in which there are no less than 2 narrators in each
part of the chain on narrators
3. The rare Hadith (al-hadith al-gharib) this is a
hadith which is narrated by a single person at one
point in the chain of transmitters

12. continued
• The non-recurrent is also sub divided in the
three more classifications regarding the
beginning of the chain of transmitters
1. Elevated Hadith (al-hadith al-Marfu) This is a
hadith the chain or narrators fro which begins
prophet Muhammad pbuh
2. The Suspended Hadith (al-Hadith al-mawquf)
this hadith the chain of narrators does not trace
the Prophet pbuh but instead a companion of
the Prophet

13. continued
3. Cut-off Hadith (al-hadith al-maqtu). This is a
hadith the chain of narrators for which traces
back only to a successor of the companions of
the Prophet pbuh
• Non recurrent Hadith is classified into 3
classifications regarding their acceptance as a
source of Islamic law

14. Continued
1. Authentic Hadith (al-hadith as-sahih). This is
a hadith which satisfies the 5 criteria of
acceptance of hadith.
2. The good Hadith (al-hadith al-hasan) this is
the hadith which like the authentic hadith
also satisfies the five criteria except the third
criteria of soundness of memory of the
transmitters is only slightly satisfied.

15. continued
3. The weak hadith (al-hadith al-da’if) This is
hadith which does not satisfy all the five
criteria for acceptance of hadith
A. Weakness in the Hadith due to lacking
continuity
1. Continuity is missing at the end of the
chain, hanging (mu’allaq)
2. Continuity is missing in the middle of the chain of
transmitters, interrupted (munqati’)

16. continued
3. It 2 successive transmitters or more are
missing in the middle of the chain or
transmitters , problematic (mu’dil)
4. If the first transmitter, a companion of
Prophet Muhammad pbuh is missing from the
chain of transmitters, the hadith is called
incompletely transmitted (mursal)
B. Weakness in Hadith due to lack of integrity
(‘adalah) in narrators

17. continued
1. A hadith which has been fabricated- mawdu
2. If a hadith is transmitted who is charged with lying and
that hadith known only through his transmission then the
hadith has to be abandoned
3. Three sub groupings of hadith are classified as:
1. Forged transmitters- hadith which transmitter had transmitted from
other transmitter who he has met but under whom he did not study,
implying that he heard from him
2. Forged regarding teachers
3. Forged regarding naming of transmitters
4. If one of the transmitter of the hadith is not named it is
called obscure
5. If something has been added to the hadith then it is
known as interpolated

18. continued
C. Weakness due inaccuracy of memories of
transmitters
1. Transmitted by a different weak channel -shaky
2. Change in wording of the hadith- interpolated
3. Inversion in the words of the chain of narrators
or text of the hadith –inverted