al-Hadith al-Daif wa Hukm al-Ihtijaj bihi
- Author died
- -
- Editions
- Dar al-Muslim lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
al-Hadith al-Daif wa Hukm al-Ihtijaj bihi (The Weak Hadith and the Ruling on Citing It as Evidence) is a specialized treatise on hadith terminology and methodology by the Saudi scholar Abd al-Karim al-Khudayr, dedicated to examining the definition, classifications, and evidentiary status of weak hadith (al-hadith al-daif) in Islamic law and related fields .
Origin and Purpose
The work was originally composed as a master's thesis submitted to the Department of the Prophetic Sunnah and Its Sciences at the College of Usul al-Din in Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, under the supervision of Muhammad Adib al-Salih, and was completed in 1402 AH .
Al-Khudayr noted in his introduction that he chose the subject in response to contemporary disputes over the citation of weak hadiths and criticism leveled against classical jurists for recording them in legal literature without clarifying their grade . He aimed to produce a comprehensive, independent study bringing together all the rulings pertaining to weak hadith, observing that earlier standalone monographs were scarce aside from brief writings such as al-Manhal al-Latif by Alawi ibn Abbas al-Maliki and an epistle by Abd al-Hayy al-Luknawi .
Structure and Contents
The book is structured into a preliminary overview, three main parts (abwab), and a conclusion with indices :
- Preliminary Overview (al-Tamhid): Covers basic terminology (the definitions of hadith, khabar, athar, sunnah, and hadith qudsi), the division of reports by transmission chains into mutawatir and solitary (ahad), the division into accepted (maqbul) and rejected (mardud), and the subtypes of accepted reports (sahih li-dhatihi, hasan li-dhatihi, sahih li-ghayrihi, and hasan li-ghayrihi) .
- Part One (al-Bab al-Awwal): Focuses on the definition of weak hadith and the causes of weakness, divided into two chapters addressing omissions in the chain of transmission (al-saqt min al-sanad) and disparagement of narrators (al-ta'n fi al-rawi) .
- Part Two (al-Bab al-Thani): Explores the ruling on citing weak hadiths as evidence, prefaced by a discussion on citing the Sunnah, followed by two chapters: the first on legal rulings (al-ahkam) and virtuous deeds (fada'il al-a'mal), and the second on Quranic exegesis (tafsir), Quranic recitations, and historical campaigns and biography (al-maghazi wa al-siyar) .
- Part Three (al-Bab al-Thalith): Examines related topics in two chapters. The first covers the traditionists' attention to both chains and texts (al-sanad wa al-matn), the ruling on transmitting from weak narrators, and the weakest chains of transmission (ad'af al-asanid). The second chapter covers the primary source genres where weak hadiths occur, books compiled on weak transmitters, and works devoted to specific subtypes of weak hadith .
The work concludes with a summary of the author's primary findings and indices for hadiths, sources, and subjects .
Publication
The work was published in Riyadh by Dar al-Muslim in a single volume of 490 pages (first edition, 1417 AH) . It was later issued by Maktabat al-Minhaj (also cited as Dar al-Minhaj) in Riyadh in a first edition in 1425 AH and a second edition in 1426 AH .
Answer updated