al-Wasit fi Ulum wa Mustalah al-Hadith
- Author died
- 1403 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Fikr al-ʿArabī
al-Wasit fi Ulum wa Mustalah al-Hadith (The Intermediate in the Sciences and Terminology of Hadith) is a comprehensive manual on Hadith terminology and sciences by the Egyptian scholar Muhammad Abu Shahba (1332–1403 AH / 1914–1983 CE) .
Background and Composition
The material for the book began taking shape roughly a third of a century before its completion, when Abu Shahba taught Hadith and its sciences at the Faculty of Usul al-Din at al-Azhar . At that time, he dictated handwritten lectures to his students, which he progressively expanded, reorganized, and refined over several decades .
Abu Shahba had earlier published two smaller manuals covering selected branches of Hadith: Fi Usul al-Hadith (1382 AH / 1962 CE) and Ulum al-Hadith (1385 AH / 1966 CE) . He subsequently combined the contents of both works and added extensive new chapters to form a single, comprehensive treatise . He finalized the remaining sections during periods of leave before and after the Hajj season in 1402 AH, completing the work in Mecca on 29 Muharram 1403 AH (15 November 1982 CE) . He chose the title al-Wasit ("The Intermediate") to indicate that the text avoided both tedious verbosity and deficient brevity .
Method and Structure
Abu Shahba adopted an organizational approach distinct from classical templates, explicitly diverging from the framework of Ibn al-Salah in his Ulum al-Hadith—who commenced directly with the categories of sahih, hasan, and da'if—as well as the concise structure of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's Nukhbat al-Fikar .
The structure is arranged along the following sequence:
- Introductory Sections: A conceptual introduction explaining technical terms frequently encountered across Hadith, Quranic exegesis (tafsir), and jurisprudence (fiqh), followed by the titles and ranks of Hadith transmitters, and the definition of divine reports (hadith qudsi) and their distinctions from both the Quran and Prophetic Hadith .
- The Discipline and History of Transmission: The division of Hadith science into transmission (riwaya) and comprehension (diraya), the historical development of both fields, and early and modern literature . This is followed by the history of transmission, the significance of the chain of transmission (isnad), and the stages of codification (tadwin) across the Prophetic era, the Companions, the Successors, and the official compilation under the caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, alongside the reconciliation between reports prohibiting and permitting the writing of Hadith .
- Classification by Number of Transmitters: The divisions of mutawatir (mass-transmitted) and ahad (solitary), including mashhur (well-known), mustafid, 'aziz, and gharib, alongside discussions on whether mutawatir imparts necessary or theoretical knowledge .
- Classification by Attribution: The categorization of reports according to who uttered them, dividing them into marfu' (attributed to the Prophet ﷺ, both explicitly and implicitly), mawquf (attributed to Companions), and maqtu' (attributed to Successors) .
- Classification by Acceptance and Rejection: The examination of sahih (authentic), hasan (fair), and da'if (weak) reports . Under sahih, the author discusses the canonical compilations of al-Bukhari and Muslim; under hasan, he examines the Sunan literature; under da'if, he details sub-types beginning with the mursal and concluding with the fabricated report (mawdu') .
- Fabrication and Critical Sciences: An extensive examination of Hadith fabrication (wad'), outlining its origins, causes, textual and contextual indicators, its impact on Islamic disciplines, and the countermeasures undertaken by scholars . The book covers the principles of biographical evaluation (al-jarh wa-al-ta'dil) and specific independent sub-disciplines of Hadith study .
The author stated that his intent was to summarize classical findings from the era of al-Ramahurmuzi to the modern day, while presenting the material in a contemporary educational style to clarify authentic Islamic scholarship and refute Orientalist critiques .
Publication History
The first edition of the book was published in 1403 AH (1983 CE) by 'Alam al-Ma'rifa in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, comprising 799 pages in a single volume . Subsequent editions have been issued by multiple publishing houses, including Dar al-Fikr al-Arabi and Maktabat al-Sunna in Cairo .
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