Usool al Hadith - Forever Islam

Grades of SaheehThe most correct view is that it cannot be absolutely claimed that any particularchain of narrators is superior to any other saheeh narration. The actual grades ofauthenticity depend on how the chain and text is influenced by the five conditionsfor authenticity. For example, the lowest level of authentic narrations would bethose hadeeths which have transmitters whose accuracy is disputed. However,proof in favor of their reliability is overwhelming. For example, the narration ofSuhail ibn Abee Saalih from his father from Aboo Hurayrah.In spite of that fact, some scholars traditionally considered certain chains ofnarration to be of the highest grade. For example, Ahmad ibn Hambal and Is’haaqibn Raahawayh considered: “Zuhree from Saalim from his father, ‘Abdullaah ibn‘Umar,” to be the strongest chain. On the other hand, al-Bukhaaree considered:“Maalik from Naafi‘ from ‘Abdullaah ibn ‘Umar,” to be the strongest. 10 It cameto be known as the “golden chain”.With regard to the hadeeth saheeh, it cannot be said that they are all found inthe books of al-Bukhaare and Muslim because these scholars themselvesconfirmed that they did not gather all of the hadeeth saheeh. Al-Bukhaaree stated:“I only wrote in my book, al-Jaami‘, what was authentic and I omitted someauthentic narrations to avoid it becoming too long.” Imaam Muslim also said: “Idid not include in this book every hadeeth I found to be saheeh. I only put in itwhat the scholars agreed upon.” In fact the majority of authentic hadeeths arefound outside of these two compilations. Imaam al-Bukhaaree himself stated:“And the authentic hadeeths which I have omitted are more than I have included[in my book].” He also stated: “I memorized 100,000 authentic hadeeths and200,000 inauthentic hadeeths.” And the total number of hadeeths in Saheeh al-Bukhaaree is around 4,000 and in Saheeh Muslim is also around 4,000! 11The hadeeths may be graded according to criteria used by Imaams al-Bukhaaree and Muslim which were considered to be of the highest standard.1. Authentic hadeeths recorded by both al-Bukhaaree and Muslim. Suchnarrations are often referred to by scholars as عل َيه متف َق muttaqun ‘alayh(agreed upon).2. Authentic hadeeths recorded by only al-Bukhaaree.3. Authentic hadeeths recorded by only Muslim.4. Authentic hadeeths according to the criteria of al-Bukhaaree and Muslim10 The Science of Authenticating the Prophet’s Traditions, p. 38.11 The Science of Authenticating the Prophet’s Traditions, pp. 39-40