How do false hadith come to exist?
There are three ways a false hadith gets attributed to the Prophet (SAW):
- Intentional Fabrication: When a person knowingly fabricates a hadith about the Prophet (SAW)
- Misattribution: When a person mistakenly attributes the statement of one person to the Prophet (SAW)
- Jumbling: When a person mixes up the words of a real hadith out of forgetfulness
Fabrication of Hadith
Outright fabrication of hadith was rare among the scholars known for narrating hadith. Fabrication was largely done by storytellers or impious people known for lying.
The Prophet (SAW) said, “Whoever lies about me deliberately, let him take his place in the fire.”
Because of the obvious fact that lying about Allah and the Prophet (SAW) is the greatest sin possible for a believer, if we know a person to be a pious believer who prays and fasts and do not know him to lie, we should not suspect him of fabricating hadith about the Prophet (SAW).
So, the scholars of hadith said the first condition of a Sahih hadith is that every narrator in the chain of the hadith is known to be honest and trustworthy. If a person was known to lie or known to be impious, he would no longer be considered viable as a narrator of hadith.
The scholars of hadith had many strategies of recognizing dishonest people. One way was their known character and dealings with people. If they were a storyteller known for telling tall tales, that would make them unreliable.
Another way was if they narrated many unique and strange hadith from famous teachers that no one else narrated, while they were not known for collecting or compilation or expertise in hadith.
For example, a narrator Abu Ismah was asked, “Where did you get all these ahadith from Ikrimah from Ibn Abbas about the merits of the Quran Surah by Surah? None of the students of Ikrimah have these.” He said, “I saw people turning away from the Quran and becoming busy with the Fiqh of Abu Hanifah and the Seerah of Muhammad ibn Ishaq, so I fabricated these hadith for a good cause.” (al-Hakim)
Even without his confession, scholars realized his hadith were too strange to be authentic. One of the scholars who classified narrators, Ibn Hibban, said about him, “He was a person who used to mix up chains and narrate from reliable scholars hadith that did not belong to them. He cannot be used as evidence in any way. He collected everything except honesty.”
Misattribution
The vast majority of false hadith were not intentionally fabricated by anyone but were statements of other wise or knowledgeable people that were mistakenly attributed to the Prophet (SAW).
A person could hear his teacher say “Abu Hurairah (RA) said XYZ,” then later mistakenly remember it as being “Abu Hurairah said the Prophet (SAW) said XYZ.”
A person could hear a wise statement and a few years later mistakenly think he had heard it from his teacher with a chain to the Prophet (SAW).
A teacher could teach a hadith in class then say something else (not part of the hadith), and an uncareful student might think the teacher’s statement was part of the hadith.
Salim, Nafi, Mujahid, and other students narrated from Ibn Umar from the Prophet (SAW), “Do not prevent the female servants of Allah from the masjids of Allah.” (Sahih Bukhari and Muslim)
Awwam ibn Hawshab alone narrated from Habib ibn Abi Thabit alone from Ibn Umar (RA) from the Prophet (SAW), “Do not prevent the female servants of Allah from the masjids of Allah,” but their homes are better for them. (Sunan Abi Dawud)
The statement “but their homes are better for them” was most likely an additional comment by Habib ibn Abi Thabit, but his student Awwam confused it as being part of the hadith. None of the other students of Ibn Umar (RA) narrated “but their homes are better for them.”
Jumbling
A hadith as a whole could be authentic to the Prophet (SAW) but its exact words could be mixed up due to forgetfulness or carelessness by some of the narrators.
Many companions of the Prophet (SAW) narrated from him, “I looked into Hell and saw that women were the majority of people there.” (Sahih Bukhari and Muslim)
Scholars interpreted this hadith in different ways. Some said this refers to women being the majority of the human population, so they will be the majority in both Paradise and Hell. Another possibility is that the Prophet (SAW) was only shown a specific portion of Hell in his vision, a portion where women were the majority.
One chain to the Prophet (SAW) claims, “Women will be the minority of Paradise.”
It is likely this version of the hadith is jumbled from the first version, and one of the narrators mistakenly converted “majority of the people of Hell” to “minority of Paradise” in his mind.
How to account for misattribution and jumbling?
The second to fifth conditions of Sahih were primarily aimed at ruling out the likelihood for misattribution and jumbling.
The second condition of Sahih is that all the narrators are known to have good memory. The scholars of hadith analyzed every narrator to determine whether he used to be accurate in chains and in the wording of hadith.
If a narrator was an expert who used to take notes or memorize hadith with precision and teach them in careful classes, the narrator would be placed in the highest category of reliability. This would include narrators like Zuhri and Imam Malik.
If a narrator was known to be reliable and good without reaching that high status, he would be placed in the rank of Sahih narrators.
If you can see a narrator used to make slight or rare mistakes in the chains and content of hadith, you know the narrator is placed in the rank of Hasan or lower, depending on the amount of mistakes he used to make.
For example, Sufyan ibn Husain (a student of Zuhri) used to make minor mistakes in chains and content when compared to other reliable students of Zuhri like Imam Malik and Ma’mar and others. As such, he was lowered from the standard of Sahih to the level of Hasan.
If a narrator used to make a lot of mistakes or change the wording beyond the pale of acceptable memory, the narrator would be reduced to the level of weak or be completely abandoned in hadith.
The third condition of Sahih is that the chain of the hadith is fully connected, without anyone missing from the chain. This condition is necessary to rule out the possibility that the dishonest narrator or the one with poor memory is simply the one who was not mentioned in the chain.
For example, Urwah ibn al-Zubair narrated that the Prophet (SAW) said, “Marry women, because they come to you with wealth (i.e. Allah will bless you with wealth when you marry).”
We would not accept this as Sahih despite Urwah being a reliable scholar and the nephew of Aisha (RA) who narrated many hadith from her. That is because Urwah never met the Prophet (SAW). If Urwah had said he got it from Aisha from the Prophet, the hadith would be strongly Sahih.
However, because Urwah did not mention his source, it is possible (or even likely) it from a an unknown or unreliable source, so the hadith cannot reach the standard of Sahih, even if the message might be confirmed by other sources and even if we could use it as supporting evidence.
The fourth condition of Sahih is that the hadith is not contradicted or made unlikely by other students of the same teacher.
For example, if one student of Zuhri narrated a hadith in one way, and three students narrated it in another way, the three are most likely right and the one student probably made a mistake.
We mentioned before that Salim, Nafi, and other major students of Ibn Umar (RA) narrated the hadith, “Do not prevent the female servants of Allah from the masjids of Allah.” Only Habib narrated from Ibn Umar (RA), “Do not prevent the female servants of Allah from the masjids of Allah, and their homes are better for them.”
The sentence “their homes are better for them” is shown to be not Sahih by the fact that the major students of Ibn Umar (RA) failed to narrate this sentence even though it would be vital to the message if it was part of the original hadith.
The fifth and final condition of Sahih is that the hadith is not strangely solitary. We explained before that hadith were collected by regional collectors and specialized teachers who taught them in classes.
If only one not-so-strong student of Zuhri narrated a hadith from him, despite no one else narrating that hadith, that hadith would be strangely solitary. How is it possible when Zuhri used to teach hadith in classes to many students? Why did his major students not narrate the hadith? Because of this, the hadith would not reach the standard of Sahih. We would say there is some doubt in the hadith because of its uniqueness.
If a hadith was not narrated by any of the regional collectors or specialized teachers and was not even known to the compilers and it only exists in a later obscure book with an obscure chain, that also means the hadith is strangely solitary. How is it possible none of the collectors or compilers came across the hadith? Because of this, the hadith would not reach the standard of Sahih.
Ali ibn Masadah alone narrated from Qatadah from Anas from the Prophet (SAW), “Every son of Adam is a sinner, and the best of sinners are those who repent.” (Sunan Tirmidhi)
Qatadah was a regional collector of Basra, and he had many established students whom he taught in classes. Ali ibn Masadah was a questionable narrator, and it is strange that he alone narrated this hadith from Qatadah. So, this hadith is not Sahih, despite the fact that its overall message is true.
Summary of the Conditions of Sahih
In summary, the scholars of hadith required five conditions before calling a hadith Sahih:
- All the narrators are known to be honest and trustworthy
- All the narrators are known to have reliable memory
- The chain is fully connected (and no narrator is missing)
- The hadith is not contradicted by other (more reliable) narrators
- The hadith is not strangely unique in its chain
These five conditions form the foundation of the hadith sciences.
In pursuit of conditions 1 and 2, the scholars of hadith wrote a whole genre of books listing narrators, summarizing their biographies, and grading their reliability. This genre is called Rijaal (Men) or Jarh wal-Ta’deel (Praise and Criticism).
In pursuit of condition 3, several books were written discussing which narrator met which narrator, to determine whether chains are connected.
In pursuit of condition 4, a genre of books were written on situations where different students of a teacher gave conflicting accounts of a hadith, to resolve which account was authentic. This genre is called Ilal (Contradictions of Narrators).
In pursuit of condition 5, many books were written collecting all chains of a hadith and determining whether a narrator was alone in narrating a hadith or whether he had support.
