Rules Governing the Criticism of Hadeeth

Depending on the number of the reporters of the hadith, it can be classified into the general categories of mutawatir or ahad hadith.

A mutawatir hadith is one which is reported by such a large number of people that they cannot be expected to agree upon a lie, all of them together.

Al-Ghazali (d. 505) stipulates that a mutawatir narration be known by the great number of its reporters equally in the beginning, in the middle and at the end. He is correct in this stipulation because some narrations, although known as mutawatir among some people, whether Muslims or non-Muslims, have no tawatur in the beginning .

Examples of mutawatir practices are the five daily prayers, fasting, zakat, the Hajj and recitation of the Qur’an. Among the verbal mutawatir ahadith, the following has been reported by more than sixty-two Companions and has been widely known among the Muslims throughout the ages:

Ahadith related to the description of the Haud Kauthar (the Basin of Abundance) in the Hereafter, raising the hands at certain postures during prayer, rubbing wet hands on the leather socks during ablution, revelation of the Qur’an in seven modes, and the prohibition of every intoxicant are further examples of verbal mutawatir ahadith.

A hadith ahad or khabar wahid is one which is narrated by people whose number does not reach that of the mutawatir case. Ahad is further classified into mashhur, ‘aziz and gharib.

A hadith is termed gharib when a single reporter is found relating it, usually at the beginning of the isnad (i.e., only one Companion relates it from the Prophet). For example, the saying of the Prophet,

“Travel is a part of torment” is gharib; the isnad of this hadith contains only one reporter in each stage: Malik — Yahya b. Abi Salih — Abu Huraira — The Prophet. With regard to its isnad, this hadith is sahih, although most gharib ahadith are weak; Ahmad b. Hanbal said, “Do not write these gharib ahadith because they are munkar and most of them are weak.”

A type of hadith similar to gharib is al-afrad (the solitary ones); it is known in three ways:

(i) Similar to gharib, i.e. a single person is found reporting it from a well-known Imam.

(ii) People of one locality are known to narrate a hadith.

(iii) People of one locality are known to report a hadith from the people of another locality, such as Makkan people reporting from Madinan.

If at any stage in the isnads, only two reporters are found to narrate the hadith, it is termed ‘aziz. For example, Anas reported that the Messenger of Allah said,

Two reporters, Qatada and ‘Abdul ‘Aziz b. Shu’aib, report this hadith from Anas, and two more reporters narrate from each of them: Shu’ba and Sa’id report from Qatada, and Isma’il b. Ulayya and ‘Abd al-Warith from ‘Abd al-‘Aziz. Then a group of people report from each of them.

A hadith which is reported by more than two reporters is known as mashhur. According to some scholars, every narrative which comes to be known widely, whether or not it has an authentic origin, is called mashhur. A mashhur hadith might be reported by only one or two reporters in the beginnning but become widely-known later, unlike gharib or ‘aziz, which are reported by one or two reporters in the beginning and continue to have the same number even in the times of the Successors and those after them. For example, if only one or two reporters are found narrating hadith from a reliable authority in Hadith such as al-Zuhri and Qatada, the hadith will remain either gharib or ‘aziz. On the other hand, if a group of people narrate from them it will be then known as mashhur. An example of a mashhur hadith is the famous saying of the Prophet,

According to al-‘Ala’i (Abu Sa’id Khalil Salah al-Din; d. 761), a hadith may be known as ‘aziz and mashhur at the same time. By this he means a hadith which is left with only two reporters in its isnad at any stage while it enjoys a host of reporters in other stages, such as the saying of the Prophet,

This hadith is ‘aziz in its first stage, as it is reported by Hudhaifa b. al-Yaman and Abu Huraira only. Later it becomes mashhur as seven people report it from Abu Huraira.

Different ways of reporting, e.g. (he narrated to us),

(he informed us), (I heard), and (on the authority of) are used by the reporters of hadith. The first three usually indicate that the reporter heard in person from his shaikh. The mode can denote either hearing in person or through another reporter.

Tadlis (concealing) refers to an isnad where a reporter may have concealed the identity of his shaikh. Ibn al-Salah describes two types of Tadlis:

a) Tadlis al-Isnad; A person reports from his shaikh, whom he met, what he did not hear from him, or from a contemporary of his whom he did not meet, in such a way as to create the impression that he heard the hadith in person.

A mudallis normally uses the mode or to conceal the truth about the isnad.

b) Tadlis al-Shuyukh: The reporter does mention his shaikh by his usual name, but instead with a less well-known name, by-name, nickname or another less well-known identity, in order not to disclose his shaikh’s identity.

Al-‘Iraqi (d. 806), in his notes on Muqaddima Ibn al-Salah, adds a third type of Tadlis, known as Tadlis al-Taswiyya. To explain it, let us assume an isnad which contains a trustworthy shaikh reporting from a weak authority, who in turn reports from another trustworthy shaikh. Now, the reporter of this isnad omits the intermediate weak authority, leaving the isnad apparently consisting of reliable authorities. He plainly shows that he heard it from his shaikh but he uses the mode ‘an to link his immediate shaikh with the next trustworthy one, thus omitting the intermediate authority. To an average reader, this isnad seems free of any doubt or discrepancy. This is known to have been practised by Baqiyya b. al-Walid, Walid b. Muslim, A’mash and al-Thauri. It is said to be the worst among the three kinds of Tadlis.

Ibn Hajar (d. 852) classifies the mudallisun into five categories in his essay Tabaqat al-Mudallisin:

a) Those who are known to do it occasionally, such as Yahya b. Sa’id al-Ansari.

b) Those who are accepted by the traditionists, either because of their good reputation and relatively few cases of Tadlis, e.g. al-Thauri, or because they reported from authentic authorities only, e.g. Ibn ‘Uyaina.

c) Those who practised it a great deal. The traditionists have accepted only such ahadith from them which were reported with a clear mention of hearing directly. Among these are Abu Zubair al-Makki. Opinions differ regarding whether they are acceptable or not.

d) Similar to the previous category, but the traditionists agree that their ahadith are to be rejected unless they clearly admit of their hearing, such as Baqiyya b. al-Walid.

e) Those who are disparaged due to another reason apart from Tadlis; their ahadith are rejected, even though they admit of hearing them directly. Exempted from them are reporters such as Ibn Lahi’a, whose weakness is found to be of a lesser degree. Ibn Hajar gives the names of 152 such reporters.

Tadlis, especially of those in the last three categories, is so disliked that Shu’ba said, “Tadlis is the brother of lying” and “To commit adultery is more favourable to me than to report by way of Tadlis.”

A musalsal (continued) isnad is one in which all the reporters as well as the Prophet use the same mode of transmission such as ‘an, haddathana, etc., repeat any other additional statement or remark, or act in a particular manner while narrating the hadith.

Al-Hakim (d. 405) gives eight examples of such asanid, each having a different characteristic repeated feature:

a) use of the phrase sami’tu (I heard);

b) an expression such as “stand and pour water for me so that I may illustrate the way my shaikh performed ablution”;

c) haddathana (he narrated to us);

d) an expression such as amarani (he commanded me);

e) an action such as holding one’s beard;

f) illustrating by counting on five fingers;

g) an expression such as “I testify that …”; and

h) interlocking the fingers.

Knowledge of musalsal helps in discounting the possibility of Tadlis.

Shadhdh (aloof) and munkar (rejected)

According to al-Shafi’i, a shaddhh hadith is one which is reported by a trustworthy person but goes against the narration of a person more authentic than him. It does not include a hadith which is unique in its contents and is not narrated by someone else. In the light of this definition, the well-known hadith,

“Actions are (judged) according to intentions”, is not considered shadhdh since it has been narrated by Yahya b. Sa’id al-Ansari from Muhammad b. Ibrahim al-Taimi from ‘Alqama from ‘Umar, all of whom are trustworthy authorities, although each one of them is the only reporter at that stage.

According to Ibn Hajar, if a narration which goes against another authentic hadith is reported by a weak narrator, it is known as munkar.

Traditionists as late as Ahmad used to simply label any hadith of a weak reporter as munkar.

Sometimes, a hadith is labelled as munkar because of its contents being contrary to general sayings of the Prophet. Al-Khatib (d. 463) quotes al-Rabi’ b. Khaitham as saying

Ibn Kathir quotes the following two ahadith in his Tafsir, the first of which is acceptable, while the second contradicts it and is unreliable:

(i) Ahmad === Abu Mu’awiya === Hisham b. ‘Urwa — Fatima bint al-Mundhir — Asma’ bint Abi Bakr, who said, “My mother came (to Madina) during the treaty Quraish had made, while she was still a polytheist. So I came to the Prophet and said to him, ‘O Messenger of Allah, my mother has come willingly: should I treat her with kindness?’ He replied, ‘Yes! Treat her with kindness’.”

(ii) Al-Bazzar === ‘Abdullah b. Shabib === Abu Bakr b. Abi Shaiba === Abu Qatada al-‘Adawi — the nephew of al-Zuhri — al-Zuhri — ‘Urwa — ‘A’isha and Asma’, both of whom said, “Our mother came to us in Madina while she was a polytheist, during the peace treaty between the Quraish and the Messenger of Allah. So we said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, our mother has come to Madina willingly. Do we treat her kindly?’ He said, ‘Yes! Treat her kindly’.”

Ibn Kathir then remarks:

In contrast to a munkar hadith, if a reliable reporter is found to add something which is not narrated by other authentic sources, his addition is normally accepted as long as it does not contradict them; such an addition is known as ziyada thiqa (an addition by one trustworthy).

An addition by a Companion to the saying of the Prophet is termed mudraj (added). For example, al-Khatib relates via Abu Qattan and Shababa — Shu’ba — Muhammad b. Ziyad — Abu Huraira — The Prophet, who said,

Al-Khatib then remarks,

Such an addition may be found in the beginning, in the middle, or at the end, in explanation of a term used. Idraj (addition) is mostly found in the text, although a few examples show that such additions are found in the isnad as well, where the reporter grafts a part of one isnad to another.

A reporter found to be in the habit of intentional idraj is generally unacceptable and considered a liar. However, the traditionists are more lenient towards such reporters who may do so forgetfully or in order to explain a difficult word.

Before discussing ma’lul (defective) ahadith, a brief note on mudtarib (shaky) and maqlub (reversed) ahadith would help in understanding ma’lul.

According to Ibn Kathir, if reporters disagree about a particular shaikh, about some other points in the isnad or about the text in such a way that none of the opinions can be preferred over another, such a hadith is called mudtarib.

For example with regard to idtirab in the isnad, it is reported on the authority of Abu Bakr that he said: “O Messenger of Allah! I see you getting older?” He replied, “What made me old are Sura Hud and its sister suras.”

Al-Daraqutni says,

As an example of idtirab in the text, Rafi’ b. Khadij that the Messenger of Allah forbade the renting of land. The reporters narrating from Rafi’ give different statements as follows:

(i) Hanzala asked Rafi’, “What about renting on gold and silver?” He replied, “It does not matter if it is lent on gold and silver.”

(ii) Rifa’a — Rafi’ — the Prophet, who said, “Whoever owns a piece of land should cultivate it, give it to his brother to cultivate, or abandon it.

(iii) Salim — Rafi’ — his two uncles — the Prophet, who forbade the renting of farming land.

(iv) The son of Rafi’ — Rafi’ — the Prophet, who forbade the renting of Iand.

(v) A different narration by Rafi’ from the Prophet, who said, “Whoever owns a piece of land should either cultivate it or give it to his brother to cultivate. He must not rent it on a third or fourth part (of the produce) or on a given quantity of the produce.”

(vi) Zaid b. Thabit said, “May Allah forgive Rafi’! I am more aware of the hadith than he; what happened was that two Helpers had a dispute, so they came to the Prophet, who (after listening to their cases) said, ‘If this is your position, then do not rent the farms.’ Rafi’ has just heard the last phrase, i.e., ‘Do not rent the farms’.”

Because of these various versions, Ahmad says,

Maqlub (reversed) ahadith

A hadith is known as maqlub when its isnad is grafted to a different text or vice versa, or if a reporter happens to reverse the order of phrases in a sentence in the text.

As an example relating to text, Muslim, in his transmission of the famous hadith describing the seven who will be under the shelter of Allah on the Day of Judgment, quotes one of the categories as, “A man who conceals his act of charity to an extent that his right hand does not know what his left hand gives in charity.” This sentence has clearly been reversed by a reporter, because the correct wording is recorded in other narrations of both al-Bukhari and Muslim as follows, “… that his left hand does not know what his right hand gives in charity.”

The famous trial of al-Bukhari by the scholars of Baghdad provides a good example of a maqlub isnad. The traditionists, in order to test their visitor, al-Bukhari, appointed ten men, each with ten ahadith. Now, each hadith of these ten was grafted with the isnad of another. Imam al-Bukhari listened to each of the ten men and denied the authenticity of every hadith. When they had finished narrating these ahadith, al-Bukhari turned to each person inturn and recounted to him each hadith with its correct isnad. This trial won him great honour among the scholars of Baghdad.

Other ways of rendering a hadith maqlub are by replacing the name of a reporter with another, e.g. quoting Abu Huraira as the reporter from the Prophet although the actual reporter is someone else, or by reversing the name of the reporter, e.g. mentioning Walid b. Muslim instead of Muslim b. Walid, or Ka’b b. Murra instead of Murra b. Ka’b.

Ma’lul or Mu’allal (defective) hadith

Ibn al-Salah says, “A ma’lul hadith is one which appears to be sound, but thorough research reveals a disparaging factor.” Such factors can be:

(i) declaring a hadith musnad when it is in fact mursal, or marfu’ when it is in fact mauquf; and

(ii) showing a reporter to narrate from his shaikh when in fact he did not meet the latter; or attributing a hadith to one Companion when it in fact comes through another.

Ibn al-Madini (d. 324) says that such a defect can only be revealed if all the asanid of a particular hadith are collated. In his book al-‘Ilal, he gives thirty-four Successors and the names of those Companions from whom each of them heard directly. For example, he says that al-Hasan al-Basri did not see ‘Ali, although he adds there is a slight possibility that he may have seen him during his childhood in Madina. Such information is very important since many Sufi traditions go back to al-Hasan al-Basri, who is claimed to report directly from ‘Ali.

Being a very delicate branch of Mustalah al-Hadith, only a few well-known traditionists such as Ibn al-Madini (d. 234), Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi (d. 327), al-Khallal (d. 311) and al-Daraqutni (d. 385), have compiled books about it. Ibn Abi Hatim has given 2840 examples of ma’lul ahadith related to different issues in his Kitab al-‘Ilal.

An example of a ma’lul hadith is one transmitted by Muslim on the authority of Abu Huraira, who reports the Prophet as saying

About it, Ibn Taimiyya says,

Under this classification falls the final verdict on a hadith, being one of the following: sahih, hasan, da’if or maudu’.

Among the early traditionists, mostly of the first two centuries, ahadith were classified into two categories only: sahih and da’if; al-Tirmidhi was to be the first to distinguish hasan from da’if. This is why traditionists and jurists such as Ahmad, who seemed to argue on the basis of da’if ahadith sometimes, were in fact basing their argument on the ahadith which were later to be known as hasan.

We now examine in more detail these four important classes of ahadith.

Saheeh (sound)

Hasan (agreeable)

Da’eef (weak)

Maudoo’ (fabricated)

Saheeh (sound)

Al-Shafi’i states the following requirement in order for a hadith which is not mutawatir to be acceptable:

Ibn al-Salah, however, defines a sahih hadith more precisely by saying:

By the above definition, no room is left for any weak hadith, whether, for example, it is munqati’, mu’dal, mudtarib, maqlub, shadhdh, munkar, ma’lul, or contains a mudallis. The definition also excludes hasan ahadith, as will be shown under that heading.

Of all the collectors of hadith, al-Bukhari and Muslim were greatly admired because of their tireless attempt to collect sahih hadith only. It is generally understood that the more trustworthy and of good memory the reporters, the more authentic the hadith. The isnad: al-Shafi’i — Malik — Nafi’ — ‘Abdullah b. ‘Umar — The Prophet, is called a “golden isnad” because of its renowned reporters.

Some traditionists prefer Sahih al-Bukhari to Sahih Muslim because al-Bukhari always looked for those reporters who have either accompanied or met each other, even if only once in their lifetime. On the other hand, Muslim would accept a reporter who is simply found to be contemporary to his immediate authority in reporting.

The following grading is given for sahih ahadith only:

• those which are transmitted by both al-Bukhari and Muslim;

• those which are transmitted by al-Bukhari only;
• those which are transmitted by Muslim only;
• those which agree with the requirements of both al-Bukhari and Muslim but are not found in their collections;
• those which agree with the requirements of al-Bukhari only;
• those which agree with the requirements of Muslim only; and
• those declared sahih by other traditionists.

Hasan (agreeable)

Al-Tirmidhi means by hadith hasan, a hadith which is not shadhdh, which does not contain a disparaged reporter in its isnad, and which is reported through more than one route of narration.

Al-Khattabi (d. 388) states a very concise definition,

By this he means that the hadith should not be of an ambiguous nature like the mursal or munqati’ hadith, or one containing a mudallis.

Ibn al-Salah classifies hasan into two categories:

(i) one with an isnad containing a reporter who is mastur (i.e., no prominent person reported from him) but is not totally careless in his reporting, provided that a similar text is reported through another isnad as well;

(ii) one with an isnad containing a reporter who is known to be truthful and reliable, but is a degree less in his preservation of hadith in comparison to the reporters of sahih ahadith.

In both categories, Ibn al-Salah requires that the hadith be free of any shudhudh.

Al-Dhahabi, after giving the various definitions, says, “A hasan hadith is one which excels the da’if but nevertheless does not reach the standard of a sahih hadith.” In the light of this definition, the following isnads are hasan according to al-Dhahabi:

(i) Bahz b. Hakam — his father — his grandfather;

(ii) ‘Amr b. Shu’aib — his father — his grandfather;

(iii) Muhammad b. ‘Amr — Abu Salama — Abu Huraira.

Reporters such as al-Harith b. ‘Abdullah, ‘Asim b. Damura, Hajjaj b. Artat, Khusaif b. ‘Abd al-Rahman and Darraj Abu al-Samh attract different verdicts: some traditionists declare their ahadith hasan, others declare them da’if.

According to the definition of al-Tirmidhi and Ibn al-Salah, a number of weak ahadith on a particular issue can be raised to the degree of hasan if the weakness found in their reporters is of a mild nature. However, in case the weakness is severe, (i.e., the reporter is a liar or the hadith is itself shadhdh), such weak ahadith will not support each other and will remain weak. For example, the famous hadith,

“He who preserves forty hadiths for my Ummah will be raised by Allah on the Day of Resurrection among the Fuqaha’ “, has been declared to be da’if by most of the traditionists, although it is reported through various routes.

Da’eef (weak)

A hadith which fails to reach the status of hasan is da’if. Usually, the weakness is one of discontinuity in the isnad, in which case the hadith could be mursal, mu’allaq, mudallas, munqati’ or mu’dal, according to the precise nature of the discontinuity, or one of a reporter having a disparaged character, such as due to his telling lies, excessive mistakes, opposition to the narration of more reliable sources, involvement in innovation, and ambiguity surrounding his own person.

The smaller the number and importance of defects, the less severe the weakness. The more the defects in number and severity, the closer the hadith will be to being fabricated.

Some ahadith, according to the variation in the nature of the weakness associated with its reporters, rank at the bottom of the hasan grade or the top of the da’if grade. Reporters such as ‘Abdullah b. Lahi’a, ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Zaid b. Aslam, Abu Bakr b. Abi Maryam al-Himsi, Faraj b. Fadala, Rishdin b. Sa’d and the like, attract such types of varying ranks as they are neither extremely good preservers nor totally abandoned.

Maudoo’ (fabricated)

Al-Dhahabi defines it as a hadith, the text of which goes against the established norms or its reporters include a liar, e.g. the forty ahadith known as Wad’aniyya or the copy of ‘Ali al-Rida which was fabricated against him.

A number of traditionists have collected fabricated ahadith separately in order to distinguish them from other ahadith; among them are Ibn al-Jauzi in al-Maudu’at, al-Janzaqani in Kitab al-Abatil, and al-Suyuti in al-La’ali al-Masnu’a fi al-Ahadith al-Maudu’a.

Some of these ahadith were known to be spurious by the confession of their inventors. For example, Muhammad b. Sa’id al-Maslub used to say, “It is not wrong to fabricate an isnad for a sound statement.” Another notorious inventor, ‘Abd al-Karim Abu al-Auja, who was killed and crucified by Muhammad b. Sulaiman b. ‘Ali, governor of Basra, admitted that he had fabricated four thousand ahadith declaring lawful the prohibited and vice-versa.

Maudu’ ahadith are also recognised by external evidence related to a discrepancy found in the dates or times of a particular incident. For example, when the second caliph, ‘Umar b. al-Khattab wanted to expel the Jews from Khaibar, some Jewish dignitaries brought a document to ‘Umar apparently proving that the Prophet had intended that they stay there by exempting them from jizya. The document carried the witness of Sa’d b. Mu’adh and Mu’awiyah b. Abi Sufyan. ‘Umar rejected the document outright, knowing that it was fabricated because the conquest of Khaibar took place in 6 AH, whereas Sa’d b. Mu’adh died in 3 AH just after the Battle of the Trench, and Mu’awiyah embraced Islam in 8 AH, after the conquest of Makkah.

The author, in his thesis, Criticism of Hadith among Muslims with reference to Sunan Ibn Maja, has given more examples of fabricated ahadith under the following eight categories of causes of fabrication:

• political differences;
• factions based on issues of creed;
• fabrications by zanadiqa;
• fabrications by story-tellers;
• fabrications by ignorant ascetics;
• prejudice in favour of town, race or a particular imam;
• inventions for personal motives;
• proverbs turned into ahadith.

The above-mentioned classification of ahadith plays a vital role in ascertaining the authenticity of a particular narration. Ibn al-Salah mentions sixty-five terms in his book, of which twenty-three have been discussed above. Two further types not included by Ibn al-Salah, mu’allaq and mutawatir, have been dealt with from other sources. The remaining forty-two types follow in brief, which help further distinguish between different types of narrations.

1) The knowledge of i’tibar, mutaba’a and shahid. Traditionists are always in search of more witnesses in favour of a hadith which is reported by one source only; such research is termed i’tibar. If a supporting narration is not found for a particular hadith, it is declared as fard mutlaq (absolutely singular) or gharib. For example, if a hadith is reported through the following isnad: Hammad b. Salama — Ayyub — Ibn Sirin — Abu Huraira — The Prophet, research would be done to ascertain whether another trustworthy reporter has narrated it from Ayyub; if so, it will be called mutaba’a tamma (complete mutaba’a); if not, a reporter other than Ayyub narrating from Ibn Sirin would be sought: if so, it will be called mutaba’a qasira (incomplete mutaba’a).

2) Afrad (singular narrations).

3) The type of character required in an acceptable reporter.

4) The way a hadith is heard and the different ways of acquiring ahadith.

5) How a hadith is written and how punctuation marks are used.

6) The way a hadith is reported.

7) The manners required in traditionists.

8) The manners required for a student of hadith.

9) The knowledge of a higher or lower isnad (i.e. one with less or more reporters respectively).

10) The knowledge of difficult words.

11) The knowledge of abrogated ahadith.

12) The knowledge of altered words in a text or isnad.

13) The knowledge of contradictory ahadith.

14) The knowledge of an addition made to an isnad (i.e. by an inserting the name of an additional reporter).

15) The knowledge of a well-concealed type of mursal.

16) The knowledge of the Companions.

17) The knowledge of the Successors.

18) The knowledge of elders reporting from younger reporters.

19) The knowledge of reporters similar in age reporting from each other.

20) The knowledge of brothers and sisters among reporters.

21) Knowledge of fathers reporting from their sons.

22) Knowledge of sons reporting from their fathers.

23) Knowledge of such reporters reporting from one authority, one in his early life and the other in his old age. In such cases the dates of death of the two reporters will be of significance.

24) Knowledge of such authorities from whom only one person reported.

25) Knowledge of such reporters who are known by a number of names and titles.

26) Knowledge of unique names among the Companions and the reporters in general.

27) Knowledge of names and by-names (kunya).

28) The knowledge of by-names for reporters known by their names only.

29) The knowledge of nicknames (alqab) of the traditionists.

30) Knowledge of mu’talif and mukhtalif (names written similarly but pronounced differently, e.g. Kuraiz and Kariz.

31) The knowledge of muttafiq and muftariq (similar names but different identities), e.g. “Hanafi”: there are two reporters with this name; one is called by this name because of his tribe Banu Hanifa; the other because of his adherence to a particular madh-hab.

32) Names covering both previous types.

33) Names looking similar but they differ because of the difference in their father’s names, e.g. Yazid b. al-Aswad and al-Aswad b. Yazid.

34) Names attributed to other than their fathers, e.g. Isma’il b. Umayya; in this case Umayya is the mother’s name.

35) Knowledge of such relations (attributed to a place or tribe, etc.) which have a meaning different from what they seem to be apparently, e.g. Abu Mas’ud al-Badri, who is known as al-Badri not because he witnessed the battle of Badr but because he came to live there.

36) The knowledge of ambiguous reporters by finding out their names.

37) The knowledge of the dates of birth and death of reporters.

38) The knowledge of trustworthy and weak reporters.

39) Knowledge of such trustworthy reporters who are found to be confused in their old age.

40) Knowledge of contemporaries in a certain period.

41) The knowledge of free slaves (mawali) among the reporters.

42) The knowledge of the homelands and home towns of reporters. (NOTE: If you want to build a strong and powerful relationship with Allah, check out Islamia TV, where you can watch Islamic speakers from across the globe deliver inspiring and motivational courses. Learn more at www.islamia.tv.)

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