Isnad and Ijazah

Isnad

In the book - I'tiqad A'immah Al-Hadith - The Creed of the Imams of Hadith by Imam Abu Bakr al-Ismaa'eeli:

Hafidh ibn Hajah said : "Chains are lineage of the books"

1. Concept only found in Islam

2. Proves and backs our religion

3. Solid evidence where no one can argue against

4. Not found in other religions

5. Abdullah ibn al-Mubaarak 181 AH (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “The chains of narrations (isnad) is from the religion; were it not for the isnad anyone could say anything they wanted.”

For it to be a "Sahih" Hadith the Isnad must be connected.

• Every transmitter has heard from sheikh to sheikh up until the text it self

  • There is two types of "disconnected" chains:

    1. First being a student that narrates from a sheikh who died before the students birth.

    2. Second being a student narrates from a sheikh that lived in the same time but not verified that they have met or shared with him.

  • To know if a student heard from a sheikh is in two ways:

    1. Student explicitly states "I heard" - Mutassil

    2. Scholars of hadith have stated that this student has heard from him and met the sheikh.

Ijazah

1. Preservation of Authenticity

   1. There is multiple levels to which a narrator in each chain gets tested for their authenticity which we will briefly summarise in this article.

      
      

      1. Connected Chain - Isnad

      2. Transmitter of the Hadith has good Adaala

         1. Meaning a person who doesnt do anything criticisable, and to know a person has adaala can be in two ways:

            1. Scholars of Hadith Explicitly state that they have adaala - Mentioned in the books of "Discouraging and Praising the Narrators of Hadith".

            2. Person becoming well known and famous for that.

      3. Person has Precision - Dabb

         1. First is the student he memorizes and preserves the hadith he heard and conveys.

         2. Student records the hadith in books, looks after the book.

         1. The opposite is:

            1. Bad memory

            2. Lots of Mistakes or Delusion

            3. Doesn't review hadiths after a while he forgets it.

         2. How to know if a person is opposite?

            1. Comparing his hadith to the people of highest reliability.

2. Differentiation between truth and falsehood.

   1. The isnaad distinguishes authentic from fabricated.

      
      

3. Protection against Innovation

   1. The isnaad safeguards islam from distortions, exaggerations.

4. Upholding the prophetic legacy

5. Accountability and Integrity in Knowledge (as mentioned the stages above)

6. Historical Accuracy

   1. allowing historians and scholars to trace back events, practices and sayings to their original sources.

7. Protection of the Qur'an and Sunnah

8. Basis of Islamic Sciences

   1. The entire science of hadith depends on isnād. Without it, there would be no way to classify narrations as: Ṣaḥīḥ (authentic), Ḍaʿīf (weak), Mawḍūʿ (fabricated)

   2. All Sciences in Islam such as tafsir, fiqh, and history rely on the authenticity of their sources, which is guaranteed by the isnād system

9. Fulfilment of the command to verify.

   1. Allah commands believers to verify information:

      “O you who have believed, if there comes to you a disobedient one with information, investigate, lest you harm a people out of ignorance...” (Surah Al-Hujurat 49:6)

10. Unique Contribution of the Ummah