Hadith terminology

Hadith terminology (Arabic: مُصْطَلَحُ الحَدِيْث‎) muṣṭalaḥ al-ḥadīth) is the body of terminology in Islam which specifies the acceptability of the sayings (hadith) attributed to the prophet Muhammad and other early Islamic figures of significance, such as Muhammad's family and/or successors. Individual terms distinguish between those hadith considered rightfully attributed to their source or detail the faults of those of dubious provenance. Formally, it has been defined by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani as: "knowledge of the principles by which the condition of the narrator and the narrated are determined." This page comprises the primary terminology used within hadith studies.

Terminology relating to the authenticity of a hadith

Ibn al-Salah said: "A hadith, according to its specialists, is divided into ṣaḥīḥ, ḥasan and ḍaʻīf."

Ibn al-Salah said, "A hadith, according to its specialists, is divided into ṣaḥīḥ ("authentic"), ḥasan and ḍaʻīf." While the individual terms of hadith terminology are many, many more than these three terms, the final outcome is essentially determining whether a particular hadith is ṣaḥīḥ and, therefore, actionable, or ḍaʻīf and not actionable. This is evidenced by al-Bulqini's commentary on Ibn al-Salah's statement. Al-Bulqini commented that "the terminology of the hadith specialists is more than this, while, at the same time, is only ṣaḥīḥ and its opposite. Perhaps what has been intended by the latter categorization (i.e. into two categories) relates to standards of religious authority, or lack of it, in general, and what will be mentioned afterwards (i.e. the sixty-five categories) is a specification of that generality."