Definitions

1. Epistemology:
Study of knowledge and branch of philosophy. It is
concerned with the mind’s relation to the reality.
2. Ontology:
It is a branch of philosophy that deals with the study of
existence. It seeks the classification and explanation of
entities. It is mostly a matter of conviction, e.g., can’t prove
the existence of gravity.
3. Polemics:
The main interest of polemics is to defend the group’s
ideology and refute the other side. Polemics are arguments
that often have a negative tone and show a biased, unfair
view of the opposing side.
4. Mutawātir:
It refers to the mass transmission of the Prophets tradition.
The number of transmitters grows exponentially out of a
web. This tradition is the most reliable.
5. Sarāyā:
This means that small troops were often sent out on
missions during the early Islamic times. These groups were
usually involved in tasks like protecting a region, gathering
information, or fighting small battles.
6. Maghāzī:
It is a subset of sira. The earliest biographies of the Prophet
were written in the Maghazi tradition. These traditions dealt
with the war expeditions undertaken by the Prophet.
7. Matn:
It is the main text of the Ahadith. For hadith authentication,
the tradition is analyzed in the light of other relevant material
available on the subject. The tradition is observed from
diFerent angles: whether the reported event or tradition was
possible, whether it conforms to the historical events, and
whether it could be attributed to the Prophet.
8. Isnād:
Chain of transmission. Sources or people by which hadith
has been passed on.
9. S̱aḥīfa:
Earliest ad hoc documents of hadith collection by the
companions of the Prophet like Hazrat Ali RA and Abdulla
Ibn Amr Ibn al-As.
10. Muṣannaf:
These are the books of hadith classified according to
separate themes. It contains many non-prophetic hadith,
e.g., the muwatta of Imam Malik.
11. Musnad :
It emerged in the late 2nd & 3rd century AH. It consists only
of Prophetic hadiths. It is focused on Isnad- its chapters are
classified according to isnad, e.g., the musnad of Ahmed ibn
Hanbal.
12. S̱aḥīḥ:
Hadith with an unbroken chain of upright, truthful narrators.
No outlandish content, consistent with the Quran, and not
contrary to reason.
13. Ḥasan :
Transmitters of this type are in the second tier of reliability.
These hadith are not entirely reliable, and there are doubts
about their memory and accuracy.
14. Ḍa‘īf:
Hadiths of this category do not meet the requirement for both
Sahih and Hasan isnad and consist of one or more persons with
ques8onable reliability.
15. Mawḍū’:
These are forged or fabricated hadith narrated by people
with no reliability. Forging is done for sectarian or personal
motivations or due to unintentional confusion.
16. Jarḥ wa al-ta‘dīl:
Another discipline formulated to question or validate
hadith—grounds on which the narrators could be rendered
unreliable.
17. Khabar ul-wāḥid/āḥad :
It refers to solitary hadith narrated by only a small group of
people(less than 3 or 4 in any given generation). The
authenticity of this hadith depends on the veracity of its
narrators.
18. Mashhūr:
It refers to well-known hadith. They come under khabar ul-
wahid for the first couple of generations and then become
mutawatir. Its narrators are at least 3 in any given generation.
These hadiths are suFicient to provide satisfaction about the
correctness of the narration.
19. Sunan:
These were organized topically and were used as legal
references with full isnad of hadith.
20. Sharī‘ah:
It means the straight path that leads to water sources. It
refers to the law laid down by God.
21. Fiqh:
It means understanding. Knowledge and understanding of
Sharia rules are based on research and practical proof. Fiqh
discovered Shariah through interpretation.
22. Uṣul al-Fiqh
It is the root of understanding. Covered categories of law:
obligatory, recommended, permitted, disliked, and
forbidden.
23. Mufti :
An expert who could give legal rulings or fatwas while taking
guidance from Sharia.
24. Qadi:
Judges were usually appointed by political authority and
dealt primarily with family law, charitable trusts, and civil
disputes.
25. Fatwa:
Legal rulings by Islamic teachings and Shariah.
26. Ḥukm:
Clear direc8ve regarding certain acts, e.g., Prayer, fas8ng
27. Mandūb:
Means recommended. Commendable acts that are not
required: reward for doing, no punishment for not doing
generally include sunnah acts.
28. Mubāh:
Means permitted. There is no reward or punishment for
doing or not doing.
29. Makrūh:
 This means discouraged—acts to be avoided as a way to
piety—a reward for avoiding but no punishment for doing.
30. Ijtihad:
Ijtihad means striving on the part of mujtahid(who does
ijtihad) to discover a rule from the sources. It assumes the
ruling is not self-evident and needs to be found and
extracted. It is the individual eFort of a qualified scholar
bound by norms.
31. Qiyās:
It is reasoning based on an analogy between two cases: an
old case with a rule and a new one we don’t yet have a ruling
on. This analogy is based on the ‘illa(the ratio of ruling) found
in both cases. E.g., grape wine and date wine.
32. Ijmā‘:
It means consensus. It is defined as the agreement of jurists
of a given generation. The prophet said: “my community will
not agree on an error.”
33. Ithna Ashari/Imāmi/Twelvers:
they believe that Hazrat Ali should’ve succeeded the
Prophet because of an incident in which the Prophet took
Ali’s hand and said: “Whoever looked at me as a master
should also similarly view Ali.” They regard Ali as the first of a
series of 12 infallible imams.
34. Ismaili:
They reserved a unique role for Hazrat Ali and said that the
first Imam was Hassan, his son. Therefore, Imam Jafar was
not the 6th imam, but he was the 5th imam. Ismailis claimed
that his son Ismail didn’t die but went into hiding for safety
reasons.
35. Zaydis:
 They trace their origin to Zaid, the 4th imam and the half-
brother of the 5th imam. He held that it was unnecessary for
an imam to be designated by his predecessor, but any
person from the bloodline of Hassan and Hussain could
claim it. They don’t accept hidden imams and don’t wait for
Imam Mehdi.
36. Ghayba:
It means absence. The term refers to the disappearance
from the view of the 12th and last imam, Muhammad al-
Mehdi—the Islamic doctrine among Shii sections of
Twelvers.
37. ḥudūd:
Hudud in Arabic is the plural of hadd, meaning limit or
boundary. The Quran men8ons the “Limits of God” several
8mes, warning Muslims of the sin of transgressing them and
that they should not even approach them. Includes: zina,
sariqa, shurb al-khamr, qadhf and hiraba.
38. ta‘zīr:
In Islamic law, ta’zir refers to punishment for oFenses at the
discretion of the judge or ruler of the state. The upper limit
for ta’zir punishment is that they can not reach the sentence
for the equivalent Hudud crime.
39. Anachronism:
It refers to thinking about the past contrary to what existed
then. For, hudud punishments- were barely implemented in
the past, but now some states attempt to re-establish them
as earlier glory of Islam and refer to it as something that
happened a lot.

40. Reification:
 It is changing something abstract into something tangible,
e.g., hudud.

Authors and Works

1. Ibn Ishaq:
• Founding father of the sira of primitive devotions.
• His writing is composed of 3 volumes:
(i) Beginning
(ii) Life of the Prophet to migration
(iii) Expeditions and battles
§ Collected oral tradition that formed the basis of an imp
biography of the Prophet
§ controversial in terms of including even less accurate
reports. He was more concerned with making sure that he
collected all the details.
§ Reveals the prophet as a man who slaughtered captives,
robbed caravans, sold women and children into slavery,
and other abuses.
§ Some laud his work for its remarkable and detailed
accounts
§ say that accusations of his work are unwarranted and
baseless, mature readers would not accept them at face
value.
2. Muwaṭṭa’ of Malik ibn Anas:
§ Imam Malik bin Anas compiled the earliest collection of
hadith texts comprising the subject of Islamic law
§ Cite rulings of the companions and successors more than
the Prophet himself.
§ Trying to answer questions with sources he considers
reliable, not concerned with proving their authenticity.
3. Imam Shafi‘I:
§ Found a Sunni law school, aka Shafii school.
§ Refused to identify with any pre-existing law schools.
§ Aimed at unifying the law schools>redefining existing
terms to produce a strict hierarchy of authority.
§ Considered first and foremost, the Quran à used the
Quran to show muslimsà that they were not duty-bound
to obey the prophet because his legal decisions were
divinely inspired.
§ second is sunna enshrined in hadith
§ third is ijma, defined as an agreement of the entire Muslim
community
§ fourth is Qiyas
§ disapproved istihasan and istislah.
4. S̱aḥīḥ of Bukhari:
• Only hadith whose isnad they felt met the
requirements of authenticity.
• Not just a collection of haddith>expression of Bukhari’s
vision of Islamic law
• The book covers the full range of legal and ritual topics
• The aim is to distinguish authentic and reliable hadiths
from unreliable.
5. S̱aḥīḥ of Muslim:
§ The famous scholar Imam Muslim has compiled a
collection of ahadith.
§ The most authentic compilation of the Prophets Ahadith
§ only Hadith, whose island they felt met the requirements
of authenticity
§ doesn’t include comments from companions and later
figures.