Fabricated Hadith :

definition & causes

BY:
CHE FATHIYAH CHE HAMID
IZYAN DIYANA MERZUKI
BALQIS MOHD NASIR
 definition

• Hadith: Literally-communication, story, conversation etc.

• Technically: transmitted on the authority of the prophet on

his deeds, sayings, tacit, and sifaat.

• Fabricated hadith: literally-lie about something & to invent

something without basis

• Technically: It means the fabricated narration about the

prophet and his authority such as deeds, sayings,
approval, using invented and fabricated Hadith
BRIEF HOSTORY ON HADITH
MOVEMENT

DURING PROPHET MUHAMMAD LIFETIME

 3 ways to preserve Hadith:

1) Verbal – memorization

2) Written

3) Practical demonstration
 Verbal

• The most encouraged way by the prophet

• The process: The prophet say the Hadith-

the Companions-tell to other Sahabahs
who not present

• Most of the Sahabah used this way to

preserve Hadith
 Written
 A Hadith reported by Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri:
“Do not write from me anything except the
Qur’an and whosoever has written
anything from me other than the Qur’an
should erase it.”
 Reasons:
i. Most of the Sahabah had strong memory
ii. Afraid that the possibility of mixture between
Quran & Hadith
iii. The Prophet wanted Sahabah to focus more on
the Quran & it preservation
 Era of the companions

All caliphs were very concerned related to Hadith:

 Caliph Abu Bakr r.a- reporter of hadith must bring
an independent witness as a proof- not fabricate
hadith
 Caliph Umar r.a-imprisoned some companions-
traditional extremists eg: Ibn Mas’ud, Abu Darda’
and Abu Mas’ud al-ansari.
 Caliph Ali r.a- reporter need to prove some oath-
not lie about the hadith of Prophet.
 sahabah: Abu Hurairah r.a-narrated 5374 ahadith
 Era of the successor

 New policy-expanding empires- leader

need to qualified in both, military and
Islamic fields- eg:Hadith
 New problem: people-invent Hadith-
authority of the Prophet
 How to deal:
 Caliph Umar bin Abd. Aziz-ordered-compile the
Hadith, sent letter to a famous Muhadditisin
 The list of the hadith books that had been
compiled by many scholars at the Tabeen for
example; Kitab Khalid bin Maidan, Kutb Hasan
Bisri,
 era of successor to successor

• Around 2nd century-the compilation of the Hadith

became more systematically and written in the
text.

• Eg: Imam Malik- al-Muwatta’(1st comprehensive

written Hadith)

• Other scholars: Abdullah ibn Al-Mubarak of

Khurasan; Hammad ibn Salamah of Basrah; and
Sufyan Ath-Thawri of Kufah
 Era of Sahih

 Started during 3rd century- birth of

research studies & critical analysis

 Eg: Imam Bukhari with his Sahih al-

Bukhari, Imam Muslim with his Sahih
Muslim, Imam Abu Dawud with his Sunnan
Abu Dawud
 Brief history on forgery hadith

 when it happened?
- Opinion by Ibn Hazim

- During period of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq

- During the period of Uthman ibn Affan- his

assassination
CAUSES OF FABRICATION
• INTENTIONAL FABRICATION

• UNINTENTIONAL FABRICATION
INTENTIONAL FABRICATION
1)The Zanadiqa (Heretic)
• Deny the validity of prophecy
• Al-Ghazali : 1)absolute
2)specific
2)Political Differences
• Differences & battles between ‘Ali &
Mu’awiyah
• In favour of their man
INTENTIONAL FABRICATION
3)Favour Seekers
• Want to please caliphs or their chiefs

4)Storytellers
• Easy profit by playing on the trust of
the audience
• Compelled to invent Hadith through
the urge to instill into their listeners
respect towards the religion
INTENTIONAL FABRICATION
5)Human Frailties
• Bad memory, feeble-mindedness,
boastfulness etc

6)Ignorant Ascetics
• To let people come close to Allah
• To encourage people to be more
pious
INTENTIONAL FABRICATION
7)Prejudice For One’s Own
Town, Race, Imam
• Praise someone while
degrading someone else
 UNINTENTIONAL
FABRICATION
1)Novelty
• Took a well-known Hadith &
supported it with new isnad

2)Mistakes
• Isnad ended with a Companion or a
Successor only
 UNINTENTIONAL
FABRICATION
3)Inexactness
• Not so exact in the transmission
of Hadith

4)Indirect Transmission
• Transmitted Hadith that they
did not learn
 UNINTENTIONAL
FABRICATION
5)Failure To Copy
• Did not copy what they learned
• Later, wanted to appear professional
in the transmission of Hadith
6)Lack Of Qualification
• Lack the necessary qualification for
teaching Hadith
 UNINTENTIONAL
FABRICATION
7)Lost Books
• Relied on copies of other
books when teaching students
REACTIONS OF THE SCHOLARS
• End of the period of the Companions- opposing
parties and sects emerged, insincere hadith
students increased.
• Critical period of hadith fabrication.
• Prominent scholars traveled through Muslim
world, search for authentic sayings.
• Used careful methods to determine what was
actually said and made up.
• Starting from this point, ‘sciences of hadith’
was developed.
SCIENCES OF HADITH
• The process Muslims scholars use to evaluate
hadith.
• This science concerned with the sanad and matn, to
distinguish the sahih/authentic from other than it.
• The verification of each isnad is crucial- used to
verify
the intentional fabrication of ahadith by
various sects, in order to support their views.
 MUSTALAH AL-HADITH
• The rules regulating the acceptance of
ahadith are known as Mustalah al-Hadith
(the Classification of Hadith).
• Mustalah books put number of classes of
hadith according to their status:
according to the reference to a particular
authority.
according to the links in the isnad
according to the number of reporters
involved in each stage of the isnad
according to the manner in which the
hadith has been reported
according to the nature of the matn
and isnad
according to a hidden defect found in
the isnad or text of a hadith
according to the reliability and
memory of the reporters
 RIJAL AL-HADITH

• The study of the reporters of hadith.

• Acc. to Ibn Majah, this science is very
important- used to publicize to the
whole Islamic community the
character of those responsible for
forgery, or for incompetent and
incorrect reporting.
AL-KUTUB AL-SITTA
• Name given to the six hadith
books that contain collections of
the most authentic (reliable)
hadiths.
• Significant- constitute the
content of the prophetic sunnah,
one of the two most important
sources of the Islamic religion.
• Two works of Jami’ al-Sahih by al-
Bukhari and Muslim- purpose is
collecting only sahih(authentic)
hadith; as well as the four books of
Sunan that belong to Abu Davud,
Tirmidhi, Nasaai, and Ibn Majah.
• Fabricated hadith have been
compiled into separate books by
the scholars after they
conducted through and effective
classification studies.
• Examples of fabricated hadith:
"Seek knowledge even if it is in
China“-may have been fabricated
to encourage learning.
"I was born in the time of the just
king." This was fabricated to exalt
the Persian king Anushirwan.
 "Abu Hanifa is the lamp of my nation". It must have been
fabricated for sectarian considerations.
 "Cleanliness comes from belief." The meaning is true, but it
was not reported from the Messenger through a sound chain
of transmission. Instead, he said: "Purity (in body, mind, and
heart) is half of belief, and al-hamdu li-llah (all praise be to
God) fills up the balance (where the good deeds will be
weighed)."