ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Light On the Muhammadan Sunnah Or Defence of the Hadith Definition of the Book In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent the Merciful “And those who shun the worship of the idols3and turn they unto God, for them is the glad tidings, so bear thou the glad tidings unto My servants.

Those who hearken unto the word and follow the best of it; those are they whom God hath guided; and those it is who are the men of understanding.” (39: 17,18) It is almost concurred among all, with no need for any proof, that the Muhammadan hadith being so esteemed and sublime that requiring the best care and accurate research, so as to study and learn the treasures it contains, of religion, morals, wisdoms and precepts, beside other worldly and hereafter advantages and interests.

But, despite the dignified position and noble status it had, the scholars and men of letters have never given it the due attention, care and investigation, leaving it to be handled and circulated by the so-called men of hadith, studying it according to their way of thinking. The method adopted by these people was based on inanimate unchangeable principles.

So we see the former ones among them, who laid down these rules, have confined their attention on recognizing the hadith narrators, and searching – as much as possible – into their biography, never caring then about whatever uttered by them: whether being veracious or not, reasonable or other than this. The reason behind this being their full dependence upon the sanad (chain of transmitters) alone, without any slight regard for the meaning and denotation.

Then it was the turn of their successors, who blindly stuck at the limits and boundaries laid by those who preceded them, without even thinking of trespassing or turning away from them. Thus the science of riwayah (narration), since the earlier centuries, became so rigid and lifeless without any vitality or change.

Then we noticed how these and those people clung only to the superficialities of hadith as indicated by the narrations, fully believing in and following without the slightest investigation or verification.

While doing their utmost in studying science of hadith, extremely caring for its sanad to the extent it was said: The science of hadith has fully developed and was burnt, 4 but on the other hand they have all neglected a highly serious point that had to be realized and conceived before going into this science and studying its books.