ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Light On the Muhammadan Sunnah Or Defence of the Hadith Parts of Khabar: Since hadith being the Prophet's utterances and acts, as defined by them, and that who couldn't realize these utterances through senses no way would be left for him to realize them but through khabar, the ulama’ cared for manifesting the parts of khabar in general, dedicating a special research for hadith which is only a part of khabar.

Ulama’ of kalam and usul (principles) divided khabar into two parts: Khabar mutawatir (successive) and khabar ahad. Khabar mutawatir is a khabar reported from some authentic narrator who related it to a large number of people to an extent that it is impossible to charge them with collaboration on falsifying and foisting into it.

This kind of khabar is useful for knowledge itself, 511 as it is definitely correct and should be adopted without any hesitation in respect of beliefs (aqa’id), for which it is a guide. And khabar al-ahad, which is also called khabar al-wahid, is the khabar whose reporters didn't reach that number as in the case of al-khabar al-mutawatir, whether the reporter being one or two or... five, up to a number with which it can never be sensed to be of al-khabar al-mutawatir.

512 This khabar indicates surmise, according to which it is acted in respect of rituals (ibadat) and transactions (mu‘amalat), not in aqa'id. In his Sharh of Muslim, al-Nawawi says: Khabar is of two sorts: mutawatir and ahad. The mutawatir is that khabar which being transmitted by a number of narrators that usually cannot be charged with falsity, and its two sides equal the central part, who altogether tell of an unsuspected source, and knowledge is established through their utterance.

513 The fact upon which concur most of the researchers is that this khabar cannot be determined by a certain number, and neither Islam nor reliability being a condition for the reporters. Whereas khabar al-wahid is devoid of the provision required in the mutawatir, whether the narrator being one or more, 514 and it includes the sahih and non- sahih. All the books of hadith come under the bab of ahad.

Rule of Mutawatir and Ahad: When the khabar is mutawatir it would definitely denote knowledge (ilm), while if it be khabar ahad it would not denote that. The akhbar al-ahad may sometimes contain things in which the self has confidence.