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I was asked about how hadith was taught in hadith circles, and how was it explained? How did the early Huffaz of hadith, try to limit potential a potential misunderstanding of prophetic guidance when teaching hadith?
A thread:
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A thread:
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In response I wrote a short essay, covering the main points. In this thread I only want to touch upon one aspect that is overlooked, especially by the crowd that screech about how hard hadith are to understand and prone they are to misunderstanding aka TRAD folks.
The Huffaz were concerned about students getting a wrong perception of prophetic guidance, by simply hearing a hadith and running with it. This is why, they would either openly criticize "weak" hadith - not fabricated hadith! - or simply refuse to teach it. Let's see an example:
In his Muwatta' Al-Shaybani mentions a hadith that the Prophet would sleep without performing wudu, while being in a state of Janabah (e.g. after sex). Muhammad b. Al-Hasan Al-Shaybani comments: This hadith is easier on people and is the opinion of Abu Hanifah.
Only problem: The hadith is an error from a transmitter who completely changed the meaning of the hadith through his error - weak though, not fabricated. How did the Huffaz treat this? Remember, they don't want their students to have a wrong impression about what the Prophet did!
Shu'bah used to avoid this hadith.
'Ali b. Al-Ja'd refused to transmit this hadith to students.
Sufyan transmitted it, yet used to openly contradict it and quote others criticizing it.
Ahmed b. Hanbal said that it isn't permissible to transmit.
cont.
'Ali b. Al-Ja'd refused to transmit this hadith to students.
Sufyan transmitted it, yet used to openly contradict it and quote others criticizing it.
Ahmed b. Hanbal said that it isn't permissible to transmit.
cont.
Yazid b. Harun, Abu Dawud and Al-Tirmidhi all openly criticized it.
Imam Muslim devoted several pages "debunking" it in his Al-Tamyiz...
Imam Muslim devoted several pages "debunking" it in his Al-Tamyiz...
There are loads of examples to chose from to demonstrate this point. In fact, the only reason that the Sihah were compiled were for just that reason! The didn't want people to have incorrect perceptions about what the Prophet said or did.
Take away: Trads don't have a monopoly on the sound understanding of hadith. Our hadith scholars were more sincere to the memory of the Prophet than them and more aware of how to protect his tradition from corruption than them! Say no to weak hadiths, kids!
Trads be like: WE DON'T TAKE SOLITARY REPORTS...unless they are proven to be mistakes...in which case we do :)
