Primary Scriptures
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The Hadith Literature
[BEGINNER]
The Hadith ("report, tradition") — the recorded sayings, actions, and tacit approvals of Prophet Muhammad — is Islam's second scripture after the Quran. Where the Quran gives principles, the Hadith shows them walking: how to pray, fast, marry, trade, greet, forgive. Each report travels with its isnad (chain of narrators) and matn (text) — and fourteen centuries of scholars grading every link: sahih (sound), hasan (fair), da'if (weak), mawdu (fabricated).
[INTERMEDIATE]
The canon: Sunnis honour the Kutub al-Sittah (six books) — Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim above all ("the two Sahihs"), then Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasa'i, Ibn Majah. Shias transmit through the Imams — al-Kafi foremost. Hadith in India is a scholastic empire: Deoband's dawra-e-hadith (final-year Sahih Bukhari completion) is South Asian Sunnism's highest degree; Nadwatul Ulama (Lucknow), Mazahir Uloom (Saharanpur), and Barelvi madrasas run parallel chains; the annual khatm-e-Bukhari graduations fill stadiums.
Famous Indian hadith: "The best among you are those who learn the Quran and teach it" (Bukhari) — painted on madrasa walls from Kashmir to Kanyakumari; "Cleanliness is half of faith" (Muslim) — quoted in every Swachh Bharat-adjacent khutba.
[SCHOLAR]
Indian hadith scholarship's landmark: Shah Waliullah Dehlawi's 18th-century Hujjat Allah al-Baligha (theology of hadith) and his Persian Quran translation that democratised the sources; the 19th-century Ahl-e-Hadith movement's call to bypass madhhab for direct hadith; and Deoband–Barelvi polemics fought substantially on hadith authenticity grounds. Academic study spans traditional dars-e-nizami lineages and university Islamic-studies departments.
