Hadith Notes

Imam Bukhārī discredits a hadith disparaging Muʿāwiya by comparing its contents with established historical facts. A good example of naqd al-matn (content criticism).

Someone recently asked me where to find the earliest surviving physical witnesses to hadith writing. This is distinct from early works such as the Ṣaḥīfah of Hammām ibn Munabbih, whose text survives in later manuscripts. Among the earliest physical witnesses are papyrus fragments from the second and third centuries AH. A useful starting point in English is Nabia Abbott’s 1967 study, Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri II: Qurʾānic Commentary and Tradition⁠, published by the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute.

Someone recently asked me where to find the earliest surviving physical witnesses to hadith writing. This is distinct from early works such as the Ṣaḥīfah of Hammām ibn Munabbih, whose text survives in later manuscripts. Among the earliest physical witnesses are papyrus fragments from the second and third centuries AH. A useful starting point in English is Nabia Abbott’s 1967 study, Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri II: Qurʾānic Commentary and Tradition⁠, published by the University of Chicago.

How many unique hadiths and narrators are there? Obviously, the documented numbers do not reflect the exact historical reality, but they do give us a sense of scale. - Hadiths: Ṣāliḥ al-Shāmī counted about 28,000 hadiths in the major collections. - Narrators: Jawāmiʿ al-Kalim identifies about 50,000 unique transmitters. Much depends on how one counts. The figure of 28,000 hadiths, for example, considers similar hadiths transmitted from two different Companions as separate reports. If we trim this down to a single overall version, there are about 4,000 unique hadiths classified as ṣaḥīḥ or ḥasan. On the other hand, if we account for all the various repetitions, routes, and versions, the number exceeds 850,000 according to Jawāmiʿ al-Kalim.

My book on the Ḥanafī approach to hadith has gone to print and should be available for purchase soon. More details to follow, insha-Allah.

Given the inevitable "digital turn," the intersection of digital humanities and hadith offers promising avenues of research. Maxim Romanov's recent study is a good starting point. Here is one case study he presents on the canonization of the kutub sittah. The conclusion is something many hadith students may already know, but swing the data for a more precise assessment is amazing.

An early fragment of the Muwaṭṭaʾ of Mālik, written in the latter part of the second century AH, during or shortly after the lifetime of Imam Mālik. The manuscript is described by Nabia Abbott.

The influence of the Isrāʾīliyyāt on certain historical works, as well as books on ethics and virtues, is staggering. Consider Thaʿlabī’s (d. 427 AH) ʿArāʾis al-Majālis, a work I've seen cited frequently. According to Shaykh Issam Eidu’s study, approximately 80% of its material overlaps with Jewish Midrashic literature.