Categories of Hadith

Hadith is divided into three grades: 1) ṣaḥīḥ (sound), 2) ḥasan (fair), and 3) ḍaʿīf (weak).

The First Grade: al-ṣaḥīḥ (the sound hadith)

This heading comprises several issues.

1 – Its definition: A hadith is deemed ṣaḥīḥ when its chain of transmission (isnād) is uninterrupted and each narrator is upright and precise, with no irregularity (shudhūdh) or hidden defect (ʿillah). When scholars say that a report is “ṣaḥīḥ,” this is what they mean; it is not an assertion of absolute certainty. Likewise, when they say “not ṣaḥīḥ,” they merely intend that its isnād has not fulfilled these conditions. The preferred view is that one should not categorically pronounce any single chain to be the very soundest of all.

Nevertheless, some have claimed that the best chain is al-Zuhri → Sālim → his father. Others said it is Ibn Sīrīn → ʿUbaydah → ʿAlī; others, al-Aʿmash → Ibrāhīm → ʿAlqamah → Ibn Masʿūd; still others, al-Zuhri → ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn → his father → ʿAlī; and yet others, Mālik → Nāfiʿ → Ibn ʿUmar. On the strength of this last view it has also been said: al-Shāfiʿī → Mālik → Nāfiʿ → Ibn ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with them all.