GCIL PODCAST - Javed Ahmed Ghamidi · Ghamidi Center Of Islamic Learning

Response to 23 Questions - Part 141 - What is Hadith ( Hadees Kya Hai ) - Javed Ahmed Ghamidi

·36 min·5 clips

This installment begins by returning to the question of Hadith and its place as the historical record of the Prophet's seerah and practice. The discussion is part of a longer sequence on the same subject. It then moves through the handling of that record by the Khulafa-e Rashtin, beginning with Abu Bakr and Umar, and then by the rest of the Sahaba-e Ikram. The next step is the Tabi'een, who receive the tradition from the Companions and carry it further. Umar bin Abdul Aziz comes in as the turning point at the end of the first century, when a formal statement changes the scale of the work. The episode spends time on the logic behind that change. It stresses that those who judge narrators are not looking at reports alone. They are also looking at the narrator's character. They ask whether the person lies. They ask whether the person invents things. They ask whether the person hides facts. They ask whether the person distorts what is received. The show describes a practical method of checking people over time. Scholars sit in gatherings for years and compare what a narrator says on one day with what he says on another. Small habits count as evidence. The arrangement of Salah is noticed. The person's relation to Deen is noticed. Social behavior is noticed. Family conduct is noticed. The whole life becomes part of the inquiry. The discussion also says that false attribution was one of the major dangers in the history of narration. Political need could push people toward fabrication. Against that background, the episode argues that the tradition survived because its bearers showed reliability through knowledge, practice, work, thought, and the testimony of an entire life. From there the conversation turns to the second century and the people and books that arose after Umar bin Abdul Aziz's order. It points forward to the great collections that later came to be arranged as the six books. The final movement is one of historical pride and careful gratitude, since the discussion presents this scholarly inheritance as a scientific tradition that is not found in the world in the same way.

As heard by us

A patient study of how Hadith was preserved, tested, and carried forward.

It keeps its focus on a narrow but serious question: how Hadith was preserved, judged, and carried forward across the Companions, the Tabi'een, and the time of Umar bin Abdul Aziz.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a careful walk through how Hadith was framed as the historical record of the Prophets seerah and sunnah.

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