THE CLASSIFICATION OF HADITH According to the reference to a particular authority

Four types of hadith can be identified: 1- Qudsi - Divine; 2- Marfu - elevated; 3- Mauqufstopped; 4- Maqtu' severed.

Hadith Qudsi - Divine

It should be noted that the hadith do not contain only the words and deeds of Muhammad. There is also a category of hadith known as hadith qudsi (Arabic plural ahadith qudsiyyah) or holy hadith in which God speaks. These are not considered a part of the Koran because, according to Muhammad Azami, it is possible that Muhammads (pbuh) own interpretation played a role in the wording of the text. Qudus means holy or sacred. The sayings that are termed as al-qudsi are such that while the Prophet (pbuh) was relating them to his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), he mentioned that Allah, in effect, had communicated them to him. However, these communications do not form part of the Quran. Qudsi - Divine; a revelation from Allah (SWT); relayed with the words of the Prophet (pbuh). There are some reports from the Prophet Muhammad where he relates to the people what God has said (says), but this information is not part of the Qur'an. Such reports are included within the category of hadith qudsi. Some examples of this type of hadith.: 1- Abu Huraira reported that Allah's messenger said: 'Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, said: If My servant likes to meet me, I like to meet him, and if he dislikes to meet Me, I dislike to meet him.' (Forty Hadith Qudsi, Beirut, Damascus, 1980, No. 30.) 2- On the authority of Abu Huraira (Radhi Allahu Ta'ala Anhu) from the Prophet (pbuh), who said: "Allah (mighty and sublime be He) said: Spend (on charity), O son of Adam, and I shall spend on you." It was related by al-Bukhari (also by Muslim). 3- God the Almighty has said: "Whosoever shows enmity to a friend of Mine, I shall be at war with him. My servant does not draw near to me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have imposed upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him. When I love him I am the hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him; and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would grant him it." (from the collection of Bukhari)

The Difference Between Quran and Hadith Qudsi

While the common factor between hadith qudsi and the Qur'an is that both contain words from Allah which have been revealed to Muhammad (pbuh), the main points of difference between Qur'an and hadith qudsi are as follows: 1. The Quran contains the verbatim words of Allah, while a hadith qudsi contains the message of Allah conveyed to the people by the Prophet (pbuh) in the Prophets own words.

2. The words of the Quran are miraculous or inimitable (mu`jizah) while the words of the hadith qudsi are not of this nature. 3. The Quran was revealed via Angel Jibreel while the hadith qudsi may have been inspired by other ways, such as in the form of a dream or inspiration. 4. The Quran is recited in every Prayer but a hadith qudsi cannot be recited in any Prayer. 5 The Qur'an has been transmitted by numerous persons, (tawatur) but the hadith qudsi often only by a few or even one individual. There are hadith qudsi which are sahih, but also others hasan, or even da'if, while there is no doubt at all about any aya from the Qur'an. 6. One is not allowed to touch the Qur'an in the state of Janabah (post-sexual impurity), while there is no such prohibition for touching the books of Hadith Qudsi."

Differences between Hadith Qudsi & Hadith Nabawi:

Actually scholars of Hadith have differentiated between two distinct types of Hadith which are termed as al-hadith an-nabawi and al-hadith al-qudsi. We can also say that a hadith qudsi is a statement in which Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) reports a statement and he refers it directly to Allah. The regular hadith or what is generally known as a hadith Nabawi is a hadith in which one of the Companions reports the Prophets statements, deeds, or things that happened in his presence and he approved of. There are hundreds of qudsi hadith in hadith books. They are very beautiful and deal mostly with spiritual and ethical subjects. The sayings that are termed as al-Qudsi are such that while the Prophet (pbuh) was relating them to his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), he mentioned that Allah, in effect, had communicated them to him. However, these communications do not form part of the Qur'an.

Decree or Legality (hukm) of Hadith Qudsi:

1- Its value is: t is yaqeen if it is mutawatir hadith. But if it is ahad hadith than it is dhann. 2- If it is ahad hadith: It can be Sahih, Hasan and Daif. Books: - Imam Nawawi: Ahadith Qudsiyyah: It contains 95 hadiths. - Molla Ali al-Kari: Al-Arbaun Qudsiyyah: It contains 40 hadiths. - A Group of Scholars from Azhar: Ahadith Qudsiyyah: It contains 400 hadiths. - Ibrahim Izzuddin and Denis Johnson-Davies, Forty Hadith Qudsi, Beirut, Damascus, 1980.

Marfu' - "elevated": A narration from the Prophet (pbuh), e.g. a reporter (whether a Companion, Successor or other) says, "The Messenger of Allah said ..." For example, the very first hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari is as follows: Al- Bukhari === AlHumaidi 'Abdullah b. al-Zubair === Sufyan === Yahya b. Sa'id al-Ansari === Muhammad b. Ibrahim al-Taymi === 'Alqamah b. Waqqas al-Laithi, who said: I heard 'Umar b. alKhattab saying, while on the pulpit, "I heard Allah's Messenger (pbuh) saying: The reward of

deeds depends on the intentions, and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended; so whoever emigrated for wordly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration was for what he migrated." Mauquf - "stopped": A narration from a Companion only, i.e. his own statement; e.g. al-Bukhari reports in his Sahih, in Kitab al-Fara'id (Book of the Laws of Inheritance), that Abu Bakr, Ibn 'Abbas and Ibn al-Zubair said, "The grandfather is (treated like) a father." It should be noted that certain expressions used by a Companion generally render a hadith to be considered as being effectively marfu' although it is mauquf on the face of it, e.g. the following: "We were commanded to ..." "We were forbidden from ..." "We used to do ..." "We used to say/do ... while the Messenger of Allah was amongst us." "We did not use to mind such-and-such..." "It used to be said ..." "It is from the Sunnah to ..." "It was revealed in the following circumstances: ...", speaking about a verse of the Qur'an. Maqtu'- "severed": A narration from a Successor, e.g. Muslim reports in the Introduction to his Sahih that Ibn Sirin (d. 110) said, "This knowledge (i.e. Hadith) is the Religion, so be careful from whom you take your religion."

Decree or Legality (hukm) of Hadith Qudsi

The authenticity of each of the above three types of hadith depends on other factors such as the reliability of its reporters, the nature of the linkage amongst them, etc. It can be Sahih, Hasan and Daif. However, the above classification is extremely useful, since through it the sayings of the Prophet (pbuh) can be distinguished at once from those of Companions or Successors; this is especially helpful in debate about matters of Fiqh. Imam Malik's Al-Muwatta', one of the early collections of hadith, contains a relatively even ratio of these types of hadith, as well as mursal ahadith (which are discussed later). According to Abu Bakr al-Abhari (d. 375), Al- Muwatta' contains the following: 600 marfu' ahadith, 613 mauquf ahadith, 285 maqtu' ahadith, and 228 mursal ahadith; a total of 1726 ahadith. Among other collections, relatively more mauquf and maqtu' ahadith are found in AlMusannaf of Ibn Abi Shaibah (d. 235), Al-Musannaf of 'Abd al- Razzaq (d. 211) and the Tafsirs of Ibn Jarir (d. 310), Ibn Abi Hatim (d. 327) and Ibn al-Mundhir (d. 319).