The short answer
A sahih hadith is one whose chain (the line of people who passed it on) connects, whose transmitters are upright and accurate, and which has no hidden defect or irregularity. Ibn al-Salah's Muqaddimah (Introduction) sets out the grades sahih (sound), hasan (good) and da'if (weak) 1. A grade applies to one report and its assessment, so it does not settle every wording or ruling.
What does sahih mean?
Ibn al-Salah defines the sound report by a connected chain of upright, accurate transmitters up to its end, with no irregularity and no hidden defect (Muqaddimah, type one; the book is arranged in numbered types, or chapters). 1
That describes how a report's transmission is assessed. It is not a method a reader can apply to a quotation found online. To check a grade, look at the edition and the numbered report, the chain, the wording, and who applied the grade.
What does hasan mean?
Hasan has more than one technical use, so a single word cannot carry all of them. The table sets out each use Ibn al-Salah records, with the person it is attributed to. Hasan is not the same as da'if.
| Use of the term | Attributed to | What it describes |
|---|---|---|
| A grade most scholars accept | Al-Khattabi, as Ibn al-Salah quotes him | A known source and well-known narrators. The quoted view is that most scholars accept this grade and most jurists use it. 2 |
| A chain with no one accused of lying | Al-Tirmidhi, as Ibn al-Salah quotes him | No narrator accused of lying, no irregularity, and more than one route. Ibn al-Salah, al-Muqaddimah finds these statements unclear. 2 |
| A narrator who falls short in memory | Ibn al-Salah, one of the two kinds he sets out | A narrator known for truthfulness and trustworthiness who falls short of sahih narrators in memory and precision. 3 |
| A report raised by a second route | Ibn al-Salah | A narrator known for honesty but weaker in memory has his report transmitted by a second route. 4 |
Read the attribution before the grade. A report called hasan by one scholar, under one of these uses, is not automatically hasan in another use.
What does da'if mean?
Ibn al-Salah says every report that does not gather the qualities of the sahih or the hasan is da'if, which means weak (type three). 5
Weak is not a synonym for fabricated. Ibn al-Salah gives fabricated reports (mawdu') their own type, calls them the made-up report and the worst of the weak reports, and contrasts them with other weak reports whose truth is possible (type twenty-one). 6 A weak grade on its own does not say that a report was invented.
Why can graders reach different grades?
Ibn al-Salah says scholars may differ on the soundness of some hadiths (type one). 1 A grade is a judgement about one defined transmission: its chain, its narrators, any second route and any defect in its wording. A second route can change the result, since Ibn al-Salah says a hasan report from an honest narrator weaker in memory can rise to sahih by a second route (type two). 4
Where graders split on the same report, this site shows the label "Graded differently", names each grader in the sources list, and shows each grading in full. We do not average the gradings or choose the strongest one.
Does a sahih grade settle a ruling?
No. A grade describes one report's transmission. Using a report as evidence for a ruling also needs its speaker, its wording, its context and any other relevant evidence. Ibn al-Salah advises that whoever wants to act on a hadith, or argue from it, and is entitled to do so under a school of law, return to an original copy that they, or a trustworthy person, checked against several authentic copies (type one). 7
For a personal question about what to do, ask a scholar you trust. Ilmwell explains the sources and does not issue rulings.
What about Bukhari and Muslim?
Ibn al-Salah calls the Sahih of al-Bukhari and the Sahih of Muslim the two soundest books after the Book of God, but says neither author set out to include every sound report. He also says some suspended (mu'allaq, with the start of the chain omitted) reports in them are open to question (type one). 8
A collection's name is a reason to open the numbered report, not a verification of a paraphrase, a different wording or another route. Check the exact report before you rely on it.
I used to forward things on because they sounded right. The first time I had to check a hadith grade before sharing it, I found the same quotation in different wordings with different grades. Now I look at which wording is being graded, not just the label.
Try it: reading a grade
Pick an answer; each one explains itself.
1What does the sound-report definition require of the transmitters?
Answer: That they are upright and accurate. The Muqaddimah's definition of a sound report requires just and accurate narrators, with no irregularity and no hidden defect (type one).
2Is every da'if report fabricated?
Answer: No. The Muqaddimah gives fabricated reports their own type, the worst of the weak reports. Other weak reports may still be true (types three and twenty-one).
3What should sit beside a grade on this site?
Answer: The grader, the work and the exact report. Our rule: a grade is shown with its source record, and the grader is named in the sources list.
Sources
Every claim above comes from one of these. Ibn al-Salah's Muqaddimah is cited from an electronic transcription on Arabic Wikisource, and the Arabic in each record matches that text. The Nur al-Din Itr printed scan could not be compared, so the printed pages are not verified and no page numbers are given. Attributions to al-Khattabi and al-Tirmidhi are as Ibn al-Salah quotes them.
- 1
Ibn al-Salah divides the hadith into sahih, hasan and da'if, defines the sahih as a connected chain of just and accurate narrators with no irregularity and no hidden defect, says scholars may differ on a particular report, and says the connected reports in the two Sahih books are sound while some suspended (mu'allaq) reports there need a closer look.
Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddimah, type 1: al-sahih Record: scholarly-ibn-salah-type-1-sahih. Electronic transcription; no printed edition or page number.
- 2
Ibn al-Salah gives, as reported from al-Khattabi, the hasan as the report whose source is known and whose narrators are well known, and from al-Tirmidhi that its chain has no one accused of lying, it is not irregular and it comes by more than one route; he finds these statements unclear and sets out two kinds of hasan himself.
Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddimah, type 2: al-hasan, as he quotes al-Khattabi and al-Tirmidhi Record: scholarly-ibn-salah-type-2-hasan. Electronic transcription; no printed edition or page number.
- 3
Ibn al-Salah describes one kind of hasan report as one whose narrator is known for truthfulness and trustworthiness but falls short of the sahih narrators in memory and precision.
Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddimah, type 2: the second kind of hasan Record: scholarly-ibn-salah-type-2-second-kind. Electronic transcription; no printed edition or page number.
- 4
Ibn al-Salah says that when a narrator known for honesty but weaker in memory has his report transmitted by another route, the two routes give it strength from both sides and raise it from the grade of hasan to the grade of sahih.
Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddimah, type 2: a hasan report raised by a second route Record: scholarly-ibn-salah-type-2-corroboration. Electronic transcription; no printed edition or page number.
- 5
Ibn al-Salah says every hadith that does not gather the qualities of the sahih or the hasan is da'if (weak).
Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddimah, type 3: al-da'if Record: scholarly-ibn-salah-type-3-daif. Electronic transcription; no printed edition or page number.
- 6
Ibn al-Salah defines the mawdu (fabricated) hadith as the invented and made-up report, the worst of the weak reports, and distinguishes it from other weak reports whose truth is possible.
Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddimah, type 21: al-mawdu Record: scholarly-ibn-salah-type-21-mawdu. Electronic transcription; no printed edition or page number.
- 7
Ibn al-Salah advises anyone who wants to act on a hadith, or argue from it, and who is someone entitled to act on or argue from hadith under a school of law, to return to an original copy that they, or another trustworthy person, checked against several authentic copies.
Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddimah, type 1: returning to a checked copy Record: scholarly-ibn-salah-type-1-collated-copy. Electronic transcription; no printed edition or page number.
- 8
Ibn al-Salah places the Sahih of al-Bukhari and the Sahih of Muslim above every other book after the Book of God, says neither author set out to include every sound report, and says some suspended (mu'allaq) reports in them are open to question.
Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddimah, type 1: the two Sahih books Record: scholarly-ibn-salah-type-1-sahihayn. Electronic transcription; no printed edition or page number.
Next
- What is a hadith?Lesson
- How we sourceAbout
- Start at AlifThe start
- Sahih Bukhari: a guide to the collectionMeaning explained
For your own situation, ask a scholar you trust.
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