Publisher's Foreword
Islam has given two reliable pathways for the guidance of mankind. One of them is the clear Verses of Qur'an while the other, quite consistent with the first, is what we call Sunnah or Hadith.
To explain and interpret its basic and brief teachings, Qur'an has itself mentioned the need for Sunnah and the Prophet's model lifestyle. The latter explains the former. The Sunnah is an indispensable guide to understand the commandments and passages of Qur'an. Without Ahâdith, the entire faith and the entire Shari'ah (Islamic Law) will become no better than a riddle. It is to be noted that the wealth of expository material relating to Shari'ah, as found in Ahâdith, was also given to the Prophet ﷺ by Allâh through the archangel Gabriel (Jibra'il). This is why Qur'an is called Revelation Recited (Wahy Matlu) while the Hadith is called Revelation Unrecited (Wahy Ghair Matlu).
The Arabic word Hadith means conversation, account, narrative, report, and also novel or modern. But as a technical term, however, it means the deeds, utterances, circumstances and matters of Allâh's Messenger ﷺ or, in other words, whatever has come down to us concerning Allâh's Messenger ﷺ and his mission (through his Companions and their followers). Hadith is also called Sunnah (Tradition), Akhbâr (information, report, communication, and message) and Athar (track, trace, sign, mark). Hadith may be verbal, or practical or just tacit (that is, when the Prophet ﷺ did not object to some thing, thereby giving his tacit approval). However, some include even the Prophet's Shamâ'il (his physical descriptions, natural disposition and habits) under the general heading of Hadith.
The authority of Hadith, its truth and its position in Shari'ah is indisputable. The proper art of writing began soon after the Prophet ﷺ began his mission. The Verses of the Revelation "Who has taught by the pen,"[1] and "Nun; by the pen and by what they write (therewith),"[2] gave impetus to the art of writing during the era of the Prophet ﷺ. The people of Arabia who boasted of a retentive memory and their ability to reproduce with accuracy what they committed to memory now began to set down what they learnt in writing. We have come to know from varied sources that the scribes of Qur'an totalled more than fifty in numbers. As for the narration and recording of Ahâdith, a much wider and more elaborate system evolved in the succeeding ages.
[1] Al-'Alaq 96:1.
[2] Al-Qalam 68:4.
The things being set down in writing, in addition to Qur'ân, during the Prophet's era were: official letters of the Islamic State, the Prophet's letters, the State Constitution, the Prophet's sermons, treaties, deeds of gift, writs guaranteeing security, census, writs of manumission of slaves, names of governors and officials appointed for different regions and provinces, state instructions and guidelines, details of revenues and expenditures of Baitul-Mâl (Exchequer), and the Ahâdîth based on what the Companions saw the Prophet ﷺ do or heard him say. All these documents, written down with great care and accuracy, make an invaluable treasure. Moreover, we have authentic details that prove the Companions recorded Ahâdîth carefully and responsibly.
On many an occasion did the Prophet ﷺ instruct his Companions to put in writing what he said. For example, the Farewell pilgrimage sermon was set down in writing at the request of Abu Shah of Yemen.
These Traditions dating back to the era of the Prophet ﷺ, and his Companions, set in motion a trend that continued during the successive generations of Muslims, till an elaborate science of Hadîth blossomed forth with many technical terms, like Riwâyah (narration), Dirâyah (cognizance), Al-Jarhu wat-Ta'dîl (Science of Validation of Ahâdîth), terms that gave a scientific dimension to this branch of knowledge ensuring the safeguarding, preservation, and interpretation of Ahâdîth. The Biographies of Narrators (Asmâ'ur-Rijâl), a branch of Hadîth sciences, holds a prominent place among the arts and sciences developed by mankind. It is about this branch of knowledge that German Orientalist Dr Springer, while editing Al-Isâbah fi Tamizis-Sahâbah, remarked: "No nation in the past or in modern times ever invented an outstanding science like Asmâ'ur-Rijâl that provides information about five hundred thousand Muslims."
Of course, we concede that the enemies of Islam, hypocrites and liars fabricated some Ahâdîth in an attempt to spread them. But, then, the Hadîth scholars goaded by faith and endowed with keen observation, knowledge, and comprehension, while using scientific methods of inquiry, challenged and eliminated those fabrications from the treasure of (genuine) Ahâdîth. No doubt, it was a notable achievement worthy of praise in the annals of human knowledge. Here is an incident illustrating the scholars' achievement in this field:
The Abbasid caliph Hârûn Rashid (170–193 AH) had a disbeliever arrested for fabricating Ahâdîth and ordered his execution. The disbeliever said to the king: "O Commander of the Faithful, how will you deal with those four thousand Ahâdîth I have already fabricated, making lawful things unlawful, and the unlawful lawful, although not a word in those 'Ahâdîth' was ever spoken by Allâh's Messenger." Thereupon, the king retorted: "O enemy of Allâh, how can you escape from Abu Ishâq Fazâri and 'Abdullah bin
Mubârak? They will sieve them out and eliminate them letter by letter.”
It is a well-known fact that the painstaking efforts of scholars gave Ahâdîth a high degree of reliability next to Qur'ân. When the Ahâdîth had been read over carefully, revised, corrected and expounded in the light of the principles of Hadîth sciences like Jarh (invalidation), Ta'dîl (validation), and Asmâ'ur-Rijâl, the stage for the recording of Ahâdîth was set. Thanks to the exhausting efforts of Hadîth scholars and their deep sense of responsibility, the Muslim nation got, in addition to Sihâh Sittah (the Sound Six books of Hadîth) a vast treasure that included Musannafât (Hadîth compilations according to subject-headings), Jawâmî' (comprehensive books of Ahâdîth), Sunan (collections of legal and doctrinal Ahâdîth), Masânîd (Hadîth compilations according to complete chains), Ma'âjim (compilations arranged according to names of Companions or regions or names of teachers of compilers), Mustadrakât (compilations of Ahâdîth meeting the conditions of other compilers but not found in their books), and Mustakhrajât (compilations containing Ahâdîth of other compilers with different chains of narration), the manuscripts of which—numbering in thousands—researched, edited and furnished with explanatory and marginal notes, exist even today in international libraries attracting the attention of research scholars. Anyhow, among those compilations, the six canonical books of Ahâdîth (Sihâh Sittah) rank as the centerpiece.
I have a wish since long to present the Sound Six (Sihâh Sittah) translated into modern English in such a way as to list the inferences and gainful conclusions drawn from each Hadîth, to remove any misgiving and misunderstanding, satisfying the mind and soul, and reinforcing the faith. With this noble cause in view, Darussalam has solicited the services of several learned scholars and researchers who are working with zeal on the translation of the Sound Six and writing commentaries on them.
All the Ahâdîth of this collection have been documented, referenced and traced by the great research scholar, Hâfiz Zubair 'Ali Za'i.
One thing I want to mention is that in these collections, the original Arabic texts of the Ahâdîth contain complete chain of narrators while in translation, for the sake of simplicity, only the name of the first narrator is mentioned who narrated the Hadîth from the Prophet ﷺ.
'Abdul-Mâlik Mujâhid
Servant of Qur'ân and Sunnah
Director Darussalam
Riyadh and Lahore.