An Introduction to the Science of the Hadith Kitab Ma`rifat Anwa` `Ilm al-Hadith by Ibn al-Salah al-Shahrazuri (Eerik Dickinson, tr.) (Reading, UK: Garnet Publishing, 2005. 356 pages.)

Abstract

Contemporary western scholarship on the hadith literature largely ignores
most of the relevant secondary scholarship, namely, that produced by premodern
hadith specialists, including the discussions and assessments found
in the rijal literature, the `ilal genre, and other works. Perhaps this neglect
is born of the conviction that as religious persons, pre-modern scholars
were incapable of “doing” real history. Or perhaps it reflects the suspicion
that their assessments were designed exclusively to vindicate doctrinally
correct hadiths. Neither assumption does justice to the traditional field of
hadith studies. It is thus fitting to understand this discipline, not only
because attention to the secondary literature is a requirement of responsible
scholarship in any field, but also because doing so can benefit the modern
reevaluation of the hadith literature.
The first step toward understanding traditional hadith scholarship is to
know its terminology. In English, there may be no better introduction to this
terminology than Eerik Dickinson’s translation of Ibn al-Salah’s (d.
643/1245) classic work. In addition, the book briefly addresses some of the
defects that could appear in the hadiths, contradictions in their isnads (chains
of transmission) or matns (texts), such as when one transmitter relates a tradition
with an incomplete isnad and another transmitter provides a complete
one, various subdisciplines of hadith studies and other matters.
Ibn al-Salah’s book can help correct certain modern misunderstandings
about the nature of traditional hadith scholarship and the technical meanings
of such basic terms as sahih, da`if, munkar, and tadlis. To give an example,
the traditional discipline is often faulted for rating as sound (sahih) hadiths
that can be recognized as ahistorical. This presupposes, incorrectly, that
sahih means authentic. Yet Ibn al-Salah indicates that classifying a hadith as
sahih means no more than saying that its isnad and its variants satisfy certain
formal criteria. He asserts that, therefore, such a classification does not ...