Shaykh Muḥammad bin Alawi al-Maliki
Foundational Principles Regarding the Science of Hadith presents a systematic introduction to the terminology and methodological principles by which Muslim scholars transmitted, examined, classified, and evaluated Prophetic reports.Shaykh Muhammad bin Alawi al-Maliki begins by distinguishing between Ilm al-Hadith Riwayah, the transmission of reports attributed to the Prophet ﷺ, his Companions, and the Tabiin, and Ilm al-Hadith Dirayah, the analytical discipline concerned with the condition of narrators, chains of transmission, and transmitted texts.The volume introduces the principal categories employed within classical hadith scholarship, including Sahih, Hasan, Daif, Marfu, Musnad, Muttasil, Mawquf, Maqtu, Munqati, Mudal, Mursal, Muallaq, Musalsal, Gharib, Aziz, Mashhur, Mutawatir, Muanan, Mubham, Mudallas, Shadh, Munkar, Mudraj, Maqlub, Mudtarib, Muallal, Matruk, and Mawdu.Particular attention is given to continuity of transmission, narrator uprightness and precision, irregularity, hidden defects, competing narrations, and the rulings attached to different categories of reports. The work also examines Sunnah, Hadith al-Qudsi, methods of transmission, fabrication and its identification, and the relationship between hadith classification and legal evidence.A concluding chapter introduces major Imams of Hadith and their works, including Malik ibn Anas, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasai, and Ibn Majah. An appendix addresses the scholarly manners associated with transmitting and reciting Hadith.Written as an introductory manual, the book is suitable for students of Hadith, Islamic law, classical Islamic studies, seminary curricula, university courses, researchers, and specialist libraries seeking a structured guide to the foundations of classical hadith methodology.
