Sahih Muslim (Volume 2). Imam Abul-Husain Muslim

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ is entered only in Muslim’s anthology. The Arabic original of each hadith is given immediately after the English translation, but this applies to the main body of the anthology, not to Muslim’s introduction.

      Imam Muslim divided his anthology into books, each covering an important area of the Islamic faith, such as the Book of Faith, the Book of Prayer, etc. He did not make further classification. It was left to Imam al-Nawawi to divide each book into chapters, and give headings to these. These chapters were later given numbers in al-Mu[jam al-Mufahras. The headings and their numbers are given in this translation. However, as many headings tend to be long, I have tried to reduce them while retaining the elements highlighted in the headings. It should be pointed out, however, that some of these chapters are not given numbers. Where no number is given to a chapter in al-Mu[jam al-Mufahras, it appears without a number in this translation.

      There are a few instances where the same number is given to two consecutive hadiths. In order to indicate that this is not an error, but merely following the Arabic original, the repetition is indicated by the symbol [R].

      2. The chain of transmission

      Hadith scholars were very specific in their terminology. Therefore, when they used synonymous words, they imparted clear distinction to them. Thus, the words haddathana, akhbarana, anba’ana, and [an, have different meanings, although linguistically speaking they are very similar and denote receiving information from a named person. However, haddathana is used to refer to a process whereby the teacher reads out the hadith to his students, whether he is narrating from memory or reading out loud directly. Akhbarana and anba’ana are practically identical in meaning. However, the first refers to a process whereby a student is reading aloud from his teacher’s books in the presence of the teacher. Anba’ana does not specify this process, but means that the information was passed on by the teacher or in his presence. [An, on the other hand, does not specify any process, nor does it specify that the reporter actually heard the teacher’s narration or his student’s reading out in his presence. Indeed, it could, thus, mean that the reporter heard the hadith from a colleague who was in the teacher’s circle at the time.

      In order to reflect these differences, ‘narrated’ is the term used here for haddathana, ‘reported’ for akhbarana, ‘mentioned’ for anba’ana, and ‘from’ for [an. However, any of the first three ways could involve a one-to-one situation in which the reporter is the only one present with his teacher. In Arabic, this is marked by changing the last letter in the three Arabic words, using ‘i’ instead of ‘a’. Thus the words become haddathani, akhbarani, and anba’ani. To reflect the difference in the English translation the words ‘to me’ have been used after ‘narrated’, ‘reported’ and ‘mentioned’ to indicate the one-to-one situation, while the three words on their own indicate the presence of others when the narration took place.

      Readers will also note that in some hadiths the chain of transmission includes the mark [H]. This is indicated in Arabic by the use of the letter [H], and it may occur once, twice, or even more in the chain of transmission of the same hadith. What this signifies is that the hadith is narrated by two or more chains of transmission, but these join up at some stage. Rather than give them separately, repeating the names of reporters from where they join up to the Prophet’s companion, Hadith scholars use this way to indicate that the different chains are joined at this point.

      Another symbol used in the chain of transmission is [R], but this is much less frequent. It simply indicates that the number given to a particular hadith is repeated, which means that the number has been given to more than one hadith instead of giving each of them a separate number.

      Sometimes Muslim narrates a hadith from three of his teachers and uses the word ‘narrated’, but their methods of learning from their teacher whom they quote differ. Muslim is too careful and meticulous to overlook this fact. He makes this clear by immediately adding something like: ‘The first said “narrated” and the other two said “reported”.’

      3. Word usage

      The usage of some Arabic words need to be explained. The word ‘imam’ is often used in reference to some scholars quoted in this work. It is also used in reference to both Muslim and al-Nawawi. There is, however, a very clear difference in the use of this word by Sunni Muslims and the Shia.

      Linguistically speaking, imam means ‘leader’ and is often used, particularly in books of Islamic Jurisprudence, or fiqh, to refer to the ruler or the head of state, whether he has the title of caliph or some other title. It is also commonly used to refer to the person who leads congregational prayer. In this second usage, there is no difference between the one who leads the prayer and anyone in the congregation, except that the imam leads and the congregation follow.

      A far more common usage of the word is as a title of respect added before the name of a scholar who is recognized for his high achievement and scholarship. This is how it is mostly used in this work. It may, however, also be used here in the sense of the ‘leader of congregational prayer’ when this topic is discussed, but as such will be clearly identified at that juncture. A scholar who is considered an imam has no special distinction, apart from what his scholarship gives him; he does not enjoy any special status. It will be noted in this work that the views of some such scholars are outlined, and discussed or rejected. This is clearly a matter of scholarly difference that does not detract from the high standing of the scholar or the one who differs with him.

      The Shia have a totally different concept of ‘imam’. They give this status to twelve people starting with [Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Prophet’s cousin, followed by eleven of his descendants through Fatimah, his wife and the Prophet’s daughter. To the Shia, those imams were infallible and enjoy a rank that is almost equal to that of the Prophet. Indeed, the way some Shia speak of the third Imam, al-Husayn, the Prophet’s grandson, gives at times the impression that they rank him above the Prophet himself. Moreover, the Shia believe that the twelfth Imam was taken away and did not die: he will return at some point when he will bring justice to the world. This Shia concept is absolutely unacceptable to Sunni Muslims who do not recognize any such status as belonging to anyone.

      We speak of a hadith having a chain of transmission and we mention ‘transmitters’. We also use the words ‘reporter’ and ‘narrator’. These three words are used interchangeably and they refer to the people named in the chain of transmission. These have the same status with regard to how the Prophet’s statement or action is taught and learnt. When we use the verb ‘narrate’ we are referring to the action of stating the hadith, whether by reading it out loud or otherwise. However, the word ‘narrate’ is often used in Islamic literature in reference to the works of the leading scholars of Hadith and what they include in their anthologies. Thus, we often see phrases like ‘al-Tirmidhi narrated …’, ‘al-Bukhari narrated …’. It is felt that it is better to distinguish the mere quoting of a hadith and its entry in an anthology. Therefore we use the word ‘narrate’ to indicate quoting a hadith and the word ‘relate’ to mean the ‘entry in a Hadith anthology’. Thus, we say: ‘al-Bukhari relates in his Sahih’, or ‘al-Bayhaqi relates in Shu[ab al-Iman’, or ‘al-Nasa’i relates in al-Sunan al-Kubra’.

      The words Abu and Abi are often used in the names of hadith reporters and scholars. These two are the same word, but the endings are case markers according to their position in the sentence. Invariably, Abu is used at the beginning of the sentence and when not preceded by a name, while Abi is used when preceded by the word ‘ibn’. There are other situations that indicate which of the two should be used. Both words mean ‘father of’ and their use indicates an appellation of respect.

      The СКАЧАТЬ