Authentication of Hadith
In order to ensure that hadiths were authentic and not fabricated, scholars developed a unique and critical method. This consisted of two components, first scholars scrutinized the people who were narrating the hadith. They ensured that everyone in the chain of transmission met each other and was free from any disqualifying characteristics. These disqualifying characteristics include lying, indulging in major sins, or having a known or obvious motive to fabricate a hadith.
The second criteria they used was to measure and grade the memory of the narrations. This was done empirically by comparing the narrations of different students to see who might have made a mistake. For instance, a Companion of the Prophet might have narrated ten sayings of the Prophet to 15 students. Ḥadīth scholars would then individually ask these students to recite the ḥadīth to them. If of those 15 students 13 students say that the hadith says XYZ and 2 say it says ZYX then it is likely they made a mistake. They would then note that this narrator has a poor memory and their narrations are to be rejected or accepted with caution. Hadiths would then be classified as authentic, acceptable, weak, or fabricated.
In order to ensure that hadiths were authentic and not fabricated, scholars developed a unique and critical method. This consisted of two components, first scholars scrutinized the people who were narrating the hadith. They ensured that everyone in the chain of transmission met each other and was free from any disqualifying characteristics. These disqualifying characteristics include lying, indulging in major sins, or having a known or obvious motive to fabricate a hadith.
The second criteria they used was to measure and grade the memory of the narrations. This was done empirically by comparing the narrations of different students to see who might have made a mistake. For instance, a Companion of the Prophet might have narrated ten sayings of the Prophet to 15 students. Ḥadīth scholars would then individually ask these students to recite the ḥadīth to them. If of those 15 students 13 students say that the hadith says XYZ and 2 say it says ZYX then it is likely they made a mistake. They would then note that this narrator has a poor memory and their narrations are to be rejected or accepted with caution. Hadiths would then be classified as authentic, acceptable, weak, or fabricated.
