Isnād
إسنادDefinition
Chain of transmission — the unbroken chain of named narrators through which each hadith was passed from the Prophet's Companions through successive generations to the hadith compiler. Al-Nawawi verified the authenticity of each narration in the Arba'in, selecting only those of established reliability. The isnad is Islam's unique contribution to the science of historical verification: the names, characters, memories, and integrity of every person in the chain were scrutinised by specialists across centuries. No other civilisation developed a comparable system for preserving attributed speech — and the existence of the Arba'in as a reliable collection is a direct product of that system's rigour.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Nawawī and the scholars of his school.
How the scholars use Isnād.
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"The hadith stating "A servant does not complete his faith until his preference for not being known is greater than his desire to be known, and until his preference for little is greater than his desire for abundance" does not have a known isnad. It was mentioned by the author of Al-Firdaws, narrating from 'Ali bin Abi Talhah, as a mursal statement: "A servant does not complete his faith until his preference for little is greater than his desire for abundance, and until his being recognized for the sake of Allah is dearer to him than being recognized for worldly purposes."
— Imam al-Ghazali, Book 34: Poverty and Asceticism
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"the angel of the right says to the angel on the left, who is under his command, 'Erase this sin until a tenfold reward from his good deeds reaches,' the hadith was reported by al-Bayhaqi in the Shu'ab from the narration of Abu Umamah with a weak isnad using the first wording. It was also narrated at length, in which the angel on the right is in charge over the angel on the left, and it does not include him ordering the angel on the left to erase the sin until a good deed from him reaches," I did not find any basis for this."
— Imam al-Ghazali, Book 33: Fear and Hope
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"completely objectionable. Ibn Muammar Al-Basri who narrated from Anas was noted by Ibn Hibn and Al-Uqayli as having fabricated most of his narrations. Al-Bukhari described his narrations as having obscure Isnad and Abu Hatim called him extremely weak and obscure. Ibn Adi mentioned that most of what he narrated was about the virtues of Ali and he was considered weak and an extremist in Shiism. Al-Shafi'i recorded in his Musnad that Al-Qasim Ibn Abdul Umar informed him from Jafar Ibn Muhammad."
— Ibn Kathir, Yusha, al-Khidr & Ilyas
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