Categories of hadeeth

Praise
be to Allah.

Firstly: 

We
praise Allah for guiding you to ask about this and try to understand the
terminology of the hadeeth scholars and the meaning thereof, because this is
great and noble knowledge which the scholars devoted their lives to
understanding and explaining. Nevertheless, every Muslim who is keen to
acquire sufficient education in this field of knowledge may do so, in order
to understand what he reads sometimes on Islamic webpages, and so that he
will be able to build his knowledge on a solid foundation after that. 

Hence
our advice to you is to read a brief discussion on the science of mustalah
al-hadeeth (the science of hadeeth), in which you will find all that you
need to know about the hadeeth sciences and terminology used by hadeeth
scholars. One of the books we encourage you to read is the commentary by
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) on
the book al-Manzoomah al-Bayqooniyyah, which you can find on the
following link (in Arabic):

http://www.islamway.com/?iw_s=Scholar&iw_a=series&series_id=1367 

Secondly: 

With
regard to the categories of hadeeth, the scholars have various ways of
categorizing different types of hadeeth, in each of which they examined the
hadeeth from a specific angle. 

When
they looked at the issue of who the hadeeth was attributed to, they divided
the hadeeth into the following categories: 

1.    

Marfoo‘: if the hadeeth was the words of the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)

2.    

Mawqoof: if the hadeeth was the words of the Sahaabi (may
Allah be pleased with all the Sahaabah)

3.    

Maqtoo‘: if the hadeeth was the words of the Taabi‘i. 

This
categorization has been discussed previously in the answer to question no.
121290.

 When
they looked at the isnaads of the hadeeth, which are the chains of narrators
who transmitted the hadeeth from the one who spoke it, they divided the
hadeeth into the following categories: 

1.    

Mutawaatir: if the hadeeth was narrated via many isnaads and
narrations.

2.    

Ahaad (or ghareeb): if the hadeeth was narrated via only one
isnaad and one narration; this was also called al-ghareeb al-mutlaq or al-fard
al-mutlaq. But if the hadeeth was narrated by one Taabi‘i from one Sahaabi,
then two or more narrators transmitted it from the Taabi‘i, this is called
gharaabah nisbiyyah, i.e., it is ghareeb or aahaad with regard to the
narration of that Taabi‘i from the Sahaabi. 

When
the hadeeth scholars looked at the ruling on the hadeeth, and whether it was
to be accepted or rejected – and perhaps this is the main point of the
question – they divided them into the following categories: 

1.    

Maqbool (accepted): if the hadeeth fulfilled the conditions
of acceptability and was fit to be quoted as evidence and acted upon.

2.    

Mardood (rejected): if it did not fulfill the conditions of
acceptability. 

Then
they divided the accepted hadeeths into a number of categories: 

1.    

Saheeh: if it fulfilled the highest conditions of
acceptability. For more information, please see the answer to question no.
79163

2.    

Hasan: if it fulfilled the minimal conditions of
acceptability. 

In
many cases the hadeeth scholars used other terms in addition to the terms
mentioned above. For example, they sometimes call a hasan isnaad “jayyid”;
sometimes they describe a saheeh hadeeth as “in accordance with the
conditions of the two shaykhs (al-Bukhaari and Muslim)”; and other similar
phrases. Although there are sometimes subtle differences between these
terms, our aim in this answer is to make these categories easy to understand
in general terms. 

The
hadeeth scholars divided the rejected hadeeths into several categories: 

1.    

Da‘eef (weak): if it failed to meet any of the conditions of
acceptability.

2.    

Mawdoo‘ (fabricated): if its isnaad includes anyone who was a
liar or accused of lying. 

In
many cases, they also used other terms in addition to these. They sometimes
described a da‘eef hadeeth as baatil (false), especially if it was extremely
da‘eef; or they described its isnaad as taalif (worthless); or they
described a mawdoo‘ hadeeth as makdhoob (a lie), and so on. For more
information, please see the answer to question no. 6981. 

Thirdly: 

What
is mentioned above refers to the terms mostly used by the hadeeth scholars
in their discussions and their books. We have found that some scholars use
more precise terminology, and they had some more precise criteria in
describing the hadeeths, such as when Imam at-Tirmidhi (may Allah have mercy
on him) says “a hasan ghareeb hadeeth.” 

When
he says “a hasan hadeeth”, this indicates that the hadeeth fulfills the
minimum conditions of acceptability, so it falls into the hasan category in
terms of whether it is to be accepted or rejected. 

When
he says “ghareeb”, this is a description of the hadeeth as being aahaad,
although this does not rule out it having other isnaads. Hence what is meant
is that this isnaad is being described as ghareeb. This is what is known as
gharaabah nisbiyyah and not ghareeb mutlaq, which has no other isnaad. 

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

When
at-Tirmidhi says “hasan ghareeb”, it may be that it is ghareeb in this
isnaad, but the matn (text) has corroborating evidence by virtue of which it
classed as hasan. End quote. 

Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa,
18/24 

And
Allah knows best.