What exactly is a hadith? It’s a saying of the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم). The Science of Hadith defines a hadeeth as “whatever is attributed to the Prophet, in terms of sayings, actions, approvals, and physical and character descriptions.” [1]

Ahadith are an important part of Islam. They complement and the Qur’an, and provide us with numerous benefits and different types of information, including:

Laws not directly stated in the Qur’an (eg. prohibition of visiting fortune-tellers)
Details of things mentioned in the Qur’an (eg. how to make wudoo)
A look into the lifetime of the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم)
Tafseer (explaination) of the Quran (eg. the story of the People of the Ditch)
Some people deny ahadith, and say “we don’t need no hadiths! We can just use Qur’an!” In response, refer them to this verse:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا الرَّسُولَ وَلَا تُبْطِلُوا أَعْمَالَكُمْ
Translation: O you who believe! Obey Allâh, and obey the Messenger (Muhammad) and render not vain your deeds. [Surah Muhammad, 47:33]

Or, if it suits your da’wa a bit better, ask them: “how do you know how to pray?” It’s not in the Qur’an–only a few details here and there. The same goes for wudoo! (Further details are available here.)

While ahadith can be classified in many ways, it’s essential that all Muslims understand the following five:

Saheeh (linguistically, “sound”): those ahadith that are certified authentic.
Hassan (linguistically, “good”): those ahadith that are lower in status then saheeh. They are usually da’eef hadith that are upgraded to Hassan due to authentic backing.
Da’eef (linguististically, “weak”) those ahadith that are likely not true and are generally not used in certain topics, such as ‘aqeedah. They can still be used in other fields, such as akhlaaq.
Mawdoo‘: Fabricated ahadith that are definitely not true–someone invented them and attributed them falsely to the Prophet.
Qudsi: (linguistically, “pure”): Hadith where the Prophet narrates or paraphrases something from Allah (سبحانه وتعالى).
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Knowledge of a Hadith..

Knowledge of ahadith is essential in an effort to understand Islam. They contain rules and regulations, when implemented, would give cause to a better understanding of everyday life. This is applicable, to the individual of a society and also to the society as a whole. The messages within the ahadith are for the benefit of both, individual and society.

Among many missions of the Prophet (peace be upon him), one was to set a pattern of conduct. The conduct of the Last Messenger (peace be upon him) can be found in the voluminous sahihs. We should make an attempt to abide by these rules.

It is unnecessary to mention that research of Islam is beyond the scope of a single individual, a task unattainable in a man's lifetime, not to say, impossible. To narrow my scope, I had decided to restrict myself to ahadith (even this is a large area of study within Islam). I decided on making a small collection of ahadith. This decision resulted in a minor project that essentially consisted of reading diverse Islamic literature and reading different aspects of Islam. I could, of course, have bought one of many voluminous compilations of ahadith, but I was convinced that I would learn more by finding and compiling them myself and indeed it has been a most fruitful experience. During the compilation, I was becoming aware of the meaning and importance of ahadith and soon realised that others too could benefit from this compilation. With this in mind I was determined to share this collection with my fellow Muslims.

All a hadith in this collection have been, so to say, copied from my source (NOTE A) Every hadith is followed by the Arabic source it can be found in (e.g. Bukhari, Muslim) along with the source I have written it from (e.g. Sayings of Muhammad by Prof. Ghazi Ahmad). If the reader feels uncertain about a particular hadith she/he can easily trace it to my source.

All the footnotes in the a hadith are not my insertions, but the author's of my sources. The titles, which are given to the ahadith, are also titles found in my source, they too, are not my insertions. The same applies for brackets ( ( ) or [] ) found within some ahadith. (These comments do not apply to the titles marked as "Introduction" and "Introduction to Ahadith") The ahadith are all randomly compiled. The ahadith have been written down as I have encountered them in relevant literature.

Since I have used different literature, there have come cases where two authors use the same title, e.i. "marriage" hence the title will appear twice. This is not to be regarded as a misprint. There is no personal preference as to the choice of authors of my sources. I have obtained these books from different libraries and local mosques.

A problem which was encountered was when two authors wrote on the same subject matter, but from different sahihs, both sahihs had their own wordings but giving the same meaning. I have tried to keep these sort of ahadith to a minimal as I wished to have as many diverse topics as possible. Faith, knowledge, marriage, sex, divorce, rights of wives/husbands and hospitality are a couple of areas covered in this compilation.

I have, to the very best of my abilities, tried to be as careful as possible when writing from the source, this in order not to endanger the real meaning of the hadith, nor to give cause to misinterpretations. As far as spellings are concerned, I have thoroughly checked it. The spellings of Arabic names and places have been written exactly as I have encountered them in the source.

One of my sources, "Hayaat-ul-Muslimeen" written by, Mohammad Ashraf Ali Thanvi, has consistently used the term "Rasulullah" when addressing Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him). The Arabic term, "sallallahu alayhi wasallam" has also been used throughout the book. For the ease of non-Muslim readers, I have replaced the Arabic "Rasulullah" by "Muhammad" and "sallallahu alayhi wasallam" by "may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him." I have treated similarly the terms "radiallahu anhu" and "radiallahu anha." They have been replaced by "Allah be pleased with him" and "Allah be pleased with her." I have used the term "peace be upon him" throughout the compilation as most authors have used similar attributes. The same author has also mentioned the narrators' Arabic names for most ahadith, I have done likewise. In general the English word "God" has been replaced by the Arabic proper noun "Allah".

Considering the fact that I am a computer science student (August, 1993), with access to Internet, I thought this would serve as a most remarkable media for distribution of this collection. It is recommended, to those readers who have the possibilities, to print out the file and (NOTE B) send a copy to the local mosques who might wish to include this compilation in their library etc. If mosques have the possibilities to print copies of this collection and have it distributed among the visitors/guests to the mosques, it would be appreciated. Thus the collection will not only be restricted to people with network access. The more people who read it, the more it will benefit and also the one who passes on the words of the Prophet (peace be upon him) will also be rewarded by Allah. There is no doubt about this. This compilation is dedicated to the loving memories of my maternal grandfather with whom I spent my first years of a precious life.

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Introduction to Ahadith
It goes without saying that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has left us with two powerful sources for the improvement of the individual, the society and for the nations, those are: the Holy Quran and ahadith. The Quran was revealed to the Last Messenger (peace be upon him) through the angel Gabriel. The ahadith show us the diversities a single person can have, and the ways these diversities may be used to produce an optimal performance, where the performance is exemplary for future generations. This was one of the main tasks of the Last Messenger (peace be upon him), to guide humanity on the right path.

Muhammad (peace be upon him) was a son, a husband, a father, an advisor, a warrior, a leader, a judge and most important of all, he was the Seal of the Prophets - the last messenger of Allah. A man with such a character and such a vast field of responsibility is indeed deserving of biographical study, and through the ages, biographical researches have been carried out. The collection of ahadith is the result of these researchers. The study of ahadith is a science itself. To mention some branches within the study of ahadith, there is the science of Asma'ul Rijal (the science of study of the life-history of 500,000 narrators), the science of Mustalih al-Hadith (the science of classifying a hadith as authentic or weak), the science of Gharib al-hadith (the study of the linguistic origins of the difficult words used in ahadith). I have mentioned only three different sciences though this list can extend to over 100. This again indicates the immense importance of ahadith and the importance of understanding them.

The main source of ahadith can be found in six sahihs (NOTE C) These six sahihs are:

Sahih al-Bukhari
(d. 256 A.H. = 870 C.E.)

Sahih Muslim
(d. 261 A.H. = 875 C.E.)

Sunan Ibn Majah
(d. 273 A.H. = 887 C.E.)

Sunan Abu Dawud
(d. 275 A.H. = 888 C.E.)

Jami al-Tirmidhi
(d. 279 A.H. = 892 C.E.)

Sunan al-Nisai
(d. 303 A.H. = 915 C.E.)


A.H. = After Hegira C.E. = Christian Era

"In preparing their collections, these Traditions obviously used a critical technique to decide what they would include and what they should reject. Bukhari, for example, examined 600,000 traditions of which he accepted only 7,397. There purpose was to assemble a body of traditions which would serve as a rule of life for practising Muslims, so their primary interest was in selecting such traditions as would give clear guidance concerning what Muslims belief and practice should be, what things were permissible and approved, and what were not permissible and disapproved."
(Shariah: The Islamic Law. by Abdur Rahman I. Doi:54)

It should be quite evident from the above-cited paragraph that the task of compiling ahadith was by no means simple. Although the most painstaking techniques had been employed to decide which ahadith should be included and which should be rejected there were found grounds for classification of ahadith. The ahadith are therefore classified in the following manner:

1.Sahih: These are the genuine Traditions so declared after applying all tests.
2.Hasan: These are the fair Traditions although inferior in the matter of authenticity to the Sahih.
3. Daif: These are the weak traditions which are not so very reliable."
(Ibid:57).

Before I proceed, I wish to explain the meanings of isnad and matn as the understanding of these words is considered profitable for the reader. A hadith consists of two parts. The chain of transmitters comprises one part while the message within the hadith completes it. The former is known as isnad while the latter is matn. Continuing with the classification of ahadith, the daif ahadith are divided further:

a The Mu'allaq Traditions: These are those Traditions in which one or two transmitters are omitted in the beginning of the Isnad.
b. The Maqtu Traditions: These are those Traditions which are reported by a Tabi'i, a man of second category after the Prophet.
c. The Munqati Traditions: These are the broken Traditions.
d. The Mursal Traditions: These are the incomplete Traditions in the Isnad of which a companion (Sahabi) is omitted, e.g. A Tabi'i says, the Prophet said....
e. The Musahhaf Traditions: These are the traditions which have a mistake in words or letters of the Isnad or the Matn e.g. Hasan is written as Hashan.
f. The Shadh Traditions: These are the traditions with a reliable chain of reporters but their meanings are contrary to other similarly attested Traditions narrated by the majority of the contemporary transmitters.
g. The Maudu Traditions: These are the fabricated and untrue Traditions."
(Ibid:57).

I have now presented a very short introduction to the background of ahadith. I would most strongly recommend the interested reader to read the book "Shariah: The Islamic Law" by Abdur Rahman I. Doi. It is a book which I have used extensively and found most interesting and informative. The same author has also published a book which is titled "Non-Muslims under Shariah", another informative book which I would recommend.

Lastly I would like to thank the people concerned in providing me with the facility for distributing this collection. Without their help, time, and effort, I am quite certain that this work would not have come to the notice of so many people in so many places. May Allah give them peace and bless them all. Amen.
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Hadith Narrated

Ibn 'Abbas(May Allah have mercy on him) : A woman is al lowed to leave (go back home) if she gets menses (after Tawaf-AlIfada) . Ibn 'Umar(May Allah have mercy on him) formerly used to say that she should not leave but later on I heard him saying, "She may leave, since Allah's Apostle(Peace n blessing of Allah be upon him ) gave them the permission to leave (after Tawaf-AlIfada.

" Sahi bukhari, Book of Menstrual Periods, Hadith no.326

Hadith

Narrated Nafi(May Allah have mercy on him) : Ibn 'Umar (May Allah have mercy on him) said, "The Prophet(Peace n blessing of Allah be upon him ) arrived at Mecca and sent for 'Uthman bin Talha(May Allah have mercy on him) . He opened the gate of the Ka'ba and the Prophet, Bilal(May Allah have mercy on him) , Usama bin Zaid(May Allah have mercy on him) and 'Uthman bin Talha (May Allah have mercy on him) entered the Ka'ba and then they closed its door (from inside). They stayed there for an hour, and then came out." Ibn 'Umar(May Allah have mercy on him) added, "I quickly went to Bilal (May Allah have mercy on him) and asked him (whether the Prophet(Peace n blessing of Allah be upon him ) had prayed). Bilal (May Allah have mercy on him) replied, 'He prayed in it.' I asked, 'Where?' He replied, 'Between the two pillars.' "Ibn 'Umar (May Allah have mercy on him) added, "I forgot to ask how many Rakat he (the Prophet) had prayed in the Ka'ba." 
Sahi bukhari, Book of Salat, Hadith no.457
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Prophet Muhammad (Peace n Blessings of Allah be Upon Him) said,"Convey (my teachings) to the people even if it were a single sentence.... .
(Saheeh Bukhaari, Book of Virtues and Merits of the Prophet (pbuh) and his Companions, Hadith Number 667)
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Hadith

Narrated Abu Salih As-Samman(May Allah have mercy on him) : I saw Abu Said Al-Khudri (May Allah have mercy on him) praying on a Friday, behind something which acted as a Sutra. A young man from Bani Abi Mu'ait, wanted to pass in front of him, but Abu Said(May Allah have mercy on him) repulsed him with a push on his chest. Finding no alternative he again tried to pass but Abu Said(May Allah have mercy on him) pushed him with a greater force. The young man abused Abu Said(May Allah have mercy on him) and went to Marwan and lodged a complaint against Abu Said(May Allah have mercy on him) and Abu Said (May Allah have mercy on him) followed the young man to Marwan(May Allah have mercy on him) who asked him, "O Abu Said(May Allah have mercy on him) ! What has happened between you and the son of your brother?" Abu Sa'id (May Allah have mercy on him) said to him, "I heard the Prophet(Peace n blessing of Allah be upon him ) saying, 'If anybody amongst you is praying behind something as a Sutra and somebody tries to pass in front of him, then he should repulse him and if he refuses, he should use force against him for he is a satan.' "

Sahi bukhari, Book of Virtues of the Prayer Hall (Sutra of the Musalla), Hadith no.488

Hadith

Narrated Anas(May Allah have mercy on him):

The Prophet(Peace n blessing of Allah be upon him ) said, "Do the prostration properly and do not put your fore-arms flat with elbows touching the ground like a dog. And if you want to spit, do not spit in front, nor to the right for the person in prayer is speaking in private to his Lord."

Sahi bukhari, Book of Times of the Prayers, Hadith no.509
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Hadith

Narrated 'Aisha(May Allah have mercy on her): Um Habiba(May Allah have mercy on her) and Um Salama(May Allah have mercy on her) mentioned about a church they had seen in Ethiopia in which there were pictures. They told the Prophet(Peace n blessing of Allah be upon him ) about it, on which he said, "If any religious man dies amongst those people they would build a place of worship at his grave and make these pictures in it. They will be the worst creature in the sight of Allah on the Day of Resurrection. "
Sahi bukhari, Book of Salat, Hadith no.419
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Hadith:

Narrated 'Ubdaidullah Al-Khaulani( May Allah have mercy on him): I heard 'Uthman bin 'Affan(May Allah have mercy on him) saying, when people argued too much about his intention to reconstruct the mosque of Allah's Apostle(Peace n blessing of Allah be upon him ), "You have talked too much.
I heard the Prophet(Peace n blessing of Allah be upon him ) saying, 'Whoever built a mosque, (Bukair thought that 'Asim, another subnarrator, added, "Intending Allah's Pleasure"), Allah would build for him a similar place in Paradise.' " Sahi bukhari, Book of Salat, Hadith no.441
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Prophet Muhammad (Peace n Blessings of Allah be Upon Him) said,"Convey (my teachings) to the people even if it were a single sentence.... .
(Saheeh Bukhaari, Book of Virtues and Merits of the Prophet (pbuh) and his Companions, Hadith Number 667)
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Hadith

.1. Bukhari :: Book 2 :: Volume 21 :: Hadith 276 Narrated Aisha: The Prophet never missed four Rakat before the Zuhr prayer and two Rakat before the Fajr prayer.

2. Bukhari :: Book 1 :: Volume 10 :: Hadith 531 Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "If anyone of you can get one Rak'a of the 'Asr prayer before sunset, he should complete his prayer. If any of you can get one Rak'a of the Fajr prayer before sunrise, he should complete his prayer."

3. Bukhari :: Book 1 :: Volume 11 :: Hadith 589 Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "If the people knew the reward for pronouncing the Adhan and for standing in the first row (in congregational prayers) and found no other way to get that except by drawing lots they would draw lots, and if they knew the reward of the Zuhr prayer (in the early moments of its stated time) they would race for it (go early) and if they knew the reward of 'Isha' and Fajr prayers in congregation, they would come to them even if they had to crawl."