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Dawrat al-Ḥadīth Programme - Final Year Ālimiyyah
The advanced programme or otherwise known as the "Dawrat al-Ḥadīth Program" elucidates the link between the derivatives (furūʾ) of Islam and their primary sources (uṣūl). This is how the relationship of content and context comes together to further accentuate the potential of the student to be capable of dealing with modern challenges.
Early Legal Hadith Discourse
This advanced programme allows an intensive analysis of the earliest legal arguments from hadith, in particular those employed by the preeminent jurists of the first and second centuries: Imams Abū Ḥanīfah, Mālik, Abū Yūsuf, and Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī. In this program, one will obtain the uṣūl (principles) employed to derive legal rulings from the early ḥadīth literature, which includes marfūʿ (prophetic traditions), mawqūf (traditions from the companions), maqtūʿ (traditions from the first generation of scholars), and the differences between the Kūfan and Ḥijāzī schools. Legal arguments found in the transmissions of Imam Mālik’s al-Muwaṭṭā through Imam Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan and Yaḥyā b. Yahyā al-Laythī, but readings in Imam Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan’s Kitāb al-Ḥujjah, Imam Abū Ḥanīfah’s Kitāb al-Āthār, and al-Khawārizimī’s Jāmi' Masānīd al-Imām al- Aʿẓam are also included. Considerable attention will be given to understanding the different approaches of the Ahl al-Ra'y (jurists) and Ahl al-Ḥadīth (hadith transmitters) as well as those between the early (Ḥanafī and Mālikī) and later (Shāfi'ī and Ḥanbalī) juridical schools. The student will understand, through the course, the methodology of the early scholars in contrast to the literalist approach that developed later in a manner that will not only strengthen their confidence, but an ability to defend his Madhhab.
Advanced Hadith Studies: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī
al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaḥīḥ of Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī (d. 256/870) is undoubtedly the most celebrated and authenticated of the primary hadith collections. In this work, one observes a master deducing and inferring intricate rulings from textual evidence. One will systematically develop the academic acuity to appreciate how one evaluates and extrapolates inexplicit points in knowledge from the Prophet’s ﷺ narrations. The focus being on the work with a dual focus on the hadith content as well as the author’s unique interpretive reasoning provided in the rich chapter headings (tarājim al-abwāb). Imam Bukhārī’s literary genius truly shines in his chapter headings. He will indicate to rulings for which he brings evidence to establish through his chapter headings, as is said: “fiqh al-Bukhārī fī tarājimihi.” Meaning: “Bukhārī’s understanding is found in his chapter headings.” Reviewing this dynamic is essential to the reading. Students will ultimately navigate Imam Bukhārī’s presentation of the correct Sunnah and life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
Advanced Hadith Studies: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim
The segment begins with a brief overview of the history of ḥadīth literature study in the Indian subcontinent, extending back to the era of the Companions. Then, one will study Imām Muslim’s prolegomena (muqaddamah). The students will peruse through what can be classified, historically, as one of the initial work on ḥadīth nomenclature and historical methodology. Thereafter students will explore the Ṣaḥīḥ work of Imam Muslim b. al-Ḥajjāj al-Qushayrī (d. 261/875), deriving the rich theological, legal, ethical, spiritual, eschatological, and historical issues from the hadith content. Students will also seek to appreciate the author’s unique skill in the arrangement of the hadith and in the presentation of the chains of transmitters. There will be additional readings from the Takmilah Fath al-Mulhim, the magnum-opus commentary to the Ṣaḥīḥ work of Imam Muslim by Mufti Taqi Usmani (May Allah Almighty persevere him).
Legal Hadith Studies: Sunan al-Tirmidhī
This segment examines the Sunan of Imām Abū ʿĪsā Muḥammad b. ʿĪsā al-Tirmidhī (d. 279/892). One studies Imam’s compilation focusing on acquiring a general exposure to the prophetic narrations while observing how the scholars understood them. The sunan genre of hadith literature primarily focuses on the evidence early Muslim jurists used in their arguments. Students will examine from both a jurisprudential and a critical historical perspective, explaining the use of each hadith in support of a variety of legal positions but also exploring the grading of the hadith by the author and other classical hadith scholars. Additionally, Imām Tirmidhī’s ʿIlal will be reviewed along with the extensive commentary of Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī. This reading will further expose one to Tirmidhī’s thought pertaining to methodology.
Legal Hadith Studies: Sunan Abī Dāwūd
This segment examines the Sunan of Imām Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī (d. 204/819). One studies Imam’s compilation focusing on acquiring a general exposure to the prophetic narrations while observing how the scholars understood them. The sunan genre of hadith literature primarily focuses on the evidence early Muslim jurists used in their arguments. Students will examine from both a jurisprudential and a critical historical perspective, explaining the use of each hadith in support of a variety of legal positions but also exploring the grading of the hadith by the author and other classical hadith scholars. Additionally, Imām Abū Dāwūd epistle (risalah) to the people of Makkah on the history and methodology of the science of hadith will be reviewed along with the footnotes of Shaykh ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ Abu Ghuddah (d. 1997).
Applied Hadith Criticism: Sunan al-Nasāʾī
This segment consists a study of the Sunan of Imam Abū 'Abd al-Raḥmān al-Nasāʾī (d. 302/915), one of the canonical collections of ḥadīth. It is well known for its special attention given to the discovery of hidden elements (the science of ʿilal) in hadith chains. Students will be introduced to the sciences of hadith sourcing and comparative chain analysis ('ilm al-takhrīj wa dirāsat al-asānīd). While seeking to understand and appreciate the complexity of chain mapping, the jurisprudential aspects of the hadith texts will also be analysed in light of the positions and arguments of the eminent masters of the field. One will also study the Imam’s compilation focusing on acquiring a general exposure to the prophetic narrations while observing how the scholars understood them.
Applied Hadith Criticism: Sunan Ibn Mājah
This segment introduces students to the critical analysis of hadith reporters and chains through an elaborate study of the zawā'id reports of Imām Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Yazīd Ibn Mājah al-Qazwīnī’s Sunan, i.e. the reports unique to Ibn Mājah’s Sunan and not found in any of the other six canonical hadith collections, the Ṣaḥīḥs of al-Bukhārī and Muslim and the Sunan works of al-Nasāʾī, Abū Dāwūd, and al-Tirmidhī. Students will undertake an empirical study of select chapters and document the chains that contain weakness along with its causes. Throughout the study, one will log all the chains of transmission in which weakness is found along with the specifics of what causes weakness in them. While students will analyze both the hadith texts and chains, particular focus is placed on the critical analysis of hadith narrators and the evaluation of their narrations. Thus, students will be introduced to a practical study of ʿilm al-rijāl (the science of narrative biographies) through their study of the canonical hadith text. One will also study the Imam’s compilation focusing on acquiring a general exposure to the prophetic narrations while observing how the scholars understood them. There will be additional readings from Shaykh ʿAbd al-Rashīd al-Nuʿmānī’s Mā Tamassu al-Ḥājah li Man Yuṭāliʿu Sunan Ibn Mājah.
Please note the above is not exhaustive, rather points to some salient features of the curriculum. For further details please contact Dār al-ʿUlūm.