What are the Sources of Hadith?

What are the Sources of Hadith?

Many thousands of hadiths have been narrated from the Holy Prophet (pbuh&hp) and his holy progeny and compiled into organized books and encyclopedias of many volumes. According to the school of Ahl al-Bayt, the Shia Ithna Ashari school of thought, the most prominent collections of hadiths are called the ‘Four Books’ (Arabic: الكُتُبُ الأَرْبَعَة). Due to precautionary measures, scholars do not defaultly consider all the contained hadiths to be authentic in these renowned books. Rather, they treat each hadith one by one and case by case to confirm their authenticity, based on different factors. 

The main factor of acceptance for hadiths in the Shia Ithna Ashari school of thought (Ahl al-Bayt) is that these hadiths are narrated from the Ahl al-Bayt—the Prophet, Lady Fatima, or the 12 infallible successors, only. 

Those who narrate the Ahadith from the Ahl al-Bayt (p) are called muhaddithin (Arabic: مُحَدِّثيْن), plural of muhaddith (Arabic: مُحَدِّث). In addition, this school of thought only accepts a hadith from a muhaddith who is known to be a just or trustworthy person.  

On the other hand, there are other schools of thought from other sects that have different collections of hadith, amongst of which include the renowned Sihah (Arabic: صِحاح) or Books of Sahih. These hadiths are narrated from the companions called sahabah (Arabic: صَحَابَة) and the followers of companions called tabi’een (Arabic: تابِِعيْن).