The noble hadith is all that was mentioned on the authority of the Prophet, peace be upon him, in terms of a word, deed, report, or a moral or ethical quality. The Companions imitated all what was narrated on the authority of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and they cared for it, preserved it, and acted according all that he came. Following the Sunnah of the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is a duty of Muslims, and Muslims are granted great rewards for following the Messenger of Allah from their Lord, the Almighty.
The Companions paid attention to the Noble Qur’an and memorized everything that revealed to us verse by verse, surah by surah, letter by letter, and so did everyone who followed the Prophet, peace be upon him and everyone who came after him until it reached us protected from distortion and alteration, and they also paid attention to all the sayings of the Prophet, peace be upon him. And his actions and imitated him and preserved everything that he came with, for he is the truthful and communicator of Allah, the Almighty God, and He, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is commanded by Allah and he is infallible, the Almighty said: “Nor does he speak of his own whims (3) It is only a revelation sent down ˹to him˺” (An-NAgm: 3-4).
When the Prophet, peace be upon him, approached people on the farewell pilgrimage, he ordered that all he said must be informed for the next generations. The Muslims knew that they must memorize everything that was issued by him, peace be upon him, and they did so, they narrated the hadiths about him, whether consecutive Hadiths that are narrated with text and meaning, or only in meaning, or may be common ones, or narrated by the authentic chain of narrators, and they followed him in his traits and behavior, even some of the Companions followed the way he walked, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
Types of noble hadith
The hadiths that were narrated on the authority of the Prophet, peace be upon him, were classified into types according to the narrator and the methods of his narration, as the number of these types reached sixty-five types, and among the most famous of these types.
- the authentic hadith: which is the chain of narration that was transmitted in all those who narrated it on the authority of a sane narrator from its beginning to its end, and it is not odd or faulty, and Bukhari and Muslim are considered the first to collect authentic hadiths.
- The good hadith: It is the hadith that there is no one in its chain of transmission is accused of lying, and the hadith is not anomalous, and this is Tirmidhi ’s definition of a good hadith.
- Weak Hadith: It is every hadith that lacks the characteristics of the authentic hadith and the good hadith.
Types of hadith according to the narrator are divided into the following sections:
- Hadith traceable to the prophet; this is the hadith that its text comes from the words of the prophet himself, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
- An untraceable hadith; This is the hadith that its words are said by one of the Companions, may Allah bless them and grant them peace.
- Interrupted hadith; This is the hadith that its words are said by one of the prophet’s followers, may Allah have mercy on them.
The types of hadith according to the way that the hadiths arrived to us are divided into two parts, namely:
consecutive Hadith: It is the hadith that came from many ways and narrations at every stage of its stages.
isolated Hadith: It is the hadith that came from one path and narration only in the stages of its transmission.
The importance of the Noble Hadith
- The interpretation of the commands and legislations mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, for example the prayer that Alalh Almighty commanded us to adhere to it and to perform it but did not detail the number of its rak’ahs, conditions, provisions, times, and the method of ablution, but the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, explained to the Muslims everything that goes on around it and taught us the method its correct way.
- Gaining the great reward of Allah for worshiping him as He commanded and as He loves, so the one who reads the noble prophetic hadiths finds how to worship Allah and ways to gain His pleasure and reward. As Adhering to the guidance of the Prophet, may blessings and peace be upon him, and his Sunnah that were mentioned in the hadiths of the Prophethood is the path of salvation and success in this world and the hereafter.
- It reveals to us the secrets of an important stage in the life of humanity, and the form that societies have looked like. The introductions of some hadiths describe to us the conditions and customs of people in different places and times, such as saying – for example -; (We were in Al-Gahellyah…) with which many hadiths begin; As this saying gives us a good background on the customs of the Arabs in the pre-Islamic era, and how Islam was able to change them and extract negative qualities from them.
- It helps us to know the historical figures better. The sayings of the Messenger of Allah regarding some of the characters in the hadiths mentioned about him give us an idea of
the contributions and accomplishments of these people, and the great impact they left on humanity, whether positive or negative, and it also gives us the most prominent characteristics of the people who are called positive people, those Who were able to make a difference in their societies - The Messenger – may Allah bless him and grant him peace -through the noble prophetic hadiths was able to give us glimpses of the previous people, and what matters will turn out to be in the future if Muslims follow certain approaches that deviate them from the right path.
