What Is Hadith ? - 101

Hadith - is defined as any utterance, action or indirect approval (of an act) by Rasulullah SAW.

The Hadith of Rasulullah SAW is the second fundamental source of Islamic Law after the Qur'aanul Kareem. It embodies the entire pattern of the life of Nabi SAW and includes every detail containing his actions, his conduct and his attitudes whether explicit or implicit.

Every aspect of his (SAW) life and conduct has been reported to us in the vast collections of Ahadith. Our pious predecessors had great zeal and yearning to learn and acquire the teachings of the Noble Ahadith. Numerous incidents have been recorded where great personalities undertook difficulty and hardship to acquire the knowledge of Hadith.

One Sahabi RA once undertook a costly, lengthy and tedious journey simply to listen to just one hadith from his fellow Companion RA. He had no other motive for this journey.

Surely we cannot fathom the depths to which these great personalities reached in the field of hadith. It was due to the untiring sincere efforts of these luminaries that Allah Ta'ala blessed them with outstanding knowledge and understanding of Hadith.

Today we sit comfortably, all the work done, compiled in neatly bound books, and now even at the click of a button of our personal computer. That why it is said - self research with a computer cannot replace sittings with the Ulama.

Therefore we should have great eagerness and thirst to learn the Hadith of Rasulullah SAW, practice upon it ourselves, teach it to our children and propagate it to others. This section is just a little way in which we can create a zeal for Hadith and embark upon making this an integral feature of our life. The life of a true Muslim.