Lesson 26
Reclassification

Main Points

Reclassification of Hadith

    ·  This means referring a Hadith to its original sources, where it was narrated according to the chain of transmission, and then showing its rank when necessary. ·      There are three forms of reclassification: the general

reclassification in which the narrator’s name is mentioned as well as the source collection, the intermediate reclassification in which the names of the chain of narrators are mentioned, the source collection, the chapter where the Hadith is found, and the rank of the Hadith, and the detailed reclassification of the Hadith, all its chains of narration, as well as criticizing all narrations and ranking them.

The methods of reclassification: by the Companion narrating the Hadith by searching in the chains of transmission (Musnads), Hadith dictionaries etc., by the first word of the Hadith by searching in books whose Hadith texts are classified alphabetically, or indices of different Hadith books, by knowing a distinguishing word in the content of the Hadith, by searching in Al-Mu`jam Al-Mufassar Li Alfazh Al-Hadith An-Nabawi (The Indexed Dictionary of Hadith Words), by knowing the subject of the Hadith from the index of subjects such as Miftah Kunuz As-Sunnah, and by searching in computer databases by choosing a distinguishing word, subject, or narrator of the Hadith