Did the Muhadditheen Innovate the Five Conditions for Declaring a Hadith to Be Authentic?

The Doubt

The Hadith-Rejecters say that the conditions for declaring a Hadith to be Sahih—i.e. the narrator should be trustworthy, have a good memory, chain of transmission should be connected, no hidden defect should exist, it shouldn’t be contradictory—were all made up by the scholars, hence no attention is paid to it. If the fulfillment of the conditions is based on what the scholars said and came up with based on their desires, how can it be relied upon?

The Response

This doubt and objection hurled towards the Muhadditheen (scholars of Hadith) is unreliable, because the Muhadditheen took these conditions from the Qur’an! Allah said:

يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓاْ إِن جَآءَكُمۡ فَاسِقُۢ بِنَبَإٖ فَتَبَيَّنُوٓاْ أَن تُصِيبُواْ قَوۡمَۢا بِجَهَٰلَةٖ فَتُصۡبِحُواْ عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلۡتُمۡ نَٰدِمِينَ

“O you who believe, if an evildoer brings you some news, verify it, lest you harm a people unknowingly, then you become regretful for what you did.”

Surah Al-Hujurat 49:6

• If the one conveying the news isn’t ‘…an evil-doer…’, then he is trustworthy narrator. This is the first condition derived from this Ayah.
• The second condition – that he has a good memory – is derived from ‘…brings you some news…’, because the one who brings news is the one who remembers it. If one doesn’t have a good memory, how will he bring news, when he can’t even remember it?
• The third condition of the Sanad being connected is derived from ‘…brings you…’, meaning that there is a connection between you and the one bringing the news.
• The fourth and fifth conditions of no hidden defects and no contradictory material is derived from ‘…verify it…’, to be assured that it doesn’t oppose what is actually true.

The Muhadditheen derived their conditions from the Qur’an to authenticate a Hadith. Till the fourth century A.H., the Muhadditheen would verify Hadiths in this manner. If someone comes up with a new way to verify the Hadiths today, this would be incorrect, because the Asaneeed (chains of transmission) have been collected and compiled with the Hadiths in the books.