Categories of Hadith a khabar and, therefore, a hadith can be a true report or a concoction. It is on the basis of this premise that the Muslim scholars hold that a hadith offers a "ẓannī" (inconclusive/probably true) evidence. It is as though a hadith may have many possibilities on the plane of reliability. In one of the major works in the science of hadith, Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi has divided the individual narratives in the following categories, according to their epistemic value: Categories of Hadith Different categories of hadith (sayings attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad) have been used by various scholars. Experts in
Introduction to the Science of Hadith al-Ṣalāḥ, in his "Introduction", codified the terminology established by those scholars before him based upon his reading of their works. He did so by citing some of those scholarly statements in the earlier works and deducing from them common terms and definitions in the manner of a scholar authoring a book of "fiqh" (jurisprudence). In this manner, his book was based upon those principles established by the earlier hadith specialists combined with some elements of "fiqh". An example of this would be the inclusion of the division of hadith into "mutawātir" and "āḥād". He therefore only mentioned the statements of