Criticism of Hadith Criticism of Hadith The criticism of "Hadith" refers to the critique directed towards collections of "ahadith", i.e. the collections of reports of the words, actions, and the silent approval of the Islamic prophet Muhammad on any matter. The criticism revolves primarily around the authenticity of "hadith" reports and whether they are attributable to Muhammad, as well as theological and philosophical grounds as to whether the "hadith" can provide rulings on legal and religious matters when the Quran has already declared itself "complete", "clear", "fully detailed" and "perfected". Because of Quranic injunctions to Muslims to follow the instructions of and to
Introduction to the Science of Hadith the earlier scholars as appropriate and mostly sufficed with conclusions drawn from them and then specifying or clarifying a definition. The definitions Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ used to describe the individual terms of hadith terminology were largely in accordance with the views of the majority of hadith specialists. In some instances, he would mention an undisputed opinion, before mentioning one that was widely accepted and then describing the difference. He would generally precede his critique of differing opinions by saying: "I say". For the primary terms described, he mentioned an example to illustrate that definition. His goal in doing so was to