Question:

I have read one of your recent articles and I wanted to know, what is the legal requirement for someone to be considered a knowledgeable scholar whom we can take knowledge from? Is Isnad (chain of transmission) one of the requirements and is there any evidence for this deduced from the sources?

Also, I have noticed that Isnad is not usually mentioned by the scholars as a prerequisite for someone to be considered a Mujtahid. Can one therefore be self taught?

This write-up is based on the treatise of Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar rahimahullah.

Mishkāt al-Maṣābīh (lit. the niche of lanterns) is a hadith collection originally compiled as Maṣābīḥ as-Sunnah (lit. the lamps of Sunnah) by Imām Muḥy as-Sunnah Abū Muḥammad Ḥusayn ibn Masʿūd al-Farrāḥ al-Baghawī (d.1122) rahimahullah, a famous Tatar muḥaddith and mufassir from the senior Shawāfiʿ scholars. It was later refined and expanded by Imām Walī ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Khaṭīb at-Tibrīzī (d.1248) rahimahullah, who named the revised compilation Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ, as we know it today.

Based on Shaykh Mufti Taqi Usmani’s notes in the introduction to Dars Tirmidhi (1/80-86), compiled by Shaykh Waqar Gulam Dastaguir and checked & edited by Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam.

The heart-rendering story of Ka’b Ibn Mālik رضي الله عنه was narrated by none other than himself in a lengthy, though wholly eloquent narrative. It is full of great wisdoms and lessons:

This is a portion from the Hadīth al-Jibraīl – in which Jibraīl عليه السلام asks the Prophet ﷺ a few questions which the Prophet ﷺ responds to.

A scholar of Ḥadīth writes, ‘I reached the Ḥaram for Ẓuhr Ṣalāh after performing wuḍu. With only five minutes left for Maghib Ṣalāh, I developed an intense urge to attend the call of nature. I thought, ‘If I go back to attend the call of nature, I will not be able to return for Ṣalāh on time. Hence, I feared that my Ṣalāh would become qaḍā, while at the same time the urge to relieve myself was so intense that I feared I may spoil the Ḥaram.

When reading ḥadīth, names like “‘AbdAllah bin ‘AbdarRahman” etc. are usually what we read and find normal, but then we may encounter titles like “Ghundar” or “Masrūq” and “Ābil Laḥm” and wonder, what a strange and abnormal-sounding-like name?

Sunan Ibn Mājah is a collection of ḥadīth compiled by Imam Muḥammad bin Yazīd Ibn Mājah al-Qazvīnī (Allah have mercy on him).

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī is a ḥadīth collection from the Kutub al-Sittah (six canonical ḥadīth collections), authored by Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī رحمه الله (d. 256).