The Earliest Codification of the Hadith

The compilation, codification and editing of the Hadith was a difficult task, that Muslim scholars realized through the development of a scientific identification of the correct from the false. The narrators, writers, compilers, codifiers and editors have done the gigantic task of tracking the correct hadith.

Al-Qazwini has done a tremendous job in transmitting eleven tracts separately on the authority of authentic sources and consulting in six canonical works on hadith as criterion. The scholarship of Al-Qazwini is unquestionable. While the tradition of Hadith is mainly oral, he has also mentioned the written records in forms of letters the Prophet (saw) sent to various people.

Author: Al-Qazwini

Translated by Dr Mohammad Hamidullah