Write a descriptive account of the terms isnad and matn of a Hadith and the role they play in establishing the genuineness of a Hadith.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2017). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [10] Candidates could begin their answer by saying that isnad and matn are the two parts of a Hadith that constitute its structure. The list of narrators of the sayings and actions of the Prophet (pbuh) is called the sanad and could be explained by the following Hadith: Muhammad ibn Al-Muthanna reported from Abdul Wahhab, from Ayyub, from Abu Qilaabah, from Malik that the Prophet (pbuh) said 'Pray as you see me praying.' (Agreed). In this Hadith as in other Hadiths the list of narrators constitutes the sanad. The shorter the sanad the higher the chances of it being accurate. Also, to establish the genuineness of a Hadith the sanad needs to be unbroken leading back to the Prophet (pbuh).To establish the genuineness of the first part of the Hadith it was essential to check the character of the narrator, their memory, the age at which they narrated the Hadith, showing an understanding of whether they were at an age to understand what they were reporting. The text of the Hadith is called the matn and from the above example would be 'Pray as you see me praying.' Again the text plays an important role in establishing the authenticity of a Hadith. It is for this reason that the compilers of Hadith made sure that the language of the Hadith was in pure Arabic, that it did not contain words that the Prophet (pbuh) would not use, that the text of a Hadith never contradicted the Qur'an or other established Hadiths, gave high rewards for small deeds or favoured a single person or tribe, or went against common sense and historical facts. Some candidates may well develop their answer further by giving examples of how compilers went about collecting Hadiths and in the process checking the isnad and matn of Hadiths they came across to establish the authenticity of their collections.
2. [4] Evaluative response needed here. The candidate needs to give his/her view of how the Muslim community benefits by having genuine compilations of Hadiths at hand to refer to. They could say that by having these compilations we can easily devise sharia law, or that it creates unity in the umma because every Muslim is following in the Prophet's (pbuh) tradition. Some candidates may say that the Qur'an is sufficient for guiding the umma, whilst others could mention the teachings of the Imams in this part of the answer. All valid responses need to be credited higher levels going to ones that are well substantiated.