The Emergence of the Isnad System

The question of what made the hadith network emerge is still waiting to be taken up from a social and cultural perspective. It is not possible to make a fully convincing explanation of this with the current level of knowledge. In fact, thousands of handwritten documents which could illuminate this matter are dispersed throughout the world and are still waiting to be published. Together with this, I can indicate some areas of interest that can be seen as probable reasons for the emergence of the hadith narration network:

• The Prophet’s continual commands to the Companions to pass on his words to others,
• Efforts to learn the teachings of the Prophet,
• The efforts of the state and jurists to protect one of the sources of the law,
• The social position given by the people to scholars showing interest in narrations of the Prophet,
• Sectarian conflict leading to efforts to support their own views with narrations from the Prophet and to destroy narrations of the other party.

The historical roots of the hadith narration network can be traced back to Arab culture before Islam. The pre-Islamic “non-writing” culture necessitated that illiterate Arabs rely heavily on their memories in cultural and daily matters.  For a few cultured individuals the memorization of poetry and the family trees of tribes, families and respectable individuals was an inextricable part of the culture. With the advent of Islam, memorization found a new field of application and Arabs began to memorize the Quran and the Prophet’s words. Later, in the period after the Prophet’s death when it became important to know the ties among hadith reporters, the mass of information regarding connections among reporters, which resembled tribal and family genealogies in form, also began to be memorized.

According to various historical records, there is no exact beginning date for the emergence of the hadith narration network and hadith sciences, which developed throughout the first two centuries of Islamic history. The hadith narration network took root in efforts to protect the whole body of the Prophet’s teachings which a short time later Muslims understood depended on a trustworthy narration network. The fabrication of hadiths that was triggered by political and sectarian concerns or, more simply, by instincts of legend and fantasy was not to the benefit of the Prophet’s Companions, new converts and the state. The Companions possessed the full trust of the Prophet on the matter of protecting his heritage from fabrication. Learning the Prophet’s authentic teachings was also to the benefit of new converts to Islam. In addition, protecting one of the main sources of Islamic law also comprised a benefit for the state. These efforts eventually led to the transformation of narration from an art to the present hadith sciences in many branches and the emergence of the hadith narration network which has continued its vitality during the past fourteen centuries to date.

The discoveries made as a group by scholars one after the other emerged in scattered places and they contributed to the development of the social structure of narration. Muslims invented special criteria to differentiate the special trading division: “hadith”; a special kind of social relationship: rivayet (narration) meaning the trading of hadiths; a special identity: muhaddis meaning hadith expert; a special network: isnad meaning taking knowledge to its source or simply “support,” and criteria to distinguish various transmission chains from one another. To guarantee that the network functioned properly, they also invented formal rules to arrange this process called Usul-i Hadis (Hadith Methodology). By including a hadith in the transmission chain or by excluding it, these rules indicated the soundness of the hadith in circulation according to the scholastic activities of the reporters, the moral standards of their behavior, and their relationships with one another as teacher-student. Many identities emerged indicating the level of the reporters and their constructive position like hafiz (one who has memorized the Quran), “well-known,” “dubious,” “reliable,” and “liar.” These contested with one another for the purpose of controlling the period of narration dissemination.

In addition to responsibility for careful investigation of authentic narrations, the Prophet’s sincere followers also took on the responsibility for investigating the fabrication of hadith, which continued in spite of all these efforts to control it. Hadith scholars (al-muhaddisun), more than anyone else in society, dedicated their lives to this duty and developed a profession from it.