<Home> <Islam> <Hadith> <Subject matter of Sacred Hadith>

Subject matter of Sacred Hadith

The subject matter of Sacred Hadith is, by its nature, restricted, both by reason of the limited number of such Hadith and because of the divine utterances by which they are uniquely characterised and which confine them to particular domains to which they appear best suited.

It is possible, from an examination of them, to group the subject matter of Sacred Hadith under the following main headings:

1. Affirmation of the doctrine of Unity and being on one's guard agaInst forms of polytheIsm and scepticism; revealing the majesty of the Creator and of Hisuniqueness in possessing the qualities of perfection and sublimity; and the furthering of right intention and sincerity when turning to the Almighty.

2. The proper discharge of religious observances, both those ordained and those recommended  including prayer, fasting, zakdt1, pilgrimage, dhikr and supererogatory works with due devotion, humility   and lack of self-interest.

3. The attainment of proper standards of morality and virtue; kindness towards one's relatives; good behaviour towards people in general; affection for the pious; and enjoining that which is good and censuring that which is objectionable.

4. Self-dedication to the cause of Allah through  acceptance of such destiny as He has ordained; making oneselfready to meet Him; and willingness to give one's life and all that is dear to one

5. Preparation for the Day of Reckoning, with its rewards and punIshments, through continual repentance and asking for His mercy; combining fear: and hope ; beseeching His pardon through such good deeds as one may have performed and through such intercession as He permits; total confidence in His abounding mercy which prevails over His wrath and enfolds His servants.

It is possible to generalise about the subject matter of Sacred Hadith and to say that they clarify the meanings of the Divinity and servitude to Him in its various aspects, particularly in the fields of belief,   worship and conduct. They scarcely go beyond this domain into such areas as legislation, civil and ommercial practices and the like, all of which are treated elsewhere, notably in the Qur'an and Prophetic Hadith.

The style of Sacred Hadith is in keeping with its  subject matter and can be said to take the form usually of direct expression, either by way of divine injunctIons from the Almighty to His servants, or through verbal exchanges between Him and them, with spiritual guidance as their aim, or through such other forms of expression as will strengthen the bond between the ' Almighty and His servants. Whatever the form they take, the style of Sacred Hadith is invariably sublime, spiritual and deeply moving.

This is no doubt one of the reasons that has caused authors of books of at-Targhib wat-Tarhib i.e. of encouragement and admonition in religious matters, and of devotional and mystical works, to quote copiously from Sacred Hadith.  Some, however, in doing so, have fallen into the error of failing to check the soundness of such Hadith and cite examples that are either weak or spurious when they could have made their choice from the corpus of those whose soundness has been established.