Increased Confidence and Its Impact on Legal Hadiths

Abstract

This research aims to define the concept of ‘addition’ (ziyada), regarding which scholars have offered various interpretations. An examination of their views reveals that the term refers to an addition unique to a single trustworthy narrator, or to some of the Companions or their successors, whether in the chain of transmission (isnad) or in the text (matn). There are conditions for the acceptance of such additions, some relating to the narrator and others to the narrated text. When jurists use the term ‘addition’ in a general sense, they refer to additions to the text; the same applies to hadith scholars. Their approach to this aspect of hadith science indicates that what is meant is an increase in reliability within the text itself. As for additions to the chain of transmission, these are discussed in the section on ‘additions to the connected chains of transmission’. The researcher has clarified the scholars’ views on accepting or rejecting it, along with an explanation of the most sound opinion on the matter. Sharia rulings in hadith may differ because of it, and it may constitute a new ruling not found in the narration that contains no addition. A descriptive-analytical approach has been adopted, which traces the scholars’ views, details their schools of thought and the evidence of each group, and weighs them against one another. The research has been divided into two sections. The first deals with the concept of the addition of reliability, its types, and the opinions of scholars regarding its acceptance or rejection, whilst the second addresses jurisprudential issues on which the opinions of scholars differed depending on the narration containing the addition compared to others.