---
title: "What is a hadith?"
description: "A hadith is a record of the words, actions, and tacit approvals of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) — the lived example, or Sunnah, that Muslims look to alongside the Qur'an."
last_updated: "2026-06-19"
---

# What is a hadith?

> A hadith is a record of the words, actions, and tacit approvals of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) — the lived example, or Sunnah, that Muslims look to alongside the Qur'an.

## A window onto the Prophet's life

Where the Qur'an is the literal word of God, the hadith preserve how the Prophet (peace be upon him) understood and embodied it — how he prayed, traded, treated his neighbours, and counselled his companions. Alongside the Qur'an, they form the two primary sources of Islamic guidance and law (Sharia). A single narration can illuminate a verse, settle a question of practice, or simply soften the heart — offering moral and ethical teachings on honesty, kindness, patience, and humility.

## Every hadith has two parts

- **Isnad — the chain.** The unbroken list of narrators who transmitted the report, each from the one before, reaching back to the Prophet (peace be upon him). The science of hadith rests on scrutinising this chain for the reliability, memory, and integrity of every narrator.
- **Matn — the text.** The actual content of the narration — the saying or description of an action. Scholars examine it for coherence with the Qur'an and other established reports before accepting it.

## How hadiths are graded

Through the science of Ilm al-Hadith, scholars assign each report a grade reflecting the reliability of its chain and text:

- **Sahih** — Authentic: a sound, unbroken chain of fully reliable narrators.
- **Hasan** — Good: reliable, though slightly below the strength of Sahih.
- **Da'if** — Weak: a flaw in the chain or text lowers its reliability.
- **Mawdu'** — Fabricated: falsely attributed and rejected by scholars.

## Its place in Islam

The hadith give the Sunnah its detail and texture — explaining the Qur'an, demonstrating worship, and preserving a model of character for every generation to follow. Begin reading with the [six canonical collections](https://randomhadith.com/pages/all-books.md) or a [random hadith](https://randomhadith.com/pages/index.md).

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](https://randomhadith.com/sitemap.md) for all pages, or the machine-readable index at [https://randomhadith.com/llms.txt](https://randomhadith.com/llms.txt).