Welcome to the Department of Hadith!

 

The Department of Hadith at Darul Qasim College offers an intellectually rigorous and spiritually grounded approach to one of the most vital disciplines of the Islamic tradition. Our goal is to prepare students for a serious and contextually meaningful engagement with the Sunnah of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, through the transmission, preservation, and interpretation of ḥadīth literature.

Situated within the broader Qāsimī tradition, the department represents a synthesis between revelation (waḥy) and reasoned inquiry. It cultivates scholarship that is both rooted in classical methodology and responsive to contemporary intellectual and civilizational concerns.

 

The department provides systematic instruction in the two core branches of ḥadīth studies:

• Riwāyat al-Ḥadīth (Study of transmission and chains), and

• Dirāyat al-Ḥadīth (Study of meaning, interpretation, and content).

Students develop proficiency in three major areas:

1. Muṣṭalaḥ al-Ḥadīth (Hadith nomenclature)

2. Naqd al-Ḥadīth (Hadith criticism)

3. Matn al-Ḥadīth (Hadith text study)

These foundational disciplines are introduced, reinforced, and advanced at each level of study.

The first level of ḥadīth studies offered in the Shaykh al-Hind program serves as an accessible introduction to the field of ḥadīth studies. At this stage, students are guided to grasp the historical development and enduring significance of ḥadīth transmission. They begin developing fluency in the fundamental concepts and terminology of the discipline, while also cultivating confidence in the intellectual integrity and authenticity of the Sunnah as a source of Islamic knowledge and guidance.

 

Within the Intermediate Islamic Studies program, students are exposed to an understanding of Islamic ethics through the textual study of hadith works like Imam al-Nawawī’s Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn. A more thorough exposure to al-mafhūm al-islāmī (Islamic content) is achieved through the study of al-Khaṭīb al-Tabrīzī’s hadith super-collection Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ in the final year of the Intermediate Program.

Hadith nomenclature at the intermediate level is introduced through basic texts like al-Bayqūniyyah and ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq al-Dihlawī’s Muqaddamah fī Uṣūl al-Ḥadīth and proficiency developed through a critical study of Ibn Ḥajar’s Nuzhat al-Naẓar and its various pre-modern commentaries, including Muḥammad Akram al-Sindī’s Imʿān al-Naẓar and Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī’s Sharḥ Sharḥ al-Nukhbah.

 

In the Advanced Islamic Law and Islamic Theology program, an expansive study of primary hadith collections with a critical view of their chains and texts is divided into stages, beginning with a study of hadith literature through a legal lens. Students are taught to understand the arguments of a legal school through the study of their hadith evidences primarily using Imam Mālik’s al-Muwaṭṭā (through the transmissions of Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī and Yaḥyā b. Yaḥyā al-Laythī) and Imam al-Ṭaḥāwī’s Sharḥ Maʿānī al-Āthār, and secondarily through Imam Abū Ḥanīfah’s Kitāb al-Āthār and various Masānīd as well as Imam Muḥammad’s Kitāb al-Ḥujjah ʿalā Ahl al-Madīnah.

Source criticism (takhrīj al-ḥadīth wa dirāsat al-asānīd) is then both theoretically studied and practically applied through the various Sunan works, including those of Imam Ibn Mājah and Imam al-Nasāʾī. Students critically analyze the zawāʾid (narrations unique among the six canonical works) of Ibn Mājah with a focus on the critique of their narrators (rijāl) and also understand the process of hadith takhrīj (source citation and ruling) through the chains of Imam al-Nasāʾī’s al-Mujtabā.

The Advanced level program culminates with a complete and detailed reading of the Sunans of Imams Abū Dāwūd and al-Tirmidhī, with a brief commentary of the legal discussions involved in each chapter of the texts and a study of the two Ṣaḥīḥs of Imams al-Bukhārī and Muslim with a focus on studying their works through the the lens of the author and not necessarily through one’s madhhab (Legal School of Thought).

 

The Takhaṣṣuṣ fī-l-Ḥadīth (Specialization in Hadith Studies) Program at Darul Qasim College offers graduate students a rigorous and immersive study of the hadith sciences (ʿulūm al-ḥadīth). This program is designed to cultivate expertise in the theory and application of hadith critical methodology, equipping students with the necessary analytical tools to engage with the Prophetic tradition at the highest academic level.

Hadith has always formed the foundation of Islamic scholarship and has shaped theology, law, and ethics. However, in the contemporary era, the science of hadith verification, interpretation, and preservation has become increasingly neglected and misunderstood. This specialization aims to revive and strengthen traditional hadith scholarship while integrating modern academic methodologies.

The program comprises two core components: four semesters of coursework and research, which provide structured training in hadith sciences and allow for advanced specialization, followed by a minimum of one year of in-person thesis supervision, during which students produce original research contributing to the field of hadith studies.

 

Studying ḥadīth at Darul Qasim offers a uniquely comprehensive curriculum that is firmly rooted in centuries of Islamic tradition while engaging contemporary intellectual challenges. The department is led by expert faculty trained in both classical and modern paradigms who can provide students with a well-rounded and holistic education. The program offers structured learning pathways and guides students from foundational coursework to advanced post-graduate specialization. Above all, the department is driven by a clear intellectual mission: to reaffirm and revitalize Islamic civilization through rigorous, critical, and creative engagement with the Sunnah.