The good report (hasan)

الحديث الحسن

For Ibn Hajar the report good in itself (hasan li-dhatihi) meets all the conditions of the sound report except that its narrator's accuracy is lighter; it shares with the sound report in serving as proof, though below it; the report good through another (hasan li-ghayrihi) is one on which judgement is suspended until an indication tips it toward acceptance, as with an obscure narrator's report with several chains; he explains al-Tirmidhi's 'hasan sahih' as hesitation over a lone narrator or as two chains, and holds that al-Tirmidhi's definition of hasan covers only what he calls simply 'hasan' ¹ ².

Summary

For Ibn Hajar the hasan forms the third and fourth kinds of accepted report: if a report falls short of the highest qualities of acceptance and nothing makes up for it, it is good in itself; if an indication tips toward acceptance a report on which judgement is suspended, it is good through another. ¹ The editor, Nur al-Din 'Itr, counts this distinction among the choices of Ibn Hajar on which hadith scholars settled. ³

Good in itself

If accuracy is lighter — that is, less — while the other conditions of the definition of the sound report hold, the report is good in itself, not through anything outside it; the requirement of the remaining qualities excludes the weak report. ⁴ It shares with the sound report in serving as proof, though below it, and like it is divided into ranks. ⁴ With multiple chains it is declared sound, becoming sound through another. ⁵

Good through another

This is the report whose goodness comes from support, such as the report of an obscure (mastur) narrator when its chains are multiplied. ⁴

"Hasan sahih"

Ibn Hajar answers those puzzled that al-Tirmidhi and others combine the two descriptions, though the good falls short of the sound: ⁶

When a narrator is alone in relating it, the combination expresses the critic's hesitation over the narrator — whether he meets the conditions of soundness or falls short — as if he said "good or sound", the word of hesitation dropped; on this reading "hasan sahih" ranks below "sahih", since certainty is stronger than hesitation. ⁷
When it is not singular, the two descriptions refer to two chains, one sound and one good; on this reading "hasan sahih" ranks above a singular "sahih", since multiple chains strengthen. ⁸

Al-Tirmidhi's hasan

Some object that al-Tirmidhi made it a condition of the hasan that it be related through more than one route, yet calls some reports "hasan gharib, known to us only from this route"; Ibn Hajar answers that al-Tirmidhi did not define the hasan in general but only one kind of it, what he calls simply "hasan", citing his words at the end of his book: what we call a good report we mean that its chain is good in our view — every report related whose narrator is not suspected of lying, which is related through more than one route in similar form, and which is not anomalous. ⁹ He holds that al-Tirmidhi added "in our view" because it was a new term or an obscure one, and did not attribute it to the hadith scholars as al-Khattabi did. ¹⁰ The editor identifies al-Tirmidhi's hasan with the good through another. ⁸

Not covered here

Al-Khattabi's definition of the hasan, to which Ibn Hajar alludes, and Ibn al-Salah's have not been taken here from their own sources.

Sources

Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikar: Nuzhat al-Nazar fi Tawdih Nukhbat al-Fikar fi Mustalah Ahl al-Athar — Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, ed. Nur al-Din 'Itr, Maktabat al-Bushra, Karachi 2011 , p. 53

Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikar: Nuzhat al-Nazar fi Tawdih Nukhbat al-Fikar fi Mustalah Ahl al-Athar — Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, ed. Nur al-Din 'Itr, Maktabat al-Bushra, Karachi 2011 , p. 60-63

Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikar: Nuzhat al-Nazar fi Tawdih Nukhbat al-Fikar fi Mustalah Ahl al-Athar — Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, ed. Nur al-Din 'Itr, Maktabat al-Bushra, Karachi 2011 , p. 21

Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikar: Nuzhat al-Nazar fi Tawdih Nukhbat al-Fikar fi Mustalah Ahl al-Athar — Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, ed. Nur al-Din 'Itr, Maktabat al-Bushra, Karachi 2011 , p. 60

Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikar: Nuzhat al-Nazar fi Tawdih Nukhbat al-Fikar fi Mustalah Ahl al-Athar — Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, ed. Nur al-Din 'Itr, Maktabat al-Bushra, Karachi 2011 , p. 60-61

Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikar: Nuzhat al-Nazar fi Tawdih Nukhbat al-Fikar fi Mustalah Ahl al-Athar — Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, ed. Nur al-Din 'Itr, Maktabat al-Bushra, Karachi 2011 , p. 61

Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikar: Nuzhat al-Nazar fi Tawdih Nukhbat al-Fikar fi Mustalah Ahl al-Athar — Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, ed. Nur al-Din 'Itr, Maktabat al-Bushra, Karachi 2011 , p. 61-62

Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikar: Nuzhat al-Nazar fi Tawdih Nukhbat al-Fikar fi Mustalah Ahl al-Athar — Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, ed. Nur al-Din 'Itr, Maktabat al-Bushra, Karachi 2011 , p. 62

Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikar: Nuzhat al-Nazar fi Tawdih Nukhbat al-Fikar fi Mustalah Ahl al-Athar — Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, ed. Nur al-Din 'Itr, Maktabat al-Bushra, Karachi 2011 , p. 62-63

Sharh Nukhbat al-Fikar: Nuzhat al-Nazar fi Tawdih Nukhbat al-Fikar fi Mustalah Ahl al-Athar — Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, ed. Nur al-Din 'Itr, Maktabat al-Bushra, Karachi 2011 , p. 63

Muqaddimat Ibn al-Salah (Ma'rifat Anwa' Ilm al-Hadith)

Ibn al-Salah's (d. 643 AH) book on the hadith sciences, which he names in his preface Ma'rifat Anwa' Ilm al-Hadith and which became known as Ulum al-Hadith or the Muqaddima. He divides it into sixty-five types, the first the knowledge of the sound (sahih) hadith and the last the homelands and towns of transmitters, adding that the types could be multiplied without limit. It contains his well-known definition of the sahih hadith, his view that independent authentication had become impracticable in his age, and his view that what the two Shaykhs agree on yields certainty.

The good report (hasan)

At a glance