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Isnad

الإسناد

The isnad is the chain of men linking a hadith's text back to the Prophet ﷺ or a Companion — 'so-and-so told us from so-and-so'; by it the muhaddithun judged a report sound or weak, examining narrators for integrity and precision and the chain for continuity. Muslim opened his Sahih with the isnad's dignity and its guarding against fabrication, so that it came to be counted among this community's distinguishing marks.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Rashidun Caliphate · The Umayyad Period · The Early Abbasid Caliphate
Region
Arabia
Identifiers
Wikidata
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

Scripture and its sciences

Overview

The isnad (chain of transmission) is the series of narrators leading to the text of a hadith, in the form "so-and-so related to us from so-and-so," until the report ends at the Prophet or a Companion. 1

Its function

By it the scholars of hadith knew the soundness of a report from its weakness. They studied the narrators for their probity and precision, and they looked into whether the chain was connected or broken. 1

In the introduction to Sahih Muslim

Muslim opened his Sahih by speaking of the greatness of the isnad and of its protection from falsehood. It has been said that it is one of the distinctions of this community. 1

Related concepts

Connections

Explore the connections

Mentioned in
Muslim's prologue — the isnad is part of the religion
Related to
Hadith· The Prophetic Sunna· Connectedness of the isnad and proven hearing· Hadith methodology (mustalah al-hadith)· Criticism and vindication of narrators (jarh wa-ta'dil)· Fabrication of hadith (wad' al-hadith)

People and things also explored

Hadith· Criticism and vindication of narrators (jarh wa-ta'dil)· Hadith methodology (mustalah al-hadith)· Writing down the hadith· Transmitting a hadith by its meaning (riwaya bil-maana)· The Prophetic Sunna· Fabrication of hadith (wad' al-hadith)· Shama'il Muhammadiyya

Sources

  1. Sahih Muslim
  • The Method of Documenting the Prophetic Sunna — Muhammad Ibrahim al-Fayyumi
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Isnad”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/isnad/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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Wing

Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Hadith

Hadith is what is transmitted of the Prophet's words, deeds, tacit approvals and descriptions, reaching us through a chain of narrators ending at him; it is Islam's second source after the Qur'an, expounding its generals and fixing the details of worship, dealings, biography and conduct. It was gathered into works arranged by legal chapter or by narrator's musnad, most famously the six books.