The issue of Mutawatir Ahadith (Those Hadith reported amass)

An edited version of a comment I posted elsewhere on the blog

After spending countless hours researching it, I have long given up on trying to make sense of the Hadith literature. If the objective is to extract something of value that has anything to do with our Deen then my humble advice, don't waste your time trying to make sense of something that is fundamentally flawed on so many levels.

If on the other hand the objective to get a sense of how did we manage to deviate so spectacularly then by all means go ahead.

First up, you are not going to find a neat list somewhere that categorically state these are the definite Mutawatir Ahadith but individual efforts based on what the compiler understood it to mean. As for the number, the best estimates struggle to cross a hundred when it comes to Mutawatir Hadith, some claim three hundred but frankly, it is a stretch. The more realist number would easily fit on a two pager with generous font size. It is important to frame the number of amass reported Hadith because as far as third party Ahad (single reporting) reports go, for me, by themselves, they have exactly zero value in Islam. The startling issue is that there is no consensus on what exactly is a Mutawatir Hadith to start with. An oddity in itself but when one takes into consideration the real objectives of the Hadith peddling it actually makes perfect sense.

The other glaring anomaly that springs out at you is that the Taxonomic structure doesn't even attempt to separate the Ahad from Mutawatir. The labels Sahih, Hasan, Daef etc are applied across the board in such a way that the focus is drawn to these totally subjective criteria and the one that could truly give weight, the number of narrators is effectively sidelined. 

In any case, logically Mutawatir should mean a large number of narrators on every rung of the reporting chain especially those companions and family members who supposedly actually heard the actual words uttered by the Prophet of God as opposed to an observation or the absence of one. Because that is how it is marketed. "The Prophet said"

Again it is very difficult to nail down what one would term verbatim reports, curiously there is a term for it “bil lafiz” and if one were to apply all the different criteria of Mutawatir proposed by different schools and individuals then it is estimated that there are either four or five such reports on record. Ironically the most famous one is a warning not to associate lies to the Prophet of God. Given the overall confusion surrounding the issue of Ahadith, fittingly there are two versions of even this particular report. In part it says;

Whoever tells lies about me deliberately let him take his place in Hell.” Narrated by al-Bukhari, 1229. Even here the word "deliberately" is in dispute.

Another version says, “Do not tell lies about me, for whoever tells lies about me will enter Hell.” Narrated by al-Bukhari, 106. One can glimpse the core of the issue in this particular example but for me what sealed it was the three versions of the last Sermon, supposedly witnessed by over a hundred thousand people. As someone pointed out, we need to be mindful of the unlikelihood of lying and the impossibility of lying.

Here are some efforts that tried to make sense of the nonsensical that include both Mutawatir verbatim and Mutawatir in “meaning”, mostly the later.

These include:

a. al-Fawa’id al-Mutakathira of Imam Jalal al-Din Suyuti
b. al-Azhar al-Mutanathira of Imam Jalal al-Din Suyuti, an abridgment of the previously mentioned work of his.
c. al-Aali al-Mutanathira of Sham al-Din Muhammad ibn Tulun.
d. Luqat al-Aali al-Mutanathira of Murtadha al-Zabidi.
e. al-Nazm al-Mutanathir of Sayyid Ja`far al-Kattani.


Some useful links;

http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Hadith/Ulum/aape.html#J32

http://www.slideshare.net/nsnirjhor/a-collection-of-mutawatir-hadith?related=2

http://www.al-eman.com/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8/%D9%86%D8%B8%D9%85+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%AB%D8%B1+%D9%85%D9%86+%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AB+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AA%D8%B1+**/i24&p1

Curiously the  list below I could only find in the internet archives. But the list unfortunately, is a mix list and not all the Ahadith are Mutawatir.

http://web.archive.org/web/20061031015411/http://hadith.al-islam.com/bayan/Index.asp?Lang=ENG&Type=3


Links to original manuscripts if you want to go that route can be found on the Saudi Arabian education site;

http://makhtota.ksu.edu.sa/MakhtotaEnglish.aspx