Knowing the Defects of Hadith

One of the important issues in understanding hadith is to consider the defective traditions and distinguishing them from sounds traditions. Knowing defective traditions needs exact information and necessary expertise in the knowledge of hadith, and only the specialists in the science of hadith and scholars who are completely familiar with the documents and texts of traditions can distinguish the defective traditions. In this article the different kinds of the causes of hadith and the way of knowing them have been discussed, and some examples of defective traditions are given. The following issues are among the signs of defect in hadith:1. It is narrated only by one person.2. The tradition apparently has a linked chain of transmitters, but during the study it becomes clear some of the transmitters have been omitted.3. The tradition is apparently has connected chain of transmitters, but in fact it is unconnected and connected only in form.4. The text of the hadith is mixed with the text of another tradition or the document of one hadith comes within the document of another tradition.5. The narrator while relating the hadith errs and corrupts the hadith, for example he adds a word or a sentence to the tradition.6. Dividing the tradition in cases where the omitted part and the mentioned part share the same meaning.