1. On the authority of Abu Huraira may Allah be pleased with him, Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) said: “Avoid the seven harming (great sins)” they said: What are they O messenger of Allah? He said: “Association with Allah (in worship), magic, killing the soul that Allah has forbidden only for legitimate cause, consuming usury, eating the orphan’s wealth, turning one’s back on the day of attack (fighting for the sake of Allah) and wrongly accusing the innocent married women (of committing shameful actions)” Reported by Al-Bukhary & Muslim The Seven Harming Great Sins

2. Structure of the Hadith The Authority of the Hadith (The Narrators ) This the chain of people who learnt the Hadith and narrated it one to the other from the Prophet (pbuh) to the Reporter who rightly recorded it in his book. This chain is made of successive generations of early Muslims descending from the age great Companions, to their Followers, to the Followers of the Followers up to the age of documentation when great scholars recorded the Prophetic Tradition and publicized it in the form of encyclopedia containing the different sayings of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh)

3. Structure of the Hadith The Text of the Hadith: This is the actual Tradition of the Prophet (pbuh). It consists of three categories: His sayings His deeds His approvals We believe that the Prophet is guided by Allah. Whatever he says, does or approves is a manifestation of Allah guidance and divine inspiration. We, therefore, obey and apply all the teachings of the Prophet (pbuh). Allah swt says: “Whatever the Messenger has given you take it and whatever he has prevented you from leave it” (Al-Hasher ….)

4. Structure of the Hadith The Recorders of the Hadith: These are the great scholars who have made huge effort to collect the Prophetic Tradition from the people who used to memorize it by heart. At the age of the Prophet (pbuh) he was mainly concerned with the memorization of the Holy Qur’an and its documentation. He prevented his companions to write the Hadith in order to avoid any confusion between his own sayings and those of Allah swt.

5. Structure of the Hadith The Recorders of the Hadith: It was until the 99 AH when Omar bin Abdul-Aziz gave permission to Muslim Scholars to start the collection and documentation of the Hadith. By that time The Qur’an was already well established, well documented and widely memorized by Muslims. There were no fear of confusion between the Qur’an and the Hadith at that late stage.

6. Structure of the Hadith The Recorders of the Hadith: The first ever collected book of Hadith was: Al- Muwatta’ by Al-Imam Malik Bin Anas. There many books of Hadith, but the most authoritative ones are six: (1) Sahih Al-Bukhari, (2) Sahih Muslim, (3) Sunan Al-Nasae, (4) Sunan Al-Tirmidhi, (5) Sunan Abi Dawood and (6) Sunan Ibn Majah.

7. Conditions of Accepting a Hadith The Great Recorders of the Hadith put some pre- requisites for the narrators to approve their narrations of a Hadith: 1. The chain of narration must be continuous from the last one up to the Prophet (pbuh). 2. All the narrators in the chain must be trustworthy known with their good memorization. 3. The content of the Tradition must not contradict any part of the Holy Qur’an.

8. Layers of Authority of the Hadith Due to the length of period between the death of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) and the documentations of his Traditions and because of the great number of people who narrated his Tradition, the condition of accepting the Hadith were not always as strict as they should be. Whenever any of the conditions sited earlier is not observed strictly in the narration, the recorders of the Hadith mention that and minimize the authority of that Hadith. Some Hadiths are labeled Sahih (authentic), others Hasan (good), others Dha’eef (weak) etc.

9. this Hadith 1. Is recorded by Al-Bukhari & Muslim the highest authority after the Holy Qur’an. 2. Narrated By Abu Huraira who is Abdurrahman bin Sakher Al-Dawsi Al-Yamani. He enbraced Islam in Yemen and Migrated to Medinah in the year 7AH. He dedicated himself fully to learning the Qur’an and the Hadith from the Prophet (pbuh). He stayed with him day and night and accompanied him wherever he went. He narrated over 6600 Hadiths. After the death of the Prophet he dedicated his time to teaching the Qur’an and the Hadith until his death in the year 59AH

10. Homework The Hadith listed seven great harming sins, refer to available sources including the internet and the library to find out the following: 1. The meaning of each one of the listed great sins. 2. At least one more Ayah or Hadith to support what you say about each sin. 3. What are the effects of committing each sin on the community. Websites recommended: www.islamonline.net, www.islamweb.netwww.islamonline.netwww.islamweb.net as well as the search engine www.google.comwww.google.com Your presentation, search skills and knowledge & understanding will be assessed. Due: Latest Monday 14/12/2009