Mutawatir

Mutawatir ( _ar. متواتر) is an Arabic word meaning "consecutive." It is often used as an Islamic term within the science of hadith. A "hadith" is said to be mutawatir if it was reported by a significant, though unspecified, number of narrators at each level in the chain of narration, thus reaching the succeeding generation through multiple chains of narration leading back to its source. This provides confirmation that the "hadith" is authentically attributed to its source at a level above reasonable doubt. This is due to its being beyond historical possibility that narrators could have conspired to forge a narration. "Hadiths" can be mutawatir in both actual text and meaning.

In contrast, an "ahaad hadith" is a narration the chain of which has not reached a number sufficient to qualify as mutawatir.

ee also

*List of notable Muslim reports

External links

* [http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/scienceofhadith/asb3.html According to the number of reporters involved at each stage of the isnad] from " [http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/scienceofhadith/atit.html Introduction to the Sciences of Hadith] " by Dr. Suhaib Hasan
* [http://globalwebpost.com/farooqm/writings/islamic/law_hadith.html Islamic Law and the Use and Abuse of Hadith] by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq
* [http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Hadith/Ulum/asb3.html Islamic-awareness.org]
* [http://al-islam.org/thaqalayn/nontl/Preface.htm#tawatur Al-islam.org]