Athar: Its Use for Mawqūf, Maqṭūʿ and Hadith

The learner can recognize Hadith as a report of the Prophet's ﷺ saying, action, tacit approval, or state. Read the bilingual lesson for Athar: Its Use for Mawqūf, Maqṭūʿ and Hadith and test your understanding with a focused quiz.

Lesson

1. What will we learn?

In Hadith study we also encounter the word athar (اثر). We will learn which reports it can refer to. Brief reminder: • Companion — ṣaḥābī (صحابی): met the Prophet ﷺ as a believer and died upon faith. • Successor — tābiʿī (تابعی): is not himself a Companion but met a Companion as a believer.

2. Consider ʿAlī's statement

Part of ʿAlī's own statement, may Allah be pleased with him, reads: حَدِّثُوا النَّاسَ بِمَا يَعْرِفُونَ (Sahih al-Bukhari: 127) Translation: Speak to people about what they can understand. • ʿAlī is a Companion. Reporting his own words makes this mawqūf (موقوف). • Such a report is also called an athar (اثر). The name does not change its attribution: the words still belong to ʿAlī.

3. The common use of athar

Mawqūf and maqṭūʿ reports are commonly called athar. • Mawqūf (موقوف): reports a Companion's own saying, action or approval. • Maqṭūʿ (مقطوع): reports a Successor's own saying or action. Thus, this use of athar is not limited to a Companion's words; it also includes reports of a Successor's own words or actions. Calling both athar does not erase the distinction between them.

4. Athar can also refer to Hadith

The opening of a saying of the Prophet ﷺ reads: إِنَّمَا الأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ (Sahih al-Bukhari: 1) Translation: Actions depend on intentions. Athar (اثر) is also used for Hadith. Calling a Prophetic Hadith such as this an athar does not turn it into a Companion's or Successor's own statement; it remains a saying of the Prophet ﷺ.

5. Do not decide from the label alone

• Whose words are these? If only the label “athar” is given, read the report and the surrounding passage.1 • Should the report be accepted? That requires investigation; the name athar is not enough. • A teacher's own explanation: being about religion does not by itself make it an athar in this scholarly sense. 1. Context — siyāq (سیاق): the surrounding passage that helps establish how a word is being used.

6. Lesson summary

• Athar (اثر): commonly refers to mawqūf and maqṭūʿ reports. • Another use: the word is also applied to Hadith. • Attribution: look beyond the label to whose words or conduct are reported. • Acceptance: established through investigation, not simply by saying “athar.”

Practice questions

Question 1

A report describes a Successor's own action without quoting his words. Which statement about the use of athar is correct?

  • Athar applies only to sayings, not actions.
  • It is maqṭūʿ; the word athar can also be used for it.
  • Athar applies to Companion reports, not Successor reports.

Question 2

In a Hadith discussion, the Prophet's ﷺ saying “Actions depend on intentions” is called an athar. What should we understand?

  • It now counts as ʿUmar's own saying.
  • The word athar cannot be used for Hadith at all.
  • Athar here refers to Hadith; the saying remains Prophetic.

Question 3

Match each situation to the appropriate response.

Question 4

Because athar can also refer to Hadith, it is wrong to say that mawqūf and maqṭūʿ reports are commonly called athar.

  • True
  • False

Question 5

A collection uses athar for both a Companion's own saying and a Successor's own saying. Which conclusion is correct?

  • Both can be called athar, while their attributions remain distinct.
  • The shared name makes both reports mawqūf.
  • Calling both athar also establishes the acceptance of both.

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