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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