Gharīb Hadith: A Single Narrator in a Generation

The learner can recognize Hadith as a report of the Prophet's ﷺ saying, action, tacit approval, or state. Read the bilingual lesson for Gharīb Hadith: A Single Narrator in a Generation and test your understanding with a focused quiz.

Lesson

1. What will we learn?

We will learn to recognize gharīb Hadith (غریب) by narrator numbers. A narrator transmits a Hadith. Here, a ṭabaqah (طبقہ) means the narrators of one transmission period or generation. We consider whether a generation has just one narrator or more.

2. An example of gharīb Hadith

Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: الْإِيمَانُ بِضْعٌ وَسَبْعُونَ شُعْبَةً وَالْحَيَاءُ شُعْبَةٌ مِنَ الْإِيمَانِ (Sahih Muslim: 35a) Meaning: Faith has seventy-some parts, and ḥayāʾ (modesty)1 is a part of faith. This is an example of gharīb Hadith because some generations in its transmission have just one narrator. 1. Ḥayāʾ (حیا): a sense of modesty that encourages good and restrains a person from wrongdoing.

3. The definition of gharīb Hadith

Khabar gharīb (خبرِ غریب) is a Hadith with just one narrator in a generation. • Every generation may have one narrator. • Or just one generation may have a single narrator, while the others have more. This also meets the definition. A single narrator in every generation is not required.

4. Where is the single narrator in this example?

In the transmission of the Hadith about faith and modesty: • Abu Ṣāliḥ alone transmitted it from Abu Hurayrah. • ʿAbdullāh ibn Dīnār alone transmitted it from Abu Ṣāliḥ. Each of these two generations has one narrator. This is why the example is classified as gharīb.

5. What does gharīb not mean?

Here, gharīb does not mean that a person is poor. Gharīb does not mean that the whole sanad contains only one name. The example mentions Abu Hurayrah, Abu Ṣāliḥ and ʿAbdullāh ibn Dīnār, but they are not narrators of the same generation. If every generation has two or more narrators, there is no generation with just one narrator.

6. Lesson summary

• Gharīb Hadith (غریب): just one narrator in a generation. • Two possibilities: one in every generation, or one in just one generation with more elsewhere. • Counting: consider each generation separately, not the total names in the sanad. • Example: in the Hadith about faith and modesty, Abu Ṣāliḥ alone transmits from Abu Hurayrah, and ʿAbdullāh ibn Dīnār alone from Abu Ṣāliḥ.

Practice questions

Question 1

One generation has just one narrator, and the other generations have more. Which statement fits the definition of gharīb?

  • The larger numbers mean the single-narrator generation is ignored.
  • The definition is met only if the other generations also have one narrator each.
  • The definition is met; the other generations may have more narrators.

Question 2

A transmission with at least two narrators in every generation still meets gharīb's single-narrator condition.

  • True
  • False

Question 3

Match each statement to its meaning.

Question 4

The example mentioned Abu Hurayrah, Abu Ṣāliḥ and ʿAbdullāh ibn Dīnār: three names. Why was it still called gharīb?

  • They belong to different generations; each of the generations explained has one narrator.
  • Only the last of the three names is counted as a narrator.
  • The Hadith is gharīb because its wording is short.

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