Mawqūf Reports: Attribution to a Companion

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

Lesson

1. What will we learn?

We will ask whose words a report conveys: is a Companion speaking for himself, or transmitting a saying of the Prophet ﷺ? This distinction will help us recognize a mawqūf (موقوف) report. Brief reminder: A ṣaḥābī (صحابی), or Companion, met the Prophet ﷺ as a believer and died upon faith.

2. ʿAlī's own statement

Part of a statement by ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, reads: حَدِّثُوا النَّاسَ بِمَا يَعْرِفُونَ (Sahih al-Bukhari: 127) Translation: Speak to people about what they can understand. • These are ʿAlī's own words. • ʿAlī is a Companion. • This is therefore an example of a mawqūf (موقوف) report: it conveys a Companion's own statement.

3. What is a mawqūf report?

A mawqūf (موقوف) report is attributed to a Companion: it conveys the Companion's own saying, action or approval.1 • Qawl (قول): the Companion's own words. • Fiʿl (فعل): the Companion's own action. • Taqrīr (تقریر): the Companion's approval of an act, or not objecting to it while aware of it. A mawqūf report is therefore not limited to quoting a Companion's words. 1. Attribution — nisbat (نسبت): Here this means identifying whose words or conduct the report describes.

4. A Companion transmits the Prophet's ﷺ words

ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, heard and transmitted this saying of the Prophet ﷺ: إِنَّمَا الأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ (Sahih al-Bukhari: 1, opening excerpt) Translation: Actions depend on intentions. • Narrator: ʿUmar. • The saying belongs to: the Prophet ﷺ, not to ʿUmar speaking for himself. We do not call this mawqūf merely because ʿUmar transmits it. A Companion's name in a sanad is not enough; we need to know whose words or conduct are reported.

5. What does the label tell us?

The label mawqūf (موقوف) tells us that a report conveys a Companion's words, action or approval. It does not by itself establish that the report is acceptable. • A mawqūf report is accepted when the conditions for acceptance are met. • When those conditions are not met, it is not accepted. That decision requires investigation of the sanad and matn, not merely the label “mawqūf.”

6. Lesson summary

• Mawqūf (موقوف) report: conveys a Companion's own saying, action or approval. • Key distinction: a Companion transmitting the Prophet's ﷺ saying is not speaking for himself. • Acceptance: whether a mawqūf report is accepted depends on investigation, not the name alone. When reading a report, ask: Whose words or conduct does it convey?

Practice questions

Question 1

ʿAlī is a Companion. “Speak to people about what they can understand” is reported as his own statement. What makes this a mawqūf report?

  • The statement gives people good advice.
  • The statement is attributed to ʿAlī himself.
  • The statement appears in a Hadith collection.

Question 2

A report describes a Companion's own action without quoting his words. Does the absence of quoted words prevent it from being mawqūf?

  • Yes; mawqūf requires the Companion's words to be quoted.
  • Yes; without quoted words we cannot know whose action it is.
  • No; reporting the Companion's own action also fits.

Question 3

Match each description to the conclusion it supports.

Question 4

Calling a report mawqūf also establishes its acceptability; no further investigation is needed.

  • True
  • False

Question 5

A report states that a Companion knew about an act and approved it. Someone else performed the act. Why does this fit the definition of mawqūf?

  • It reports the Companion's taqrīr, meaning approval.
  • It reports an act performed by the Companion himself.
  • It quotes the exact words spoken by the Companion.

Open the interactive quiz