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.

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