Narrators and Transmission

The learner can identify a person who transmits a report as a rāwī in a real example and distinguish the narrator from the transmitted content. Read the bilingual lesson for Narrators and Transmission and test your understanding with a focused quiz.

Lesson

1. Rāwī and Ruwāt

Definition: A person who transmits a report is called a rāwī. The plural is ruwāt. A narrator is a person; what that person transmits is the content of the report.

2. An Example of Narrators

Example: Al-Ḥumaydī transmits from Sufyān, Sufyān from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, Yaḥyā from Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm, Muḥammad from ʿAlqamah ibn Waqqāṣ, and ʿAlqamah from ʿUmar. Reason: Each person receives the report from another and transmits it onward, so they are narrators of this report.

3. A Narrator Transmits the Report Onward

Simple point: A narrator receives a report from another narrator and then transmits it onward. Example: ʿUmar reports a saying he heard from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and other narrators pass it on.

4. Ways of Receiving Hadith

Narrators received and transmitted Hadith in different ways. Those methods will be studied in a later lesson. For now, it is enough to understand that a narrator receives a report and then transmits it onward.

5. Narrator and Reported Words Are Distinct

In the example, ʿUmar is a narrator. ‘إِنَّمَا الأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ…’ is the wording he reports. The person is the narrator; the transmitted wording is not the narrator.

Practice questions

Question 1

In the example, al-Ḥumaydī transmits from Sufyān. What is al-Ḥumaydī's role?

  • Rāwī
  • Translation
  • Reported wording

Question 2

What is one person who transmits a report called?

  • Rāwī
  • Matn
  • Translation

Question 3

What are several narrators called?

  • Ruwāt
  • Translation
  • Ḥāl

Question 4

The transmitted words of a report are themselves the narrator.

  • True
  • False

Question 5

Which statement correctly distinguishes a narrator from a report?

  • A narrator is the person who transmits; the report is what is transmitted.
  • A narrator and a report are always the same thing.
  • A narrator is the translation of a report.

Open the interactive quiz