Hadith
/həˈdiːθ/noun
A report of the sayings, actions, or approvals attributed to the Prophet Muhammad and transmitted through Islamic tradition.
Did you know?In Classical Arabic, ḥadīth could simply mean a report or conversation; its specialized religious meaning developed as scholars preserved accounts of Muhammad’s words and actions.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Islamic Arabic
Arabic
ḥadīth
“A report, story, conversation, or something newly occurring”
7th Century
Quranic Arabic
ḥadīth
“Speech, account, or narrative; the word appears in the Quran with a general meaning”
7th–8th Centuries
Classical Arabic
ḥadīth
“A transmitted report about the Prophet Muhammad’s sayings, actions, or approvals”
8th–9th Centuries
Arabic
al-ḥadīth
“The developing technical body of prophetic traditions collected and evaluated by Muslim scholars”
19th Century
English
hadith
“An English loanword for an Islamic tradition or report attributed to Muhammad”