The Meaning of Balaghat.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Balaghat?
The Shaykh : As for balaghat, this is a term by which some of the imams became famous, such as Imam Malik ibn Anas (may Allah have mercy on him), the Imam of the City of Migration. In many instances, he would say in his Muwatta, "It was reported to me from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) thus," or "It was reported to me from so-and-so that he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said thus." These balaghat, whether from Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) or from anyone else, are in the category of munqati' (reports with a broken chain) narrations. A scholar must investigate their origins. If he finds a basis for them, he studies them according to the methodology of hadith terminology and the science of al-jarh wa al-ta'dil (the critique and vindication of narrators). The result of this study is a ruling on the hadith as either sahih (valid), hasan (good), or da'if (weak). However, the mere fact that a hadith is a balagh from the author means that it has no isnad (chain of narration). Therefore, the scholars of hadith who examined Malik's Muwatta stated that it contains many balaghat that have been transmitted in other books with complete chains, such as al-Tamhid by Ibn 'Abd al-Barr or other books. They have provided chains for many of Imam Malik's balaghat. However, there remain a few hadiths for which the scholars of Islam have not been able to find chains to this day, and they will not be able to do so.
The Shaykh : As for balaghat, this is a term by which some of the imams became famous, such as Imam Malik ibn Anas (may Allah have mercy on him), the Imam of the City of Migration. In many instances, he would say in his Muwatta, "It was reported to me from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) thus," or "It was reported to me from so-and-so that he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said thus." These balaghat, whether from Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) or from anyone else, are in the category of munqati' (reports with a broken chain) narrations. A scholar must investigate their origins. If he finds a basis for them, he studies them according to the methodology of hadith terminology and the science of al-jarh wa al-ta'dil (the critique and vindication of narrators). The result of this study is a ruling on the hadith as either sahih (valid), hasan (good), or da'if (weak). However, the mere fact that a hadith is a balagh from the author means that it has no isnad (chain of narration). Therefore, the scholars of hadith who examined Malik's Muwatta stated that it contains many balaghat that have been transmitted in other books with complete chains, such as al-Tamhid by Ibn 'Abd al-Barr or other books. They have provided chains for many of Imam Malik's balaghat. However, there remain a few hadiths for which the scholars of Islam have not been able to find chains to this day, and they will not be able to do so.