The word · Hadith
المَجْهُول
Majhul
An unknown narrator, whose identity or whose reliability the scholars could not establish.
Also written · Majhool · Mejhul · Majhoul · Majhool al-hal · Majhul al-ayn · Mastur · Mastoor · Unknown narrator · Majhul hadith
The meaning
What Majhul means in Islam
Two kinds are distinguished. Majhul al-ayn is a man nobody names except a single student, so we do not really know who he is. Majhul al-hal, also called mastur, is a man we can identify but whose reliability nobody recorded. A chain containing either is weak, since a report is worth only what its weakest link is worth.
Evidence · Editorial · Our own summary, drawn from the sources named
Read beside it
Words that sit beside it
- RawiA narrator: one of the people in the chain who heard a report and passed it on.الرَّاوِي
- Jarh wa Ta'dilThe discipline of criticising or vouching for narrators, so that a chain can be judged fairly.الجَرْحُ وَالتَّعْدِيل
- Da'ifA hadith that fails one of the conditions of soundness, through a broken chain or a faulty narrator.الضَّعِيف
- Ilm al-RijalThe biographical science of the narrators: who they were, whom they met, and how reliable each was.عِلْمُ الرِّجَال
More from Hadith
- AdalahThe uprightness of a narrator: sane, adult, Muslim, not openly sinful, not known for shameful habits.العَدَالَة
- HadithA report of what the Prophet Muhammad said, did, or quietly approved, passed down through named narrators.الحَدِيث
- Jami'A hadith book that covers every subject, not only law: belief, manners, tafsir, history and more.الجَامِع
- MawqufA report that stops at a Companion: his own statement or action, not attributed to the Prophet.المَوْقُوف
- MusnadEither a hadith with a connected chain reaching the Prophet, or a book arranged by narrating Companion.المُسْنَد
- Sahih al-BukhariThe collection of Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari, held to be the soundest book after the Qur'an.صَحِيحُ البُخَارِيّ