Saheeh - Terminology Relating To The Number of Narrators in An isnad - Mutawatir - Types of mutawatir

Types of mutawatir

Hadiths can be mutawatir in both actual text and meaning:

1. Mutawatir in wording: It is a hadith whose words are narrated by such a large number as is required for a mutawatir, in a manner that all the narrators are unanimous in reporting it with the same words without any substantial discrepancy.

Example: The hadith of Muhammad: "Whoever intentionally attributes a lie against me, should prepare his seat in the Fire." This is a mutawatir hadith in its wordings because it has a minimum of seventy four narrators. In other words, seventy four companions of Muhammad have reported this hadith at different occasions, all with the same words. The number of those who received this hadith from the Companions is many times greater, because each of the seventy four Companions has conveyed it to a number of his students. Thus the total number of narrators of this hadith has been increasing in each successive generation, and has never been less than seventy four. All these narrators who now are hundreds in number, report it in the same words without even a minor change. This hadith is therefore mutawatir in its wording, because it cannot be imagined reasonably that such a large number of people have colluded to coin a fallacious sentence in order to attribute it to Muhammad.

2. Mutwatir in meaning: It is a mutawatir hadith, which is not reported by the narrators in the same words. The words of the narrators are different. Sometimes even the reported events are not the same. But all the narrators are unanimous in reporting a basic concept, which is common in all reports. This common concept is also ranked as a mutawatir concept.

Example: On the other hand, it is also reported by such a large number of narrators that Muhammad enjoined muslims to perform two ra'kat in Fajr, four ra'kat in Dhuhr, Asr and Esha, and three ra'kat in the Maghrib prayer, yet the narrations of all the reporters who reported the number of ra'kat are not in the same words. Their words are different, even the events reported by them are different. But the common feature of all the reports is the same. This common feature, namely, the exact number of ra'kat is said to be mutawatir in meaning.