What is a hadith?

A hadith is a report of something the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said, did or approved of, or a description of him. The Sunnah is his way as a whole: what those reports, taken together, teach us about how he lived and what he taught.

Every hadith has two parts:

• Isnad (the chain): the names of the people who passed the report on, one from another, back to the Prophet.
• Matn (the text): what was actually reported.

When you open a hadith on this site you will see the text in Arabic and English, the Companion who narrated it, and the book it was taken from. That last line matters: a hadith is only as reliable as its source, so always note where it comes from.