Critical Analysis of Waheed Al-Zaman’s Methodology in His Book “Asrār Al-Lugha” to Write “Ghareeb Al-Hadith”

Abstract

The knowledge of Ghareeb al-Hadith (odd & difficult words of Hadith) is an important and difficult art in the Hadith sciences. According to Muhadithin, the unawareness of that skill is considered as a major deficiency. Many books have been written on the topic of Ghareeb al-Hadith. Due to the tremendous significance of this skill, the commentators of Hadith put in the best struggle to elaborate the odd and complicated words of Hadith in their commentaries. Allama Waheed al-Zaman has solved this issue of Ghareeb al-Hadith meticulously in his eminent commentary of Asrār al-Lugha. In Indo-Pak subcontinent, this was the first book written in Urdu language. He has opted different methodologies for this purpose. His most comprehensive method to describe Ghareeb al-Hadith is to elucidate the meaning of words, and then he quotes the sayings of the experts in the fields of Ghareeb al-Hadith. In the end, he also gives his point of view. However, in some places, he depends on the opinions of experts and does not his comments. In this article I will try to express and explain on research basis the definition of Ghareeb al-Hadith, its importance, difference between Ghareeb al-Hadith and Hadith al-Ghareeb, and critical analysis of methodology of Waheed al-Zaman to compile his book.