Sanad -i-Ma'an'an - Disagreement between the Imams - A Critical Review

Hadith Sciences employ various techniques to ascertain the sayings of the Apostle of Allah. The continuous chain of narration is of great significance in this regard and there are different perspectives of Imams regarding this. Some hold that being a contemporary suffices to link the chain of narration whereas there is a stricter viewpoint in which Imams ascertain if the narrators have met under a single roof or not. The latter ones dismiss being contemporary to be enough for the validation of narration. Thus Imam Bukhari holds the meeting of narrators as a pre requisite for continuation of narration whereas for Imam Muslim it is sufficient if the narrators have been contemporaries for ascertaining continuity of narration. This article aims to offer a review of this important issue.http://www.al-azhaar.org/index.php/alazhar/article/view/41