Matn

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For the district in Lebanon, see Matn District.

Part of a series on the Science of hadith
Terminology
History of Hadith — ... Ilm ar-Rijal — ... Narrators of hadith — ...
Terminology
Isnad — chain of narrators Matn — hadith text Riwayah — narration
technical terms
Musnad — supported Mursal — hurried Ahaad — single narrator Munqati — broken muttasil — uninterrupted isnad Gharib — strange/rare Shadhdh — irregular Munkar — denounced/rejected Mudraj — interpolated Da'if jiddan — very weak Isra'iliyat
Regarding authenticity
Mutawatir — agreed upon Sahih — authentic Hasan — fair Da'if — weak Mawdo — fabricated Mudtarib — shaky
Other
Sharh — comments Hadith collection This box: view • talk • edit</div>

Matn (literally "body", "text" <ref name="cervantesvirtual">http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/06920741222847284199079/p0000002.htm</ref>) is a Islamic term that is used in relation to Hadith evaluation. It means the text of the hadith<ref>http://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/islam/bldef_matn.htm</ref>, excluding the isnad.

[edit] Use

A hadith is made of both a isnad (chain of transmission) matn.

A hadith would typically adopt the following formula:

"It was related to me by A, on the authority of B, on the authority of C, on the authority of D, from E (here a companion of Muhammad) that the Prophet said: '...' -and the matn would follow.

The matn would most often come in the form of an injunction, proverb, aphorism, brief dialogue or anecdote whose sense might apply to a range of new contexts.<ref name="cervantesvirtual"/>

[edit] Shi'a use

The Shi'a science of hadith outright rejects all hadith that they view contradict the Qur'an. This due to what they perciev as instructions from the Shi'a Imam.