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What is the ruling on the متواتر (mutawatir) hadith in Islam?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A mutawatir hadith, linguistically, means continuous. Technically, it is a narration transmitted by a group whose agreement upon a lie is impossible, from a similar group, and whose source of information is sensory perception. Its conditions are: that it be narrated by a large number of people whose agreement upon a lie is impossible; that the large number of narrators be present in all layers of the sanad (chain of narration); and that the source of their information be sensory perception. Its categories are: mutawatir in wording (both its wording and meaning are mutawatir), such as the hadith: "Whoever intentionally lies about me, let him take his seat in the Fire"; and mutawatir in meaning (its meaning is mutawatir but not its wording), such as the ahadith about raising hands in du'a (supplication). Its ruling is that it must be believed as a necessity, because it conveys definitive knowledge.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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