ما الفرق بين الفقهاء والمحدثين في الحديث الصحيح؟

The sound (sahih) hadith, according to the Muhaddithun (hadith scholars), is defined as: "That whose chain of narration is continuous, transmitted by a just and perfectly precise narrator, free from any hidden defect ('illah) or anomaly (shadhdh)." Al-Shafi'i stipulated five conditions for the soundness of a hadith: the continuity of the chain (ittisal al-sanad), the justice of the narrator ('adalah), the precision of the narrator (dabt), the absence of anomaly (shudhudh — which is a trustworthy narrator contradicting someone more authoritative than him), and the absence of a hidden defect ('illah — which is a subtle reason that invalidates the soundness of the hadith).

As for the فقهاء (jurists), they agree with the Muhaddithun on the soundness of a hadith based on these five conditions. However, they may consider a hadith sound with only three conditions (continuity of the chain, justice of the narrators, and their precision), without the conditions of negating anomaly and hidden defects. This is because their focus is on the meaning of the hadith text and its consistency with Islamic law, whereas the people of hadith concentrate on the predominant probability that the narrator did not err.