What is the Hadith?

Hadith refers to the recorded sayings and actions of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). In Islamic scholarship, Hadith encompasses three components: the Prophet's verbal statements (qawl), his actions and practices (fi'l), and his silent approvals of others' actions (taqrir). Together, these form the Sunnah, which is the second primary source of Islamic law after the Qur'an.

The other options describe related but distinct Islamic disciplines. A commentary on the Qur'an is called Tafsir, not Hadith. The stories of early Muslims fall under Sirah (biography of the Prophet) or Tarikh (Islamic history). The rules of Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) are derived from the Qur'an and Hadith but are a separate scholarly discipline, not a definition of Hadith itself.

Major Hadith collections include Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abu Dawud, Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Sunan an-Nasa'i, and Sunan Ibn Majah.