OBSERVATION

This is one of the popular question among the candidates. Majority of the candidates who attempted this question got it right but few of them could not give adequate points on conditions for the authentication of Hadith. Despite that the general performance was still good.
The question requested the candidates to highlight the conditions for the authentication of Hadith. Thus:

Authentication of aḥadīth consists of efforts to arrest noticeable forgeries which crept into aḥadīth in order to sift authentic aḥadīth from fabricated ones. (Introduction)

• Authentication of hadith became necessary as Hadith literature developed.
• Both Isnad and Matn are objects for verification and scrutiny for authentication of Hadith.
• The Hadith must be accompanied by an Isnād with the authority under whom the Hadith was transmitted and traceable to the Prophet.
• The Isnād must be continuous and uninterrupted.
• Every link in the chain of Isnād must not be implicated in forgery, sectarian, political and theological dispute.
• The narrator of the Hadith must be a contemporary of the teacher on whose authority the Hadith is related.
• The transmitters should be of good integrity and unquestionable character.
• The narrators of the Hadith must possess a retentive memory and be knowledgeable.
• They must be God fearing and pious.
• The Matn of the Hadith must not contradict the texts of the Qur’ān. 
• It must not be against dictates of reason, natural laws and common experience.
• The Hadith which is not historical and fails to qualify the test of historical evidence known in the Prophet’s lifetime is rejected.
• It must not praise a particular group of people/individuals or raise theirs status above others.
• Both the Matn and Isnād of the Hadith must be clear of subtle and hidden defects.
• Traditions which carry detailed prophesies of future events and dates are rejected.
• It must not contradict any previously certified and accepted Hadith.