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Hadith Qudsi الْحَدِيث الْقُدْسِي

In review — pending scholar verification

A category of hadith in which the Prophet ﷺ relates Allah's words in his own phrasing — distinct from the Quran (whose exact wording is also Allah's) and from ordinary hadith (which conveys the Prophet's ﷺ own teaching).

Overview

Ḥadīth Qudsī (Arabic: الْحَدِيث الْقُدْسِي; "sacred hadith") is a distinct category of hadith in which the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ relates Allah's words in his own phrasing. The categorisation has three layers, in descending order of formality:

  1. The Quran — Allah's exact words and exact wording, transmitted unaltered. The text is itself worship.
  2. Ḥadīth Qudsī — Allah's meaning conveyed in the Prophet's ﷺ own wording. Recitation of it is not formally worship in the Quranic sense (the words are not exact divine speech), but the meaning is divine.
  3. Ordinary hadith — the Prophet's ﷺ teaching from his prophetic understanding (which is itself, per Surah An-Najm 53:3–4, a form of inspiration but not divine speech).

Characteristic form

A Ḥadīth Qudsī is typically introduced by the Prophet ﷺ with formulas such as: "Allah said…", "Allah, the Most High, says…", or "He, the Mighty and Exalted, has said…" — distinguishing it from his ordinary teaching.

Famous examples

Abu Hurayra reported the Prophet ﷺ said, narrating from his Lord: "My Mercy prevails over My Wrath." — Sahih al-Bukhari 7553; Sahih Muslim 2751
Abu Hurayra reported the Prophet ﷺ said, narrating from his Lord: "I am as My servant thinks of Me, and I am with him when he remembers Me." — Sahih al-Bukhari 7405; Sahih Muslim 2675
Abu Dharr reported the Prophet ﷺ said, narrating from his Lord: "O My servants, I have made oppression unlawful for Myself and have made it unlawful among you, so do not oppress one another." — Sahih Muslim 2577

Number

Authentic Ḥadīth Qudsī number approximately one hundred across the canonical collections. The most-circulated anthology is the Forty Ḥadīth Qudsī compilation by an-Nawawī and developed by ʿIzz ad-Dīn ibn ʿAbd as-Salām and others.

Significance

Ḥadīth Qudsī are the closest spiritual register in Islamic literature to direct divine speech outside the Quran. They are particularly cherished in tarbiyah (spiritual education) and raqāʾiq (heart-softening literature) because their content typically focuses on Allah's mercy, generosity, love for the repentant, closeness to the heart that turns to Him, and the rewards of intimate worship.

See also

References

  1. al-Madanī, al-Itḥāfāt as-Saniyyah bi-l-Aḥādīth al-Qudsiyyah.
  2. ʿIzz ad-Dīn ibn ʿAbd as-Salām, Aḥādīth Qudsiyyah.
  3. Trans. Ezzeddin Ibrahim and Denys Johnson-Davies, Forty Hadith Qudsi (Dar al-Koran al-Kareem).
  4. Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā, vol. 17, on the threefold distinction (Quran / Ḥadīth Qudsī / ordinary hadith).