Not exactly. While both belong to the wider Islamic tradition of transmission, the purpose and requirements differ significantly.

An ijazah in Qur’an recitation is usually granted after a student has completed the recitation of the entire Qur’an and demonstrated proficiency in memorisation, tajwid, and recitation. It therefore functions as both a certification of transmission and a recognition of competence.

An ijazah in hadith, by contrast, primarily documents transmission rather than mastery. Attending a hadith reading and receiving ijazah makes a person part of a chain of transmission, it does not imply mastery of the science of hadith or qualification to teach independently.

Historically, ijazat existed across many Islamic sciences, hadith, fiqh, tafsir, Arabic language, and Qur’an recitation, with different requirements in each but the same underlying principle: preserving knowledge through direct transmission.

No. This is perhaps the most common misconception surrounding ijazah.

An ijazah certifies transmission, not scholarship. Receiving one means a person has heard a particular text from an authorised teacher and been granted permission to transmit it onward. It does not confer scholarly rank.

Scholarship requires many years, often decades, of study across the Islamic sciences: hadith, fiqh, usul al-fiqh, tafsir, Arabic language, theology, and the principles of hadith criticism.

A shahadah certifies educational attainment. An ijazah certifies transmission. A person may hold numerous ijazat without being qualified to issue legal opinions or teach advanced Islamic sciences.

Historically, ijazah served a practical scholarly purpose: before printing and digital databases, scholars relied on direct transmission to preserve the integrity of narrations, documenting who had heard a text from whom and under what circumstances.

Today the value endures for several reasons:

• A living connection to scholarly heritage. Through an ijazah, a person becomes linked to a chain of teachers stretching back across centuries.
• Preserving the sanad tradition, one of the unique features of Islamic civilisation. No other major religious tradition has preserved its foundational texts through such extensive and documented chains of transmission.
• Barakah and spiritual connection. Many Muslims seek ijazah as a means of blessing, standing at the end of a chain whose first link is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

For many attendees today, receiving ijazah is not primarily about becoming a transmitter in the classical sense, it is about participating in a living tradition and maintaining a direct connection to a heritage preserved for over fourteen centuries.

Yes. Historically, children frequently attended hadith gatherings and received ijazah. Biographical dictionaries often record scholars hearing hadith before the age of ten, with parents bringing their children so they could participate in chains of transmission from a young age.

If a child later became a scholar, their early participation would result in shorter, more elevated chains (uluww al-isnad), something traditionally prized in the hadith sciences. Even for children who do not go on to become scholars, attending hadith gatherings fosters love for sacred knowledge and appreciation for Islam’s scholarly heritage.

In principle, yes. The majority of contemporary scholars recognise online attendance when the student has genuinely heard the transmission and fulfilled the conditions established by the teacher.

This position draws on earlier discussions about the various recognised methods of transmission, including reading to a teacher, authorisation (ijazah), correspondence (mukatabah), and public readings (sama‘).

Nevertheless, certain aspects of hadith transmission are naturally better experienced in person, particularly in the case of some musalsalat where actions form part of the transmission itself. Many scholars therefore continue to encourage physical attendance wherever possible.

The vast majority of the musalsalat covered during the event can be followed and appreciated fully by online attendees. However, some musalsalat are linked to specific actions, occasions, or circumstances and therefore cannot be replicated in every setting.

For example, certain narrations are associated with particular days, such as Eid or Ashura, while others involve actions performed at the time of transmission. Examples include Musalsal al-Tashbik (interlocking the fingers) and Musalsal al-Musafahah (handshaking), which are best experienced in person.

In the case of Musalsal bi al-Aswadayn (the hadith of the “two black things”, dates and water), online attendees may prepare dates and water in advance and partake of them during the transmission. While this differs from receiving them directly from the Shaykh, it nevertheless allows participants to engage more closely with the narration and its tradition of transmission.

Despite these exceptions, online attendees will be able to benefit fully from the overwhelming majority of the narrations covered and will remain eligible for ijazah, subject to the attendance requirements.

Musalsalat provides a rare window into the lived experience of hadith transmission. They allow students to witness not merely what was narrated but how it was narrated, preserving moments of interaction between teachers and students that have been replicated across centuries.

Scholars often regarded musalsalat as among the most engaging and memorable forms of hadith transmission, reminding us that learning the prophetic tradition was not simply the transfer of information but a deeply personal process rooted in companionship, observation, and direct instruction.

The Musalsal bi al-Awwaliyyah, “the Hadith of First Hearing”, also known as Hadith al-Rahmah (the Hadith of Mercy), is the most celebrated musalsal in the world.

“The merciful are shown mercy by the Most Merciful. Show mercy to those on the earth and the One above the heavens will show mercy to you.”
— The Messenger of Allah ﷺ

For centuries, scholars have made it a practice to narrate this hadith as the first hadith a student hears from their teacher, with each teacher informing the student that it was likewise the first hadith they heard from their own teacher, thereby preserving the “first hearing” characteristic throughout the entire chain.

The practice is commonly traced back to the great Meccan hadith master Sufyan ibn Uyaynah (d. 198 AH). When a student entered the world of hadith study, the teacher would begin not with a legal ruling or technical debate, but with a reminder of mercy, a tradition that endures to this day.

The Musalsal bi al-Aswadayn, “the Two Black Things, is a narration associated with dates and water, the two staple foods the Arabs referred to as al-aswadayn.

Traditionally, the narration is transmitted while eating dates and drinking water, with each narrator in the chain preserving this practice from their own teacher. Its significance lies in the remarkable continuity of transmission it demonstrates: a shared act linking each student, through generations of scholars, to the earliest days of Islamic learning.

Not necessarily. The designation musalsal describes a mode of transmission, not a judgement regarding authenticity. A musalsal hadith may be authentic (sahih), sound (hasan), weak (da’if), or subject to scholarly disagreement, just like any other hadith.

Its value lies in the continuity of the characteristic preserved throughout the chain, not any automatic claim to greater reliability.

Because they preserve a living connection to one of the greatest scholarly traditions in human history. The transmission of musalsalat and the granting of ijazah remind us that Islamic knowledge is not merely information preserved in books, it is a trust conveyed through relationships between teachers and students, generation after generation.

In an age where knowledge is increasingly consumed through screens and disconnected from personal mentorship, these traditions preserve an important human dimension of learning. They connect contemporary Muslims to a chain of scholarship extending back over fourteen centuries.

The concept of uluww al-isnad, an elevated or shorter chain, has long been appreciated by hadith scholars. A shorter chain means fewer intermediaries between a narrator and the Prophet ﷺ. Scholars famously travelled great distances to hear hadith from elderly teachers who possessed particularly elevated chains.

Scholars were careful to emphasise, however, that authenticity takes precedence over brevity. A longer, authentic chain is superior to a shorter, weaker one. The value of a shorter chain lies in its closeness to the original source, not as a shortcut around rigorous verification.

Shaykh Akram Nadwi’s chains of transmission pass through many of the leading hadith authorities of the last two centuries, including Imam Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Hasani al-Nadwi, Shaykh Muhammad Yasin al-Fadani, Shaykh Muhammad Alawi al-Maliki, Shaykh Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah, and the renowned Kattani and Ghumari scholars of Morocco.

He possesses some of the shortest surviving chains of hadith transmission in the world today. In certain narrations, including some of Imam al-Bukhari’s celebrated thulathiyyat, there are as few as eighteen transmitters between Shaykh Akram and the Prophet ﷺ.

Participants who receive ijazah through this event will therefore become part of a remarkably short chain of transmission, with only nineteen individuals between themselves and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, a reminder of the living scholarly tradition through which hadith has been preserved and transmitted across the generations.

The session will be based on Nazm al-La’ali fi al-Musalsal al-‘Ali, Shaykh Akram Nadwi’s recently published collection of musalsalat. The work brings together a diverse selection of narrations transmitted through distinctive chains and methods of transmission, preserving not only the text of the hadith but also the unique circumstances, actions, and characteristics associated with their transmission.

Among the musalsalat included in the collection are the celebrated Musalsal al-Rahmah bi al-Awwaliyyah (The Hadith of Mercy), Musalsal al-Mahabbah (The Hadith of Love), Musalsal al-Musafahah (The Handshaking Hadith), Musalsal al-Tashbik (The Interlocking of Fingers Hadith), and Musalsal bi al-Aswadayn (Dates and Water), among many others.

All attendees will receive a complimentary e-book of Nazm al-La’ali fi al-Musalsal al-‘Ali. A limited number of printed copies will also be available for purchase at the venue.