الحديث الحسن
al-Ḥadīth al-Ḥasan
A hadith of sound text whose reporters do not fully meet the test of reliability; it ranks between the ṣaḥīḥ and the ḍaʿīf.
What it means
A ḥadīth ḥasan, “good report”, is one that lies between the strongest and the weak. By the usual account of the scholars, its chain is connected and its reporters are upright, but one or more falls a little short of the best memory and precision. Faruqi describes it as a report whose text is sound but whose reporters do not fully pass the test.
Al-Tirmidhi made the term well known by applying it in his collection, where he often writes ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ or ḥasan gharīb. Jurists generally accept a ḥasan report as evidence in matters of law, and treat it as close in standing to the ṣaḥīḥ. A report of lower rank may also be raised to this level when several chains support one another.
Often misunderstood as
Read as a mere “fair” report; the grade is an accepted category of evidence for scholars.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 51, listed as AL ḤADĪTH AL ḤASAN. The definition is restated here.