Discover the meaning of the term Al-isnad (إسناد) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 4 min readRelating one of the two parts (of speech) to the other; broader than yielding the addressee a benefit on which silence is first correct.
In the grammarians' usage: the expression for joining one of two words to the other in the manner of complete predication, that is, in a manner in which silence is fitting. In language: relating a thing to a thing.
(In Persian: attaching a thing to a thing and relating a thing to a thing.) In usage: joining a matter to another such that a complete benefit is conveyed. It may be used absolutely in the sense of relation. Since the grammarians' inquiry concerns words, they explained it as the relation of one of two words to the other, conveying the addressee a complete benefit on which silence is sound, in that the hearer needs neither that judged about (al-mahkum 'alay-hi) nor the judgment (al-mahkum bi-hi). The isnad in the principles of hadith: the traditionist, in transmitting, says: 'so-and-so narrated to us, from so-and-so, from so-and-so, from the Messenger of God (peace and blessings upon him).' The isnad with the masters of meanings (rhetoric) is of two kinds: rational truth and rational figurative; the author of 'at-Talkhis' made them two attributes of the isnad, while 'Abd al-Qahir and as-Sakkaki, author of 'al-Miftah', made them two attributes of speech. The first is the view of al-Khatib ad-Dimashqi, author of 'at-Talkhis', who said in 'al-Idah': we chose it because the relation of the thing called truth or figurative to the intellect, on this explanation, is immediate; and on their view it embraces what is related to the intellect, I mean the isnad. At-Taftazani said in 'al-Mutawwal': calling the isnad rational truth is only in consideration of its being established in its locus, and figurative in consideration of its passing beyond it; the arbiter therein is the intellect, not the coinage, for relating one word to another occurs by the speaker's intent, not the language's coiner: were one, for instance, to strike, it is not validly reported about Zayd by the coiner of language but by one who intended establishing the striking as an act of his; what reverts to the coiner is establishing the striking without utterance, and its establishment in past time, not the future. The isnad is thus related to the intellect without intermediary, and speech to it in consideration that its isnad is related to him, end quote. The isnad is related to the intellect without intermediary, and speech is related to it in consideration that its isnad is related to it; the definition of rational truth and rational figurative stands in its proper place.
Raising the hadith to its utterer.
Relating one of the two parts to the other so that the addressee gains a benefit on which silence is sound.
Relating one of the two parts to the other, whether or not the benefit conveyed to the addressee warrants silence.