Ijaza (Traditional License)
The ijaza (authorization, linguistically: permission) is one of the backbones of traditional Islamic knowledge, used in virtually every field including Quran, Hadith, Arabic Language, and History to verify that a student has received the knowledge from an instructor and is, in turn, qualified to transmit that knowledge to others. Intimately related to this concept is the sanad (chain of transmission) and the matn (text or, more broadly, subject), which needs to be adequately described before understanding the ijaza. The matn is passed from teacher to student through oral transmission of the scholars, with each transmission being recorded in the sanad such that for every text we have an established, unbroken, route by which we received it.
A widely known example of concept is in Hadith, wherein each hadith, the matn, is preceded by the sanad, “I heard such and such say, ‘I heard such and such say, ‘ I heard the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, say:…”. Though the idea, started by the Tabi’een (Successors of the Companions) seems relatively simple at first, the benefits this science brings to our religion are innumerable. The meticulous application of the sanad by our scholars brings a powerful strength to our Islamic sciences not found in any other religion. Abdullah bin Mubarak, a muhaddith and early scholar of Islam, said:
“Sanad is part of deen. If it were not for the sanad, then anyone would be able to say whatever they wished.”
The sanad allows for scholars to designate the strength of the hadith by analyzing the Muslims in the chain. Scholars of hadith, like Imam al-Bukhari, would often distinguish between two sahih narrations by the number of individuals in the chain, favoring the one with fewer links back to the Prophet, peace be upon him.
This system is also applied in Quran, where the sanad, like in Hadith, goes back to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and the matn is the Quran itself. In this case, the Quran is taught to the student until the student becomes proficient in his tajweed and stable in his memorization. Once the Shaykh is satisfied and confident that the student will be able to transmit the Quran as the Shaykh will authorize the student by giving him or her an ijaza. The ijaza is a certificate of completion, which can be viewed as a degree, that contains the Shaykh’s sanad and appends the student’s name to the chain. In doing so, the student has now become attached, through an unbroken chain of Qurra through the Followers, then the Companions, then the Prophet, peace be upon him, who received the Words of Allah through Gibreel from Allah, exalted is He! What an amazing religion and merciful Lord that allows us to be connected to Him and His Messenger is such a strong way!
A widely known example of concept is in Hadith, wherein each hadith, the matn, is preceded by the sanad, “I heard such and such say, ‘I heard such and such say, ‘ I heard the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, say:…”. Though the idea, started by the Tabi’een (Successors of the Companions) seems relatively simple at first, the benefits this science brings to our religion are innumerable. The meticulous application of the sanad by our scholars brings a powerful strength to our Islamic sciences not found in any other religion. Abdullah bin Mubarak, a muhaddith and early scholar of Islam, said:
“Sanad is part of deen. If it were not for the sanad, then anyone would be able to say whatever they wished.”
The sanad allows for scholars to designate the strength of the hadith by analyzing the Muslims in the chain. Scholars of hadith, like Imam al-Bukhari, would often distinguish between two sahih narrations by the number of individuals in the chain, favoring the one with fewer links back to the Prophet, peace be upon him.
This system is also applied in Quran, where the sanad, like in Hadith, goes back to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and the matn is the Quran itself. In this case, the Quran is taught to the student until the student becomes proficient in his tajweed and stable in his memorization. Once the Shaykh is satisfied and confident that the student will be able to transmit the Quran as the Shaykh will authorize the student by giving him or her an ijaza. The ijaza is a certificate of completion, which can be viewed as a degree, that contains the Shaykh’s sanad and appends the student’s name to the chain. In doing so, the student has now become attached, through an unbroken chain of Qurra through the Followers, then the Companions, then the Prophet, peace be upon him, who received the Words of Allah through Gibreel from Allah, exalted is He! What an amazing religion and merciful Lord that allows us to be connected to Him and His Messenger is such a strong way!