HADITH TERMINOLOGY

Mawquf

موقوف

mawqūf

A saying or action of a Companion of the Prophet — not something attributed to the Prophet himself.

Mawquf describes WHO a report is attributed to, not how reliable it is. A mawquf report may have a flawless chain or a broken one; the label is silent on that.

Al-Nawawī makes this explicit: mawquf is what is narrated from the Companions of their sayings, actions or the like — "whether connected or disconnected". It stops at the Companion and is not carried up to the Messenger of God.

Scholars differ

What is disputed is whether certain Companion statements in fact carry marfūʿ (raised) force. A Companion saying "we used to do such-and-such", tied to the Prophet's lifetime, is marfūʿ on the correct view — but Imām al-Ismāʿīlī held it mawquf. Likewise "we were commanded", "we were forbidden", and "it is from the Sunnah that": marfūʿ according to the majority, though it is also said they are not.

Sources

Related terms

Read a hadith every day at onehadithaday.com →