An Analytical study of Hadiths related to the Baiat (in the light of Sihah Sittah)

Abstract

This study examines the concept of Bay‘ah in the light of the Hadith literature of the Ṣiḥāḥ Sittah, highlighting its religious, socio-political, and ethical dimensions in early Islamic society. Through a comprehensive analysis of relevant narrations, the research demonstrates that although individual reports concerning specific instances of Bay‘ah are mostly āḥād in nature, their collective meaning reaches the level of tawātur maʿnawī,thereby establishing the foundational concept of Bay‘ah as definitively authentic.The study identifies approximately twenty-one distinct conditions of Bay‘ah reported in the Ṣiḥāḥ Sittah, encompassing core beliefs, acts of worship, moral discipline, and collective responsibilities. It further argues that Bay‘ah served multiple objectives, including the continuity of leadership, reinforcement of communal responsibility, moral and spiritual reform, and the organization of collective defense, as evident in events such as the Pledges of ʿAqabah and Riḍwān.Additionally, the research explores the development of Bay‘ah within the Sufi tradition, concluding that spiritual Bay‘ah represents an ethical and reformative extension of Prophetic practices rather than an independent religious obligation. The study concludes that Bay‘ah was not merely a ceremonial act but a comprehensive social, political, and reformative mechanism that played a central role in shaping and sustaining Islamic civilization.

Keywords:
Bay‘ah (Pledge of Allegiance), Ṣiḥāḥ Sittah, Hadith Studies, Tawātur Maʿnawī, Islamic Political Thought, Moral and Spiritual Reform, Prophetic Sunnah, Sufi Bay‘ah