What is a Mutawatir Hadith?

The linguistic meaning of Mutawatir refers to things that successively follow one another without gaps in between. This concept appears in the Qur’an verse “Then We sent Our messengers in succession.”

In Hadith terminology, a mutawatir report is one narrated by a group of narrators from another group, such that it would be impossible for them to have colluded on fabricating it due to the large number of narrators throughout the chain of narration. Additionally, the report refers to a tangible event that was seen or heard.

In Arabic this is expressed as

 “الخبر الذي رواه جمع لا يتصور توافقهم على الكذب؛ لكثرتهم من أول السند إلى آخره إذا كان مستنده الحس”

The result of a mutawatir report is that it provides undeniable certainty that requires no further analysis. However, attaining that certainty necessitates reasoning and evidence gathering.

A specific number of paths or individuals is not a stipulation for a report to be deemed mutawatir.

Mutawatir is divided into two kinds:

1. Mutawatir Lafthi: The narrators use precisely the same wording. An example is the hadith stating we will see Allah in the Hereafter as we see the full moon. However, finding a mutawatir report with identical wording is extremely rare if not impossible.
   
2. Mutawatir Ma’nawi: The core meaning is the same but the wording differs. An example is the multiple reports on wiping footwear during ablution. Though the wordings differ, the meaning is conclusively established through the sheer number of supporting reports. Sometimes multiple unique events can be combined to derive a commonly understood meaning deemed mutawatir.