Hadith provides reports on the tradition of the Prophet (S) and Infallible Imams (AS). It is the second most important cognitive source after the Quran playing a significant part in introducing Islam in three main domains such as beliefs, morality and codes of practice. That is why there are numerous sayings from the Prophet (S) and Infallible Imams about learning, understanding and spreading prophetic traditions.
The memorizers of tradition and Sunnah have made a great deal of efforts to protect and safeguard this important source of knowledge and understanding by compiling hadith collections such as the four important authentic Shia books (Kotob arba'ah) and the Sehah among Sunnites. They have also embarked on establishing the hadith science which includes a number of branches and subsets including the science of jarh and ta'dil (criticism of transmitters) which help credit or discredit narrators. Thus, certain terms are employed in the process of criticizing a narrator. These terms include: poor, weak, exaggerator, imbalanced, denier, soft, renounced, refuted, disconnected, elevated, mudallis, liar etc.
The question addressed in this study is whether or not words which indicate the religious and intellectual tendency of the narrator are considered to be as words disparaging the narrator. Do they discredit the narrator or not? These words include Shia, Rafidhi, Waqifi, Zaydi, Fatahi, 'Ammi, Qadari, Murje'ei etc. In this article, however, the effect of the narrator's religion in the process of his criticism is studied from the perspectives of both Shia and Sunni schools. At the end, instances of traditions which have been discredited because of the religion of the narrator have been mentioned.
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