Who were the first people to categorise the Hadeeth into Mutawātir and Āhād – By Shaikh Rabee’ Al-Madkhali

Question: Who was the first to categorise the Hadeeth into Mutawātir and Āhād?

Answer: Al-Muʿtazilah – they were the first to say: ‘The āhād narrations amount to speculation’, and Ahlul-Kalām (People of Theological Speculation) are among them. They categorised the narrations [of the Prophet (salallāhu ʿalaihi wasallam)] into Āhād and Mutawātir – and its purpose was to say that the Āhād reports amount to speculation and not certain knowledge.

(Sharh Kitāb al-Fitan min Saheeh al-Bukhāri, by Shaikh Rabee’ Ibn Hādi al-Madkhali, p. 51)