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Hereunder there are three sections:
Section One: Definition of Sanad and Matn (wording)
Section Two: The importance of Isnad and the attention paid to it by the scholars of the Ahlus Sunnah.
Section Three: The Rawafid and the Asanid (plural of Isnad).
The Sanad is:
The chain of transmission of the Matn (the wording).
The term is derived from:
Hence, the chain of transmission is dubbed the Sanad due to the scholars relying upon it in determining the authenticity of the narration or its weakness.
As for Isnad, it is:
To report a narration back to the one who said it.
The scholars of hadith use Sanad and Isnad both interchangeably to refer to the same thing.
As for Matn, according to the scholars of hadith it refers to the content or wording which appears after the Sanad ends.
It is derived either from:
[1] Al Manhal al Rawi, p. 29.