Abstract: the article examines the authenticity problem of Sunnah provisions, the second most valuable source of Islamic law, through the prism of its important aspect, such as the emergence and existence of the phenomenon of forged (false) hadiths. In the course of his research the author is of the opinion that the fabricated hadiths pose a serious potential threat to the preservation of the prophetic tradition, create a number of problems of rule-making and law-enforcement nature, and, therefore, should be identified and attributed by scientists to the appropriate classification groups. To facilitate the solution of this problem, the author, based on classical works on Islamic dogma and jurisprudence, subjects false hadiths to a comprehensive study, identifying such characteristics as: the socio-political background of the appearance and spread of false hadiths, the main categories of falsifiers and their motives, thematic content of fake hadiths etc. At the end of the article, the author analyzes the current practice of checking the validity of matn and isnad, and also formulates his own conclusions on the method of recognizing false hadiths.
Keywords: Koran, Sunnah, Prophet Muhammad, hadith, forgery, matn, isnad