Relation of Hadith with Athar, Khabar and 'Ilm

Athar

From literal aspect, Athar means "remains and trace". Among Sunnites, this word refers to any trace remains from religion or religious teachings, whether quoted form the Prophet (s) or quoted through the Followers from the Sahaba about the Prophet's (s) conduct in Medina. However from Shi'a viewpoint, this term is used similar to the meaning of riwaya from Imams (a); and some have associated it with what is quoted from the Companions.

Khabar

There are different opinions about the definition of khabar. Some scholars categorize hadith to Hadith al-Marfu' and called it khabar and Hadith al-Mawquf and called it athar. Some scholars have considered hadith, a saying quoted from Imams (a), khabar as any general quotation from the past and athar even more general than the other two. Some scholars have regarded the three the same to free from disagreements.

'Ilm

This word is no longer used as a term; however, there are many cases of its usage in the first century and some cases in the second century which show that for what today we call hadith, the first word came to one's mind at that time has been 'Ilm.

There are certain quotations from the Companions and the Followers in which they expressed their worries about "abandoning of 'ilm" or "'ilm being worn out" and "abandoning of 'ilm" was considered as abandoning of the bearers of 'ilm.