圣训学是穆斯林学者用来甄别圣训真伪的学门。在圣训学里，传述世系（sanad）与正文（matn）两者都是很重要的概念。圣训学就是要研究传述世系与圣训正文的真伪，借以甄别出可靠的「正训」（sahih）。「正训」的意思就是「道地的」，用来作为圣训集的名称时中文一般翻译为「实录」，例如《布哈里圣训实录》（Sahih al-Bukhari）与《穆斯林圣训实录》（Sahih Muslim）。但“sahih”这个字未必用来作为圣训集的名称，有的直接使用「圣行」（sunnah）一字，意思是记载穆罕默德的言行，例如《艾布·达吾德圣训集》（Sunan Abi Dawood）与《铁密济圣训集》（Sunan al-Tirmidhi）伊本·哈吉尔认为这样的定义比较好：圣训学是一种知识，传述者与传述的内容都必须确认无误。

Hadith studies (Arabic:علم الحديث‎ ʻilm al-ḥadīth "knowledge of hadith" or science of hadith) are a number of religious disciplines used in the study and evaluation of the Islamic hadith (the collections of the reports of what the Islamic prophet Muhammad said verbatim on any matter) by Muslim scholars. It has been described by one hadith specialist, Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, as the science of the principles by which the conditions of both the sanad, the chain of narration, and the matn, the text of the hadith, are known. This science is concerned with the sanad and the matn with its objective being distinguishing the sahih, authentic, from other than it. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani said the preferred definition is: knowledge of the principles by which the condition of the narrator and the narrated are determined.