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[quote]From your musings on the UI forum, it is quite apparent that you are well acquainted with the works of Amin Ahsan Islahi and Javed Ahmed Ghamidi. Their position on the appreciation of Hadith literature would thus be not unknown to you. This topic is really what intrigues me the most for i believe that much of the misinterpretation, misunderstanding and misrepresentation (too many mises) of Islam owes itself, wittingly or unwittingly, to a warped understanding of Hadith. That coupled with the fact that Fann-i-Daraayat (textual analysis and criticism) has not been given its due share has stymied the true understanding of Hadith. 
Hence on one hand, we have people who have rejected the entire corpus of Hadith as being apocryphal while on the other extreme we see people branding others as Munkir-e-hadith (rejectors of hadith) even on slight differences of opinion in understanding or placement of a particular hadith. These are the ones who claim the infallibility of Sahih Bukhari and Muslim and in doing so elevate the status of these works at par with the Quran and infact claim, indirectly, the infallibility of Imam Bukhari and Muslim. But this vociferous defense of Hadith has its roots in the stance that Hadith and Sunnah are essentialy the same or that Sunnah can only be derived from Hadith. 
Amin Ahsan Islahi and his pupils have done well to controvert this argument. The answer to your specific question has been discussed at length in their works. In case you have not yet laid your hands on them, you are missing something! Here are some titles and links:

http://www.renaissance.com.pk (Click on important articles sorted by topic and then on hadith where you'll find [i]The Authencity of Hadith[/i])

Mubaadi-Tadabur-i-Hadith by Amin Ahsan Islahi

Meezan by Javed Ahmed Ghamidi (The book itself deals with the philosophical and legal contents of Islam and contains a cogent discussion of the principles of understanding Sunnah and Hadith)

Mazhabi Dastaanain aur un kee Haqeeqat by Maulana Habib-ur-Rahman Kandhalvi

In my opinion, extreme caution should be excercised in studying and quoting hadith. Since it requires a scholarly knowledge of various disciplines to wade through the intricacies in Hadith literature, it is advisable to study it under the tutelage of a scholar. However, there are Ahadith related to morality, human dealings and other non-legalistic aspects which are highly instructive and invigorating for the soul. Perhaps these can be quoted for exhortative purposes. Insofar as the Ahadith with theological-legal content are concerned, they need to be painstakingly analyzed and agonized over before arriving at an interpretation.
For analyzing the chain of narrators and the text of Hadith, the basic rules as i understand are:

[list=1][*]Having a masterly appreciation of the classical Arabic literature [/*][*]Understanding Hadith in light of the Quran [/*][*]Placing Hadith in its socio-historical and scio-political context and determining the addresees [/*][*]Making sure that a Hadith does not negate the dictates of common sense or is not contrary to a universal rule[/*][*]Gathering together all the Ahadith related to a particular topic and forming an overall picture or filling in the missing pieces, so to speak[/*][/list=1]

I have rambled on for too long; i hope this can be of some help.
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