The Root of the Letter T: Why Do We Often Write Hadist?

The use of the variant 'hadist' occurs due to non-uniform transliteration from Arabic to the Latin alphabet. The ending 't' or 'ts' often appears as an attempt by the community to preserve the original 'tha' sound in writing, which then erroneously became fixed as the 'st' suffix in non-formal writing traditions.

This word originates from the Arabic 'hadith' (حديث), referring to the sayings, actions, rulings, and approvals of the Prophet Muhammad. During the absorption process into Indonesian, the voiceless dental fricative /θ/ (th) was simplified into the /s/ sound, which better aligns with local phonology.

Sociolinguistically, adding the letter 't' reflects the speaker's desire to sound more religious or closer to the original source. Although the standard form is 'hadis', the variant 'hadist' is very commonly found in popular religious literature, prayer group invitations, and social media as a form of hypercorrection.