Fokus penelitian ini adalah melakukan telaah terhadap hasil kegiatan intelektual keagamaan yang “khas” ala NU dan biasa dikenal dengan sebutan “Bahtsul Masail”. Berdasarkan perspektif historis, normatif, dan sosiologis, tidak berlebihan jika Bahtsul Masail (BM) telah menciptakan sistem madzhab fikih yang khas dan unik, sehingga cukup argumen untuk menyebutnya sebagai “maz\ab fiqh” NU
Ada tiga alasan mengapa tema ini menarik untuk diteliti. Pertama, sejauh literatur yang penulis telusuri, belum ditemukan kajian akademis yang secara khusus mengkaji hadis yang dijadikan landasan BM sejak NU berdiri tahun 1926 sampai 2015. Kedua, BM NU “sepi” dari penggunaan hadis sebagai acuan utama dalam menyelesaikan berbagai persoalan agama. Namun, meskipun “sepi” dari penggunaan hadis, ternyata sejak Muktamar NU ke-1, 21 Oktober 1926 hingga Putusan Muktamar NU XXXIII, tanggal 1-6 Agustus 2015 setidaknya ada 271 hadis yang dikutip sebagai dasar penyelesaian berbagai persoalan agama. Ketiga, hasil penelitian ini diharapkan dapat memberikan gambaran yang komprehensif tentang kedudukan hadis dalam BM, kualitas hadis yang dikutip, serta mengetahui dinamika penggunaan hadits dalam BM yang berbeda intensitasnya dari waktu ke waktu.
Fakta dari 271 hadits tersebut menarik untuk dikaji lebih lanjut. Ada tiga pertanyaan besar yang akan dibahas dalam penelitian ini. Pertama, apa saja hadis-hadis yang termuat dalam Bahtsul Masail; apakah hadis-hadis tersebut dihadirkan secara mandiri atau menjadi bagian dari uraian kitab-kitab mu'tabarah yang menjadi mara>ji' dalam BM? Kedua, apakah 271 hadis tersebut benar-benar merupakan hadis pilihan yang telah diseleksi secara cermat sehingga memiliki nilai yang dapat dipertanggungjawabkan secara kualitatif? Ketiga, mengapa ada perubahan pola kemunculan hadis di BM dari waktu ke waktu?
Sesuai dengan tema, penelitian ini termasuk penelitian kepustakaan, karena objek yang digunakan adalah bahan pustaka. Ada tiga metode yang akan digunakan untuk menjawab tiga permasalahan penelitian, yaitu hermeneutika Gadamer, metode penelitian hadis (tahqi>q al-h}adi>s\) dan teori kausalitas sejarah.
Ada tiga temuan penting dalam penelitian ini. Pertama, dari 271 hadits, 148 di antaranya merupakan bagian tak terpisahkan dari uraian kitab yang dijadikan rujukan (marja') dalam BM. Sisanya, 123 merujuk langsung ke kitab-kitab hadis yang tidak hanya terbatas pada sembilan kitab hadits (al-kutub al-tis'ah), tetapi juga mencakup Sunan al-T{abra>ni>, al-Sunan al-Kubra> al- Baihaqi>, Sunan al-Da>ruqut}ni> dan Musnad Abi> Syaibah. Kedua, dari 271 hadis, ditemukan 57 hadis yang dianggap bermasalah dan perlu dikaji lebih lanjut kualitasnya. Artinya, ada sekitar 21% dari total 271 hadis dalam putusan BM dari tahun 1926-2015. Kualitas 57 hadis bermasalah itu bermacam-macam; ada 13 matru>k, 6 munkar, 5 mus}ah}h}af, 4 majhu>l, 4 mubham, 3 da'if yang naik menjadi h}asan, 2 maud}u>', 2 mudallas, 2 sya>z\, dst. Ketiga, BM Waqi'iyyah secara konsisten menggunakan metode qauli>. Sedangkan BM Maudui'yah dan Qanuniyah yang semula digagas sebagai media penerapan metode istinba>t} ternyata berjalan “setengah hati”. Padahal jika pilihan berhenti dan cukup dengan metode qauli dan ilhaqi, maka potensi penggunaan hadis bisa dipastikan kecil. Adapun jika pilihan sampai pada metode istinba>t}, maka peluang penggunaan hadis akan jauh lebih besar se iv istinba>t} adalah metode yang paling produktif menghadirkan hadis.

ABSTRACT:
This research will focuse on the results of religious discussions as well as the product of intellectual activities that are typically the style of NU and are commonly known as "Bahtsul Masail" (BM). This activity was enough argument to call it a "madzhab fiqh" of NU.
There are three reasons why this theme is interesting for research. First, as far as the writer has explored the literature, no academic studies have been found that specifically examine the hadis used as the basis for BM since NU was founded in 1926. Second, the results of BM NU are "quiet" from the use of hadith as the main reference in solving various religious problems. However, even though it is "quiet" from the use of hadis, it turns out that since the 1st NU Congress, October 21, 1926 until the Decision of the XXXIII NU Congress on Masa>il Di>niyyah Maud}u>'iyyah, August 1-6 2015 there were at least 271 hadis quoted as the basis for solving various religious problems. Third, the results of this study are expected to provide a comprehensive picture of the position of hadith in BM, the quality of the hadith quoted, and to know the history of why the use of hadith in BM differs in intensity from time to time.
The facts of the 271 hadiths are interesting to be studied further. The question is, in what areas does BM respond by presenting hadith as evidence? Are these hadiths presented independently or become part of the description of the mu'tabarah books that become mara>ji' in BM? Are these 271 hadiths really selected hadis that have been carefully selected so that they have a qualitatively justifiable value? Why is there a change in the pattern of appearance of the hadith in BM? These are some of the things that will be revealed in this research.
In accordance with the theme, this research includes library research, because the objects used are library materials. There are three methods will be used to answer three problems of research, Gadamer's hermeneutic, hadith research method (tahqi>q al-h}adi>s\) and historical theory of causality.
The result of this research consist of three important points. First, from the 271 hadiths, 148 of them are an integral part of the exposition of the book that is used as a reference (marja') of BM. The remaining 123 refer directly to the book of hadith. The hadith books that are used as references are not only limited to the nine hadith books (al-kutub al-tis'ah), but also include Sunan al-T{abra>ni>, al-Sunan al-Kubra> al-Baihaqi>, Sunan al-Da>ruqut}ni> and Musnad Abi> Syaibah. Second, from 271 hadiths, 57 hadiths were found which were considered problematic and needed to be studied further on their quality. This means that there are about 21% of the total 271 hadiths in the BM decision from 1926-2015. The level of 57 problematic hadiths are of various kinds; there are 13 of matruk, 6 of munkar, 5 of mus}ah}h}af, 4 of majhu>l, 4 of mubham, 3 of da’if tobe h}asan, 2 of maud}u>’, 2 of mudallas, 2 of sya>z\, etc. Third, Bahtsul Masail Waqi'iyyah consistently uses the qauli> method. While the Bahtsul Masail Maudi'yah and Qanuniyah which were originally conceived as a medium to implement the istinbat method, it did not work as expected. So it is not an exaggeration if this istinbat method is a half-hearted method. In fact, if the choice stops and is sufficient with the qauli and ilhaqi methods, then the potential for the use of hadith can be ascertained to be small. Meanwhile, if the choice comes to the istinba>t} method, then the chances of using hadith will be much greater because istinba>t} is the most productive method of presenting hadith.