MAULANA SHIBLI NAUMANI – NOTES – SEPI

 Seerah is a mix of authentic and weak narrations

 Critical of the Seerah literature
 Criticism of the traditional Seerah tradition
 Compares hadith literature authenticity and Seerah literature authenticity
 Pointed out some criticisms on isnaad
 Pointed out criticisms in the matn/diraya of the ahadith
 If the hadith was against logic, an essential Quranic principle, a more
reliable hadith then it would be discarded or criticized

Islamic Method of Judging the narrators

 If a hadith were to be accepted the person narrating the hadith should have
been present at the time and witnessed the Prophet narrate the hadith.
 If this is not possible the narrator must present a chain of narrators from
whom he/she has heard the hadith and must go all the way up to the eye-
witness.
 The reporter’s character
 Their ideological affiliation
 Their mental capacity of memorization and judgement
 Reliable or not
 Keen intellect or shallow mind
 Well informed or ignorant
 All this gave birth to Asma-ul-Rijal – biographies of the narrators of the
Prophet’s sayings
 Any shortcomings or moral weaknesses were taken into consideration as
well
 It should have been physically possible for the narrators to meet
 The narrators should be mature, at least mentally

Diraya

 The teaching of the hadith must not contradict common knowledge

 The teaching of the hadith must not contradict accepted principles
  The teachings of the hadith must not contradict the teachings of the Holy
Quran
 Any hadith promising severe punishment for a small error should not be
accepted
 Any hadith promising great rewards for a rather small good should not be
accepted
 Any hadith that is down-right absurd should not be accepted
 Any hadith that contradicts common or well-known observations or
experiences should not be accepted
 Any hadith that predicts the future down to the date and time should not be
accepted

Sira in comparison with Ahadith

 Sira are less authentic than the ahadith

 Life and virtues of the Prophet were not strictly scrutinized
 Weak traditions were often quoted even by renowned traditionalists when
concerning the accomplishments of the Prophet and his companions
 Scrutiny was weak because these cases did not concern the paradigm of
haram and halal
 Sira books usually contain fabricated reports