adth

What did the

Prophet say and
how do we know?

Major themes
the structure of a adth: isnad
and matn
the collection of the adth
the elevation of adth to
revelation within a legal framework
the arguments between the adth
folk and their opponents
the evaluation of adth in nonMuslim scholarship

The structure of a
adth
On the authority of Abu Hamza Anas
ibn Malik: The Prophet said:
None of you (truly) believes until he
wishes for his brother what he wishes
for himself.
It was related by al-Bukhari and
Muslim

The traditional
narrative
of
the
For first generations of Muslims after the
Prophet,
the isnad was
not important;
collecting
of
hadith vs. sunna
by the end of the 1st century (ca. 720)
traditions
isnad increasingly important
the place of al-Zuhri (d. 124/742)
early collections: Musnad and Musannaf
Prophetic Tradition in Maliks (d. 179/795)
al-Muwaa (importance of Medinan practice)
The Six Canonical Books
Raising hadith to the status of revelation
with al-Shafii (d. 204/820)

The three legitimacy

debates: Debate One: hadith
folk
vs. al-Basri
Mutazilis
(1)
Abu al-Husayn
(d. 436/1044):
Not everything that was related from him, Gods
prayers be upon him, is true. This is supported
by what was related from him, may God pray for
him, when he said: People will make false
attributions to me (sa-yakdhibu alayya). If
this tradition (khabar) is true, then false
attributions have been made regarding him. If
it is false, it has been falsely attributed to
him, may God pray for him. The early scholars
(al-salaf) used to reject many transmissions.
It was related from Shuba that he said: A
third of the traditions are lies.

adth folk vs.

Mutazilites (2)
Al-Nam (d. ca 230/845) said: How is it that
they dont err, lie, are ignorant and contradict
themselves when there are those of them who
transmitted that the Prophet, may God pray for
him and grant him salvation, said: No contagion
and no evil omen in Islam . . .These are those
who related that the Prophet, may God pray for
him and grant him salvation, said: Flee from the
leper as you flee from the lion! And a leper
came to pledge the oath of allegiance of Islam,
so he sent one to him to accept the oath and he
did not come close to him out of fear of his
contagion.

adth folk vs. legal

scholars
The issue of isnads growing
backwards (mawquf vs. marfu)
judge a tradition by the
character of its transmitter
Legal functionalism:
no matter
how many Companion versions of a
tradition exist, the Prophetic
one has legal admissibility

adth folk in Western

Scholarship (1)

Orientalists Goldziher (d. 1921) and

Schacht (d. 1969) argued that vast
majority of hadith from 2-3rd century
Hadith widely fabricated to support
political and theological perspectives
Evidence: no early use of isnads,
backward growing isnads, atemporal
content (example of Gabriel hadith)
Muslim scholars not critical
regarding hadith

adth folk in Western

Scholarship (2)

Skepticism reaches its peak in 1970s:

Wansborough, Crone, Cook
Revisionism of the 1990s: Donner,
Motzki
-> revisiting the sources proves some
hadith go back to the end of the 1st
century
burden of proof more and more on
disproving a tradition rather than
proving its legitimacy

Problems regarding adth

within Muslim scholarship
Sunni and Shia hadith canons
(example of muta)
adth under attack within some
Muslim reform movements
-> increased focus on the
Quran (link to fall of the
madhhab and challenged status of
the ulama?)