Session 5
INHERITING THE PROPHETS AUTHORITY



Two general trends in interpreting islam. Quran+hadith only constitutive sources of
authority for Muslims.
Ahl al ra’y= relied on their own interpretations of sources of quran and hadith
Ahl al hadith prefer interpretations of members of early Islamic community, narccistic
indulgence of human reasoning would be temptation to stray from god path. They
sometimes relied on unreliable hadiths. Vying between the two sunni hadith tradition
emerged.
EARLY HADITH COLLECTION AND WRITING












To preserve teachings in writing controversial. Sahifas= priv notes of companions
Junior companions seek out more hadith from senior companions
Many prominent early muslims close to the prophets some of the least prolific hadith
transmitters. Instead post death of prophet preserved spirit of prophet by actions.
Companions assumed both religious and political leadership. Generation who learned
from companions= successors. They recorded recollections, successors aalso passed
on companions own sahifas.
Companions tell successors orally.
Contradictive evidence concerning writing down hadith
Banning= from earlier years of prophs career, permission came llater when quran
more established in muslims minds
Early Islamic period orality=practical. Arabic alphabet primitive man letters identical,
even today Arabic script not indicate short vowels. Need to know context +intended
meaning of text. Sahifas=memory aids.
Have to hear sahifa by transmitter to avoid misunderstanding. If not hear from teacher
and transmit, flaw in authenticity.
Emphasis on orality not equal ignoring reliability of written records.
Does one have to repeat hadith word for word OR can communicate just general
meaning?  most EARLY muslim scholars understood keep track of exact words not
feasible and general meaning is okay
Compromise= paraphrase hadith provided one was learned enough to properly
understand it
TRANSCRIPTS OF LEGAL DEBATES: THE EMERGENCE OF MUSANNAF
COLLECTIONS


First organized works of Islamic scholarship= musanaffs transcripts of legal discourse
during 1st two century of isl
Topical record of pious muslims efforts to respond to qs about faith and practice





Earliest one= mix of hadith, rulings of companions, practice of scholars of medina plus
opinion of scholar.
Musannaf genre predates emergence of classical hadith lit rather than being part of it
Musannaf not technically hadith collections= cite ruling of companions more frequently
than prophet, obsession with complete unbroken chains of transmission not present.
Musananaf= early works of isl law= not concerned withproviding authenticity to a rigid
system like isnad authentication. More answers qs with reliable sources one had
Scholars turn to musannafs to know legal opinions of comapnions+successors.+ hadith
critics use as eveidence when investigating hadith.
THE MUSNAD ERA AND EMERGENCE OF HADITH LIT PROPER







Shift from musannaf to focus of prophetic hadith occurred with musnad collections
Musnad organized by isnad
Take prophets words over stances of local schools.
Testimony of Muhammad trump all figures of authority
Reason to ogranise personal hadith along isnad lines= 1. Growing # of reports that had
errors. Limiting hadith collections to material with isnad good tool against hadith forgery.
2nd= know if hadith transmitter was corroborated in material they reported. Critics
compared hadith with those of others who studied with their teacher.
Musnads functioned as storehouses for all reports that certain hadith scholr heard
No longer constraint of regional boundaries.
THE SAHIH AND SUNAN MOVEMENT




Musannfs vs musnads Musannafs conveniently arranged by subject and musnads
focused of prophetic hadith with full isnads
Combine two genres= sunan/sahih books. Sunan=topic araangement used as legal ref but
also focused on prophetic reports with full isnads. Ahl al hadith copiling sunans focused
on assuring authenticity of content. Emphasis on authenticity led many of collections
produced in the sunan movement=sahih.
Broke ahl al hadiths traditional willingness to use weak hadith in law
Participants in sahih movement focused on hadith with strong/reliable isnads but
nonetheless featured some report they acknowledge as being unreliable but were still
included because either wildly used by jurists or no hadith concering topic found
TOPICAL HADITH WORK



9th/10th centuries, sunan works+compiled collections of hadiths dealing with
individual topics.
Zuhd= included hadiths describing prophets supreme piety+ superlative practice of
early muslim saints and pre Islamic proph.
Wrote books about perfecting muslim manners