The last two decades have seen a proliferation of publications variously questioning or outright denying the historical existence of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Although such views have gained practically no traction amongst academic specialists, they have attracted a considerable popular following, above all on the internet. The academic response to this popular challenge has been … [Read more…]
Abstract: This blog article revisits a topic covered in one of my previous blog articles: a hadith that appears to have been created in response to the ʿĪsawiyyah, a Jewish messianic movement that erupted in Isfahan during the middle of the 8th Century CE. The present article incorporates some Hadith material that was not covered … [Read more…]
I recently appeared on the History Valley podcast to give a talk on the origins of Hadith, covering both the traditional Sunnī, Šīʿī, and ʾIbāḍī narratives thereon, and also the perspectives of modern critical scholarship. The talk covers the following topics: [@0:00] Preliminary comments [@6:16] THE ORIGINS OF HADITH, PART 1: TRADITIONAL NARRATIVES [@6:17] PART … [Read more…]
Since the publication of Javad Hashmi’s article regarding my DPhil research, some readers have quite understandably asked for more details. The full DPhil thesis should be available soon (and will be made available on this blog), but in the meantime, I can at least offer a summary thereof to give a better idea of the … [Read more…]
The hypothesis that early Islam—from the time of the Prophet to at least the second fitnah—constituted some kind of pan-Abrahamic or pan-Abrahamitic movement or coalition is widespread in recent secular, critical scholarship.[1] The earliest iteration of this hypothesis—which posited that proto-Islam was some kind of Judaeo-Arab alliance or coalition—can be found in Patricia Crone and … [Read more…]
In Part 1 of this series on the origins of proto-Sunnī Hadith criticism (here), I outlined the traditional narratives on this issue, which are plagued by numerous contradictions and cannot be relied upon alone to resolve the historical question of exactly when and where the Hadith-critical method emerged. Now, in Part 2, I survey the … [Read more…]
In two previous articles, I outlined the basic method of proto-Sunnī Hadith criticism (here) and summarised the notable figures involved in its articulation, application, and transmission from the turn of the 9th Century CE onward (here). Both of these articles skirt around a fundamental historical question, however: when exactly did proto-Sunnī Hadith criticism originate or … [Read more…]
In a previous article, I outlined the basic methodology of proto-Sunnī Hadith criticism, which relied above all upon the collation and comparison of transmissions to establish the reliability of tradents. In the present article, I turn instead to the following historical question: who were the pioneers of proto-Sunnī Hadith criticism, and via whom did it … [Read more…]
There were diverse approaches or attitudes towards Hadith in the first few Islamic centuries, ranging from uncritical acceptance, to critical acceptance, to skepticism, to wholesale rejection. Ultimately, it was the critical acceptance of Hadith—the approach or methodology known as “Hadith criticism” (naqd al-ḥadīṯ)—that won out amongst the proto-Sunnī Hadith movement (ʾaṣḥāb al-ḥadīṯ) from the early … [Read more…]