Hadith as Historical Data: a Review upon Western Researchers’ Approaches to the Reliability Issue of the Islamic Hadiths
Document Type : pajoohesh
Author
Abstract
After Quran, hadith is the most important source for knowing Islam and the political, cultural, social, and religious condition in the first three centuries of Islam. So, no one can deny its value as a historical source. The western hadith scholars have also considered and studied hadiths as a source for getting information about the history of Islam such as the date of different events
such as the date of Quran commentary, jurisprudence, Kalam, and the date of establishing different religious institutes. On the other hand, the main issue is historical value of the hadith information regarding the first centuries of Islam. Historical value of the hadith data
is connected to the issue of the hadith reliability which is a very controversial subject among the western researchers. In the present study, the author, first of
all, has a glance over the study of hadith in West. Following this, he examines the problem of the Islamic resource in western research upon the recognition of the documented sources versus the literary sources. Finally, he talks over western researchers’ new approaches to Islamic resources.
such as the date of Quran commentary, jurisprudence, Kalam, and the date of establishing different religious institutes. On the other hand, the main issue is historical value of the hadith information regarding the first centuries of Islam. Historical value of the hadith data
is connected to the issue of the hadith reliability which is a very controversial subject among the western researchers. In the present study, the author, first of
all, has a glance over the study of hadith in West. Following this, he examines the problem of the Islamic resource in western research upon the recognition of the documented sources versus the literary sources. Finally, he talks over western researchers’ new approaches to Islamic resources.
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