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Michael Cook:
The Opponents of the Writing of the Tradition in Early Islam
Tr. by Dr Abul Qasim Sirri
After the Prophet passed away, the recording of hadiths became one of the main controversial themes. Though a great many companions related hadiths from the Prophet in prshibition of writing down the hadiths. others related some, confirming either writing or encouraging their writing. Thus, among the companions as well as the followers, there was no consensus on lawful prohibition in recording them, although such views varied from the family of one hadith-transmitter to another, and from one city to another.
The writer first points out to the early fetwas and reactions concerning the writing of the hadiths in such academic centres as Basra, Kufa, Medina, Yemen, and Syria (which were the leading centres of writing the hadiths in early Islam). He then considers the nature of these oppositions in these centres, and concludes that a majority of the hadiths which the opponents of their writing ascribe them to the Prophet, are forged and unauthoritative.
Finally, he brings some reasons, confirming that such oppositions against the writing of the hadiths in early Islam are of Jewish origin and instigation.
Muhammad Rahmani:
Comparative Studies in Hadith Sciences (pt.3):
Khabar al-Wahid ‘A Single Piece of News’
The present work is concerned with a compartive study on the definitions of khabar al-wahid as formulated in both Shiite and Sunnite literature of hadith sciences.
khabar al-wahid, by definition, applies to a hadith and/or a tradition which has not got frequency with respect to the ways of its attribution and transmitters; it may have been related in more than one way, however.
Following the definitions formulated by shiite and sunnite ulema, there
is a classification of the types concerned. The present article focuses on the Sunnite views with the following terminology concerned: mustafid, gharib, and caziz. Finally, based on the definitions given, an exposition on the common denominators and differences between the Shiite and Sunnite divisions of the khabar al-wahid is rendered.
Zahra (Shadi) Nafisi:
Allamah Shushtari’s Method in Document Evaluation.
Contrary to the case of the Holy Quran, the traditions inherited from the Infalliable Imams were not immune from forging and falsification. Notable is that the ban for collecting hadiths provided the falsificators and forgers with much opportunity; on the other hand, such unintentional misleadings (such as paraphrasing and transcription errors) contributed to the above trend.
One way to distinguish authoritative from non-authoritative hadiths, is to study the alternations and falsifications made in its chain of transmitters; this may result in either rejection or confirmation, weakening or strengthening the authoritativeness of a hadith. The first book, written by a member of shiite ulema is Al-Akhbar al-Dakhilah of Allama Muhammad Taqi Shushtari which provides a book-length treatment of the subject.
The present paper is a classification of Allama Shushtari’s methods in evaluating the documents and identifying any falsification in their authoritativeness. The paper has the following headings: Comparison of Various Relations, Similarity of the Text of the Hadith, Similarity in the Documents of the Hadith, the Time Span of the Hadith Transmitters, The Chain of Transmitters of a Person, The Inclusion of the Transmitter’s Name in Books on Rijal, The Expressions Used in the Text, The Lacuna, The Value of the Hadith Book, The Multitude of Cases of Relation, The Logical Reason, and other topics.
Mahdi Husayniyan-Qumi:
In Defence of Hadiths (Pt.7)
In this section, the writer defends the hadiths on the rejection of wommen’s leadership, hence argues against the standpoint taken by Sheikh Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din.
The writer classifies these hadiths in nine categories, namely: those which clearly reject the leadership of women; those which suggest not to take counsel with women; those which disfavour men’s obedience of women; those which suggest the less mental calibre, religious belief, and physical weakress of women, those concerned with women’s giving witness; those which confirm women’s house-keeping; and those which confirm men’s qualifications for management and judgement.
The present paper deals with the first three categories and mentions thirty-one, nineteen, and twenty-three hadiths for them, respectively.
Husain- cAli Turkamani:
Abu Hurayrah and His Role in the Dissemination of Israelite Hadiths.
Abu Huraira is one of the most notorious figures in early Islamic history. In addition to the variations and unreal hadiths he either made up or manipulated, his name is also subject to various recordings (which amount to thirty). In other words, no one can match him in having so many various recordings of his name, both before and after Islam. The only certain point is that his mother's name was Maimuna bint Sakhr.
The hadith forgers attested the forged hadiths to different transmitters so as to deceive people and divert their minds from finding out that they are forged. However, after a long study upon them, one can reach the point that such a person was Abu Hurayra who, in addition to making up a hadith, adopted another unreal name for himself.
Some authorities believe that the Prophet Muhammad gave him his title “Abu Hurayrah”. Its significance was that he used to live with cats. Noteable is that he was a student of Kacb al-Ahbar the Jew, and all his efforts and teachings are rooted in that of his master.
Muhammad Rawhani- cAli-Abadi:
Reveiw of M. Fakir’s Commentary on the Ghadir Khutba of Imam cAli.
In No.7 of cUlum-i Hadith [Hadith Sciences], Mr Muhammad Fakir-Maybudi published an article on the Ghadir Khutba of Imam cAli (pbuh). This review is a critique of it.
The first point to mention is that Mr Fakir-Maybudi in the third section
of his paper cites some books as the authorities of this khutba. They have all quoted the Khutba from Misbah al-Mutahajjid. Further, since there are some unknown transmitters and some others are unrelible, the text quoted is subject to unauthenticity, hence unreliable.
Next, Fakir-Maybudi has relied on the Khutba, simply because Sheikh Al-Tusi includes it in his book. Clearly, great men are also apt to make mistakes.
Upon investigation, we find out that there are three unknown persons in its chain of transmitters, hence proves to be unreliable and unauthentic.
Nad- Ali cAshuri-Taluki:
A Critique of M-A Ridayi- Isfahani’s Article.
In issue No. 8 of the journal cUlum-i Hadith, Mr Muhammad Ali Ridayi-Isfahani published an article, entitled “Durugh Pardazan dar Hawzi-yi Hadith-i Ahl-i Tasannun” [Liers in the Feild of Sunnite Hadiths] upon which the present review article is written.
The present reviewer holds that Mr Ridayi- Isfahani made a mistake to regard the hadith al-takdhib valid and authoritative, for he relied on unreliabhe sources. Further, he rejects the writer’s view on the authority of the hadiths related by cIkramah, Kalbi, Muqatil, and others. Focusing on the personality of one of them, concerning Muqatil ibn Sulayman, he holds that one could hardly claim that he was one of the companions of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir and Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq(peace be upon them).
Finally, he mentions some of the misprints which appear in the article.
Qasim Jawadi:
Mir Damad’s Al-Rawashih al-Samawiyya at a Glance.
Mir Damad, a Shiite leading scholar (d. 11th c. AH/17thc.) in addition to philosophical works, authored many works in the realm of hadith, fiqh, and other sciences. One of such works is his book Al-Rawashih al-Samawiyya which is a course in hadith sciences. It consists of an introduction and thirty-nine rashihas ‘chapters’. In its introduction, Mir Damad elaborates on the siginificance of Al-Kulayni’s Al-Kafi.
Mir Damad devoted his book to such topics as the main divisions of hadiths, the three classes of ijmac ‘consensus’, variation over the goodness of
the hadiths related from Abdul cAzim al-Hasani, a study of Sunnite ulema’s views on Ibn Salah, Ibn Jamaca, and al-Tayyibi, a study of the words subject to jarh and ta cdil ‘wounding and authentication’, unknown transmitters, Ibn cUmayr’s mursal hadiths, i.e. those lacking the mention of the first transmitter, and the personalities of Ibn Sanan and Ahmad ibn Hilal.
The other minor kinds of hadiths include the difference of the Qudsi ‘Divine’ hadiths with the Prophetic ones and the Quran, the kinds of intellectual as well as religious statements, muharraf ‘falsified’ musahhaf ‘incorrectly written’, and mawduc ‘originally made-up’ hadiths.
Hasan Fakhr al-Sharica:
The Comments Mirza Shiraz in Praise of the Works of Mir Hamid Husayn
cAbaqat al-Anwar of Mir Hamid Husayn of India (d. 1306 AH/1888) is one of the most valuable books written to prove the Imamate of Imam cAli based on the Prophetic hadiths.
The late Ayatollah Mirza Muhammad Hasan Shirazi (d. 1312 AH/1894) who issued the famous fetwa in abandonement of smoking tobacco, wrote praising comments on the Mir Hamid Husayn volume. In the comments, he spoke greatly of the academic personality of the author and the significance of the book. Commending the contents of cAbaqat al-Anwar, he put the seal of authority on the other works produced by Mir Hamid Husayn.
Sayyid Muhsin Husayni-’Amini:
A Review of the Software Mawsuca al-Hadith al-Sharif (pt.2)
Mawsuca al-Hadith al-Sharif, one of the most advancecd and highly developed softwares in hadith studies, is a product of the Saudi Arabian Sakhr Incorporation. Its first version was published in 1991 and includes nine major Sunnite hadith books.
In the first part of this review, published in the previous issue of this journal, some formal and stylistic aspects of the software were examined. In it, the reviewer presented his analyses of the first volumes of its books in the form of some tables. In the present part, the same problems are examined in such books as Al-Sahih of al-Bukhari, and the Sunans of al-Tirmadhi, Abi Dawud, and of Ibn Majih.
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