Isnad-cum-matn Analysis of Harald Motzki.pptx

a good example of decolonial study in Hadith

1. Theoretical Praxis of Isnad-cum- matn Analysis in the ‘Murder of Ibn Abi Huqayq ’: A Critical Evaluation in The biography of Muhammad : the issue of the sources / edited by Harald Motzki . Dr. SALAHUDHEEN KOZHITHODI

2. The Place of Isnad -cum- matn Analysis among Other Methods of Dating Hadith Section One:

3. Four Types of Methods in Dating Hadith : 1) Dating on the Basis of Matn : * Goldziher in his theory of fabrication of hadiths in the Umayyad and Abbasid era.

4. 2) Dating on the Basis of the Occurrence of Hadiths in Collections: * Schacht explains that the best way to prove that the hadith was not there at any given time is to show that it is not used as a legal argument in a discussion that will make reference to it if it has existed. This method is known as argument e silentio .

5. 3) Dating on the Basis of the Sanad Joseph Schacht: Introduced Common-Link Theory GHA Juynboll : Built upon Schacht’s Common-Link Theory and presented it in a further developed way

6. 4) Dating with Sanad and Matn : *The recent revival of this method seems to have the insight that a combined approach could lead to more reliable results than the sanad or matn investigation alone. This is known as isnad -cum- matn analysis. * Started by Juynboll and then Gregor Schoelor , Harald Motzki is regarded as the exponent of this method.

7. Methodology of Isnad -cum- matn Analysis First Step: All the variants of a hadith which can be found are compiled. If one wants to draw the far-reaching conclusions from sanad bundles, the only responsible approach is to base them on all accessible hadiths .

8. Second Step: Drawing a bundle of all sanad variants: Sanad variants are composed in form of a diagram in order to document the transmission process as it is reflected by the transmission lines and to detect partial common links and a common link. In Arabic parlance, it is known as shajara (tree).

9. Third Step: Determining Common Link (CL) and Partial Common Link (PCL): Common Link is the important part in this method. Partial common links as direct transmitters to whom some variants of transmission go back should be investigated first in determining real common link.

10. Fourth Step: Mutun Investigation from Partial Common Link: A uniform matn with identical wording is rather a common phenomenon in shorter hadith texts. The longer the matn , the more variations there will be in the wording. Textual variations of one hadith may be due to reasons other than later manipulation. If reports are handed down from one generation to another, they are bound to change. These changes are significant in the case of oral transmission.

11. Last Step: Drawing Conclusion: If a correlation exists, then conclusions can be drawn regarding the original matn transmitted by the common link and the one responsible for whatever changes have occurred in the course of the transmission after the common link. Mainly, the conclusion describes the variants of texts from Partial common link, who is the real common link, to whom all variants of the texts really go back. Thus the dating of a hadith can be formulated.

12. The Context of Motzki’s Study about the Murder of Ibn Abi Huqaq Section Two:

13. Motzki says that the traditions concerning the Prophet originated in the circle of the followers of Islam increases the danger that the information could be biased. However, he argues that this is the case with many other historical personalities as well.

14. The special biases which Muslim sources of the life of the Prophet can have have been dealt with in Western scholarship. Motzki lists three of the most important biases: The material has a tafsir character and owes its existence to the efforts of the Muslims of the first two centuries Muslims simply tended to put a halo around the founder of their religion. Actions of the Prophet were invented or trimmed to fit a specific form in order to serve as legal precedents which could supplement or even abrogate the legislation of the Qur’an. He further goes on asserting that it should not be immediately concluded that all reports are the results of one or more those motives.

15. Since such assumptions about the biography of the Prophet are on the rise, Motzki says that he did not choose one of the highly sensitive issues which constitute the Meccan part of sira for investigation, nor one of the central events of Medinan period. He says he chose a rather marginal one: the expedition of a group of Ansar to kill Abu Rafi ’ Sallam bin Abi Huqayq . The second advantage is that there are varying accounts of it preserved in different sources.

16. Earliear Studies on the Maghazi Hadith This episode is mentioned in most biographies of the Prophet by Western scholars, but the sources they used vary. Some used Ibn Sa’d ( Sprenger , Muir), others Ibn Hisham ( Grimme , Margoliouth ), and a third group mixed the reports of these two and other sources ( Dermenghem , Gaudefroy-Demombynes , Watt). None justified their choice of sources or the reason why they mixed them. Sprenger was the only one who pointed there were reports on the event which were not compatible.

17. Some reports on the issue have been discussed in two articles, published in 1986: By G.D. Newby who concluded that al- Waqidi’s report has to be regarded as trustworthy because the material refers to the Jewish ritual practices of that time. By J.N. Mattock who, based on the narratives of al- Tabari , Ibn Hisham and al- Waqidi , concluded that none of these accounts is authentic, since it is impossible to judge which is more close to truth. But in both articles, the isnads of the traditions have been completely neglected.

18. So, by means of the isnad -cum- matn analysis, Motzki traces the transmission history of this tradition by comparing their variants contained in the different compilations of traditions available.

19. Evaluating the Theoretical Praxis of Isnad -cum- Matn Analysis in the ‘Murder of Ibn Abi Huqayq Section Three:

20. I. Isnad Analysis The Tradition of al-Bara’ bin Azib The Tradition of Ibn Ka’b The Tradition of Abd Allah bin Unays The Tradition of Urwa

21. The Tradition of al-Bara’ bin Azib

22. The Tradition of Ibn Ka’b

23. The Tradition of Urwa

24. The Tradition of Urwa This account is not well documented in the sources. There is only one transmission line available. The Common-Link is Ibn Lahi’a . The isnad : Ibn Lahi’a > Abu al- Aswad > Urwa bin al- Zubayr .

25. II. Matn Analysis The Tradition of al-Bara’ bin Azib The Tradition of Ibn Ka’b The Tradition of Abd Allah bin Unays The Tradition of Urwa

26. حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ مُسْلِمٍ ، حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ زَكَرِيَّاءَ بْنِ أَبِي زَائِدَةَ ، قَالَ : حَدَّثَنِي أَبِي ، عَنْ أَبِي إِسْحَاقَ ، عَنِ الْبَرَاءِ بْنِ عَازِبٍ ، رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا ، قَالَ : بَعَثَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم رَهْطًا مِنَ الأَنْصَارِ إِلَى أَبِي رَافِعٍ لِيَقْتُلُوهُ فَانْطَلَقَ رَجُلٌ مِنْهُمْ فَدَخَلَ حِصْنَهُمْ قَالَ فَدَخَلْتُ فِي مَرْبِطِ دَوَابَّ لَهُمْ قَالَ وَأَغْلَقُوا بَابَ الْحِصْنِ ثُمَّ إِنَّهُمْ فَقَدُوا حِمَارًا لَهُمْ فَخَرَجُوا يَطْلُبُونَهُ فَخَرَجْتُ فِيمَنْ خَرَجَ أُرِيهِمْ أَنَّنِي أَطْلُبُهُ مَعَهُمْ فَوَجَدُوا الْحِمَارَ فَدَخَلُوا وَدَخَلْتُ وَأَغْلَقُوا بَابَ الْحِصْنِ لَيْلاً فَوَضَعُوا الْمَفَاتِيحَ فِي كَوَّةٍ حَيْثُ أَرَاهَا فَلَمَّا نَامُوا أَخَذْتُ الْمَفَاتِيحَ فَفَتَحْتُ بَابَ الْحِصْنِ ثُمَّ دَخَلْتُ عَلَيْهِ فَقُلْتُ يَا أَبَا رَافِعٍ فَأَجَابَنِي فَتَعَمَّدْتُ الصَّوْتَ فَضَرَبْتُهُ فَصَاحَ فَخَرَجْتُ ثُمَّ جِئْتُ ثُمَّ رَجَعْتُ كَأَنِّي مُغِيثٌ فَقُلْتُ يَا أَبَا رَافِعٍ وَغَيَّرْتُ صَوْتِي فَقَالَ مَا لَكَ لأُمِّكَ الْوَيْلُ قُلْتُ مَا شَأْنُكَ قَالَ : لاََ أَدْرِي مَنْ دَخَلَ عَلَيَّ فَضَرَبَنِي قَالَ فَوَضَعْتُ سَيْفِي فِي بَطْنِهِ ثُمَّ تَحَامَلْتُ عَلَيْهِ حَتَّى قَرَعَ الْعَظْمَ ثُمَّ خَرَجْتُ وَأَنَا دَهِشٌ فَأَتَيْتُ سُلَّمًا لَهُمْ لأَنْزِلَ مِنْهُ فَوَقَعْتُ فَوُثِئَتْ رِجْلِي فَخَرَجْتُ إِلَى أَصْحَابِي فَقُلْتُ مَا أَنَا بِبَارِحٍ حَتَّى أَسْمَعَ النَّاعِيَةَ فَمَا بَرِحْتُ حَتَّى سَمِعْتُ نَعَايَا أَبِي رَافِعٍ تَاجِرِ أَهْلِ الْحِجَازِ قَالَ فَقُمْتُ وَمَا بِي قَلَبَةٌ حَتَّى أَتَيْنَا النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَأَخْبَرْنَاه. ) صحيح البخاري)

27. III. Analysis of Variant Traditions The murdered Jew is described in different names: Abu Rafi ’, Sallam or Ibn Abi Huqayq as proposed by Scholler so that there exists confusion since there is another one named Sallam bin Mishkam .

28. Analysis of Variant Traditions There arises the question whether the traditions on the murder of Ibn Abi Huqayq are influenced by accounts contained in the Old Testament as suggested by P. Jensen in 1922, who argues that these traditions resembled to the accounts of murder of Ishba’l (Samuel 4). Motzki refutes this argument by three concepts formulated out of this isnad -cum- matn analysis.

29. Analysis of Variant Traditions The reason for the murder is not given in some, and is given differently in some others.

30. IV. Conclusion Traditions revolving around the murder of ibn Abi Huqayq are found in a wide range of sources. The earliest sources are Malik’s Muwatta , al- Waqidi’s Maghazi , Abd al- Razzaq’s Musannaf , Ibn Hisham’s Sira and al- Bukhari’s Jami ’. Isnad comparison refers to four different sources. The isnad bundles of the two most current traditions (al-Bara’ and Ibn Ka’b ) show common links who died around 125 AH (Abu Ishaq and al- Zuhri ). One tradition has a common link on the level of the Companions ( Abd Allah b. Unays ).

31. IV. Conclusion On the basis of isnad analysis, the hypothesis was made that these traditions must be earlier than the time of the sources, and must go back at least to Abu Ishaq and al- Zuhri . This hypothesis was checked by a matn analysis of the variants of the different traditions. The traditions of al-Bara’ and Ibn Ka’b seem to be independent of each other and therefore must go back to a common source. Supported by the isnad structure, we conclude that the common source of matns must be common link of isnads . However, the text analysis has shown that neither common link, Abu Ishaq and al- Zuhri , always told the stories in exactly the same wording.

32. IV. Conclusion The matn analysis of the tradition of Abd Allah b. Unays reveals that it must derive from a common source, although the texts of the variants differ more substantially than in the case of the traditions of Abu Ishaq and al- Zuhri . So, we conclude that the common skeleton of the tradition goes back to him, the common link.

33. IV. Conclusion A comparison of the tradition of Abd Allah b. Unays with that of al- Zuhri showed structural similarities and textual correspondences as well, although a dependence of one upon the other can be ruled out. These similarities have a counterpart in the isnads since all of these versions are apparently transmitted by the Ka’b b. Malik’s family. This speaks in favour of the thesis that the tradition is earlier than the time of al- Zuhri and that he most probably received the details from which he composed his tradition from the persons he named as his informants – descendents of Ka’b .

34. Thanks for Attentive Cooperation….