Hadith and Its Principles in the Early Days of Islam: A Critical Study of a Western Approach

Beyanouni, Fathiddin (1994) Hadith and Its Principles in the Early Days of Islam: A Critical Study of a Western Approach. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This work is devoted to the appraisal of a western approach to Hadith and its Principles ['Ulum al-Hadith], during the early days of Islam. It is a study, whose main aims are to display the principal views on the subject held by James Robson throughout his articles on the subject, to examine these views in the light of the Quran, Hadith and other relevant historical statements and events, and finally to point out the general features of Robson's writings on Hadith and its principles, alluding to the main issues in which Robson agrees or differs from his predecessors. The thesis consists of an introduction, three parts and a conclusion. The introduction indicates the main motives that lie behind choosing Robson's works as a subject for research, demonstrates the method according to which the thesis is undertaken and gives an account of Robson's work on Arabic and Islam in general. The first part is devoted to the issue of the status of Hadith during the early days of Islam, and has two chapters: one deals with the importance of Hadith in these days, demonstrating the motives behind the considerable interest in it and indicating the main objects by which such interest was informed; the other chapter deals with the question of the beginning of the recognition of Hadith as a basic source of guidance at both formal and informal levels. The second part is assigned to the subject of the Principles of Hadith in the first century of Islam and includes a preamble and two chapters. The preamble gives an account of Robson's view on the subject, while the first chapter attempts to identify some principles related to Hadith, and some standards regarding the criticism of transmissions from the two main sources of Islam, i.e. the Quran and the Hadith; the second chapter pursues similar features in statements and practices of the prominent authorities at that time. The third part is dedicated to pointing out general aspects of Robson's approach to Hadith, and involves two issues: the first is a presentation and an examination of various standards applied by Robson to scrutinise hadiths, and the second pertains to different features in Robson's writings on Hadith. Finally, the conclusion presents the findings that the present project has reached.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Adviser: John N Mattock
• Keywords: Islamic studies, Translation studies
• Date of Award: 1994
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1994-74926
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 27 Sep 2019 15:09
• Last Modified: 27 Sep 2019 15:09
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/74926