The Development of Exegesis in Early Islam: The Authenticity of Muslim Literature from the Formative Period

by Berg; Herbert

• ISBN13: 9780700712243
• ISBN10: 0700712240
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-07-21
• Publisher: RoutledgeCurzon

Summary

This text summarises and critiques the major positions on the issue of the authenticity of traditions (hadiths) which claim to preserve the words and deeds of Muhammad and early Muslim scholars in general and exegetical hadiths in particular.

Author Biography

Herbert Berg is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, USA.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction	p. 1
An Experiment Using Exegetical Hadiths	p. 1
Assumptions, Conclusions, and Qualifications	p. 3
Hadith Criticism	p. 6
Traditional Sunni Muslim Account	p. 6
Early Western Scepticism	p. 8
Reaction Against Scepticism	p. 18
The Search for Middle Ground	p. 26
Renewed scepticism	p. 42
Exegetical Hadiths and the Origins of Tafsir	p. 65
Defending Isnads and Reconstructing Early Tafsirs	p. 65
The Scepticism and Literary Analysis of J. Wansbrough, A. Rippin, et al.	p. 78
Middle Ground	p. 83
Implications for the Study of Early "tafsir(s)"	p. 92
Excursus: The Authenticity of the Historical Hadiths	p. 106
Methodology: Isnads and Exegetical Devices	p. 112
Content Versus Style	p. 113
Parameters: al-Tabari and Ibn Abbas	p. 120
Hypotheses for Possible Outcomes	p. 137
Database of Isnads and Exegetical Devices	p. 141
Data and Analysis: The Authenticity of IBN Abbas's Hadiths in Al-Tabari's Tafsir	p. 173
Analysis 1: Ibn Abbas versus his Students and the Informants of al-Tabari	p. 174
Analysis 2: The Students of Ibn Abbas versus the Informants of al-Tabari	p. 191
The Provenance and Chronology of Exegetical Hadiths	p. 208
Conclusions	p. 219
The Impasse	p. 219
Resolving the Impasse: History versus Literature	p. 226
Bibliography	p. 232
Index	p. 247
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