Muhammad al-Ghazali's approach to hadith and sunnah (Specific to his work titled Prophetic Sunnah according to Fiqhists and Hadithists)

This study, which deals with the approach of Muhammad al-Ghazali, one of the most important inviters and thinkers of the last period, to Hadith and Sunnah consists of an introduction, two parts and a conclusion. The introduction part consists of the aim of the study, its scope, importance, limitedness, studies on the subject, literature as well as Ghazali's life, his teachers and works. In the first part, the author's definition of sunnah, the source of sunnah, its bindingness, its position in the book, the nash relationship between the Book and the Sunnah, the understanding of Khabar, the division of hadiths, the principles of sanad and text criticism, the factors that are effective in understanding the hadiths correctly, his views on the basic sources of hadith, his approach to the narrated hadiths about fiten, gayb and fate, and his approach to some issues about women in religious and social terms were mentioned. While dealing with the determined subjects, the criticisms directed to the author, if any, were mentioned in the relevant places. In addition, where deemed necessary, the opinions of the ulema on the subject were included. First of all, after giving a brief summary of the criticisms directed to Ghazali on Hadith and Sunnah, it was started to evaluate the narratives that were dealt with subject-centered. In this context, the narratives were discussed under three headings: those related to tafsir, fiqh and other issues. After giving place to al-Ghazali's evaluations about the narratives he criticized, the criticisms directed to the author about these narratives were included. In addition, the views of both the previous ulema and the contemporary researchers who had worked on the narratives were also included. Due to the text-oriented approach of Ghazali to the narratives, the emphasis was placed on the text rather than the sened. In the conclusion section, Ghazali's identified views on Hadith and Sunnah and the criticisms directed to him were tried to be evaluated objectively.