Hadith circles of Mecca in the second/eighth century

In terms of scholarly mobility, Mecca is located between Basra-Kufa-Medina, the most important centers of knowledge of the 2nd/8th century, and Damascus-Egypt-Yemen, which are more secondary. The main factor that makes the city stand out is that it hosts the pilgrimage (hajj), which attracts many scholars from various places every year. Determining the status of the city in terms of hadith science in the 2nd/8th century will contribute to a better understanding of the early history of hadith. For this reason, this study has tried to identify/construct the hadith circles in 2nd/8th century Mecca. However, before the prominent figures of the city, the circle owners and members, in order to provide a general framework, the narrators who were found to have lived in Mecca in the first two centuries of hijra were examined in terms of their period of life, number of narrations, reliability, gender and tribe, religious tendencies and professions, then the narrators who did not take part in the circles despite transmitting many hadiths were discussed, and finally, the function of hajj and the short-term circles established during the pilgrimage seasons were mentioned. In the determination/construction of the circles that constitute the main body of the study, the method previously developed for determining the 2nd/8th century Ahl al-Hadith lecture circles and applied to various centers of knowledge was taken as a basis. Using this method, six circles belonging to ʿAtāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, Mujāhid ibn Jabr, Ṭāvus ibn Keysān, ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, Ibn Jurayj, and Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna were identified/constructed in Mecca, of which the prominent ones are those of ʿAtāʾ, ʿAmr, Ibn Jurayj, and Ibn ʿUyayna. The relationship between the circle owners and their members is analyzed in detail via the use of data derived from isnād, rijāl and hadīth methodology sources. Thus, the status of the science of hadith in Mecca in the 2nd/8th century was revealed.