The Taḫrīǧ and evaluation of aḥadīṯ in Fazlur Rahman's Islamic Methodology in History

The isnād system which is used to check the reliability of mutūn is a sign of the extent of the importance given to ḥadīṯ and the science of ḥadīṯ. It is obvious that application of such a system to test the reliability of the every ḥadīṯ is as a result of the Islamic scholars' meticulousness and sense of responsibility. In the present work, the chains of transmission of aḥadīṯ in Fazlur Rahman's Islamic Methodology in History are analysed, and their reliability is evaluated to show and to continue the aforementioned sense of responsibility. In this context, Fazlur Rahman's conception of sunna/living sunna is described and the criticisms levelled against his arguments are dealt with in the first chapter. In the second chapter, taḫrīǧ of aḥadīṯ which constitutes the main part of the thesis and the evaluation of transmitters of these aḥadīṯ are carried out, in doing so it is decided whether Fazlur Rahman's criticisms are accurate or not. In final analysis, all the traditions in Islamic Methodology in History are examined by considering Fazlur Rahman's arguments, and a favourable result about almost all of them is emerged. As a result, it is seen that Fazlur Rahman's criticism about aḥadīṯ has no validity in terms of classical hadīth scholarship.