Hammād b. Zayd and his position in ḥadith scholarship

The subject of this study is Baṣran traditionalist Ḥammād b. Zayd's life and his scholarship. Since it had been founded, Baṣran was a town where political schism and rebellions occurred. This was also true for the period in which Ḥammād lived. Especially during the Umayyad period, the negative attitude of the administration against the mawālī, which constituted the majority of the population, played a major role in public support for almost every rebellion. In such an environment Ḥammād b. Zayd chose the path of knowledge and collected knowledge from many valuable scholars raised in ḥadīth circles started by the companions like Anas b. Malik who settled in Baṣra when it was first built. In the thesis, a description of the general situation of the ḥadīth scholarship in Baṣra in the second Islamic century was given. For this purpose, subjects such as the arrival of Anas b. Malik to Baṣra, the foundation of the school of ḥadīth in Baṣra, political developments in the town are discussed. Afterwards, Baṣran traditionalists works on transmitter criticism described and their prominent views are given. Ḥammād b. Zayd took lessons from a great many of the important scholars of his generation. In this study, the life of his most prominent teachers and students are summarised in order to shed light on the scholarly environment of which he was a part. The evaluation of the scholars of transmitter criticism about Ḥammād and his famous political views are also given. In the last chapter, the analysis of Ḥammād's muttafaqun ʿalayh transmissions are dealt with, and some statistics are given about his teacher and students in the chains of transmitters of these traditions, the modes of transmissions and the major themes of the traditions. It has seen that Ḥammād who was both a muḥaddith and faqīh collected traditions from prominent Baṣran traditionalists and also transmitted those traditions to various famous ḥadīth and ʿilal scholars. As for the major themes of his traditions, aside from the majority of the tradition of legal issues, there are also those about the merits of the companions, predestination and also civil disturbances and wars.