Al-jahālah and unknown narrators in the first three centuries of hijra

In this thesis, the course of the development that the notion of unknown narrator passed through in the first three centuries of hijra has been examined. This period had a leading role in the comprehention of the idea evolving the notion of the unknown narrotor. The narrators, described as being unknown by at least only one critic in the first three centuries of the hijra, were discussed in terms of Isnad, period, region, and the narrator-critic relationship. What has been aimed at is to define the method used by the critics while determining the obscurity of such narrators and to interpret the period and regions in which the unknown narrators were centered according to the science of rijal criticism. In this context, it has been determined in which regions the unknown narrators were common in the first three centuries of the hijra and its possible reasons, and whether the unknown narrators were evaluated in their own period or after their death. The aim underlying the determination of the critics of first three centuries who enabled the consideration of the unknown narrator concept within the wordings of the rijal criticism has been to reveal explicitly who contributed to the formation of this notion and to what extent. In this process, the matters like what narrators were assigned as unknown, what methods and approaches applied by the critics, and what terminology put forward to define the notion in question have been regardes crucial to reveal the course of the development of unknown narrator cencept; thus, these matters have undergone a detailed examination. Furthermore, the evaluations of the untterances and their meanings used by the critics to signify the unknown nrrators belonging to the period in question have been analysed.