The source referencing and evaluation of narrations regarding passing in front of a person performing ṣalāh

In this thesis, the hadiths concerning passing in front of a person performing prayer are examined in terms of their chains of transmission (isnād) and textual content (matn), with a specific focus on the Kutub al-Tis‘ah. The study is structured into an introduction and two main chapters. In the first chapter, the hadiths related to passing in front of someone engaged in prayer, as found in the Kutub al-Tis‘ah, are categorized and analyzed under two subheadings: the obligation of the praying person to prevent someone from passing in front of them, and the sinful nature of passing in front of someone who is praying. Regarding the first category—hadiths concerning the praying person’s resistance to someone attempting to pass in front of them—twenty-eight different transmission routes (ṭuruq) have been identified. Upon critical evaluation of their chains of transmission, it was concluded that nine of these routes are weak (da‘īf), while the remaining nineteen are sound (ṣaḥīḥ). As for the second category hadiths regarding the sinfulness of passing in front of someone who is praying seventeen transmission routes were identified. The isnād analysis revealed that four of these are weak, and thirteen are sound. Following the isnād analysis, the second main chapter focuses on the construction and critical evaluation of the hadith texts. The hadiths are examined with the aim of synthesizing a unified version of the text. Subsequently, the study explores the meaning of the term shayṭān as it appears in the relevant hadiths. The analysis then turns to how the hadiths, grouped under the two subheadings, have been interpreted in classical hadith commentaries. At the end of the second chapter, the juristic interpretations of these hadiths across various Islamic legal schools are presented. Finally, the study concludes with a general evaluation and summary of the findings.