Imam Shafi'i: Scholar and Saint (Makers of the Muslim World) by Kecia Ali

Author:Kecia Ali [Ali, Kecia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Published: 2011-10-31T18:30:00+00:00

SOURCE RELIABILITY

Those who oppose the use of hadith as a legal source focus on its reliability. Thus, Shafi‘i devotes considerable attention to how one detects defective hadith. Most issues concern the reliability of transmitters. Shafi‘i’s interlocutors are concerned that hadith are epistemologically less certain than the Qur’an; therefore, some hold, they should not be used. Shafi‘i objects. In the Risala, the Summation, and Disagreements between Hadith, he asserts that hadith are superior to witness testimony, which all accept as a basis for adjudication in certain matters. This is true even though a witness could be mistaken or lying. Even in capital crimes one must rely on witnesses; one can take life based on testimony. So if one employs more stringent standards for accepting a hadith transmission than for eyewitness reports – standards that rely not only on personal uprightness but also facts such as memory and clear understanding – then accepting hadith as proof of the Prophet’s words and deeds is even better justified.

Of course, not all hadith are reliable. One strategy that Shafi‘i accepts, but where possible avoids, is to reject a defective tradition. Although one can reject a defective tradition to remove a perceived conflict between it and a Qur’anic text, the concept of defective traditions is of most use when attempting to reconcile traditions that conflict with one another. Shafi‘i devotes a portion of the Risala to laying out things that make hadith texts unreliable. For the most part, he focuses here on unreliable transmission. In cases of seeming contradiction between hadith, one cause might be the unreliability of one of the texts. If so, one can discard it:

one does not accept a hadith unless it is well established, just as he does not accept among witnesses any but those whose probity is known. So if the hadith [in question] is unknown or transmitted by an undesirable person, it is just as if it had not been transmitted at all, because it is not firmly established.

(Disagreements between Hadith)

But one has the sense that he makes this point as a sop to his opponents: though he certainly acknowledges that not all hadith are reliable, he is far more interested in showing how perceived conflicts are only apparent rather than in throwing out suspect texts. In any case, this mechanism does not apply to the Qur’anic text; apparent conflicts within the Qur’an or between Qur’an and an authentic sunna, or between two authentic sunnas must be resolved using other strategies.

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