Excerpt from Adis Duderija, Evolution in the Concept
of Sunnah during the First Four Generations of Muslims in Relation to the Development
of the Concept of an Authentic Ḥadīth as based on Recent Western Scholarship, Arab
Law Quarterly, 26,4,2012, 393-438.
3.1. Semantico-contextual Changes in Definition
and Scope of the Sunnah
Ansari has pointed out several difficulties one
encounters when studying the terminology used during the early period of
Islamic thought. One such problem is the “comparative lack of fixity in
technical connotations of terms in use”19 which resulted in a gradual change in
connotation over a period of time. An important aspect in these semantical changes
in terminology is their increasing ‘technical’, or what the author would
describe as legalistic,20 connotations. Moreover, and importantly, these terms
had a multiplicity of meanings even when employed by the same author in the
same work.21 Another important principle for the purpose of this study that
Ansari has identified with reference to the changes in meaning of certain words
and concepts is the notion of a significant time gap between the usages of the
conceptual and technical/legalistic aspects of terminology. Put differently,
words prior to acquiring “standard technical phraseology” had other meanings
and were used in other contexts.22 The above distinctions are of fundamental
importance to this study from the point of view of understanding the validity
of the classical definition of the concept Sunnah. We now will examine the
semantico-contextual changes of the concept Sunnah. The term will be analysed
by examining its etymological (preQurʾānic) meaning(s), Qurʾānic meaning(s) and
post-Qurʾānic usage(s).
3.1.1. Etymological, Qurʾānic
and post-Qurʾānic meanings of Sunnah
Etymologically, the term Sunnah
underwent several semantic changes.23 It originated from the Arabic root S-N-N
that probably referred to “flow and continuity of a thing with ease and
smoothness”.24 Over time, the term Sunnah was increasingly used in the context
of human behaviour, and as “a way, course, rule, mode or manner of acting or
conducting life of life”, thus becoming equivalent to the word sira. Thereafter
it evolved to signify moral appropriateness and normativeness of a human worthy
of being followed.25 Ibn Manzur defines Sunnah as a “commendable
straightforward manner of conducting oneself (al-sunnat al-tariqat al-maḥmudat
al-mustaqimah).26 By its very nature it implies normativeness, i.e. having a
normative character. With respect to the Qurʾān, the Sunnah has been used on
numerous occasions with regard to the immutable laws of the retribution of God
(sunnahāt allāh) with respect to people who repeatedly transgressed these laws
with disdain.27 The phrase sunnahāt al-awwalīn refers to the ancient people or
nations who, having brought upon themselves the wrath of God by rejecting and
killing His Messengers, were doomed and turned to dust.28 Interestingly the
term Sunnah of the Messenger of Allāh (sunnahāt un-nabi), a fundamental concept
in post-Qurʾānic Islamic thought, does not occur in the Qurʾān. The Prophet is,
however, praised in the Qurʾān as “uswah al- ḥasanah” (a
good/beautiful/excellent example) for Muslims.29 Ansari aptly remarks that this
use of the term is consistent with the overall Qurʾānic attitude towards all
other Prophets.
Considering the status and authority that the Prophet
enjoyed by his followers, especially in the Medinian period, and the
etymological background of the word Sunnah as just described, it would be only
commonsense to maintain that the expression “Sunnah of the Prophet” would have
been used in the early Muslim community in the sense of being Qurʾānically
sanctioned model-behaviour of the Prophet.30 Furthermore, there is sufficient
evidence to suggest that the Prophet himself, the early caliphs such as ʿUmar
(d. 23 AH), Uthman (d. 35 AH) and Ali (d. 40 AH), as well as the people at the
time of early Umayyad caliphs (e.g., Abd al-Mālik, 65-86 AH), used this sunnah al-nabi
(Prophet’s Sunnah) expression on numerous occasions.31 Apart from its usage in
a phrase sunnah al-nabi in the first and especially second half of the first
century Hijrah, the word Sunnah has been used in the following ways. Sunnah
refers to the “right and just practice” of the Prophet,32 Sunnah of caliphs
preceding Uthman (i.e., Abu Bakr and Umar);33 Sunnah of believers;34 Sunnah as
a norm to be followed in jurisprudential sense;35 and Sunnah as distinct from
Ḥadīth.36 Although still quite general and vague at the beginning of the
second century, the term Sunnah, with the rise of sciences of jurisprudence
(usūl ̣ al-fiqh), was being increasingly but not exclusively used in a legal
sense.37Ansari gives us following Sunnah meanings from that period in time:
obedience and loyalty of the people to the ruling government in accordance with
the book (Qurʾān) and Sunnah;38 emphasis on the Sunnah as something that can be
traced back to the time of the Prophet and/ or early caliphs (in contrast to
just any practice adopted by the people);39 Sunnah becoming a synonym of the
expression Sunnah of the Prophet;40 Sunnah as practice based on ijmāʿ; 41
Sunnah as a rule;42 Sunnah as extension of the Qurʾān;43 Sunnah as
well-established norms/practises (ʿamal ) recognised by Muslims in general,
which came through and were accepted by learned scholars ( fuqahāʾ) 44 and the
Sunnah as antonym for heretical innovation (bid ʿah).45 Juynboll offers several
other contexts in which the term Sunnah was associated and used during the
second century Hijrah, namely, as a politico-administrative term with a
religious flavour,46 Sunnah as a general righteous Islamic practice (as-sunnah
al-ʿadilah; jarat alsunnah),47 Sunnah as a normative way of the early community
as a whole.48 Abd Allah’s extensive analysis of Mālik Ibn Anas’ concept ʿamal
leads him to conclude that he used the word Sunnah in a numner of ways: that of
Sunnah supported by the Medinian ijmāʿ (sunna l-lā-ladhi lā ikhtilah fiha
ʿindana); Sunnah being put into practice (madat al-sunna); Sunnah of all
Muslims (sunnat al-muslimīn); Sunnah known to the people of knowledge (sunnah
ʿindanah); Sunnah of the Prophet (sunnat al-nabi) and simply Sunnah
(al-sunnah).49 In his book On Schacht’s Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence, AlAzami
also gives textual evidence that the word Sunnah was used “in a variety of
different contexts”.50 Dutton’s studies of Mālik’s Muwatṭ ạ lead him to
conclude that according to Mālik the concept Sunnah was seen as: . . . a
normative practice established by the Prophet, put into practice by Companions
and inherited from them as ʿamal (in this sense the practice of Companions in
Medina) by the Successors and their Successors up to the time of Mālik.51
A somewhat different and more nuanced understanding of the concept of
Sunnah in Mālik’s Muwatṭ ạ that is still independent of Ḥadīth is argued by
Guraya who defines it as a concept based on “recognized Islamic religious norms
and accepted standards of conduct derived from the religious and ethical principles
introduced by the Prophet”.52 Importantly, Guraya also identifies Sunnah’
constituents which shall be discussed subsequently. Another definition of
Sunnah that does not depend upon its writtenbased documentation is argued by
Pakistani scholars Moiz Amjad and Ghamidi. They define Sunnah as: “a set of
actions or practical rules (excluding beliefs) which Prophet initiated promoted
and performed among all of his followers as a part of God’s religion (dīn) and
that have been perpetuated from one generation to another practically”.53
Ansari echoes these words by stating that at the time of the famous Syrian
scholar Awzaʾi (d. 157 AH) “the ways of referring to Sunnah, [however] were not
standardised”.54 Similarly Wheeler in his investigation of second-century jurists
such as Ibrahim (d. 182 AH) and Anas (d. 179 AH) maintains that the “concept
and content of Sunnah was malleable because it was not yet to be limited to a
textual corpus”.55 It is worth noting the words by Al-Azami in the same section
of the book dealing with the early concept of Sunnah, which serves here as a
means of a brief summary of what was said above with regards to
semanticocontextual changes in the Sunnah: “Not only was the word Sunnah
originally not confined to the practices of the Prophet: its meaning also
underwent changes”.56
Conclusions from
some of the Chapters from the book The
Sunna and its Status in Islamic Law,Palgrave,2015, ed. Adis Duderija.
Nicolet Boekhoff-van der Voort, The
concept of Sunna based on the analysis of sīra and historical works
from the first three centuries of Islam
The sunna of pre and non-Islamic
groups
“it is the
custom of the prophets” (fa-inna sunnat al-anbiyāʾ)- Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt,
VIII, 78 no. 4131 (Umm Ḥabība bt. Abī Sufyān). Al-Yaʿqūbī, Taʾrīkh, II,
73.
“Indeed
they are customary practices (sunan), customary (sanan) to those
who were before you” (innahā li-l-sunan sanan man kāna qablakum).[1]
- al-Ṭabarī’s single
reference to this concept of sunna takes
place during the caliphate of ʿUmar: “and he treated them (the Persians) in the
way of those who were before them from the people of their religion” (wa-manaḥahum
sunan man kāna qablahum min ahl dīnihim).[2]
The sunna of a group of
Muslims
-In
a tradition about the caliphate of Abū Bakr, the military leader Khālid b.
al-Walīd compares the behaviour of a man to that of women (innahā la-sunna
ka-annahā sunnat al-nisā’). Twice, the example of Muslims in general is
mentioned during the caliphate of ʿAlī (sunnat al-muslimīna). The most
interesting tradition is, however, the one about ʿUmar’s speech after he became
caliph. In this speech he promises to follow three different tpes of sunna:
the sunna of the Prophet (sunnat nabiyyiīhi), the sunna
originating from consensus among Muslims (fīmā jtamaʿtum ʿalayhi wa-sanantum)
and the sunna of pious and virtuous men (wa-sunna sunnat ahl al-khayr).
The sunna of pre-Islamic individuals
Four ancestors of the Prophet Muḥammad are mentioned
in traditions of the selected period as the originators of a specific custom.
The first two are mentioned by al-Ṭabarī in the lineage of the Prophet, namely,
ʿAtr al-ʿAtāʾir who was the “first to establish the practice of the sacrificial
lamb” (wa-huwa awwal man sanna al-ʿatīra), and Ibn Shūḥā, who was the
first to establish the practice of the sacrifice of a sheep or goat during
Rajab (wa-huwa awwal man sanna al-rajabiyya). Both remain continued practices
of the Arabs.[3]
The sunna of a Companion
The
person most mentioned is caliph ʿUmar, separately seven times and in
combination with caliph Abū Bakr twice. Examples of the reference to the sunna
of ʿUmar are: “he is the first to establish the custom of passing
the nights of Ramaḍān in prayer” (wa-huwa awwal man sanna qiyām shahr Ramaḍān)[4]
and “Now it was ʿUmar’s practice and habit to” (wa-kāna min sunnat ʿUmar
wa-sīratihi an)[5].
The combination of the sunna of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar appears in particular
in the description of formal situations dealing with the conduct of a caliph,
for example when the wife of the caliph ʿUthmān encourages him to follow the
conduct of his two predecessors (wa-tatbaʿu sunnat ṣāḥibayka min qablika).[6] These
sunan take place after the death of the Prophet. Only al-Yaʿqūbī includes
one tradition in which he describes the establishment of a custom by Fāṭima,
the daughter of the Prophet, during his lifetime. The Prophet orders her to
prepare a meal, which she did across three days. It became customary among the
Banū Hāshim to do the same (fa-ṣanaʿat lahum ṭaʿāman thalātha ayyām fa-ṣārat
sunna fī Banī Hāshim).[7]
The undefined sunna
Similar
to the concept of sunna of the Prophet and of a Companion, the
historical sources contain the most references to the undefined sunna.
Undefined means that it is not clear who established the custom in contrast
with the types of sunna discussed before. 57% of the terms are found in
the selected sections of al-Ṭabarī’s Tārīkh (37 out of 65). It
constitutes 42% of all terms in his work (37 of 89).
The
undefined sunna also appears in combinations. Whereas in the combination
discussed in the previous paragraph the sunna of the Prophet is clearly
mentioned by the words nabī or rasūl Allāh (kitāb Allāh
wa-sunnat nabiyyihi), in the combinations arranged under the undefined type
of sunna, the sunna could exist of the sunna of the
Prophet, or the community of Muslims, or of a mixture of several sunan.
See, for example, “The Messenger of God commanded them to read the Qurʾān to
them and teach them the practices’” (wa-amarahum rasūl Allāh an yuqriʾūhum
al-Qurʾān wa-yuʿallimūhum al-sunan), or “to teach them the practices and
the jurisprudence (yuʿallimuhum al-sunan wa-l-fiqh).[8]
Furthermore, the sentence, “the best practices are the practices of Muḥammad” (wa-khayr
al-sunan sunan Muḥammad) discussed before in the paragraph on the sunna of
the Prophet, is proof that other practices or practices of other people
(individuals or groups) did exist, but were considered - according to this
tradition - as less authoritative practices.[9]
Conclusion
The two questions raised at the
beginning of this article were how did the concept of sunna develop
within the formative period of Islam, and was it derived from the exemplary
behaviour of the Prophet or is it a mixture of different concepts of sunna?
In order to provide an answer to these questions, seven sīra and
historical works originating in the first three centuries of Islam were
analysed with a comparative study of the occurrence of the terms sunna,
sunan and the derivatives of the verb sanna, coupled with a study of
the types of the sunna they represent.
A
first glance at the manifestations of the three terms in the seven works showed
that the historical works contain far more terms in the selected period than
the sīra works (80% versus 20%). The word sunna is mentioned most
frequently, except in the work of al-Wāqidī, and it seems that it was more
commonly used in the third Islamic century than in the second, particularly in the
historical works. In the Sīra of Ibn Hishām and the Ṭabaqāt of
Ibn Saʿd, the majority of the terms, specifically the term sunna, are
prevalent in traditions about the period during which the Prophet Muḥammad
lived. In the later works of al-Yaʿqūbī and al-Ṭabarī, the majority of the
three words - and particularly the word sunna - are connected with the
period of the four rightly guided caliphs. Generally speaking, in the traditions
about the caliphate of Abū Bakr, both in the historical and the sīra works,
the three terms seldom appear, although in traditions relating later events,
the exemplary behaviour of Abū Bakr, in general, is mentioned.
The
analysis of the different concepts of sunna reveals eight different
kinds of sunna: God, a non-Islamic group, a group of Muslims, ḥajj,
a pre-Islamic individual, a Companion, the Prophet Muḥammad and the undefined sunna.
Among these sunan, the sunna of God, although mentioned in the
Qurʾān, is the least frequently used type of sunna in the selected
period of the seven sīra and historical works. It appears in formal
situations, such as official letters, a pledge of allegiance or a speech. The sunna
of the Prophet constitutes together with the undefined sunna the
largest part of the different types of sunna. The most frequent used
word to describe the practice of the Prophet is the word sunna (85%). Furthermore,
almost half of the terms referring to the sunna of the Prophet appear in
combination with the Qurʾān in the phrase “the book of God and the practice of His
Prophet”.
Overall,
the latest sources contain the most variances of the concept of sunna. Even
though some scholars argue that the sunna of the Prophet became
authoritative and substituted the other types of sunna, the analysis of
the different concepts of sunna in the seven sira and historical
works have shown that the sīra works do not contain many references to sunna
of the Prophet and even contain very few references to any kind of sunna
at all. Furthermore, in the (later) historical sources, the words sunna,
sunan and sanna appears more frequently, culminating in the late
work of al-Ṭabarī. Finally, the analysis has shown that the later historical
works - perhaps against the expectations - have preserved a wide range of
different types of sunna and contain even more varied types of sunna than
the (earlier) sīra works, although the sunna of the Prophet is
one of the most frequently used concepts. An explanation of these results could
be that the discussion among jurists about the status of the exemplary
behaviour of the Prophet Muḥammad in the second Islamic century caused an
increasing interest in the general concept of sunna among scholars of
history.
Aisha Y. Musa, The
Sunnification of Ḥadīth and the
Hadithification of Sunna. published in A.Duderija ( ed.) , The Sunna and its Status in Islamic Law,Palgrave,2015.
Conclusion
As
the foregoing analysis of key texts shows, in spite of the hadification of sunna
and the sunnification of ḥadith that occurred
over the course of the first several Hijrī centuries, the concept of sunna was initially linked to the
actions of the Prophet and others and also to the character qualities those
actions embody, such as attitudes of charity and moderation. Over time, the Muslim community granted
higher status to the words, deeds, and attitudes of the Prophet over those of
others, developing the concept of the Prophetic Sunna and granting that Sunna
the status of a secondary form of divine inspiration, or waḥy. The shift
from memorization and recitation to books as the means of preserving and
disseminating information that occurred in the 3rd century AH (9th
century CE) led to emergence of Ḥadīth collections. Collections arranged by
topics (muṣannaf), transmitters (musnad), and Prophetic practices
(sunan) emerged in order to meet the needs of scholars and jurists
seeking to answer questions of faith and practice for the Muslim community. Ḥadīth
became an indispensable repository of religious knowledge, in particular,
knowledge of the Prophetic Sunna.
As such, Ḥadīth collections came to be the vehicle through which later
generations of Muslims access that knowledge.
Together, these factors blurred the distinction that earlier scholars
had drawn between sunna as action, in particular the words and deeds of
the Prophet Muḥammad, and ḥadīth texts, leading to the commonplace conflation
of ḥadīth and sunna in popular consciousness. The size and scope
of collections, the specific reports the compilers include, the subject
headings under which reports are placed, and the arrangement of sections and
subsections clearly demonstrate the hadithification of both sunna and
knowledge and the primacy of the Prophet Muhammad as the originator of sunna.
However, the impression given by the limited occurrences of the word sunna and its related verbs in
the texts (mutūn) of individual ḥadīth reports is often at odds
with the impression given by structure, organization and even titles of the
collections. While the Prophet is often designated as the originator of sunna,
so are the Abū Bakr, ᶜUmar, and the Rightly Guided Caliphs. The greatest ambiguity, however, is
introduced by the Prophet’s declaration
about “whoever establishes a sunna” (man
sanna sunnatan), found in both
canonical and non-canonical collections, including Muslim’s Ṣaḥīḥ. What remains consistent throughout is the idea of sunna as
precedent, whether it is a practice, character quality, or attitude, that is
established by someone and then emulated by others.
Usman Ghani, The
Concept of Sunna in Muctazilite Thought
Conclusion:
The Muctazilite
was a distinct school of thought with its own principles and foundations which cantered
primarily on the issues of creed and theology. With regard the position of
Sunna and Hadith, as we have seen from the preceding discussion, there have
been significant differences within this school from the formative period and
throughout the classical period.
For example, Abu al-Qasim
al-Balkhi (d.319AH/913CE), a prominent Baghdadi Mu’tazilite, in his work Qubul
al-Akhbar, a work on Hadith criticism bears testimony to this point. In it
we see clear evidence that the Muctazilites accepted Sunna as
an important source of Islamic theology second only to the Qur’an. In his
introduction, Al-Balkhi explains that the requirements for a sound Hadith are
that it is in accordance with Qur’an and
the sunna that has been agreed upon (wa li sunnati rasulillah al
mujmac calayha) by the umma or the early Muslim
community.[10]
Al-Jahiz (d.255AH/868CE) knew that Hadith was indispensable for jurists, but as
a Muctazilite he did not like it. Hence, in place of khabar/hadith,
he spoke of a ‘sunna accepted by all’ al-sunna al mujmac calayh.[11]
Perhaps it can be argued that this concept as specified by Al-Jahiz informs
us that the Muctazilites understood the concept of Sunna as most of
the scholars of their school could agree upon. Hence, in the light of above it
is difficult to maintain that the Muctazilites as a school of
thought were in complete agreement on the principles regarding the Sunna and
especially the terms Mutawatir and Ahad. Sunna must have been primarily understood
through the lenses of early proto-Hanafi jurists that the Muctazilite
followed such as Abu Hanifa.[12]
Also, some specific Hadith may have been re-interpreted if found not in par
with rationalism as this was the main criteria for the Muctazilites. However, in legal issues the Sunna seems to
be understood in par with the majority of scholars especially since most of the
Muctazilites followed Sunni schools of jurisprudence. Only in the
world of cilm al-kalam not fiqh, Sunna seems to be understood
very differently except for that which has been discussed in this chapter.
Ali
Altaf Mian, The Concept of Sunna in Early and Medieval Ḥanafism
Conclusion
This
chapter has shown the paramount significance of epistemology in the early and
medieval Ḥanafī construction of discursive authority and religious normativity.
The Ḥanafī loyalty to certainty—their desire to base their doctrines and
actions in sound knowledge—demonstrates this discursive tradition’s
indebtedness to rationalist theology. In this legal School, the Qur’ān, certainty-yielding
sunna, and consensus transmit certain
knowledge. These three sources, argued medieval Ḥanafī theorists, provide
knowledge that can be traced back to the Prophet with certainty (‘ilm al-yaqīn).[13] The
solitary reports, the sayings of the Companions, analogy, juristic preference,
and custom transmit probable knowledge. Ḥanafī legal theorists therefore
divided legal sources along epistemological lines, for rejection of certainty-yielding
sources amounts to unbelief (kufr),
whereas rejection of probability-yielding sources amounts to misguidance and
sinfulness. We could say that “the preserved and well-known sunna” became the master-discourse of the law in Ḥanafism, for certain sunna alone authorized any additional
certainty-yielding source of the revealed law (namely, the Qur’ān and communal consensus). The Prophet’s concurrent and
renowned sunna, argued the Ḥanafīs, was
the arch-source of all divine norms. The Ḥanafī distinction between certainty-yielding
sunna and probability-yielding sunna enabled post-formative Ḥanafī
jurists to use epistemological grounding in order to authenticate and defend the
legal positions of the School’s founding fathers.
Ersilia FRANCESCA, The Concept of Sunna in the
Ibadi Madhhab
Conclusion
The narrowing down of the concept
of sunna, comprising the exemplary
behaviour of the Prophet and his companions, to the behaviour of the Prophet
only started toward the end of the 1st/7th cent.[14] Early Ibāḍī tradition collections
– as well as the Sunnī early works – abound with reports traced back to companions
and successors, and although the concept of “sunnat al-nabī” occasionally emerges in the earliest sources, in
the vast majority of cases we find merely sunna
referring to both the “living tradition” of the school and the traditions
related from the closest Prophet’s followers. Ibāḍis considered the early period of the first two al-Rashidūn Caliphs as being the ideal
age for the Muslim community and tried to trace back to the example set by the
Prophet, his two successors and the upright companions. The development of
Ibadism as movement in general and school of law in particular was mainly in
the hands of the fuqahā’ or ‘ulamā’. When the community was still
settled in Baṣra, the first Ibāḍī authorities were in close contact with the
Sunnī scholars exchanging advices and opinions with them, thus contributing to
the general development of the Islamic law. When the community left Baṣra and
settled in Oman, Ḥaḍramawt and Maghreb there was no rivalry between the main
centres of Ibadism even if they developed isnād
of their own where local authorities were mentioned. There were transmitters
who having learnt the ‘ilm in one
centre moved to another centre and disseminated the learned material there (“bearers
of knowledge”, ḥamalat al-‘ilm), so the
bulk of traditions going back to the early Ibāḍī Basrian authorities became the
“common property” of the whole Ibāḍī community.
As mentioned above, al-Rabī‘ was
the first to give impulse to the systematic collection of ḥadīth and all other athār;
nonetheless his own role in transmitting traditions should not be overrated. It
is true that we have a Musnad devoted
to all the traditions in whose transmission he has supposedly been
instrumental, but an opinion as to whether these traditions, or at least part of
them, can be considered authentic is as always the case in these matters
difficult to form. The Musnad was the fruit of the process of
“rationalization” which the Ibāḍī law had undergone with the aim of
safeguarding the school from outside influences and placing it on the same level
as the other schools of law.
The third/ninth century scholar Abū
’l-Mundhir Bashīr b. Muḥammad b. Maḥbūb, is considered to be the first
theoretician of the sunnat al-nabī,
which he regarded as preminent to the sunna
ascribed to other persons. He, more than any other scholar before him, was
determined on granting the sunna of
the Prophet a position as the guiding principle second in importance only to
the Qur’ān.
The later Ibāḍī sources
concentrated on isnād criticism. The isnād, if found sound, was thought to
guarantee the authenticity of the text (maṭn)
supported. This scrutiny of isnād
resulted in an increasingly sophisticated criticism which developed into a
regular scholarly discipline constituting one of the branches of the science of
tradition (‘ilm al-ḥadīth). The
recording of traditions with an Ibāḍī isnād
reached its zenith with the compilation of the Musnad al-Rabī‘. This work gained so much authority in the eyes of Ibāḍī
scholars that it came to be considered the most accurate collection of
traditions, thus overshadowing the contributions of early collections, such as the Aqwāl Qatāda, the Āthār and
the Futyā al-Rabī‘, which preserved
the ancient teachings of the school.
Most arguments presented by the Ibāḍī
authors dealing with the position of the sunnat
al-nabī as second root of Law after the Qur’an are the same as those given
in Sunnī treatises on this subject. The substance of this argument is that since,
in many verses of the Qur’ān, God has ordered to the men to obey His Messanger
(16:44), this implies that everything preached by the Messanger should be taken
as truth. The sunna is indispensable
as the guiding principle in all human activities, if the Qur’ān does not
provide the decisive answers. All traditions judged sound after a rigorous
scrutiny must be put into practice by the whole community; whosoever does not
respect them is considered as infidel.
The works of the last century Ibāḍī
reformists, Nūr al-Dīn al-Sālimī in Oman and Muḥammad Aṭfayyish in the Mzab, make
it clear that the Ibāḍis shared
the rules on the science of traditions with the other schools since they found
no reason not to do. The process of reform in the contemporary Ibadism led to a rapprochement between Muslim sects,
notably between Ibāḍis and Sunnis. Yet, mastering the Ibāḍī heritage means knowing its various
aspects but also recognizing its relativity and historicity, therefore these
authors refer to the search for an Ibāḍī identity in modernity, which can blossom only where there
are no bans for innovation and rethinking.[15]
Gavin N. Picken, The Concept of Sunna in the Early Shāfiʿī Madhhab
Conclusion
There can be little doubt that
al-Shāfiʿī’s continuous travel during the formative period of Islamic history
afforded him a unique perspective on the formation of legal thought. He
journeyed to Hejaz in youth, Yemen as a young man, Iraq on two occasions and
finally Egypt where he ended his life. Consequently, he became familiarized
with the nascent juristic traditions of these regional intellectual centers and
particularly, with the ‘scripturalist’ trend of Hejaz epitomized by Mālik and
the ‘rationalist’ trend of Iraq, represented by Abū Ḥanīfa. While this must
have been beneficial in exposing him to differing perceptions of how Islamic
jurisprudence could be articulated he must have also seen the discrepancies and
inconsistencies in the practice of law of these traditions. Of specific concern
to al-Shāfiʿī was the variance in how the term sunna was understood and
in particular how this could be equated with non-scriptural sources evinced by
the regional practice of ‘Medinan precedent’ (ʿamal ahl al-Madina),
established by Mālik. Similarly, al-Shāfiʿī was equally perturbed by the
utilization of ‘excessive’ ‘personal opinion’ (raʾy) and its primacy
within the concept of ‘juristic preference’ (istiḥsān), favored by Abū Ḥanīfa.[16]
Thus, al-Shāfiʿī focused on
devising his own system that needed to affirm the meaning of sunna as
being that of the Prophet only and at the same time, provide a systematic way
of allowing space for the expression juristic reasoning, but one that could be
controlled through basing it on a revelatory precedent, namely qiyās.
Another main concern for al-Shāfiʿī was to further restrict the concept of sunna
to a scriptural foundation and therefore, he set about proving the validity and
reliability of ḥadīth, so that it could function as a textual source.
Al-Shāfiʿī’s final project was to ensure that sunna – now restricted to
the Prophet and determined by ḥadīth – was compatible with primary
source of revelation and hence, he developed various hermeneutical rubrics for
harmonizing apparent discrepancies between the Qurʾān and sunna that
were articulated in his theory of bayān.
This system was also readily
adopted by al-Shāfiʿī’s students such as al-Buwayṭī and al-Muzanī. Indeed, they
embraced it in the spirit that it was meant, not in terms of indiscriminate
emulation, but rather in the expression of discerning ijtihād that
characterized much of the period.[17]
Moreover, it is also interesting to note that many of the subjects that
al-Shāfiʿī raises in the theory of bayān became standard discussion in
the later works of uṣūl al-fiqh within the school context.[18]
Therefore, we find references to: ʿāmm and khāṣṣ[19];
jumla and naṣṣ [20];
naskh[21]; khabar
al-wāḥid[22];
criteria for ḥadīth transmission[23];
criteria for the approval of ḥadīth narrators[24];
qiyās[25]; ijmāʿ[26];
ijtihād[27]
and the fallaciousness of istiḥsān.[28]
Despite this, much has been made
regarding the influence of al-Shāfiʿī in academic studies, particularly in the
discipline of ‘legal theory’ or uṣūl al-fiqh; there are those like
Schacht who consider his influence to be considerable, and Coulson who lauded
upon him the honorific epithet of “Master Architect.”[29]
Others, like Hallaq have argued that al-Shāfiʿī’s influence on later uṣūl
al-fiqh was minimal at best, and Lowry has provided a more balanced
approach to this conclusion.[30]
Hallaq’s premise was that al-Shāfiʿī’s Risāla bears little resemblance
to the works of mature uṣūl al-fiqh that appeared approximately a
century or more after al-Shāfiʿī’s death. Moreover, Hallaq places somewhat
exacting criteria for the basis of his conclusion:
“The most
striking fact about the 9th century is that it yields no single work on uṣūl
al-fiqh. By that we mean a work whose primary task is to lay down a
systematic, comprehensive, and organically structured legal methodology whose
purpose in turn is to derive legal rulings from the material sources-as was
clearly the case in the 10th century and thereafter.”[31]
One may comment here that to compare a preliminary
attempt to codify legal theory with its later mature state is a somewhat unfair
exercise as most works of the early third/ninth century rarely displayed such
organizational and theoretical precision.[32]
Indeed, having discussed al-Shāfiʿī’s theory of bayān as represented in
the Risāla, one might say that it does indeed qualify as, “a systematic,
comprehensive, and organically structured legal methodology whose purpose in
turn is to derive legal rulings from the material sources”, albeit in a
developmental form.
Moreover, attempting to juxtapose
al-Shāfiʿī with the later uṣūl al-fiqh tradition may have fundamentally
missed the point. As Lowry notes, approximately eighty per cent of the Risāla
is devoted to two main areas, namely harmonizing source interaction and issues
related to the sunna as a source of law.[33]
In other words, the Risāla is dedicated to subject of what constitutes
the sunna, how the sunna interacts with the Qurʾān and the status
of the sunna within law. It is clear, as mentioned earlier, that this
was a response to the juristic milieu of the 2nd/8th
century and the issues that arose therein. It is also evident that al-Shāfiʿī
wanted the law to be more consistent and to be directly related to revelatory
material rather than human influence, or as Hallaq puts it – somewhat melodramatically – that al-Shāfiʿī
was, “ … the victor-jurist who brought the 8th-century unbridled law
down to the knees of revelation.”[34]
Al-Shāfiʿī – as a scripturalist par excellence – was successful, in that
he forced jurists to return the law to its revelatory origins, reconsider the
concept and status of sunna and especially, the position of ḥadīth
as a proof text.[35]
Although recognition of
al-Shāfiʿī’s impact on the articulation of Islamic law was not so forthcoming
in academic studies, traditional Muslim scholars have long lauded his
contribution. For example, Ibn ʿAqīl (d. 513/1119) – despite being affiliated
with the Ḥanbalī school – referred to al-Shāfiʿī as both the ‘father’ and the
‘mother’ of uṣūl al-fiqh.[36]
Similarly, al-Shāfiʿī’s position with reference to the development of legal
theory has been likened to that of Aristotle in relation to logic, and Khalīl
b. Aḥmad (d. between
160/777 and 175/791) in relation to Arabic prosody.[37]
Moreover, with regard to the theological concept of the ‘renewer’ (mujaddid),
who will revive the fortunes of the Muslim world at the beginning of every
century, al-Shāfiʿī was considered to occupy this elevated status in the second
century of the Islamic era.[38]
Thus, with regard to the concept of sunna and its associated ḥadīth,
al-Shāfiʿī is regarded as someone who revived religion in his time, nurtured
legal theory and breathed life into Islamic law.
[1] Al-Wāqidī, Kitāb al-Maghāzī., 595. The translation is from
Faizer, The Life, 438.
[2] Al-Ṭabarī, Tārīkh, IV, 174.
[3] Al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīkh, II, 204. The translation of the terms al-ʿatīra
and al-rajabiyya are based on the information found in W. Montgomery
Watt and M.V. McDonald, transl., The History of al-Ṭabarī: Volume VI: Muḥammad
at Mecca (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988), 40 footnote
53.
[4] Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt, III, 313 (Dhikr istikhlāf ʿUmar).
See also al-Yaʿqūbī, Taʾrīkh, II, 96.
[5] Al-Ṭabarī, Tārīkh, V, 36. The translation is from G. Rex
Smith, trans., The History of al-Ṭabarī: Volume XIV: The Conquest of Iran
(Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994), 51.
[6] Al-Ṭabarī, Tārīkh, V, 161.
[7] Al-Yaʿqūbī, Taʾrīkh, II, 43.
[8] Al-Wāqidī, Kitāb al-Maghāzī, 620 and 594, respectively. The
first translation is from Faizer, The Life, 457. Faizer translated the
second sentence with “to inform them of the practice and jurisprudence of
Islam”, 437. I decided to stay close to the Arabic phrase.
[9] Al-Wāqidī, Kitāb al-Maghāzī, 681.
[10] Abu al-Qasim al-Kacbi al-Balkhi,
Qubul al-Akhbar wa macrifat al-Rijal, No Publishing date, V.1, (Beirut, Dar al-Kutub al-cIlmiyya) 11.
[11] Joseph Van Ess, The
Flowering of Muslim Theology, Trans. Jane Marie Todd, 2006, (Harvard
University Press) 158
[13] Moreover, Ḥanafī legal theorists argued that certainty
could be divided further into two types: necessary (ḍarūrī) and acquired (muktasab).
The Qur’ān and the concurrent reports (akhbār mutawātira) yield necessary certainty; the renowned reports (akhbār mashhūra) yield acquired certainty. See Zysow, The Economy of Certainty, 13.
[14] Gautier H. A. Juynboll, Muslim Tradition. Studies in Chronology,
Provenance and Authorship of Early ḥadīth (Cambridge: Cambridege University
Press, 1983), 30-33; Adis Duderja, “Evolution in the Concept
of Sunnah during the First Four Generations of Muslims in Relation to the
Development of the Concept of an Authentic Ḥadīth as based on Recent Western
Scholarship” (Arab Law Quartely 26,
2012), 393-437.
[15] M. Aṭfayyish Jāmi‘
al-shaml fī ḥadīth Khatam al-Rusul (2
vols., Beirut 1987); Nūr ad-Dīn Al-Sālimī,
al-Lumʻa al-murḍīya min ashiʻʻat al-abaḍīya
(Musqat: Wizārat ʼal-Turāth ʼal-Qawmī wa-ʼal-Thaqāfah, 1983). See also Muṣṭafā
b. al-Nāṣir Ouinten, Ārā’ al-shaykh Muḥammad
b. Yūsuf Aṭfayyish al-‘aqdiyya (al-Qarāra (Algeria): Jam‘iyya
al-Turāth, 1996), 84-87.
[16] The traditional account
has ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. al-Mahdī (d. 198/813) as the instigator of the Risāla,
as he is said to have requested al-Shāfiʿī to write a work to bridge the gap
between the methodologies employed by jurists in Iraq and Hejaz, but this account
is far from being well attested. Equally we do not have a definitive chronology
of al-Shāfiʿī’s writings and one wonders, therefore, if the Risāla was a
rejoinder to his earlier ‘polemical’ treatises? This may well have been the
case, as it is said to have been finalized in Egypt near the end of
al-Shāfiʿī’s life and incorporates an interlocutor who regularly challenges
al-Shāfiʿī, which is reminiscent of the later ʿilm al-kalām style of
argumentation. See: al-Rāzī, Manāqib, 58-9; al-Shāfiʿī, al-Risāla,
trans. Khadduri, 19-21; and Schacht, Origins, 330.
[17]
See: Gavin N. Picken (ed.), Islamic Law, Critical
Concepts in Islamic Studies, 4 vols. (Abingdon: Routledge, 2010), 1:5-7.
[18] Although Lowry quite
rightly observes the term bayān took on a new connotation in later uṣūl
al-fiqh, the discussion of this subject in al-Ghazālī’s al-Mustaṣfā
occasionally bears a striking resemblance to al-Shāfiʿī’s conceptualization.
See: Lowry, “Some Preliminary Observations,” 509-10 and cf. al-Ghazālī, al-Mustaṣfā,
2:39.
[19] Al-Ghazālī, al-Mustaṣfā,
2:106-78.
[20] Al-Ghazālī, al-Mustaṣfā,
2:28-38.
[21] Al-Ghazālī, al-Mustaṣfā,
1:207-45.
[22] Al-Ghazālī, al-Mustaṣfā,
1:272-90.
[23] Al-Ghazālī, al-Mustaṣfā,
1:309-24.
[24] Al-Ghazālī, al-Mustaṣfā,
1:290-309.
[25] Al-Ghazālī, al-Mustaṣfā,
2:235-378.
[26] Al-Ghazālī, al-Mustaṣfā,
1:325-76.
[27] Al-Ghazālī, al-Mustaṣfā,
2:382-470.
[28] Al-Ghazālī, al-Mustaṣfā,
1:409-14.
[29] See: Schacht, Origins,
6-20, 36-81 and 315-29 and Coulson, History, 53-61.
[30] See: Hallaq, “Was
al-Shafiʿi,” 587-605 and Lowry, Early Islamic Legal Theory, 359-68.
[31] Hallaq, “Was al-Shafiʿi,”
588.
[32] I bring to mind here my
own reading of al-Ḥārith al-Muḥāsibī’s (d. 243/857) writings, who was a
contemporary of al-Shāfiʿī’s student, Ahmad b. Ḥanbal. Despite al-Muḥāsibī
enjoying considerable influence in the later Sufi tradition, his writings bear
only a passing resemblance, in terms of form and structure, if compared to the
later development of mature Sufi science (ʿilm al-taṣawwuf), which would
be epitomized by works such as the Risāla of Abū ’l-Qāsim b. Hawāzin
al-Qushayrī (d. 465/1074). See: Gavin N. Picken, Spiritual Purification in
Islam: The Life and Works of al-Muḥāsibī, Routledge Sufi Series (Abingdon:
Routledge, 2011), 216-20 and Gavin N. Picken, “Ibn Ḥanbal and al-Muḥāsibī: A
Study of Early Conflicting Scholarly Methodologies,” Arabica 55:3
(2008): 338.
[33] Lowry denotes
approximately one third of the Risāla is devoted to source interaction
and around one half of the text is related to the sunna. Lowry, Early Islamic Legal Theory, 118.
[34] Hallaq, “Was al-Shafiʿi,”
588.
[35] See: Sherman A. Jackson, “Getting the
Record Straight: Ibn Al-Labbad's Refutation of al-Shāfiʿī,” Journal of
Islamic Studies 11:2 (2000): 121-46 and cf. Christopher Melchert, “Traditionist-Jurisprudents
and the Framing of Islamic Law,” Islamic Law and Society 8:3
(2001): 383-406.
[36] See: Lowry, Early Islamic Legal Theory, 57.
[37] See: al-Rāzī, Manāqib,
158; Hasan, Early Development, 179 and cf. Hallaq, “Was al-Shafiʿi,”
590.
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