The origins of Imāmī hadīth: a bio-bibliographical cross-reference analysis

Movahedifar, Mostafa (2023). The origins of Imāmī hadīth: a bio-bibliographical cross-reference analysis. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

The academic study of the history of Islam still lacks a systematic and nuanced approach to analysing the isnāds found in Imāmī collections of ḥadīths, similar to the methodology developed and applied by Joseph Schacht and G.H.A. Juynboll to Sunnī ḥadīth compendia. This thesis develops and tests an isnād-analytical method for exploring the date, origin, and development of Twelver Shīʿī (Imāmī) ḥadīth. It argues that a culture of writing emerged during the times of the fifth and sixth Shīʿī Imāms, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Bāqir (d. 114/733) and Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq (d. 148/765), resulting in the production of numerous written records during their Imamates. The transmission of these records influenced the approaches of later Imāmī ḥadīth compilers to isnād and formed a connection between isnāds and the bio-bibliographical transmission paths to earlier written records provided in two Imāmī bio-bibliographical dictionaries, Rijāl al-Najāshī and Fihrist al-Ṭūsī, both of which written in the 5th/11th century. The method proposed in this study for Imāmī isnād analysis, termed as "bio-bibliographical cross-reference analysis", comprises three main steps, which are developed and explained in detail. This thesis demonstrates the validity of this method through the analysis of a well- known case in Imāmī ḥadīth literature, drawing significant conclusions about the provenance, transmission, and development of Imāmī ḥadīth.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):