The Efficiency of the Sunnī Ḥadīth Criticism System as Argued by the Qur’ānists and Traditionists

Along with proving the sufficiency of the Qur’ān for the extraction of the religious knowledge, the Qur’ānists have doubted the authenticity and the authoritativeness of the sunna and Ḥadīth. One of their reasons for the inauthenticity of the sunna is the inefficiency of the Ḥadīth evaluation and criticism system. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the present study first analyzes their main reasons for this inefficiency, including the existence of inauthentic traditions in Ḥadīth collections, the prevalence of forgery and fictions in Ḥadīth, the ignorance of internal criticism by Ḥadīth transmitters, the existence of gaps in the principles of the Rijāl ideas, and the existence of forgery and distortion in the chains of transmission. Then, the responses of the Ḥadīth defenders are discussed, including the possibility of justifying the Ḥadīths that have been deemed inauthentic, the ignorance of the different linguistic levels of the Ḥadīths, the Ḥadīth transmitters' constant efforts to purify the Ḥadīth legacy and identify the fabrications from the time of their issuance, the traditionists' efforts in and attention to the textual examination and strict Rijāl investigations.

Keywords:

Qur’ānists , Ḥadīth authenticity , Inauthenticity , Chain criticism , Textual criticism , Ḥadīth collections