Chapter 3: The Hadith Masters and The Jurists
CHAPTER 3: THE HADĪTH MASTERS AND THE JURISTS
Chapter three looks at the issues faced by the Muslim World in the 9th century CE and how these were resolved through the efforts of the Hadīth masters and the Jurists. The summary of this chapter will be split into three sections.
1. The Muslim world in the 9th century
2. The efforts of the Hadīth masters
3. The efforts of the Jurists.
Society under the rule of the Abbasid Caliphate was very similar to Umayyad Era. The key difference was that under Abbasid rule, the Arabs dominated office as opposed to non-Arabs during the Umayyad era. This claim is debatable however, as many historians such as Firas Alkhateeb claim the opposite. Regardless, this does not detract from the fact that the Muslim world was still in a state of moral depravity. The annual income of the Abbasid Caliph Harun Rashid was more than 7,500 qintars which is equivalent to 70,150,000 dinars. This further increased during the time of Caliph Mamun. However, there were some amongst the scholarly class who stayed away from these luxuries. These men “steadfastly upheld the traditions of detachment, fearlessness, and undaunted championship of the truth. Those in power could neither buy them nor force them to give up the task they had taken upon themselves.” (p66). This group of men included Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161/778), Fudayl ibn ‘Iyad. (d. 187/803), Junayd al-Baghdadi (d. 297/910), Ma’ruf al-Karkhi (d. 200/815), Bishr al-Hafi (d. 227/841) and mpre. Baghdad therefore exhibited both a trend of a luxurious and aesthetic lifestyle. Due to the efforts of the scholarly class, Baghdad became a global hub of knowledge. Despite the efforts of these scholars, the Muslim world needed urgent answers to rising questions about land revenue, protection tax, customs and rites of those living under their rule and much more. To answer these questions, two pressing issues had to be tackled first. The first of these was the compilation of Hadīth and the second was the need to derive rulings from the Quran and Sunnah whilst also using Qiyās (reasoning) to adapt to the new situations the Muslims found themselves in. These issues were solved by the relentless efforts of the Hadith masters and Jurists.
The efforts of the Hadīth masters resolved the need to compile Hadīth. The author goes so far as to say “Divine arrangements were made for safeguarding the Hadīth” which shows both the importance of preserving and compiling Hadīth and the great effort that was associated with it. The scholars of Hadīth would often travel to faraway lands in pursuit of just one Hadīth. The author remarks “They moved heaven and earth to hunt for Hadīths in every corner of the Islamic world.” Imam Bukhari set off on his travels at the age of 14 and journeyed from Bukhara to Egypt. However, they did not just hear Hadīth and compile it. They rigorously investigated the Hadīth – checking its chain of narration for any defects. Thus, a new science was born called Asmaa’ al-Rijaal (biographical evaluation, lit. names of men). In this science, the lives of the men who narrated Hadīth from the time of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) were investigated. Their memory, the strength of their narration, their character and a variety of other things were checked without any impartiality. One example the author mentions is that of Mu’aadh ibn Mu’aadh. This Hadīth master once rejected the Hadīth narrated by someone due to their reliance on written memories as it suggested that their actual memory was weak. He even rejected 1000 dinars to remain silent regarding the unreliability of a Hadīth narrator. These evidences support the author’s statement that these Hadīth masters were “robust, vigorous, and resolute people with a strong, retentive memory whose ardent desire for acquiring knowledge had been kindled by Islam.” (p72) It is worthwhile noting that most of the Hadīth masters were Persian and Turkmen of “elite stock.” The devotion of the Hadīth scholars led to a greater degree of interest from the masses in Hadīth as more and more people began to attend Hadīth lectures and circles. It is reported that the attendance at the lecture of of Abu Khalid Yazid ibn Harun al-Wasiti (d. 206/821) in Baghdad exceeded 70,000. The Six Authentic Collections (Sihah Sitta) were also made during this period and are still used today in Islamic institutions across the world. This shows that the efforts of these Hadīth masters resolved the issue of the need for Hadīth compilation and its effects are still being seen today.
The efforts of the Jurists resolved the issue of the need to derive rulings from the Quran and Sunnah whilst also using Qiyās to adapt to the new situations as they arose in the Muslim world. Similar to the Hadīth Masters, a few men of great devotion to the Islamic sciences rose to the task. The author remarks that “these men were highly esteemed scholars noted for their outstanding piety, service to the community, scholarship, and understanding of legal matters” (p74). Four men stand out as the most influential and learned out of all of the Jurists. These are, in chronological order, Imam Abu Hanīfah, Imam Mālik, Imam Shāfi’i and Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal. These four men worked extensively in Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) and their followers developed their works into the 4 prominent schools of thought as we know it today: Hanafi, Māliki, Shāfi’i and Hanbali. The author does not mention this but for the clarity of the reader, it is important to note that all four schools are well respected across the Muslim world and agreed to be correct despite their differences. The differences occur due to the methodology used in each jurist’s approach to Fiqh. For example, Imam Abu Hanīfah relied significantly on Qiyās due to his geographic location which was relatively far away from the Muslim heartlands. Imam Ahmad Bin Hanbal on the other hand relied more on taking directly from Hadīth. However, all these approaches are agreed to be correct by the masses of Sunni Islam. Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad provides a detailed overview of these differences in his book “Understanding the Four Madhabs”. The four schools are still being developed to this day by scholars. The endeavours of these jurists protected Islam “from the intellectual confusion and social anarchy which has brought many nations to ruin in their earliest stages.” (p76)
To conclude, the efforts of both the Hadīth masters and jurists helped to prevent Islam’s teachings and practices from being polluted. No other religion was as rigorously preserved from its earliest days as Islam has and this is owed to the relentless endeavours of the Hadīth masters and jurists and the favour of Allah (SWT) upon the Muslims. May Allah (SWT) accept their efforts and have mercy on them all.