CHAPTER 5

TECHNICAL CRITICISM OF TRADITIONS

BY SHĀFI'I AND HIS PREDECESSORS

THE use of traditions in the ancient schools of law took little account of the standards of criticism which in the time of Shafi'i had been developed by the specialists on traditions (Tr. III, 62). Their technical terms thabit 'well-authenticated', mashhür 'well-known', mausül or muttaşil 'with an uninterrupted isnād', maqțu' or munqați' 'with an interrupted isnād', mursal 'lacking [the mention of] the first transmitter', da'if 'weak', majhul 'unknown, not identified', munkar 'objectionable', were known to Shafi'i and his opponents, the adherents of the ancient schools, alike, but it was left to Shafi'i to introduce as much of the specialized criticism of traditions as existed in his time into legal science.

Shafi'i tries to follow a middle course between two opposite tendencies: some do not pay sufficient attention to traditions, others aspire to a thorough traditional foundation of their doctrine, so much so that they accept traditions from transmitters from whom it would be better not to accept them, . . .provided only their traditions agree with their opinions, and reject traditions from reliable people if they happen to contradict their opinions. He who scrutinizes the traditional foundations of legal doctrines with competence and accuracy, is staggered by the mursal traditions of all who are not prominent Successors' (Ris. 64). It is Shafi'i's rule that only well-authenticated traditions are to be accepted (Ikh. 58), that is to say, the criterion of their reliability or lack of it is the isnad.

It is stated on the authority of the Successor Ibn Sirin that the demand for and the interest in isnads started from the civil war (fitna), when people could no longer be presumed to be reliable without scrutiny;² we shall see later³ that the civil war which