Editing Hadith (section)

==Criticism==
{{Main|Criticism of Hadith|Hadith rejectors}}
{{see also|Goldziher}}

The major points of intra-Muslim criticism of the hadith literature is based in questions regarding its authenticity.<ref name=wael>{{cite journal |last= B. Hallaq|first= Wael|title=The Authenticity of Prophetic Ḥadîth: A Pseudo-Problem|journal=Studia Islamica|volume=89 (1999)|issue= 89|pages=75–90|jstor=1596086|date=1999   |doi= 10.2307/1596086}}</ref> However, Muslim criticism of hadith is also based on theological and philosophical Islamic grounds of argument and critique.

Historically, some sects of the [[Kharijites]] rejected the Hadith. There were some who opposed even the writing down of the Hadith itself for fear that it would compete, or even replace the [[Qur'an]].<ref name="Rowman & Littlefield"/> [[Mu'tazilites]] also rejected the hadiths as the basis for Islamic law, while at the same time accepting the Sunnah and [[ijma]].<ref name="Lulu.com"/> For Mu'tazilites, the basic argument for rejecting the hadiths was that "since its essence is transmission by individuals, [it] cannot be a sure avenue of our knowledge about the Prophetic teaching unlike the Qur'an about whose transmission there is a universal unanimity among Muslims".<ref name="Lulu.com"/>

With regard to clarity, Imam [[Ali al-Ridha]] has narrated that "In our Hadith there are Mutashabih (unclear ones) like those in al-Quran as well as Muhkam (clear ones) like those of al-Quran. You must refer the unclear ones to the clear ones."<ref name=Kafi2013/>{{rp|15}}

Muslim scholars have a long history of questioning the hadith literature throughout Islamic history. Western academics also became active in the field later (in [[Hadith studies]]), starting in 1890, but much more often since 1950.<ref>See Western scholarship section in [[Criticism of hadith]] re: Ignatz Goldziher, Josef Schacht, Patricia Crone, John Esposito, and Reza Aslan in particular.</ref>

Some Muslim critics of hadith even go so far as to completely reject them as the basic texts of Islam and instead adhere to the movement called [[Quranism]]. Quranists argue that the Quran itself does not contain an invitation to accept hadith as a second theological source alongside the Quran. The expression "to obey God and the Messenger", which occurs among others in 3:132 or 4:69, is understood to mean that one follows the Messenger whose task it was to convey the Quran by following the Quran alone. Muhammad is, so to speak, a mediator from God to people through the Quran alone and not through hadith, according to Quranists.<ref>{{cite web|title=DeRudKR - Kap. 27: Was bedeutet 'Gehorcht dem Gesandten'?|periodical=Alrahman|publisher=|url=https://www.alrahman.de/die-erfundene-religion-und-die-koranische-religion-kapitel-27-was-bedeutet-gehorcht-dem-gesandten/|format=|access-date=|date=2006-03-06|language=de-DE|pages=|quote=}}</ref><ref>{{citation|first=Rashad|last=Khalifa|title=Quran, Hadith and Islam|publisher=Dr. Rashad Khalifa Ph.D.|date=2001|language=German|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z-jNDwAAQBAJ|access-date=2021-06-12
}}</ref> Both [[Islamic modernism|modernist Muslims]] and Qur'anists believe that the problems in the [[Islamic world]] come partly from the traditional elements of the hadith and seek to reject those teachings.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://listverse.com/2016/04/08/10-forgotten-sects-of-major-world-religions/ | title=10 Forgotten Sects of Major Religions | date=8 April 2016 }}</ref>

Among the most prominent Muslim critics of hadith in modern times are the Egyptian [[Rashad Khalifa]], who became known as the "discoverer" of the [[Quran code]] (Code 19), the Malaysian [[Kassim Ahmad]] and the American-Turkish [[Edip Yüksel]] (Quranism).<ref>Musa: ''Ḥadīth as scripture''. 2008, S. 85.</ref>

Western scholars, notably Ignaz Goldziher and Joseph Schacht among others, have criticised traditional [[hadith science]]s as being almost entirely focused on scrutinizing the chain of transmittors (''isnad'') rather than the actual contents of the hadith (''matn''), and that scrutiny of ''isnad'' cannot determine the authenticity of a hadith.<ref name="[183]-Coulson">N.J. Coulson, "European Criticism of Hadith Literature, in ''Cambridge History of Arabic Literature: Arabic Literature to the End of the Umayyad Period'', editor A.F.L. Beeston et al. (Cambridge, 1983) "[the authentication of hadith] was confined to a careful examination of the chain of transmitters who narrated the report and not report itself. 'Provided the chain was uninterrupted and its individual links deemed trustworthy persons, the Hadith was accepted as binding law. There could, by the terms of the religious faith itself, be no questioning of the content of the report; for this was the substance of divine revelation and therefore not susceptible to any form of legal or historical criticism"</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name="[Schacht-1950_163]">{{cite book |last1=Schacht |first1=Joseph |title=The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence |date=1950 |publisher=Clarendon |location=Oxford |page=163}}</ref> Many Western scholars suspect that there was widespread fabrication of hadith (either entirely or by the misattribution of the views of early Muslim religious and legal thinkers to Muhammad) in the early centuries of Islam to support certain theological and legal positions.<ref name=":0" /> In addition to fabrication, it is possible for the meaning of a hadith to have greatly drifted from its original telling through the different interpretations and biases of its varying transmitters, even if the chain of transmission is authentic.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hoyland |first=Robert |date=March 2007 |title=Writing the Biography of the Prophet Muhammad: Problems and Solutions |url=https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2007.00395.x |journal=History Compass |language=en |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=581–602 |doi=10.1111/j.1478-0542.2007.00395.x |issn=1478-0542|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Citation |last=Görke |first=Andreas |title=Muhammad |date=2020-01-02 |work=The Wiley Blackwell Concise Companion to the Hadith |pages=75–90 |editor-last=Brown |editor-first=Daniel W. |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118638477.ch4 |access-date=2024-06-29 |edition=1 |publisher=Wiley |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781118638477.ch4 |isbn=978-1-118-63851-4|url-access=subscription }}</ref>  While some hadith may genuinely originate from firsthand observation of Muhammad (particularly personal traits that were not of theological interest, like his fondness for [[tharid]] and sweets), Western scholars suggest that it is extraordinarily difficult if not impossible to determine which hadith accurately reflect the historical Muhammad.<ref name=":2" /> Hadith scholar [[Muhammad Mustafa Azmi]] has disputed the claims made by Western scholars about the reliability of traditional hadith criticism.<ref name="[Azmi-1996_154]">{{cite book |last1=Azmi |first1=Muhammad Mustafa |title=On Schacht's Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence |date=1996 |publisher=Islamic Texts Society |page=154}}</ref>