-
Character and Authenticity of the Muslim Tradition on the Life
of MuammadAuthor(s): Gregor SchoelerSource: Arabica, T. 49, Fasc. 3
(Jul., 2002), pp. 360-366Published by: BRILLStable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4057655 .Accessed: 21/06/2014 10:06
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the
Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
.http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars,
researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information
technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new
formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please
contact [email protected].
.
BRILL is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and
extend access to Arabica.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 193.231.35.250 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014
10:06:22 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
-
METHODES ET DEBATS
CHARACTER AND AUTHENTICITY OF THE MUSLIM TRADITION ON THE LIFE
OF MUHAMMAD
BY
GREGOR SCHOELER*
A comprehensive discussion of my book Charakter und Authentie
der muslimischen Uberlieferung fiber das Leben Mohammeds, by
Herbert Berg, appeared in Journal of the Amenrcan Oriental Society
119 (2), 1999, pp. 315- 317. This discussion seems at first sight
to be thorough and profes- sional, and it is to be commended that
the criticism raised by the reviewer is presented in a tone which
is moderate and not polemical.
This positive initial impression dwindles, however, when Berg's
remarks are put under the magnifying glass. It is then seen that
his discussion exhibits not only errors of fact as well as errors
and imprecision in the portrayal of my methodology, my
argumentation and my results, but also that he has failed to
explicitly point out the primary instrument of my investigation and
the most important arguments for the "mid- dle position" I maintain
on the question of the authenticity of early Islamic tradition, let
alone discussed them in detail.
As regards the primary instrument of my investigation, it
consists in the compilation of complete corpora of traditions; in
the present case, in particular all existant versions of two
traditions traced back to 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr (the first revelatory
experience of Muhammad and the narrative of the slander of 'A'isa
[scandal story]). For assessing the zsndds, suffice it to say here
that their correctness-including the cor- rectness of the common
link that they display-is not just simply accepted, but rather
tested in the investigation against the texts (mutuin). The
analy-
* A Response to Herbert Berg's review of my book Charakter und
Authentie der mus- limischen Uberlieferung uber das Leben Mohammeds
(Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter 1996).
?D Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002 Arabica, tome XLVIII,3
Also available online - www.brill.nl
This content downloaded from 193.231.35.250 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014
10:06:22 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
-
METHODES ET DEBATS 361
sis of the texts is done analogously to the investigation of
manuscripts whose interdependence is to be ascertained:
interdependencies are deter- mined from the structure
(abbreviations, additions, gaps) and wording of these texts. If the
text analyses show that the isndds correctly indi- cate the
interdependencies and that all of the present versions indeed lead
back to a common archetype-the common link of the isndds- then-and
only then-can it be regarded as proved that the tradition was
disseminated by the transmitter who turned out to be the com- mon
link. The content (generally, however, not the exact wording) of
the tradition spread by the common link transmitter can then be
approxi- mately determined by means of the diverse, often
considerably differing, further transmissions of this
tradition.
In a fundamental treatment of my theses, which is what Berg
wanted to accomplish, the instrument of the corpus, its
compilation, examina- tion and evaluation needed absolutely to have
been clearly pointed out and discussed. This instrument, or rather
the correct handling of it, is a protection against arbitrary
assessments of individual traditions; as it enables the comparison
of texts, it very often allows the distinguishing of good
transmissions of a tradition from bad ones, it identifies adulter-
ations of texts and forgeries, it shows the mutual core of a
tradition which developed differently through different
transmitters, etc.
After the presentation of my most important scientific
instrument, my main argument will be expounded and clearly
emphasized in the following: The total corpus of traditions traced
back to 'Urwa b. al- Zubayr (died ca. 712 A.D.) must in great part
be seen as being "gen- uine", i.e. the overwhelming majority of
these reports do indeed have their origins with 'Urwa. (WVhether
the contents of 'Urwa's traditions are historical in each case is
another matter). A test of genuineness is always possible when an
individual tradition attributed to cUrwa has been further
transmitted by his two primary transmitters, his son Hisam and his
master pupil al-Zuhri. A substantial portion of the 'Urwa tra-
ditions has in this way undergone a "two-tracked" transmission
(some- times a third transmission is even found). A comparison of
texts of the same tradition in the two (or three) transmissions
leads more often than not to the result that 1. both texts have
indeed been transmitted inde- pendently of one another (they always
have an "own face") and 2. they indeed can be traced back to a
common source, namely 'Urwa. (The corpus does however also allow
for the recognition of erroneous attri- butions, fraudulent
traditions and forgeries!) But since 'Urwa as the son of one of the
first disciples and close relatives of the Prophet and
This content downloaded from 193.231.35.250 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014
10:06:22 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
-
362 METHODES ET DEBATS
as nephew and close confident of his wife 'A'i-sawas in close if
only indirect contact with the historical time of Muhammad
(distance: about 35-70 years), the reports he collected, at least
the events of the Medinan period-and their main outlines at any
rate-would be all in all correctly transmitted. (With regard to the
above, cf. also my article in EF, s.v. 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr.) And as
the 'Urwa traditions form the basic frame- work of the entire Sira,
the latter cannot be of such extreme inau- thenticity as is assumed
by the (hyper-)critical school of Wansbrough, Crone and Cook.
This is my main argument for the middle position I take on the
question of genuineness. As an additional argument for the genuine-
ness of the scandal story I have stated that the main outlines of
the story go against the usual pattern ('A'is'a as "mother of the
believers"), even that the entire story (like the story of the
satanic verses, f.i.) must have been a matter of extreme
awkwardness for the Prophet, some- thing that his disciples would
hardly have invented. In keeping with discoveries in oral tradition
research, however, characteristics and anec- dotes of this sort
should be seen as being reliable, since they have resisted the
tendency towards idealization.
So much for my primary instrument and main arguments. I shall
now point out a few of Berg's incorrect judgements and direct mis-
takes, some of them grave.
On p. 317a the reviewer accuses me of being inconsequent; he
main- tains that I treat the iqra' and the scandal stories
differently, in that I do not recognize the former-despite the
isnad which is traced back to 'A'is'a as having originated with
'A'is'a, but rather trace it back to qass material, whereas for the
latter-in agreement with the isndd-I accept 'A'is'a as the original
reporter (informant). Here it turns out that Berg has difficulty
interpreting the corpora, because my assessment is based on a
significant difference between the corpus of "al-Zuhri 'an 'Urwa"
traditions on the one hand and the corpus of "Hisam 'an 'Urwa"
traditions on the other. Namely, the former exhibits the spe- cial
feature that al-Zuhri traces most of the 'Urwa traditions back to
'A'is'a as the original informant (isndd: al-Zuhri < 'Urwa <
'A'is-a); on the other hand the latter distinguishes itself in that
His'am gener- ally has the isndds of the respective traditions end
with his father 'Urwa (isnad: His'am < 'Urwa). As now the isnad
in the iqra' account is only in al-Zuhri's version traced back via
'Urwa to 'A'isa, but in Hisam's version stops at 'Urwa, while for
the scandal story the isndd with both
This content downloaded from 193.231.35.250 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014
10:06:22 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
-
METHODES ET DEBATS 363
al-Zuhri and Hisam (against the rule for him!) is traced back to
the Prophet's wife, I have concluded that the scandal story with
probability indeed goes back to 'A'isa, yet do not believe that the
same can be assumed for the iqra' story. (By no means, however,
have I excluded their origin with 'A'isa; s. Char. p. 87f!) Why
this stance is said to be inconsequent is beyond my comprehension.
But it is wrong indeed when Berg says, "In both cases, not all the
isnads cite her (i.e. 'A'isa)"; cor- rect is rather that, in the
case of the iqra' account, the isnads only of the al-Zuhri's
version(s)-these, however, without exception!-quote 'A'isa, while
in the case of the scandal story the isnads in the al-Zuhri's
version(s) as well as the Hisam version(s) go back to 'A'isa.
Furthermore, Berg insists that, "Schoeler accepts the claims of
the isndds unless they disagree with his conclusions, in which
case, he decides that the isndds have been manipulated. Why only
the isndds of the tra- ditions that disagree with his
reconstructions should be dismissed as false is unclear" (p. 317a).
This is a complete distortion and erroneous portrayal of my method,
according to which the isnads, in order to be regarded as correct,
need to be checked against the texts. In some cases the (above
described) method also even shows that the isnad in ques- tion
cannot be correct. This is the case, e.g., for the isnad cited by
al- Waqidi in his version of the scandal story (s. Char. p. 137f).
Berg con- cealed the fact that the spuriousness of al-Waqidi's
source information can be irrefutably proved: Through an exact
comparison of the texts I could indeed prove and verify (s. ibid.,
the table opposite p. 139 in par- ticular) three of al-Waqidi's
actual sources, none of which is mentioned by him in the isnad
(among them an obscure tradition from a certain al-Muwaqqari).
Moreover, I could prove in the same way that Ibn Ishaq actually
used the sources he gives in the isnad, whereby the cor- rectness
of his isnad is proved (ibid. p. 127ff).
Finally Berg criticizes my use of the traditional biographical
litera- ture for portraying the teaching and learning methods of
the Medinan scholars (Ch. I of my book), literature written much
later than the events (he mentions Ibn Ha'ar's Tahdib, which is
known to be from the 15th century). Berg leaves unmentioned thereby
that numerous rel- evant reports are also accessible in very much
earlier works ('Abd al- Razzaq's Musannaf; al-Fasawil's K.
al-Ma'rjfa, Ibn Sa'd's Tabaqdt) (and also subsequently cited by
me), so that, if need be, al-Dahabil (14th century) and Ibn Hagar,
who certainly comfortably compile a large quantity of material, can
be done without. A comparison of the infor- mation of these later
biographers with the corresponding versions of
This content downloaded from 193.231.35.250 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014
10:06:22 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
-
364 METHODES ET DEBATS
the earlier ones shows what type the variations are that arise
in the texts. In the following I have compared the oft cited report
traced back to Ma'mar b. Rasid > Sahih b. Kaysan on al-Zuhrl's
methods of col- lecting traditions in 'Abd al-Razzaq (d. 211/827)
and al-Fasawi (d. 277/890) with the corresponding reports of the
later biographers al- Hati-b al-Baghdadi (d. 463/1071) and Ibn
Hagar (d. 852/1449).
'Abd al-Razzaq, Musannaf 11/258
Can Salih ibn Kaysan, qala: igtama'tu ana wa-bn Sihab, wa-nahnu
natlubu al-cilm.
fa-gtamacna 'ala an naktuba al-sunan, fa-katabna kull say'
sami'nahu Can al-nabi.
tumma katabna aydan ma ga'a can ashabihi, fa-qultu: Ia, laysa
bi-sunna wa-qala huwa: bal, huwa sunna. fa-kataba wa-lam aktub.
fa-angaha wa-dayyactu.
al-Fasawl-, K. al-Ma'rfa 1/637
Can Salih ibn Kaysan qala: igtamactu ana wal-Zuhri, wa-nahnu
natlubu al-cilm.
fa-qulna: naktubu al-sunan, fa-katabtu ma ga'a can al-nabi.
tumma qala: naktubu ma ga'a can ashabihi, fa-innahu sunna. qala,
qultu ana: laysa bi-sunna, fa-la naktubuhii. qala: fa-kataba wa-lam
aktub. fa-an-gaha wa-dayyactu.
al-HatT-b al-Baghdadi: Taqyrd al-'ilm, 106-107:
ahbarana Salih ibn Kaysan qala: igtamactu ana wal-Zuhri,
wa-nahnu natlubu al-'ilm.
fa-qulna: naktubu al-sunan, fa-katabna ma ga'a 'an al-nabi.
tumma qala: naktubu ma ga'a can ashabihi, fa-innahui sunna.
fa-qultu ana: laysa bi-sunna, fa-la naktubuhii. qala: fa-kataba
wa-lam aktub. fa-an-gaha wa-dayyactu.
Ibn Hagar: Tahib 9/396-397
Can $alih ibn Kaysan: kuntu atlubu al-cilm ana wal-Zuhrl.
fa-qala: tacala naktub al-sunan. qala: fa-katabna ma ga'a can
al-nabi.
tumma qala: ta'ala naktub ma ga'a 'an as-sahaba. qala: fa-kataba
wa-lam naktub. fa-angalha wa-dayyactu.
This content downloaded from 193.231.35.250 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014
10:06:22 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
-
METHODES ET DEBATS 365
The comparison shows that although the report contains many
vari- ants in the different versions separated by very great
lengths of time, these variants, however, restrict themselves to
the wording and in no way affect the substance of the report. At
any rate, the distance between the event and the definitive
fixation of the event in writing is often by no means as great as
Berg would have it appear. What we read, e.g., in Ibn Sa'd's
(784-845) Tabaqdt about Ibn Ishaq (ca. 704-767) is sep- arated by a
distance of two generations.
Be that as it may, it is much more important that I have
expressly remarked that I, too, am of the opinion that a single
report need not always absolutely correspond with the historical
truth; I have only pos- tulated that the overall picture yielded by
these stories about the learning and teaching methods in the
Islamic world from the time of 'Urwa must for the most part be
correct (Char. p. 7). A similar view, by the way, is also held of
late by the "sceptic" M. Cook when in his long article "The
Opponents of the Writing of Tradition in Early Islam" (in Arabica
44 [1997], pp. 437-530)-in full agreement with the tradition-sees
the being-in-force of a prohibition on writing 4adits for the first
half of the 8th century as assured, although no contemporary
reports whatsoever are available on this matter.
In the following I shall correct some of Berg's clear errors and
impre- cise statements:
P. 315b: "and his (i.e. al-Zuhri's) notes were destroyed before
his death." This refers not to al-Zuhri but to 'Urwa (s. Char., p.
29f). Ibid. "According to Schoeler, this book (i.e. Ibn Ishaq's
copy of the Sra, al-I?itdb al-kabfr, which was presumably or in
fact made for the court), is lost." This book is no longer in
existence in fact. According to M. Lecker (in ZDMG 149 [1999], p.
411), however, quotations from Ibn Ishiaq's al-Sra al-kubrd (=
al-Kitdb al-kabFr [?]) are found in Ibn Hagar's Isdba.
P. 316a: "'Urwa is likely source (i.e. of the iqra' story), but
his son Hisham transmitted a complete version.. ." In fact only a
single, very short (possibly greatly abbreviated by Ibn Sa'd)
version of the iqra' nar- rative is extant from Hisam (Char. p.
79f).
P. 316b: "Crone has argued that al-Waqidi did not copy Ibn
Ishaq. Rather, both men had a common source of qdss material."
This- erroneous-theory is not from Patricia Crone (she only quotes
and adopts it), but from J.M.E. Jones. Wellhausen had already
remarked, and Horovitz then subsequently irrefutably proved by
means of 10
This content downloaded from 193.231.35.250 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014
10:06:22 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
-
366 METHODES ET DEBATS
examples in his dissertation written in Latin that al-Waqidi's
main source is Ibn Ishaq, although he never quotes him (Char. p.
141).
Ibid. "Schoeler... .concludes that the report of al-Zuhri is
historically reliable (because it is an 'inverted common link')."
The stating of this circumstance was not meant to be an argument.
My main argument for this 'Urwa tradition having its origin with
great probability in 'A'ilsa, however, consists in it having been
transmitted not only by al-Zuhri-, but also by Hisam, with both of
them indicating 'A'isa as the original informant (s. above).
P. 317a: "A more convincing strategy would have been to look at
apparently related traditions and analyze their contents without
recourse to their isnads. If the contents displayed a consistent
correlation with their isndds, then at least some of the
information contained in isnads might by authentic." Berg, after
having ignored that I have based my investigation on complete
corpora, suggests on his part at the end of his review-the
preparation of a corpus as a better alternative to my pro- cedure.
This, however, should be compiled without taking the isndds into
account, and solely based on the texts (see above for my method!).
It is against the content of the texts, then, that the isndds
should be checked.
Agreed! If Berg succeeds in completely putting together a
complex of traditions based solely on the similar content of
traditions, and if he then tests the isnads accurately against the
texts, his investigation, pro- vided that he works in an orderly
fashion, must lead to the same results as mine with respect to the
relationships of dependence. That this did not happen in his
examination of my investigation of the iqra' narra- tion and
scandal story can come as no surprise, considering the impre-
cision of Berg's method of work.
This content downloaded from 193.231.35.250 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014
10:06:22 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Article Contentsp. [360]p. 361p. 362p. 363p. 364p. 365p. 366
Issue Table of ContentsArabica, T. 49, Fasc. 3 (Jul., 2002), pp.
267-401Front Matter"Du ventre de la royaut aux jardins de la
papaut": entre islam et chrtient, le lexique et la mtaphore du
Corps [pp. 267-298]L'onagre dans le Diwn d'al-Aal [pp.
299-324]Modern Gendered Illustrations of the Life of the Prophet of
Allah: tienne Dinet and Sliman Ben Ibrahim (1918) [pp.
325-359]Mthodes et DbatsCharacter and Authenticity of the Muslim
Tradition on the Life of Muammad [pp. 360-366]
Notes et DocumentsDeux verbes singuliers de l'arabe classique:
Istaraa et Istaa [pp. 367-375]Some Formal Characteristics of the
Musnad Type of ad Collection [pp. 376-382]Sad B. ubayr: Piety,
Chess and Rebellion [pp. 383-386]
Bulletin CritiqueReview: untitled [pp. 387-393]Review: untitled
[pp. 393-394]Review: untitled [pp. 395-397]Review: untitled [pp.
397-398]Review: untitled [pp. 399-401]
Back Matter