The differences in historical methodology between juynboll and motzki related to hadith

The legacy of the Prophet is known as the Sunna, and, although it can be argued that in terms of reverence, it is accepted second after the Qur’an. Sunna is the glass though which the holly book is understood and interpreted. In this regard, in Islamic progress the Sunna has ruled over the Qur’an, stating, shaping and adding to the Qur’an. It can be said that for much of Islamic history, the unit through which the Sunna was transmitted, saved and understood has been hadith (Brown, 2009, p.3). Hadith is an anecdote reporting that the Prophet Muhammed (s.a.w) did or said something, or without comment, allowed something to occur, therefore permitting it. It can be said that a hadith has two parts: the matn (the report) and the isnad (headnote), checking the account by listing the report line of transmission (Reinhart, 2010, p. 414).  Arş. Gör., Erzincan Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi, hayaz@erzincan.edu.tr Hacer AYAZ 42 It can be fairly argued that hadith has a crucial role in Muslim society and Islamic science. Furthermore, it can be argued that reliability of the hadiths is one of the most significant issue for both Muslim and Western hadith studies. It can be said that Western scholarship provided different answers on the questioning of the historical worth of hadith late nineteenth century. Views range from an extensive acceptance of these traditions as historical sources to conclude rejection. Hadiths are refused due to the fact that they are accepted to have been affected by later religious, political and legal developments. It can be said that Muslim hadith evaluation judged the reliability of a given tradition firstly from the viewpoint of its isnad. By contrast, Western scholarship, with its goal of assessing the historical worth of a tradition, has restricted its consideration essentially to the text. The second approach was prompted by the belief that the isnad is usually clearly fictional. This view was shared by Ignaz Goldziher who is one of the founding fathers of Western hadith studies. However, ...