Introduction to Hadīth History and Sources

Course Syllabus
Chapter 4
The Authoritativeness or Lack of Authority of the Companions (ṣaḥābah)
and Followers’ (ṭābi‘ūn) Sayings

Lecturer: MANSOOR L. LIMBA, PhD

Course Outline:

A. Preliminaries
a. General Introduction to Some Ḥadīth Terminologies (e.g. ḥadīth, sunnah, riwāyah,
etc.)
b. The Status of Ḥadīth in Knowing the Religion
c. Aḥādith (ḥadīths) of the Prophet (ṣ) and Ahl al-Bayt (‘a) as Islamic Proof
d. Ḥadīth During the Time of the Prophet (ṣ)

Key Points:
1. There are two views regarding the degree of authoritativeness of the Companions
(ṣaḥābah) and Followers‟ (tābi‘ūn) sayings:
a. The Companions‟ sayings as having intrinsic (dhātī) and distinct (istiqlālī) authority:
Shāṭibī and Sarkhasī from among the Salafī Sunnī scholars as well as a number of
contemporary scholars are of this view.
b. The Companions‟ sayings as having no intrinsic authority: Most of the Sunnī scholars
regard the Companions‟ sayings as being authoritative as they exemplify and
represent the Prophet‟s (ṣ) Sunnah. For this reason, these scholars believe that the
Companions‟ aḥādīth are marfū‘ („traceable‟).
c. Fakhr al-Rāzī and Al-Ghazzālī have specified that infallibility (‘iṣmat) was exclusive
to the Prophet (ṣ), and the Companions and Followers‟ sayings cannot be intrinsically
authoritative.
2. According to the Shī„ah scholars, the Companions and Followers‟ sayings are devoid of
intrinsic authority.

Review Questions:
1. Why does the authoritativeness or lack of authority of the Followers‟ sayings depend on
the authoritativeness or lack of authority of the Companions‟ sayings?
2. Examine and assess Shāṭibī‟s statement about the “intrinsic authority of the Companions‟
sayings”.
3. How does consideration of the Companions‟ sayings as mawqūf („stopped‟) and marfū‘
tell about the lack of authority of their sayings?
4. What are the proofs of Fakhr al-Rāzī and Al-Ghazzālī in saying that the Companions‟
sayings lack intrinsic authority?

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References for Further Study:
English:
1. Introduction to Ḥadīth by „Abd al-Hādī al-Faḍlī (London: ICAS Press, 2002).

Other languages:
1. Al-Uṣūl al-‘Āmmat Li’l-Fiqh al-Maqārin by Muḥammad Taqī al-Ḥakīm.
2. Durūs fī Fiqh al-Imāmiyyah by „Abd al-Hādī al-Faḍlī.
3. Al-Maḥṣūl by Fakhr al-Rāzī.
4. Al-Mustaṣfā by Abū Ḥamid al-Ghazzālī.
5. Al-Mawāqifāt by Abū Isḥāq al-Shāṭibī.