مميّزات المنهج الحديثي وأصوله عند ابن الصلاح في مقدمته: دراسة تحليلية

The Distinctive Features and Foundations of Ibn al-Salah’s Hadith Methodology in His Muqaddimah: An Analytical Study

Abstract

This study provides a comprehensive analytical examination of the methodological foundations and distinctive features of Ibn al-Salah’s seminal work, Muqaddimah Ibn al-Salah (officially titled ‘Ulum al-Hadith). Writing in the 7th century AH (13th century CE), a period marked by political fragmentation and scattered scholarly efforts, Ibn al-Salah undertook the critical task of synthesizing centuries of disparate hadith sciences into a highly structured, systematic framework. This paper investigates the underlying epistemological foundations that guided his landmark classification of hadith into sixty-five distinct categories, exploring how he successfully reconciled rigorous textual analysis with the traditionalist demands of transmission chains.

A central focus of this research is the critical analysis of Ibn al-Salah’s most distinctive—and often debated—methodological positions. This includes his nuanced criteria for evaluating hidden defects (‘ilal) and textual anomalies (shudhudh), which balanced chain transmission (isnad) with textual accuracy (matn). Furthermore, the study explores his controversial stance on the closing of independent ijtihad in grading Sahih (authentic) hadiths, wherein he argued that the primary authorization of textual authenticity effectively concluded with the major canonical codices, thereby shifting the role of subsequent scholars toward comparative analysis rather than foundational grading. Through an analytical approach, this paper evaluates how his work served as a stabilizing mechanism for the Islamic textual tradition. The findings reveal that the Muqaddimah did not merely compile existing principles; rather, it actively reshaped the pedagogical and critical landscape of Islamic hermeneutics, establishing a definitive paradigm that governed virtually all subsequent hadith scholarship.