Abstract
Although the study of hadīth (the Prophet's speech) has advanced significantly in recent decades, several of its literary aspects remain unexplored within Euro-American scholarship. The epistemological status of hadīth within balāghah, the premodern Islamic theory of literary analysis, has received little scholarly attention. Drawing on Inimitability and Conciseness (Kitāb al-I'jāz wa al-Ījāz), written by the literary critic, Abū Mansūr al-Tha'ālibī (d. 1038 CE), I show how during the oral stages of its development, hadīth was a living tradition that was highly flexible in terms of its wording and content. I empirically explore the interface and interactions between oral and written media in the employment of individual hadīths as literary texts, showing how an in-depth exploration of the oral nature of hadīth illuminates the approaches of modern literary criticism to appreciate literary texts of oral origin. In conclusion, I suggest that the early Arabic discourse of literary criticism offers an emic (culture-specific) perspective that fosters recognition of the literary reception of hadīth and its profound integration into the Islamic literary culture.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 34-69 |
Number of pages | 36 |
Journal | Studia Islamica |
Volume | 119 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2024 |
Keywords
- Arabic literary theory
- Hadīth and Islamic literature
- Islamic comparative literature
- premodern Arabic poetics
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Language and Linguistics
- History
- Religious studies
- Linguistics and Language
- Literature and Literary Theory
- Law