Imam Tahawi and his approach towards Ahadith in his book Mushkil ul Āathʼar

الإمام الطحاوي و منهجه في كتابه مشكل الآثار

Abstract

Qur’an and prophetic traditions (Hadith) are the fundamental sources of Islam. Muslims believe that Qur’an is the word of God (Allah). Hadith (Prophet’s Sayings, actions and silent approvals and disapprovals for something) likewise is based on divine revelation. Qur’an affirms also this view: (God says) Your Companion (Muhammad) has neither gone astray nor has erred. Nor does He speak of (his own) desire. It is only a Revelation revealed. Al-Qur’an (53:2-4). Allah Almighty Himself took the responsibility to guard His word (the Qur’an): (He says:) verily, We, it is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the Qur’an) and surely, We will got it (from corruption). (Al-Qur’an:15:9) on the contrary the responsibility to guard the prophetic traditions (Hadith) was put on the shoulders on the Muslim Ūmmah. The scholars of Islam (ʽulāmʼs) try their utmost to collect and save the Prophetic traditions and guard it from any alteration. To achieve this purpose, they introduced different hadith sciences to distinguished between the true and the fabricated hadith.The authentic Sunnah is contained within the vast body of Hadith literature. Different scholars have compiled the books which contain a large numbers of Ahadith, one of them is ʼimam Taḥāwi. In this article we will discuss the ʼimam Taḥāwi approach towards “Ahadith” in his book Mushkil ul Āathʼar.