Scrutinising Historical Narrations: Between Ibn Khaldūn and the Scholars of Ḥadīth Criticism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31436/alburhn.v6i1.231Keywords:
Ibn Khaldūn, ḥadīth criticism, historical reports, Islamic historiography, history and civilisationAbstract
‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Khaldūn al-Ḥaḍramī is a renowned Muslim scholar who has been considered by many researchers as the founder of the modern discipline of historiography. The uniqueness of his method of scrutinising historical narrations gives his works wide recognition. This paper intends to explore Ibn Khaldūn’s principles of scrutinising historical narrations and make a comparison between his principles and the principles of validating narrations in ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth, to figure out the extent to which Ibn Khaldūn has been influenced, in his discourse, by the principles of the scholars of ḥadīth. This paper represents a library-based research, hence, the qualitative method has been adopted. This study has revealed the fact that Ibn Khaldūn’s approach towards the scrutiny of the narrations is an extension of the previous principles laid down by the scholars of ḥadīth. However, the major difference between both parties lies in the fact that the principles of the scholars of ḥadīth address all types of the narrations, whether historical or non-historical narrations, without giving preference to the historical ones above the others, while Ibn Khaldūn was the first Muslim scholar who concentrated purely and strictly on scrutinising historical materials.
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