Professional Documents
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adth's Methodology
Author(s): Basheer M. Nafi
Source: Islamic Law and Society, Vol. 13, No. 2 (2006), pp. 208-241
Published by: Brill
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40377907
Accessed: 24-05-2016 05:48 UTC
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A TEACHER OF IBN CABD AL-WAHHAB:
MUHAMMAD HAYAT AL-SINDl AND THE REVIVAL
OF ASHAB AL-HADITFTS METHODOLOGY
BASHEER M. NAFI*
Abstract
Muhammad Hay at al-Sindl, the most eminent hadith scholar in the Hijazi
city of Madina in the first half of the eighteenth century, was one of the
teachers of the controversial Najdi reformist Muhammad b. cAbd al-Wah-
hab. Scholars of early modern Islamic thought disagree about al-Sindfs
influence on Ibn cAbd al-Wahhab. In this article I present a brief study of
the life and works of Hayat al-Sindl, focusing on his approach to hadith as
a primary source of jiqh, his call for ijtihdd, and his opposition to the legacy
of the madhhabs and to the divisions caused by partisan adherence to the
madhhab. Although he was influenced by the Hanball Ibn Taymiyya, Hayat
al-Sindfs outlook and methodology are closer to those of the classical ahl
al-hadith. Like Hayat al-Sindl, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab was critical of the
established madhhabi system, disregarded the instruments of usul al-fiqh, and
appears to have been irreverent to the legacy of jiqh.
1 John Voll, "Muhammad Hayya al-Sindi and Muhammad Ibn cAbd al-
Wahhab: An Analysis of an Intellectual Group in Eighteenth-Century Madina",
BSOAS, 38 (1974), 32-9.
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2006 Islamic Law and Society 13, 2
Also available online - www.brill.nl
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A TEACHER OF IBN CABD AL-WAHHAB 209
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210 BASHEER M. NAFI
Salafi outlook of the first from the complex, Sufi oriented system of
ideas of the second.
DallaPs argument is relevant to our understanding of Hayat al-
Sindl. First, while it is true that the "intellectual family tree" of
students and teachers does not necessarily prove the similarity of
the intellectual outcome, a degree of intellectual commonality and
shared ideational elements should be assumed, unless proven other-
wise. Identifying chains of knowledge is vital not only for tracing
the emergence and spread of Sufi tanqas but also for understanding
the common intellectual features, as well as the diversification, of
Islamic juridical and theological schools. Second, sources for the
life of Ibn cAbd al-Wahhab (including Amln SacTd5s Sirat al-Imdm al-
Shaykh Muhammad bin cAbd al-Wahhab, cited by Dallal), do not support
DallaPs itinerary for the intellectual development of the Najdl
reformist, nor do they rule out Hayat al-Sindi's influence on him.
Largely, these sources agree that Kitdb al-Tawhid was written after
Ibn cAbd al-Wahhab studied with Hayat al-Sindl at Madina.5 Third,
although DallaPs thorough analysis succeeds in underscoring the
differences between Ibn cAbd al-Wahhab and DihlawT, it ignores
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A TEACHER OF IBN CABD AL-WAHHAB 2 1 1
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212 BASHEER M. NAFI
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A TEACHER OF IBN CABD AL-WAHHAB 213
al-Fahdris, 1:209, 447-9; Siddiq Hasan Khan, Abjad al-Ulum, 3:137; al-Zirikll,
al-A'ldm, 2: 205.
13 Al-MuradI, Silkal-Durar, 4:66; Ismail al-Baghdadl, Hadiyat al-Arifm:
Asmd' al-Mu'allifin wa-Athar al-Musanntfin (Istanbul: n.p., 1955-57), vol. 2, column
318.
14 On al-Kurani, see EI2, s. v. "Ibrahim al-Kurani," (A. H. Johns); Voll,
"Muhammad Hayya al-Sindl and Muhammad ibn cAbd al-Wahhab"; Basheer
M. Nafi, "Tasawwuf and Reform in pre-Modern Islamic Culture: In Search
of Ibrahim al-Kurani", Die Welt des Mams, 42: 3 (2002), 307-55.
15 On al-Basri, see al-Jabartl, Tarikh, 1:132-3; al-Kittani, Fihras al-Fahdns,
1:95-6, 193-9, al-Zirikll, al-A'ldm, 4: 88; John O. Voll, "Abdallah Ibn Salim
al-Basri and 18th Century Hadith Scholarship," Die Welt des Islams, 42:3 (2002),
356-72.
16 On Muhammad al-Kurani, see cAbd al-Gham al-Nabulsi, al-Haqiqa
wa'l-MajdzfT al-Rihla ild Bildd al-Shdm wa-Misr wa'l-Hijdz, ed. Ahmad Hiraydl
(Cairo: al-Hay'a al-Misriyya al-Amma li'1-Kitab, 1986), 358 ff.; al-Muradl,
Silk al-Durar, 4:27; al-Zirikll, al-A(ldm, 5:304.
17 Aziz Ahmad, "Political and Religious Ideas of Shah Wali-ullah of Dehli",
The Muslim World, LII: 1 (1962), 22; Baljon, Religion and Thought of Shah Wali
Allah, 5-6; Hafiz A. Ghaffar Khan, "Shah Wali Allah: On the Nature, Origin,
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214 BASHEER M. NAFI
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A TEACHER OF IBN CABD AL-WAHHAB 215
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216 BASHEER M. NAFI
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A TEACHER OF IBN CABD AL-WAHHAB 217
As'ila al-Manqula can Amdli al-Izz bin cAbd al-Saldm";27 and "Shark al-
Targhib wa'l-Tarhib of al-Mundhin"28 in two volumes. Second, works
on theology, including: "Risdlat al-Junnafi'Aqd'id Ahl al-Sunna"; "Risdla
fi Tahqiq Khalq al-Afal 'aid Tariq AM al-Haq wa'l-Sunnd '; "Risdla fi
cAdam Imdn Fir'awn" Third, works on tasawwuf which include: "Shark
al-Hikam al-Atd'iyya oflbn 'Atd'-Alldh al-IskandarF;29 "Shark al-Hikam
al-Haddddiyya of'Abdalldh al-Hadddd Bd-'Alawi"30 known also as "Ma-
wdhib al-Hikam 'aid Matn al-Hikam" Fourth, works on Jiqh and ethics,
which include: "Path al-Ghafurfi Wadc al-Aydi cald al-Sudur"; "Risdla
fi Tahrim al-Khiddb bi'l-Sawdd li-Ghayr al-Jihddf "Risdla fi Itdlat al-
Rakla al-Uld cald al-Thdniya;" "Risdla li-Ahl al-Ishdra bi'l-Sabbdbafi al-
Saldtf "Risdla fi Ibtdl al-Dard'ihf "Risdla fi al-Nahy (an (Ishq Suwar al-
Murd wa'l-Niswdn" Fifth, works on Islamic legal theory, which include:
"al-lqdf'ald Sabab al-Ikhtildf" "Tuhfat al-Andmfi al-Amal bi-Hadith al-
JVabi calayh al-Saldt wa'l-Saldm;" "Risdlat al-Ajwiba fimd gdhiruh al-
Ta'drudfi al-Aydt al-Qur'dniyya"
The titles of these works, only a few of which have been located
and even fewer edited and published, reflect significant aspects of
Hayat al-Sindfs mode of thinking as a versatile, morally conscious
and reformist 'alim. Certain themes that Hayat al-Sindl discussed in
his writings, such as his opposition to erecting tombs and drawing
human images, would soon resurface in the teachings of Muhammad
b. cAbd al-Wahhab. Others, such as his refutation of the claim that
Farcun (the Pharaoh of Moses) died as a Muslim, which constitutes
an important theme in Ibn cArabI's wahdat al-wujud, 31 as well as his
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218 BASHEER M. NAFI
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A TEACHER OF IBN CABD AL-WAHHAB 219
Wahhabi movement and its long wars against the Ottoman authorities
and the people and local leaders of the Arabian Peninsula and its
vicinity with its legitimating discourse.
Although Muhammad b. cAbd al-Wahhab made his views public
ten years before the death of Muhammad Hayat al-Sindl, it is not
clear how the teacher responded to the controversy surrounding
his student's ideas. Ahmad b. Zaynl Dahlan, the Imam of the Meccan
Haram (Grand Mosque) at the time and one of the most ferocious
opponents of the Wahhabi movement, wrote about Hayat al-Sindl's
disagreement with his student, Ibn cAbd al-Wahhab.33 By contrast,
Ibn Bishr, the Wahhabi annalist, depicts a typically amicable
relationship between the teacher and his student, relaying an incident
in which Hayat al-Sindl pronounced his disapproval of acts of
supplication at the tomb of the Prophet.34 Since this incident was
witnessed by Ibn cAbd al-Wahhab, it is presented as an indication
of agreement between the student's drive for reform and his teacher's
ideas. Both reports date to the period before the emergence of the
Wahhabi movement and are difficult to verify. It is most likely that
until Hayat al-Sindl's death in Madina, the Wahhabi question
remained confined to the Najd region and as yet had no palpable
echoes in the Hijaz.
Ibn (Abd al-Wahhab was not the only student of al-Sindl, and on
an intellectual level, others may have been no less influential. Among
them is Muhammad b. Sadiq al-Sindl (known also as Abu al-Hasan
al-Sindl the younger, 1 125-87/1 7 13-73),35 arguably the preeminent
scholar of hadith at Madina in the late eighteenth century. Like his
teacher, Sadiq al-Sindl advocated the precedence of Qur'an and
hadith over the opinion of the madhhab, despite his Hanafi background.
Principally a teacher, with a few works on hadith and usul al-fiqh
(jurisprudence), Sadiq al-Sindl served as an important link in the
Madinan chains of authority connecting later figures of Islamic
scholarship, such as Muhammad Murtada al-Zabldl (1145-1205/
1732-90),36 Salih b. Muhammad al-cUmarI al-Fullanl (1166-1218/
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220 BASHEER M. NAFI
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A TEACHER OF IBN ABD AL-WAHHAB 221
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222 BASHEER M. NAFI
46 For the full text of the poem, see Qasim Ghalib Ahmad, H. A. al-
Siyaghl, M. A. al-Akwah, A. al-Samahl, and M. I. Zayid, Ibn al-Amir wa cAsruh
(SanV: Islamic Cultural Center of Yemen, n. d.), 157-9.
47 Al-Jabarti, Tdnkh, 1:468-70.
4y For the text of the second poem and a discussion of the controversy
over its attribution to al-SancanI, see Ahmad, al-Siyaghl et al, Ibn al-Amir,
160-8.
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A TEACHER OF IBN CABD AL-WAHHAB 223
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224 BASHEER M. NAFI
51 Ibid., 116.
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A TEACHER OF IBN CABD AL-WAHHAB 225
52 See ibid., 19-21, where al-Sindl cites the Hanafi scholar, cAli b. Husayn
al-Bukhari al-Zandwistl (d. ca. 400/1009-10), for Abu Hanlfa's opinion, and
the ShafVl scholars cAbd al-Malik al-Juwaynl (d. 478/1085-6), for al-ShafiTs
ODinion.
53 Ibid., 22.
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226 BASHEER M. NAFI
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A TEACHER OF IBN 'aBD AL-WAHHAB 227
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228 BASHEER M. NAFI
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A TEACHER OF IBN 'aBD AL-WAHHAB 229
'an al-A'imma al-Aldm, ed. Muhammad Sacid al-Badn (Cairo: Dar al-Kitab al-
Misri, 1991).
63 The same theme underlines a similar treatise written later by Wali-
Allah DihlawT, entitled al-Insqf ft baydn Asbdb al-Ikhtildf, incorporated as a
chapter into his Hujjat Allah al-Bdligha (Cairo: Dar al-Turath, 1977), l:140ff.
For a further discussion of this theme, see Martin Riexinger, Sana'ulldh Amritsdn
(1868-1948) und die Ahl-i Hadith im Punjab unter britischer Herrschaft (Wurzburg:
Ergon, 2004), 75ff.
64 Al-Sindl, al-Iqaf, 25-9.
65 Ibid., 30.
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230 BASHEER M. NAFI
. . .most of the issues reported in usul al-fiqh are taken from the opinions
of the Imams [of the madhhabs] ; if one looks to some of the followers
of the Imams and their opinions, he will find many which are derived
from a single origin... the later [viz., scholar of a madhhab] may agree
with the predecessor or disagree, may imitate him or oppose him;
and right may lie with the predecessor or with the later. Fairness is
the best way in dealing with the question of differences, and the
return to agreement is better than division."68
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A TEACHER OF IBN CABD AL-WAHHAB 231
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232 BASHEER M. NAFI
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A TEACHER OF IBN 'aBD AL-WAHHAB 233
with his argument, nor does he discuss the relation between the
soundness/weakness of the hadith and the degree of its validity.
When dealing with the hadith as evidence, Hayat al-Sindl generally
ignores the usulT methodology. Similarly, he is not concerned with
classical opinions of which he disapproves, with the legacy of the
juridical debate over the issue he is dealing with, or with the
interpretive possibilities of the text or context of a given hadith. For
example, Hayat al-Sindl quotes a hadith in the Musnad of Ibn Hanbal
narrated by Yahya b. Sacld, ... by Qabisa b. Halb from his father,
who said:
In his analysis of this hadith, al-Sindl does not examine the reliability
of its narrators, whether Qablsa's father witnessed the Prophet's
prayer on one or more than one occasion, or whether the authority
of this hadith can outweigh the authority of the Madinan practice.
Here, as with all other hadith, Hayat al-Sindl's support of a specific
form of qabd is derived from direct, general understanding of the
hadith, and the authority of the hadith seems to be rooted in the
authority of its source-book and its compiler. Without any interpretive
move, the hadith of the Prophet, in itself and as it is recorded in the
classical hadith collections, is taken as evidence and a source of law.
As long as he accepts the hadith as correct, no further determination
is made between the degree of its correctness and the strength of
the legal inference derived from it. The question arises: what exactly
was the source of inspiration for such a method? The Sunni schools
of law were established and became dominant institutions already
in the 4th/ 10th century. Hayat al-Sindl himself, at least formally,
was a HanafT scholar. Which influences, then, had made him abandon
the established jurisprudential methodology and turn to the direct
approach to hadJth?
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234 BASHEER M. NAFI
77 For elaborate discussions of the life and works of Ibn Taymiyya, see
Henri Laoust, Essai sure les doctrines sociales et politiques de Taki-d-Din b. Taimiya
(Cairo: Institut Francois d'Archeologie, 1939); Muhammad Abu Zahra, Ibn
Taymiyya: Haydtuh wa 'Asruh, Ard'uh wa Fiqhuh (Cairo: Dar al-Fikr al-Arabi,
1991, new edition).
78 Ahmad b. Taymiyya, Abd al-Hahm b. Taymiyya, and Abd al-Salam
b. Taymiyya, al-Musawwada, ed. Muhammad Muhyi al-Dln Abd al-Hamld
(Cairo: Matba'at al-Madanl, 1964), 365-98.
79 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Flam al-Muwaqqi1 in can Rabb al-'Alamin, ed.
cIsam al-Dln al-Sababltl (Cairo: Dar al-Hadith, 1993), 1:120-326 and 2:5-
118.
80 Ibid., 2:236.
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A TEACHER OF IBN CABD AL-WAHHAB 235
81 The translation of the term ashdb at- Hadith (sing, sahib al-hadith) into
English is problematic, mainly because of the overlapping meanings of ashdb
al-hadith and muhaddiths. George Makdisi ("Ash'arl and Ashcarites in Islamic
Religious History 1 : The Ashcarite Movement and Muslim Orthodoxy," Studia
Islamica, 17 (1962), 49), followed by Christopher Melchert {Formation, 2-3),
used the term "traditionalists" for ashdb al-hadith and "traditionists" for muhaddiths.
Earlier, however, Schacht (Origins, 140ff.) made no distinction between ashdb
al-hadith and muhaddiths, rendering both into the English as "traditionists".
Here, I use "traditionists" to denote ashdb al-hadith, and "scholars of hadith",
or "scholars of Prophetic traditions", for muhaddiths. The term "traditional"
will be used in its broad social scientific sense to denote taqlidi, i. e. dominant,
conventional, conservative and established. For this sense of the term "tra-
ditional", see Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Traditional Islam in the Modern World (London:
KPI, 1987); William A. Graham, "Traditionalism in Islam: An Essay in
Interpretation," Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 23 (1993), 495-522; Basheer
M. Nafi, "Abu al-Thana' al-AlusI: An Alim, Ottoman Mufti, and Exegete of
the Qur'an " International Journal of Middle East Studies, 34 (2002), 465-94.
82 For the debate about the Qur'an and hadith and the origins of Islamic
law, see Schacht, Origins, 141-9; G. H. Juynboll, Islamic Tradition (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1983), chap.l; Melchert, Formation, chap. 1; Harald
Motzki, The Origins of Islamic Jurisprudence: Meccan Fiqh before the Classical Schools,
trans. Marian Katz (Leiden: Brill, 2002); Hallaq, Origins, chaps. 1 and 5.
83 Muhammad b. Sacd, Kitdb al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, ed. cAli Muhammad cUmar
(Cairo: Maktabat al-KhanjT, 2001), 9:376; Muhammad b. Ishaq b. al-Nadlm,
al-Fihrist, ed. Nahid Abbas 'Uthman (Doha: Dar Qutrl b. al-Fuja'a, 1985),
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236 BASHEER M. NAFI
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A TEACHER OF IBN CABD AL-WAHHAB 237
407-31). Ibn Hanbal used qiyds only reluctantly and as a last resort (Ibn
Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Flam al-Muwaqqicin, vols. 39-40).
91 Schacht, Origins, 19; Melchert, Formation, 24-5.
92 Melchert, Formation, 31.
93 Ibn Khallikan, Wqfaydt al-Acydn, 7:66-72. For an example of Ibn cAbd
al-Barr's emphasis on hadxth, see his Jam? Baydn al-'Ilm wa-Fadluh, 2 vols.
(Cairo: al-Matba'a al-Munlriyya, 1978).
94 Ibn Khallikan, Wafaydt al-Aydn, 1:92-3. See also the excellent article in
EI2, s. v. "al-Khatlb al-Baghdadl" (R. Sellheim).
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238 BASHEER M. NAFI
al-Hafi (the famous Sufi and scholar of hadith), God bless his soul,
and he used to go to that grave once a week, lay in it and read the
Qur'an. When Abu Bakr al-Khatlb (al-Baghdadl) died, ashdb al-
hadith went to Abu Bakr b. al-Zahra' and asked [his permission] to
bury al-Khatlb [al-Baghdadl] in the grave he had prepared ..."95
Although hadith scholarship continued to flourish throughout the
Islamic middle period, it is not possible at present to identify those
scholars of hadith who were inclined more toward the methodology
of classical ashdb al-hadith and those who leaned more to the traditional
madhhabi fiqh. In 10th/ 16th century Cairo, the great Sufi cAbd al-
Wahhab al-ShacranI, with whose works Hayat al-Sindl seems to
have been familiar, was both a ShafTl jurist and an assertive
traditionist.96 Moreover, rising interest in hadith among HanafT culamd'
preceded Hayat al-Sindi by more than a century, at the least.
Hayat al-Sindfs direct teacher was, of course, his fellow countryman
Muhammad b. cAbd al-Hadi al-Sindi. But even earlier, Mulla cAlI
b. Muhammad b. Sultan al-HarawI (d. 1014/1606), a HanafT jurist
and muhaddith from Herat, generated a strong response from the
'ulamd' of Mecca because of his denunciation of Ibn cArabl's doctrine
of wahdat al-wujud and his hadith-based jiqh.97 It appears that Hayat
al-Sindi represented a trend among a small group of seventeenth
and early-eighteenth century 'ulamd* who relied on the methodology
of ashdb al-hadith in their attempt to reform dominant modes of
madhhabism and taqlid. Not surprisingly, the modern-day Ahl-i Hadith
of South Asia pay great respect to the memory of Hayat al-Sindi
and republish his works.98
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A TEACHER OF IBN (ABD AL-WAHHAB 239
Conclusions
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240 BASHEER M. NAFI
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A TEACHER OF IBN CABD AL-WAHHAB 241
100 For a further discussion of Sufism and reform in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, see B. Radtke, "Sufism in the 18th Century: An Attempt
at a Provisional Appraisal," Die Welt des Islam, 36:3 (1996), 326-64. Cf. Nafi,
"Tasawwuf 'and Reform," 307-55. The overlapping of Sufi and reformist attitudes
continued well into the nineteenth century. See, for example, B. Radke, J.
O'kane, K. S. Vikor and R. S. O'Fahey, The Exoteric Ahmad Ibn Idris: A Sufi's
Critique of the Madhdhib and the Wahhdbis. Four Arabic Texts with Translation and
Commentary (Leiden: Brill, 2000); Basheer M. Nafi, "Abu al-Thana5 al-AlusT:
An Alim, Ottoman Mufti and Exegete of the Qur'an," International Journal of
Middle Eastern Studies, 44 (2002), 465-94.
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