Acceptance Conditions of Khabar al-Wâhid According to The Hanafi School

Abstract

According to the claim of some orientalists who lived in the last century, Islamic scholars did not study the Sunnah comprehensively enough, they only dealt with the chains of transmission and did not give due importance to textual criticism. The reason for this misconception stems from the delusion that the studies on the Sunnah were carried out only by Hadith scholars. However, what is called textual criticism today was carried out very meticulously by Fiqh and Usul scholars centuries ago. As an example of this, it is possible to find a lot of information in the books of Usul al-Fiqh about the conditions for accepting the khabar al-wâhid (lone reports). When the conditions for the acceptance of these reports, which are scattered in these books, are collected and examined, it becomes clear that this aspect was never ignored and a solid system was established on the subject. For example, issues such as the issue of presenting hadiths to the Qur'an, the status of reports that do not comply with reason, and the position of some narrations contrary to the basic principles of religion were discussed and resolved by the scholars of Usul al-fiqh centuries ago. Extremely important principles, such as the rejection of the lone reports when it is related to a matter of general interest, which shows how robust the established system/madhhab is, have also been determined by Islamic scholars, especially Hanafi scholars. As a result, contrary to what some orientalists claim, it is understood that Islamic scholars fulfilled their duty in the best way and thus carried out extensive studies on the Sunnah, the second source of Islamic law.