What is meant
The author rejects hadiths that he sees as conflicting with the Revelation or with human values, and does not accept them even if their chain of transmission is sound. For him, the criterion is not the soundness of the isnad alone, but rather the conformity of the text to the Qur’an and to human values.
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: critical
- Movement of the argument: he rejects a hadith if it contradicts the Revelation or human values, even if its chain is sound.
- Central terms: hadith, Revelation, human values, chain of transmission.
- Degree of centrality: pivotal.
This atom makes the criterion of acceptance depend on the agreement of meaning with the Revelation and values, not on the chain of transmission alone, thereby shifting the center of gravity from narration to the Qur’anic criterion.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna
- The Sunna between messengerhood and prophethood
- The Sunna is divided into messengerly and prophetic
Basis
- Supporting text: “He rejects the hadiths that he sees as conflicting with the Revelation or with human values, and considers them rejected even if their chain is sound.”
Place of the basis in the book
- Book: The Messengerly Sunna and the Prophetic Sunna.
- Location: near the beginning of the book, within the critique of the image of the Messenger in the Sunna.
- Type of basis: close witness.
- Mark that helps verification: the necessity of rethinking religion
- Reading note: the location is close because it calls for rethinking religion from the Wise Revelation, which is a suitable basis for rejecting hadiths contradictory to the text or values.
Degree of documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of reading: the wording above is an analytical summary and is not treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is transmitted textually.
Its function in the book
Its function here is oppositional; it responds to a common understanding or overturns an inherited reading at this point.
Related to
Editorial note
This atom explains the principle of narrational criticism in this project.