About
The Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding of Georgetown University and the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation of Charles Sturt University in collaboration with Comparative Islamic Studies (Equinox Journal) are pleased to host an online conference on Isnād-cum-matn Analysis (ICMA) as a Method in Contemporary Hadith Studies on 27-28 January 2024.
Western academic scholarship on the origin and transmission of hadith and traditional Muslim hadith methodologies of authentication, though studying the same body of literature, often operate in disconnected universes. It is of scholarly importance to academic development and for the continued vibrancy of the hadith tradition, as practiced by Muslim ulema, that dialogue continues between the two. Conferences aiming to do so, such as the one at Pembroke College, Oxford in 2019 on the topic of Modern Hadith Studies between Arabophone and Western scholarship, are a welcome effort, though the field remains siloed.
Since the academic movement is most closely associated with the work of Harold Motzki from the 1990s, there has been a shift beyond the so-called ‘skeptical’ school with respect to hadith using the technique of ICMA. This method analyses the variation of hadith texts according to their paths of transmission, seeking to provide a reliable date for the time at which a hadith was first in common circulation (as witnessed by its corroborated chains). Scholars with a range of theoretical perspectives have used this methodology to analyze and in particular, date hadiths on various topics. The method is commonly used to recover as much as possible of the hadith corpus as a viable historical source for the first two centuries of Islam, even though the canonical compilations date mainly to the third century and later. Though ICMA has received positive reception, especially in the context of the prior prevailing academic skepticism about hadith, critical voices have been raised. Some scholars have argued for the continuation of a more skeptical attitude towards the transmission of hadith, based on the ways that fabricated reports and chains can enter the corpus. Others have suggested that Motzki’s focus on full textual corroboration does not go far enough and other techniques, including those used within the Islamic intellectual tradition, could be legitimately added to date hadiths earlier still. Finally, some scholars defend the integrity of the canonical hadith collections as a whole.
This conference will provide a forum for the assessment of an international group of experts on hadith, from a variety of backgrounds and theoretical perspectives. The intention is to provide a ‘state of the art’ appraisal of ICMA within hadith studies and related academic disciplines, with selected papers published with the blind peer reviewed journal Comparative Islamic Studies.
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Editor of Comparative Islamic Studies (CIS) (Equinox)
Dr. Ramon Harvey
Cambridge Muslim College
Editor of Edinburgh Studies in Islamic Scripture and Theology
Prof. Jonathan A.C. Brown
Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization in the School of Foreign Service
Georgetown University
Dr. Suleyman Sertkaya (Co-Editor for Special Issue)
Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation
Charles Sturt University
Dr. Sadeq Ansari (Co-Editor for Special Issue)
Assistant Professor Islamic Studies
Respect Graduate School
Day One - Saturday
27 January 2024
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London Time |
Item |
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9.30am -10.00am |
Welcome and Introduction Welcome and Acknowledgements Welcome and Opening Remarks on Hadith Studies Introduction to the Conference Theme |
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10.00am -12.00pm |
Panel 1 Was ICMA how Early Hadith Critics Worked? Using Isnād-cum-Matn Analysis to Verify the Authenticity of the
Transmission Process of Single Strands: A Case Study of G. H. A. Juynboll The Potential for an isnād-cum-matn Analysis Accepted by Muslim and
Western Scholars: A Comparative Perspective Home-Grown Organic ICMA? Case Study of an ICMA-Like Approach in
Contemporary Muslim Scholarship |
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12.00pm - 12.15pm |
BREAK |
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12.15pm - 13.45pm |
Panel 2 Intertextuality during the Process of Transmission or How
Isnād-cum-Matn Analysis Misunderstands Textual Criticism The Limits of ICMA: al-ḥadīth al-gharīb Reappraisal of Methodological Diversity in Isnād-cum-Matn Analysis
(ICMA): A Scrutiny of Sunni and Shia Hadiths on the usage of
ḍarb in Quran 4:34 (iḍribūhunna) |
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13.45pm - 14.30pm |
LUNCH BREAK |
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14.30pm - 16.30pm |
Panel 3 ICMA and Beyond: Ibn Sīrīn and the Rise of Source Verification as a
Means of Hadith Criticism. A Critical Analysis of the Provenance of a Famous
Report Beyond the Common Link: The Utility and Necessity of Form Criticism
and Literary Analysis Text-hadith Review Procedures such as ICMA as a Tool for a
Contemporary Islamic Theology? A Critical Review of Some Apostasy Hadiths and
the Significance of Isnād-cum-matn Analysis Bio-Bibliographical Cross-Reference Analysis: A tailoring approach to
applying ICMA to Imāmī ḥadīth |
Day Two - Sunday 28
January 2024
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London Time |
Item |
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9.30am - 11.00am |
Panel 4 The Narrator’s Fingerprint: Transmitter-based Stylometry as a
Supplement to ICMA Hadith Studies A New Counter-Taṣḥīf Method for Determining the Textual Similarity in
ICMA |
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11.00am - 11.15am |
BREAK |
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11.15am - 13.15pm |
Panel 5 Comparative Analysis of the ICMA Method and Classical Islamic Hadith
Science: A Focus on Motzki's Works and the Murder of Ibn Abi al-Huqayq The Reception of Harald Motzki’s Isnad cum Matn Theory in The Muslim
World: With Special Reference to Indonesian Hadith Scholarship Islamic and Modern Western Ḥadīth Criticism Inter-Receptions: A
Qualitative Analysis of ICMA |
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13.15pm - 14.00pm |
LUNCH BREAK |
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14.00pm - 16.00pm |
Panel 6 Debating the Sanctity of Medina: A Reevaluation of Hadith Narratives Isnād-cum-matn and the Islamic Historical Tradition: The
‘Narrativisation’ Process in the Accounts of Ibn al-Zubayr’s Early Career Mapping Isnāds and Mining Biographical Dictionaries: Recovering the
Social Legitimation of the Caliph’s Court |
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16.00pm - 16.30pm |
Concluding Session/Publication Discussion |
Further information
If
you have further questions please contact sansari@respectgs.us
Sumber: ICMA Conference