Doctrinal Instruction in Early Islam

The Book of the Explanation of the Sunna by Ghulām Khalīl (D. 275/888)
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-90-04-42904-8
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 174, 380 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 712 g

Reihe: Islamic History and Civilization

This pioneering study casts important new light on key issues in the development of dogmatic instruction in early Islam, as it examines the creed written by the Basran and Baghdadi Sunni preacher Ghulam Khalil (d. 275/888). It includes a critical edition of the Arabic text and an English translation of what appears to be one of the earliest statements of religious beliefs in Islam. In particular, this book argues convincingly that this influential text was authored by the ninth century Ghulam Khalil rather than the Hanbali preacher of Baghdad, al-Barbahari - a claim repeatedly made by modern scholars, both Western and Eastern. The present publication broaches multi-layered themes with the aim of specifying the parameters of this “Muslim Creed” in terms of the composite relationship between its content and its origin. In addition, it tackles the important question of what may have led modern Salafis to embrace the doctrinal positions of this particular statement of belief and practice and, perhaps more importantly, to pursue its “institutionalization” as a religious orthodoxy.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Jarrar, Maher

Günther, Sebastian

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Islam & Islamische Studien Islam: Koran, Heilige Texte & Traditionsliteratur
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Naher & Mittlerer Osten

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments

Notes on Transliteration and Style

Abbreviations

Introduction

1 Ghulam Khalil: Life, Career, and Image as a Scholar

2 The Kitab Shar? al-sunna: Textual Evidence, Transmission, and Authorship

3 The Third/Ninth Century: The Veneration of A?mad b. ?anbal and the Proliferation of Creeds

4 Toward Common Ground: The People of the Sunna and the Community

Epilogue: Doctrinal Instruction in Times of Political Change

Translation of The Book of the Explanation of the Sunna

Appendix I: List of Editions and Translations

Appendix II: List of Traditions Transmitted on the Authority of Ghulam Khalil

General Bibliography

Index of Proper Names

Index of Geographical Names

Index of Book Titles

Index of Termini

Arabic Edition

Bibliography for the Arabic Edition

Index for the Arabic Edition

Über Autor(innen)

Maher Jarrar (PhD 1989 from the University of Tübingen) is Professor at the American University of Beirut, both at the Civilization Studies Program and at the Department of Arabic. He has published numerous books and articles in the fields of Islamic studies, Arabic literature, and literary criticism.

Sebastian Günther (Ph.D. (1989, University of Halle-Wittenberg) is Professor and Chair of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Göttingen. He has published extensively on the intellectual and religious history of Islam.