REVISITING SCHOLARS’ PRINCIPLES ON EXTRACTING PROPER HADITH UNDERSTANDING

Abstract

Hadith understanding refers to the process of interpreting Islamic teaching that could be derived from the text of hadith. It is known to be a challenging part in the study of hadith. Thus, hadith scholars have paid their attention to provide a guideline by introducing principles in hadith understanding. However, the researcher found that there are scattered principles introduced by different scholars. Therefore, this research is conducted to revisit all the principles in hadith understanding introduced by the previous scholars and propose general theme representing all the principles. This research is a qualitative research that is conducted by applying inductive thematic approach using document analysis instrument. The result obtained that there are about 29 principles introduced by the scholars in hadith understanding. The listed principles have been analysed to identify general theme representing all the principles. Based on the analysis, the researcher found that the principles could be categorised into six general themes namely theme of (1) possessing Arabic language proficiency, (2) hadith understanding based on other sacred sources, (3) mastering jurisprudence of hadith (culūm al-ḥadīth), (4) comprehending jurisprudence (fiqh) and its sciences, (5) having knowledge on the history of Islam, and (6) being moderate in interpreting hadith. The proposed themes provide simplified guidelines to assist people on having proper hadith understanding.