| dc.description.abstract | Joseph Schacht’s (d. 1969) Common-link Theory, together with its generalized
conclusions, is a key theoretical framework used by most Western and some modern
Muslim scholars of Islamic history. The theory proposes that a figure sitting as a common
link in the chain of transmitters (isnād) is the one responsible for forging the names from
him to the Prophet. In addition, the common link is responsible for bringing the particular
hadith text (matn) and its isnād into existence. Thus, names prior to the common link until
the Prophet are all fictitious. Muslim hadith critics as far back as the second century of
Islam acknowledged the existence of common links in the isnād; however, their attitude
towards it and their conclusion concerning it differed from Western hadith scholars’
interpretations. | en_US |
