6 - The Pursuit of Authenticity

Summary

Eliminating the use of weak ḥadīth has been a common call of Salafism. Salafis rejected the use of weak ḥadīth because they were incompatible with their core commitment to textual authenticity. Salafis believed weak ḥadīth to be the source of many superstitions, fictitious beliefs, and many erroneous legal verdicts found in the madhhabs. They hold that the use of weak ḥadīth betrays the scholarly responsibility to preserve Islamic teachings in their pure form. On the other hand, Traditionalists allowed the limited use of weak ḥadīth and insisted that they play an important role in Islamic interpretation. The different stances reflect the various priorities of both groups as well as their contrasting conceptions of truth. Their differences also stem from their different perceptions of the social and ideological consequences of using weak ḥadīth. This chapter ends with an analysis of Albānī’s controversial project of dividing the Sunan and the responses it garnered from Traditionalists.