Since its inception, the study of Hadith conducted by scholars trained in the Western academic tradition has been marked by sharp methodological debates. A focal issue is the origin and development of traditions on the advent of Islam. Scholars' verdicts on these traditions have ranged from "late fabrications without any historical value for the time concerning which the narrations purport to give information" to "early, accurately transmitted texts that allow one to reconstruct Islamic origins". Starting from previous contributions to the debate, the studies collected in this volume show that, by careful analysis of their texts and chains of transmission, the history of Muslim traditions can be reconstructed with a high degree of probability and their historicity assessed afresh.

For a lifetime Kees Versteegh played a leading role in Arabic linguistics, dialects (diglossia, creolization, pidginization), the history of Arabic grammar, and other fields related to Arabic. From among his global contacts, colleagues contributed to a Liber Amicorum in appreciation of his stimulating efforts to reopen, deepen and complete our knowledge of Arabic Grammar and Linguistics. In three sections, History, Linguistics and Dialects, 27 contributors discuss (alphabetically): bilingual verb construction; contractual language; current developments; language description; language use; lexicology; organization of language; pause; sentence types; and specific topics: ?alla; featuring; government; homonymy; ?i?m?r; inflection; ma?dar; the origin of grammatical tradition; variety conflicts; and verbal schematic (ir)regularities; waqf; and ?arf.

Hadith is understood here in its broader meaning as the bulk of the texts which contain information on the prophet Muhammad and his Companions, having the form of transmissions from them. The reliability of this material as a source for early Islam is still a highly debated issue. This selection of articles presents the different points of view in this debate and the varying methodological approaches with which scholars trained in modern secular sciences have tried to find a solution to the problem.

Hadith is understood here in its broader meaning as the bulk of the texts which contain information on the prophet Muhammad and his Companions, having the form of transmissions from them. The reliability of this material as a source for early Islam is still a highly debated issue. This selection of articles presents the different points of view in this debate and the varying methodological approaches with which scholars trained in modern secular sciences have tried to find a solution to the problem.

​Der Aufsatz gibt einen Überblick über die Anstrengungen der muslimischen Gelehrten, die Glaubwürdigkeit der Hadithe festzustellen. Diese Überlieferungen vom Propheten Muhammad sind für die Muslime nach dem Koran die zweite bedeutende Quelle, aus der sie Richtlinien für ihren Glauben, ihr Denken und Handeln beziehen. Schon die muslimischen Rechtsgelehrten der ersten Jahrhunderte des Islam beschäftigte die Frage der Glaubwürdigkeit dieser Überlieferungen, die seit dem 3. Jh. H. in anerkannten Sammlungen vorliegen. In dieser Zeit entwickelten die Gelehrten auch eine Hadith-Kritik, die Kriterien festlegte, mit deren Hilfe man den Grad der Glaubwürdigkeit einzelner Überlieferungen bestimmen konnte. Der Beitrag stellt die Auffassungen der muslimischen Rechts- und Hadith-Gelehrten zu diesem Thema dar und evaluiert ihre Lösungen aus der Sicht der westlichen historisch-kritischen Wissenschaft.

This important work is a source-critical study of a group of traditions (ahadith) found in Ibn Ishaq's Biography (Sira) of the prophet Muhammad, widely considered one of the most important early historical texts on the Prophet's life. Through a meticulous isnad-cum-matn analysis, the author reveals that Ibn Ishaq relied on Muhammad b. Abi Muhammad, a hitherto undocumented source of his. Important new light is also shed on problems with Ibn Hisham's recension of Ibn Ishaq's Sira.

Since its inception, the study of Hadith conducted by scholars trained in the Western academic tradition has been marked by sharp methodological debates. A focal issue is the origin and development of traditions on the advent of Islam. Scholars' verdicts on these traditions have ranged from "late fabrications without any historical value for the time concerning which the narrations purport to give information" to "early, accurately transmitted texts that allow one to reconstruct Islamic origins". Starting from previous contributions to the debate, the studies collected in this volume show that, by careful analysis of their texts and chains of transmission, the history of Muslim traditions can be reconstructed with a high degree of probability and their historicity assessed afresh.