The Examination of Isnād Validity in Early Islamic History Sources: “Sa'd ibn Mu'ādh’s Judgment of Banū Qurayza” as a Case Study

Abstract

The question dealing with the reliability of early Islamic sources has been a source of discomfort for scholars as well as students of early Islamic history. The work of Josef Schacht first published in the fifties of the past century has created an overall attitude of skepticism toward early tradition and made it difficult to study early Islam without justifying the use of early sources and determining their authenticity. This made the whole field part away from the picture painted by the early sources about early Islam, giving rise to unfounded theories and speculations about this historical period. The purpose of this paper is to show that the work of Schacht is unfounded and to present an alternative method for studying Islamic history. Our efforts will not be just theoretical but we will build on the work of Harald Motzki and Gregor Schoeler by bringing a case study from this early period and show how analyzing early isnads, the chain of authority narrating a particular event, impacts matns, the narration attached to the isnad. This will show that scholars of Islamic history may rely on early historical narration for understanding early Islamic history given that they pay particular attention to who is narrating what to whom.