International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 9 , No. 11, November, 2019, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2019 HRMARS Orientalists’ Perspectives on Hadith Idri Shaffat, Rohaizan Baru To Link this Article: http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v9-i11/6677 DOI: 10.6007/IJARBSS/v9-i11/6677 Received: 12 October 2019, Revised: 24 October 2019, Accepted: 12 November 2019 Published Online: 28 November 2019 In-Text Citation: (Shaffat, & Baru , 2019) To Cite this Article: Shaffat, I., & Baru, R. (2019). Orientalists’ Perspectives on Hadith. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 9(11), 1326–1339. Copyright: © 2019 The Author(s) Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com) This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. 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The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode Vol. 9, No. 11, 2019, Pg. 1326 - 1339 http://hrmars.com/index.php/pages/detail/IJARBSS JOURNAL HOMEPAGE Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://hrmars.com/index.php/pages/detail/publication-ethics 1326 International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 9 , No. 11, November, 2019, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2019 HRMARS Orientalists’ Perspectives on Hadith Idri Shaffat Sunan Ampel State Islamic University, Surabaya Indonesia E-mail: [email protected] Rohaizan Baru Research Institute for Islamic Products and Malay Civilization, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu Malaysia Email: [email protected] Abstract This article aims to explain the views of the Orientalists about the Prophet hadiths, especially in terms of their origins and authenticities. This study begins with the history of hadith studies among the Orientalists. Continued with the discussion of the Orientalist attitude toward Islam and hadith, their views on the definition of hadith and sunnah, their views on isnad and matn of hadith, their views on the codification of hadith, and their views on the hadith as a source of Islamic law. In studying the hadith of the Prophet, the Orientalists began with a skeptic attitude that doubted the truth of hadith coming from the Prophet. They concluded that all hadiths were not derived from the Prophet but were fabrications of the Muslims in the first and second centuries of Higra which were then relied on the Prophet to obtain justification. The term of hadith and sunnah also did not come from the Prophet and the isnad and matn of hadiths are all false. Similarly, the codification of the hadith had never occurred in the time of the Prophet but in the second century Higra. Therefore, the hadith can not be used as a source of Islamic law and Islamic teachings. Keywords: Hadith, Sunnah, Isnad, Matn, Codification, Orientalists, Hadith Scholars Introduction The study of orientalists cannot be separated from orientalism. The word orientalism drived from orient and ism. The word orient means direction of the rising sun (Maufur, 1995: 11). This word, geographically, implies to the east and ethnologically indicates to the eastern nations (Sou’yb, 2005: 1). Broadly speaking, the word orient also means an area stretching from the Near East regions (Turkey and surrounding areas) to the Far East (Japan, Korea, China) and South Asia to the Muslim Republics of the former Soviet Union, and the Middle East region to North Africa 1327 International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 9 , No. 11, November, 2019, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2019 HRMARS (Maufur, 1995:11). While the term ism means establishment, science, knowledge, understanding, belief, and systems. Thus, etymologically, orientalism can be defined as the science of oriental or the study of the eastern world. Orientalism term refers to all branches of science concerned with the study of eastern nations in all of its aspects such as religion, language, science, literature, art, and others. While the east (orient) world refers to part of the world identified by Western people as the world that includes all nations which lies at the east of the European continent. Western people divide the east world into three parts; the Near East, Middle East, and Far East (al-Dasuqi, 1995: 41). Edward Said, terminologically, gives three basic understanding of orientalism, namely; a way of coming that relates to the Eastern nations on the basis of special places of East and West European experiences, a style of thought based on ontology and epistemology of the West, and a Western style for dominating, rebuilding, and having the power to the East (Said, 1994: 1-3). It seems that orientalism can be simplified as a study of the Eastern world. Therefore, Orientalists means somebody who studies oriental world, which in its development constricted into Islamic world. In this case, there is an opinion that limits the orientalist definition to Western people only, while other opinions do not limit it to certain groups (Hanafi, 1991: 9). Based on Edward Said opinion above, it can be said that to determine whether a person is an Orientalist or not lies on the way of thinking in assessing the Eastern world, not on geographical aspects of the study. Therefore, it could mean that an Orientalist is a person who studies the Eastern (Islamic) world based on ontological and epistemological logic of the West, no matter whether he is a Westerner or not, Muslim or non-Muslim. Conversely, a person who studies the Western world using orient perspective called Oxidentalist. Nevertheless, usually the predicate of Orientalists is directed to the Western people who have an interest in studying particularly the Islamic world and generally the orient world. As an intellectual and cultural activity, orientalism concerns with the following intellectual works; editing (tahqiq) and publishing the books of Islamic heritage, studying local languages in many eastern countries, studying a variety of social, economic, and psychological factors that affect a nation behavior, studying various sects and faiths in a country, whether moderate or extreme, and examining ancient relics in various countries (Marzuq, 1991: 136-137). The positive contribution of orientalism toward Muslims is reflected in the fact that the Orientalists had been editing and publishing manuscripts and catalog of Islamic manuscripts, disseminating scientific research methods when studying turath, making index of books such as al-Mu'jam al-Mufahras li Alfaz al-Hadith by E.J. Wensinck, and so on. At the beginning of its growth, Orientalists study of Islam was in general term. It included every aspects of Islam, especially about Islamic doctrines and Muslims societies. However, through its progress, the study had been experiencing a specification so that it produced variety of Islamic studies branchs such as the Qur'an, hadith, Islamic law, Islamic history, and so on. In the frame of the specified Orientalists study into several fields, this article will set forth their studies on the field of hadith. Among those who had been actived in studying and researching hadith were Ignaz Goldziher and Joseph Schacht. In addition to the two, some names that intersected with the Orientalist traditions were William Muir, Nabia Abbott, F. Sezgin, G.H. A. 1328 International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 9 , No. 11, November, 2019, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2019 HRMARS Juynboll, Harald Motzki, J. Robson, W. Montgomery Watt, Von Guerboum, Arberry, Jeffre, Ira Lapidus, and others. Hadith Study among Orientalists: A Historical Perspective One of many areas of study being done by the Orientalists is the hadith of the Prophet. There is no certainty of history about who was the first Orientalist who conducted the study in this field. Many scholars disagree on this. According to G.H.A. Joynboll, as quoted by Daniel W. Brown, Western scholars who first made a skeptical study of Hadith was Alois Sprenger and then followed by Sir William Muir in his work Life of Muhamet and reached its peak in the work of Ignaz Goldziher (Brown, 2004:111). According to Azami, the first orientalist who studied and researched Hadith is Ignaz Goldziher, a Hungarian-born Jewish (1850-1920 AD) through his work entitled Muhamedanische Studien in 1980, which contains his views on hadith (Azami, 1997: 94). This opinion is opposed by A.J. Wensinck that the first orientalists who studied it is Snouck Hurgronje who published his book Revre Coloniale Internationale in 1886 (Darmalaksana, 2004: 88). If this argument is true, then the work of Hurgronje was published four years earlier than Goldziher’s work. Furthermore, the study in this field was continued by Roskeen Alexander Hamilton Gibb, a British Orientalist (1895-1971) through his work Mohammedanism and Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam, and followed by Joseph Schacht, a Polish Orientalist (1902-1969) through his work The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence, G.H.A. Joynboll with his book Muslim Tradition, Studies in Chronology, Provenance, and Authorship of Early Hadith, Bernard G. Weiss, in his book The Search for God's Law, and many other names such as W. Montgomery Watt, Von Guerboum, Arberry, Jeffre, Ira Lapidus, and John L. Esposito. Apart from the controversy above, something to note here is that Goldziher had succeeded in instilling doubts about hadith authenticity equipped by his scientific studies, so that his work was regarded as ‘a holy book’ by the Orientalists themselves (Yakub, 2004: 8). In addition, the presence of Joseph Schacht through his work The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence, first published in 1950, regarded as 'the second scripture' by the subsequent Orientalists, also has a strong impact on a number of researchs and studies of hadith among them.