On Tuesday, 26th November 2024, Dr Belal Alabbas presented a research seminar at AMI entitled ‘Similar Questions, Different Answers? Reading the Sunni and Imami Hadith Corpus Together.’ In his presentation, Dr Alabbas addressed the phenomenon of contradictions in hadith within both Shia and Sunni traditions. He examined the methods and approaches employed by Imam Al-Shafi’i to address this issue in his book ‘Ikhtilaf Al-Hadith‘ and compared them to the methods and mechanisms adopted by Sheikh Abu Ja’far Al-Tusi in his book ‘Al-Istibsar fima Ikhtalafa min Al-Akhbar‘. Dr Alabbas attempted to draw comparisons between their solutions to the problem of conflicting reports and contradictions, concluding that there is a significant level of similarity in their approaches and methods. However, differences were observed, attributed to their respective doctrinal and intellectual foundations, such as the role of ‘qiyas‘ and the concept of ‘taqiyya‘ in resolving contradictions among narrations and hadith.
Speaker Bio:
Dr Belal Alabbas is a historian of Islamic intellectual and legal thought (7th – 15th centuries). His research focuses on the hadith corpus, hermeneutics, and Islamic law in the formative and classical periods. Among his publications are In the Footsteps of the Prophet: The Life and Works of Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī in Context (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2025) and Modern Hadith Studies: Continued Debates and New Approaches (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020) co-edited with Michael Dann and Christopher Melchert.
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