The Absolute Acceptance of Ziyādat al-Thiqah

al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī’s View and the Practice of the Mutaqaddimūn

Abstract

This study examines the principle of the absolute acceptance of ziyādat al-thiqah, a concept in hadith methodology referring to the addition transmitted by a trustworthy narrator (thiqah) that is not reported by other trustworthy narrators, in cases where conflicting narrations arise. The primary objective of the study is to determine how the approach that additions transmitted by trustworthy narrators must be accepted in all circumstances is reflected in the hadith criticism practices of the early hadith scholars (mutaqaddimūn), and to trace the historical development of this approach within the literature of hadith methodology. Within this framework, the study first examines the nature and scope of ziyādat al-thiqah, followed by an analysis of al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī’s position that additions transmitted by trustworthy narrators must be accepted absolutely, as well as his attribution of this position to the majority of hadith scholars and jurists. The study concludes that the early hadith scholars did not adopt a universal and absolute principle requiring the acceptance in all circumstances of an addition transmitted by a trustworthy narrator in contradiction to other trustworthy narrators. Rather, when evaluating discrepancies between narrations, they considered various contextual indicators (qarāʾin) collectively, including the narrators’ memorization, precision, and probity; the degree of proximity between narrators and their teachers; the multiplicity of transmission routes; whether narrations had been received in different gatherings or within the same gathering; and other corroborating factors. The study further concludes that the principle of the absolute acceptance of ziyādat al-thiqah did not emerge directly from the practices of the early hadith scholars. Rather, this approach was particularly systematized as a theoretical principle by al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī and became more pronounced in hadith methodology in connection with the concept of ziyāda in the literature of jurisprudence and legal theory.