الاعتراضات الواردة على ابن شھاب الزهري: دراسة تحقيقية

Objections Raised Against Imām Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī: A Research Study

Abstract

This research presents a scholarly and critical examination of the pioneering architect of ḥadīth compilation and the leading authority of learning in the Ḥijāz and Syria, Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī along with an analysis of the objections raised against him by Ignaz Goldziher. Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī renowned for his noble lineage, extraordinary memory, and his association with five distinct generations of teachers and students came to be known as Jabal al-ʿIlm (the Mountain of Knowledge). The primary objective of this study is to dismantle those objections which seek unsuccessfully to portray his relations with the Umayyad caliphs. Through historical and technical evidence, the research demonstrates that his political engagement was not motivated by ambition or courtly expediency, but rather by a commitment to administrative reform and, above all, by the monumental project of ḥadīth compilation undertaken at the directive of Caliph ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. Drawing upon the juridical reasoning of the author of al-Hidāyah and Imām Ibn al-ʿArabī, the study elucidates the intellectual principle that accepting the office of judgeship for the establishment of justice is not contrary to piety. The study concludes the authenticity of al-Zuhrī’s narrations, his foundational role in the early compilation of ḥadīth, and the discipline of isnād he helped establish are unanimously affirmed by the authorities of jarḥ wa taʿdīl. It becomes abundantly clear that Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī was among the trusted custodians of prophetic illuminatio one whose insight and intellectual rigor ensured the enduring protection of the Sunnah from distortion.