“Principles of Traditionist Jurisprudence Reconsidered,” The Muslim World, 100.1 (2010): 145-56. (original) (raw)

U ntil recently, hadıth scholars, whom most modern academics call "traditionists," have elicited tepid interest in Western studies of Islamic law. They typically appear as a foil to the rationalist "Companions of ra'y," a small group of creative jurists who laid the foundations for what ultimately became the four enduring legal schools of Sunnism. 1 While we must not overstate the role of traditionists in early Muslim jurisprudence, it is necessary for us to correct some of the assertions in circulation about them if we are to obtain a clearer understanding of early Islamic legal history.