Forgery in ḥadīth - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Pavlovitch, Pavel
Leiden
Brill
(1,136 words)
Ḥadīth forgery (waḍʿ al-ḥadīth) is the accidental or deliberate circulation of traditions with altered or invented contents ( matn s) and/or lines of transmission ( isnād s). Enlisting past authorities in defence of orthodoxy became a scholarly requirement during the second civil war in Islam (60-73/680-92). The growing appeal of Prophetic ḥadīth , in particular, is reflected in biographical reports about Muḥammad's Companions. Thus, Saʿd b. Abī Waqqāṣ (d. 50-8/670-8) reportedly related no Prophetic traditions and avoided giving legal counsel out of fear that