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Tawaatur: Difference between revisions
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The hadith is mutawaatir when there is "no possibility" that so many people could agree on a lie. This is the traditional view, though forensic investigators or modern scholars of oral traditions would not use such a criterion. Some scholar might think that 4 chains are enough, other might think that 70 chains are needed, there is not a universal acceptance of what is and is not mutawaatir. | The hadith is mutawaatir when there is "no possibility" that so many people could agree on a lie. This is the traditional view, though forensic investigators or modern scholars of oral traditions would not use such a criterion. Some scholar might think that 4 chains are enough, other might think that 70 chains are needed, there is not a universal acceptance of what is and is not mutawaatir. | ||
*There were thousands of | ==Methodological Criticisms== | ||
*Most sahih hadiths are not mutawaatir, but they are accepted anyway (because all people in the chain supposedly always tell the truth) | |||
Modern standards of forensics and oral tradition scholarship would not find this criterion ipso facto convincing. Some possible criticisms: | |||
*There were thousands of Muslim transmitters available when the hadiths were written; even giving the the most generous assumptions of Muslim honesty, it wouldn't be hard to find 4, 5 or 70+ liars. | |||
*Most sahih hadiths are not mutawaatir, but they are accepted anyway (because all people in the chain supposedly always tell the truth), which calls the entire framework into question | |||
==False chains== | ==False chains== | ||