L'age d'Aicha: Difference between revisions

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==Points de vue académiques modernes==
==Points de vue académiques modernes==
===Provenance et datation du hadith sur l'âge du mariage===
===Provenance et datation du hadith sur l'âge du mariage===
The most comprehensive academic treatment of the hadith about Aisha's marital age was produced by Dr Joshua Little for his PhD thesis in 2022.<ref>Joshua Little (2022) ''The Hadith of ʿAʾishah's Marital Age: A Study in the Evolution of Early Islamic Historical Memory'', PhD thesis, Oxford University
La recherche académique la plus complète concernant les hadiths se rapportant à l’âge du mariage d’Aicha a été réalisée par le Dr Joshua Little pour sa thèse de doctorat en 2022.<ref>Joshua Little (2022) ''The Hadith of ʿAʾishah's Marital Age: A Study in the Evolution of Early Islamic Historical Memory'', PhD thesis, Oxford University
It is available on his blog together with very useful diagrams of the reported isnads and matns: [https://islamicorigins.com/the-unabridged-version-of-my-phd-thesis/ The Unabridged Version of My PhD Thesis]  by Joshua Little - Islamicorigins.com - 7 March 2023
It is available on his blog together with very useful diagrams of the reported isnads and matns: [https://islamicorigins.com/the-unabridged-version-of-my-phd-thesis/ The Unabridged Version of My PhD Thesis]  by Joshua Little - Islamicorigins.com - 7 March 2023
See alternatively: [https://islamicorigins.com/a-summary-of-my-phd-research/ A Summary of my PhD Research] by Joshua Little - Islamicorigins.com - 25 February 2023</ref><ref>See also this lecture by Dr. Joshua Little entitled [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr6mBlEPxW8&t=2s The Hadith of ʿAʾishah's Marital Age: A Study in the Evolution of Early Islamic Historical Memory] - youtube.com, 26 February 2023</ref> An important tool in the modern academic analysis of widely transmitted hadiths is isnad-cum-matn Analysis (ICMA). The isnad is the transmission chain attributed to a particular narration and the matn is its wording. In ICMA, converging isnad bundles of a widely transmitted hadith are compared with clusters of variation in the matns to see how well they correlate with each other. Often, this leads to the identification of one or more ''common links'' i.e. the person from whom transmissions of a matn first start to branch out, even if the chain may continue back by a single strand before that person.<ref>See Chapter 1 of Dr Little's thesis for a detailed explanation.</ref> The technique is helpful for dating when a hadith started to circulate and to identify who might have first formulated it in such a way, though not necessarily whether there is any historical kernal to the events reported therein. Dr Little has outlined 21 reasons why hadiths are known to be very unreliable in a historical sense by modern academic scholarship.<ref>This is useful preparatory viewing for Dr Little's Aisha lecture: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz4vMUUxhag Oxford Scholar Dr. Joshua Little Gives 21 REASONS Why Historians are SKEPTICAL of Hadith] - youtube.com February 2023</ref>
See alternatively: [https://islamicorigins.com/a-summary-of-my-phd-research/ A Summary of my PhD Research] by Joshua Little - Islamicorigins.com - 25 February 2023</ref><ref>See also this lecture by Dr. Joshua Little entitled [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr6mBlEPxW8&t=2s The Hadith of ʿAʾishah's Marital Age: A Study in the Evolution of Early Islamic Historical Memory] - youtube.com, 26 February 2023</ref> Un outil important dans l’analyse académique moderne des hadiths largement transmis est l’ICMA (isnad-cum-matn Analysis). L'<nowiki/>''isnad'' est la chaîne de transmission attribuée à un récit particulier et le ''matn'' est son libellé. Dans l’ICMA, les groupes d’isnad convergents d’un hadith sont comparés à des groupes de variation dans les matns pour voir dans quelle mesure ils sont corrélés les uns avec les autres. Souvent, cela conduit à l’identification d’un ou plusieurs ''liens communs'' c.-à-d. la personne à partir de laquelle les transmissions d’un matn commencent d’abord à se ramifier, même si la chaîne peut se poursuivre par un seul élément avant cette personne.<ref>See Chapter 1 of Dr Little's thesis for a detailed explanation.</ref> La technique est utile pour dater le moment où un hadith a commencé à circuler et pour identifier qui aurait pu le formuler de cette manière, sans toutefois qu’il soit nécessaire qu’il y ait un lien historique aux événements qui y sont rapportés. Le Dr Little a exposé 21 raisons pour lesquelles les hadiths sont connus pour être très peu fiables dans un sens historique par la recherche académique moderne.<ref>This is useful preparatory viewing for Dr Little's Aisha lecture: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz4vMUUxhag Oxford Scholar Dr. Joshua Little Gives 21 REASONS Why Historians are SKEPTICAL of Hadith] - youtube.com February 2023</ref>


After an extensive search for available versions (200+) of the Aisha marital age hadith, Little performed ICMA analysis to identify a small number of common links whose matns he could reconstruct, while others could be dismissed as common links due to having contradictory or disparate matns ascribed to them, which in turn exhibit a range of further problems. Various single strand ascriptions are also dismissed as dubious.
Après une recherche approfondie des versions disponibles (plus de 200) des hadiths liés à l’âge du mariage d’Aicha, Little a effectué une ICMA pour identifier un petit nombre de liens communs dont il pouvait reconstruire les matns, alors que d’autres pouvaient être rejetés en raison de matns contradictoires ou disparates qui leur sont attribués, et qui, à leur tour, présentaient une série d'autres problèmes. Diverses attributions à un seul élément sont également considérées comme douteuses.


Aside from Hisham b. 'Urwa (d. 146 AH), who was Aisha's great nephew and whose simple narration is the most widely transmitted, Muhammad b. 'Amr (d. 144 AH) is the other reconstructable Medinan common link, though like Hisham, he moved to Iraq and merely seems to append one of Hisham's versions of the hadith to another narration. The other early common links are three Kufans (in Iraq) who died 146-160 AH. Though it is possible that one or more other narrations go back to Aisha herself, this cannot be demonstrated on an ICMA basis.<ref>pp. 397-99 of Dr Little's thesis</ref>
Outre Hisham b. 'Urwa (mort en 146 AH), qui était le petit-neveu d'Aicha et dont le récit est le plus largement transmis, Muhammad b. 'Amr (mort en 144 AH) est l'autre lien commun médinois reconstructible, bien que, comme Hisham, il ait déménagé en Irak et semble simplement ajouter une des versions du hadith d’Hisham à un autre récit. Les autres premiers liens communs sont trois habitants de Koufa (en Irak) qui sont morts entre 146-160 AH. Bien qu'il soit possible qu'un ou plusieurs autres récits remontent à Aicha elle-même, cela ne peut être démontré sur une base de l’ICMA.<ref>pp. 397-99 of Dr Little's thesis</ref>


Little then analyzes in greater depth his reconstructed matns for these common links. Based on shared words, phrases and sequencing, he concludes that they all derive from a single, simple formulation, and are not independently transmitted memories of a common event. This original formulation seems to be the widely transmitted one of Hisham, who also transmitted a few versions with additional details. Hisham attributed all of these to his father 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr (falsely, argues Little, though it is worth mentioning that in his thesis he does not notice that the content of 'Urwa's letter about Aisha reported by Hisham is also narrated by a Syrian partial common link who ascribed it via his uncle to 'Urwa's student, al-Zuhri, who moved from Medina to Syria.<ref>'Urwa wrote a number of letters on early Islamic history to the late Umayyad court. These letters were transmitted by his son Hisham and the traditions therein were often also transmitted by 'Urwa's Medinan student al-Zuhri. 'Urwa's letters are translated in full in Sean Anthony, ''Muhammad and the Empires of Faith: The making of the Prophet of Islam'', Oakland CA: University of California, 2020, Chapter 4. In 2012, the creators of the ICMA method, Andreas Görke, Harald Motzki and Gregor Schoeler, strongly argued that the traditions in the letters attributed to 'Urwa probably do in some way originate with him, especially when they are supported by parallel traditions going back to 'Urwa (Goerke, A, Motzki, H & Schoeler, G (2012) [https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/12692843/First_Century_Sources_for_the_Life_of_Muhammad_a_debate.pdf First-Century Sources for the Life of Muhammad?] A Debate, Der Islam, vol. 89, no. 2, pp. 2-59. https://doi.org/10.1515/islam-2012-0002).
Little a alors analysé plus en profondeur ses matns reconstitués pour ces liens communs. Sur la base de mots, de phrases et de séquençages partagés, il a conclu qu’ils dérivaient tous d’une seule et simple formulation et ne sont pas des souvenirs transmis indépendamment d’un événement commun. Cette formulation d’origine semble être celle qui s’est largement transmise par Hisham, lequel a également transmis quelques versions avec des détails supplémentaires. Hisham a attribué tout cela à son père 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr (faussement, soutient Little, bien qu’il soit utile de mentionner que dans sa thèse, il ne note pas que le contenu de la lettre de 'Urwa sur Aicha qu’Hisham a rapporté est aussi raconté par un lien commun partiel syrien qui l'a attribué via son oncle à al-Zuhri, l’élève d'Urwa, qui a déménagé de Médine en Syrie.<ref>'Urwa wrote a number of letters on early Islamic history to the late Umayyad court. These letters were transmitted by his son Hisham and the traditions therein were often also transmitted by 'Urwa's Medinan student al-Zuhri. 'Urwa's letters are translated in full in Sean Anthony, ''Muhammad and the Empires of Faith: The making of the Prophet of Islam'', Oakland CA: University of California, 2020, Chapter 4. In 2012, the creators of the ICMA method, Andreas Görke, Harald Motzki and Gregor Schoeler, strongly argued that the traditions in the letters attributed to 'Urwa probably do in some way originate with him, especially when they are supported by parallel traditions going back to 'Urwa (Goerke, A, Motzki, H & Schoeler, G (2012) [https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/12692843/First_Century_Sources_for_the_Life_of_Muhammad_a_debate.pdf First-Century Sources for the Life of Muhammad?] A Debate, Der Islam, vol. 89, no. 2, pp. 2-59. https://doi.org/10.1515/islam-2012-0002).
One of 'Urwa's letters is a short one about Aisha's marriage. It was reported in a couple of chains through Hisham and is quoted in the Relevant Quotations section above. Little contests a couple of arguments for the general authenticity of 'Urwa's letters but without wider engagement with Goerke et al. He also questions how we can in any case identify which words or elements thereof Hisham accurately transmitted (p. 314).
One of 'Urwa's letters is a short one about Aisha's marriage. It was reported in a couple of chains through Hisham and is quoted in the Relevant Quotations section above. Little contests a couple of arguments for the general authenticity of 'Urwa's letters but without wider engagement with Goerke et al. He also questions how we can in any case identify which words or elements thereof Hisham accurately transmitted (p. 314).
However, Dr Little did not notice that another hadith he discusses which is ascribed to 'Urwa's Medinan student al-Zuhri contains the same core tradition as this letter, especially the distinctive sequence of elements but also much of the same or similar wording, albeit not in the form of a letter. Compare the Arabic provided in the isnad diagrams on his blog, or the transliteration of 'Urwa's reconstructed letter on pp. 310-11 of the thesis with al-Hajjaj b. Abi Mani's reconstructed transmission of the same elemental sequence (pp. 204-5, 370-72; see also 482). Al-Hajjaj who lived in Aleppo, Syria, ascribed it via his uncle to al-Zuhri, who does not himself count as a common link but did move from Medina to Damascus and later Resafa, Syria, where he tutored the Caliph's sons. Part of the letter content and wording also comprise ʾAbū ʾUsāmah Ḥammād's narration from Hisham (pp. 223-4).</ref>). There is some evidence that Hisham did not originally extend the isnad of most of his versions back to Aisha herself, but rather only to his father 'Urwa, Aisha's nephew, and that they were narrated in the 3rd person, not in her own voice.<ref>Ibid. p. 305 including footnote 996</ref> It is even clearer that such isnad "raising" occured for transmissions by others back to Aisha by other routes.
However, Dr Little did not notice that another hadith he discusses which is ascribed to 'Urwa's Medinan student al-Zuhri contains the same core tradition as this letter, especially the distinctive sequence of elements but also much of the same or similar wording, albeit not in the form of a letter. Compare the Arabic provided in the isnad diagrams on his blog, or the transliteration of 'Urwa's reconstructed letter on pp. 310-11 of the thesis with al-Hajjaj b. Abi Mani's reconstructed transmission of the same elemental sequence (pp. 204-5, 370-72; see also 482). Al-Hajjaj who lived in Aleppo, Syria, ascribed it via his uncle to al-Zuhri, who does not himself count as a common link but did move from Medina to Damascus and later Resafa, Syria, where he tutored the Caliph's sons. Part of the letter content and wording also comprise ʾAbū ʾUsāmah Ḥammād's narration from Hisham (pp. 223-4).</ref>). There is some evidence that Hisham did not originally extend the isnad of most of his versions back to Aisha herself, but rather only to his father 'Urwa, Aisha's nephew, and that they were narrated in the 3rd person, not in her own voice.<ref>Ibid. p. 305 including footnote 996</ref> It is even clearer that such isnad "raising" occured for transmissions by others back to Aisha by other routes.
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