Myth,Meaning and the Order of Words: Reading Hadith Collections with Northrop Frye and the Development of Compilation Criticism

The field of Hadith Studies has been grappling and engaging with Ignaz Goldziher's ideas about Hadith and, in particular, the isnād; but this focus on the isnād and the early Islamic period has meant that there has been relatively little reflection on how Hadiths actually work from a theoretical perspective, and even less study on Hadith compilation as a specific scholarly exercise. This article will argue that there is a need to think of Hadith collections not simply as legal works or repositories of information, but rather as literary works, which seek to say something that can only be understood through a process of compilation criticism. This article will use the work of the Canadian literary theorist and critic Northrop Frye to explore issues in the study of Hadiths and their compilation. Frye's approach to the Bible and English literature, particularly his ideas concerning the construction of meaning and discourse, adds a great deal to the understanding of the way Hadiths and Hadith collections work and how they can be read.