Abstract:

Hākim al-Nīsābūrī (d. 405/1014) one of the most important hadith critics whose views on the methodology of hadith were taken as a basis in Ahl al-hadith circles. He wrote Ma'rifat al-ulūmi al-hadīth in order to defend the hadith methodology views of Ahl al-hadith and to increase hadith students knowledge of hadith methodology at a time when hadith sciences were weakening. This work of al-Hākim al-Nīsābūrī has an important position in the history of hadith methodology as it is the most comprehensive work of the mutaqaddimūn period and the first work that deals with hadith sciences in a comprehensive manner. In this respect, Ma'rifa is considered by some scholars as the first independent and comprehensive work of hadith methodology. In addition, Ma'rifat al-ulūm al-hadīth is among the basic sources of the later period. As the main source of Ibn al-Salāh's (d. 643/1245) Ulūm al-hadīth, Ma'rifa is one of the founding works of the later period. Ma'rifat al-ulūm al-hadīth became a didactic introduction work to hadith methodology for the hadith madrasas that began to be established in Khorasan in the first half of the fourth century. Indeed, his teacher Abū Bakr al-Sibgī (d. 342/953) left him in charge of the Dar al-Sunnah that he had founded, and it was during this period that Hākim al-Nīsābūrī wrote Ma'rifa. This article examines the place of Ma'rifat al-ulūm al-hadīth in the history of hadith methodology and its role in the establishment of classical hadith methodology.

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