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 Muslims 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.
==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==
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