Journal Of Islamic Denominations

Journal Of Islamic Denominations

Examining the Role of Religious Essentials in Critiquing and Rejecting Fabricated Narrations

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
asghar tahmasebi 1
alireza tabibii 2
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, University of Shahrekord, Shahrekord, Iran
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/jid.2025.89789.1389
Abstract
Identifying fabricated hadiths and purging religious teachings of them has been one of the most significant concerns of religious leaders since the beginning, as hadiths, being the second source of religion, play a crucial role in interpreting Quranic verses and elucidating the details of religious laws and doctrines. Therefore, identifying and removing fabricated hadiths from religious texts is of great importance. The criterion of ḍarūrī al-dīn (religious essentials), as one of the reliable standards in critiquing fabricated hadiths, plays a key role in identifying and rejecting such hadiths from religious teachings. Religious essentials consist of the established and evident truths accepted by all Islamic sects, derived from the totality of the Quran and definitive traditions. The certainty of religious essentials on the one hand, and its universal acceptance on the other, allow it to serve as a common criterion among Islamic sects for evaluating the content of hadiths. Based on this criterion, some hadiths, despite having a sound chain of transmission, have been critiqued and rejected by hadith scholars from both Shia and Sunni traditions due to their contradiction with religious essentials. This article uses a descriptive-analytical method to explain the concept and importance of religious essentials and examine its role in evaluating hadiths and identifying fabricated ones. Through case studies of the fundamental beliefs (monotheism and prophethood) accepted by all Islamic sects, the article critiques and analyzes hadiths that contradict these principles. The conclusion is that some hadiths transmitted in the hadith sources of both sects are deemed unacceptable due to their incompatibility with religious essentials and are thus classified as fabricated.
Keywords
ḍarūrī al-dīn (religious essentials)
Quran
definitive tradition
fabricated hadiths
Islamic denominations
Subjects
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