Between Text and Context: Understanding Ḥadīth through Asbab al Wurud

Abstract

A comprehensive understanding of Ḥadīth, with their narrative background in Islamic tradition, would require the application of the principle of asbāb al-wurūd (discerning the specific circumstances for the reason or purpose of revealing Ḥadīth), an approach which gives detailed information about narrated Ḥadīth. Having such a comprehension about the essence of the message of Ḥadīth could enhance the understanding of Muslim audiences and followers. This situation will indirectly provide a stepping stone to comprehensive information to prevent misunderstanding the message of Islamic religion. Taking due cognizance of these circumstances could potentially result in preventing actions of religious radicalism, which might result from obtaining religious messages through a solely textual approach. In this situation, the sufficient application of asbāb al-wurūd plays a significant role in leading an order to achieve the contextual comprehension of the religious message of Ḥadīth. This paper aims to examine the significance of asbāb al-wurūd in understanding the contextual meaning of Ḥadīth beyond a textual basis. The findings reveal that the contextual elaboration of the message of Ḥadīth could be adapted in a proper way, in which its textual comprehension could be elaborated on clearly through detailing its asbāb al-wurūd, one method of which is to refer to Muslim scholars together with schools of thought in order to clearly attain the message of Islamic religion. Furthermore, this article attempts to address such a way of bringing about textual understanding to the context to assist in adapting the contextual significance of a clear and detailed comprehension of Ḥadīth. The significance of this study is to contribute to providing a detailed explanation on both text and context in seeking for clarity on the Ḥadīths’ information and message with a clear basis as a safeguard against extremist interpretations of Islam.

Developing Student-Inclusive Characters Through Al-Quran and Ḥadīth

“…Bakhtiar (2018) that asbāb al-nuzūl can be regarded as situations or queries that occurred during the Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) lifetime, after which Allah revealed an explanation to him (Bakhtiar, 2018). Ramle (2022) defines asbāb al-wurūd as the causes of ḥadīth narration, or all circumstances that inspired the Prophet PBUH to narrate ḥadīth, such as answering a question, narrating a story, and happenings (Ramle & Huda, 2022). Putri (2020) said that understanding asbāb al-nuzūl and asbāb al-wurūd is an effective method for interpreting the Quran and ḥadīth since it reveals the secret message of Quranic verses or adath that cannot be understood without understanding nuzūl and wurūd (Ahmad, 2018).…”

Nikah Muda: The Hijrah Movement of Anti-Dating Communities from Progressive to Conservative in Indonesia (A Critical Study of Hadith)

“…However, unfortunately, the mediation of hadith does not provide broad and deep knowledge but rather is very superficial. The mediation of hadith leads to misinterpretations, mistranslations, and misquotations of hadith based on shallow religious understanding (Ramle & Huda, 2022). Making early marriage a solution to dating is a form of misinterpretation.…”

“…This movement also counters conservative religious narratives, including the subordination of women perpetuating patriarchal dominance in families to realize a just Islamic spirit. Thus, hadiths of early marriage should be understood by considering the text and context of the hadith to encourage a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the hadith (Ramle & Huda, 2022) so that both partners can more easily achieve the goal of marriage, which is to build a family that is tranquil, loving, and merciful.…”

Fostering Religious Inclusivism Attitudes in School Through Learning The Quran and Ḥadīth

“…Asbāb al-wurūd is defied as a knowledge which discussed the reasons of the Ḥadīth narration, or in other words all matters that precipitated the Prophet PBUH narrating Ḥadīth, such as in response to a question or inquiry, telling a story, and occurrences (Ramle and Huda, 2022).…”