The Phenomenon of “Khaber Accepted by People” Used by Al-Jaṣṣās About the Khabar al-Wāhid in the Frame of al-Fuṣūl fi al-uṣūl and Its Place in the Methodology of Hadīth

Abstract

Al-Jaṣṣāsis a pioneering scholar who wrote the first work of methodology according to the Hanafi/fuqaha method and influenced the fiqh and hadīth scholars who came after him with his methodology work. The theory of khabar comes first among the subjects that al-Jaṣṣās dealt with theoretically and practically in his work al-Fuṣūl fi al-uṣūl and influenced the methodologists who came after him. In his theory of khabar, khabar al-wāhid, which is in the interest of both jurists hadīthists, has a special importance. Al-Jaṣṣās explains the khabar al- wāhid in practice, independently of the theoretical framework, under the title of “specification of general utterances by khabar al- wāhid”. Under this title, al-Jaṣṣās mentions an important feature with the notion of acceptance, which affects the value of khabar al-wāhid and raises it to the level of mutawātir. In this study, it is aimed to reveal the value of the meaning that al-Jaṣṣās attributed to the concept of acceptance in terms of kahbar and the place of the phenomenon of acceptance in the methodology of hadīth. İn the research, firstly, the concepts of as-sunne as-sābite, mutawātir khabar and āhād khabar that al-Jaṣṣās used in relation to khabar were examined. Then, issues such as the understanding of acceptance, which affects the view of the khabar at the level of tawātur; within the framework of this understanding, the information value of the khabar al-wāhid, the examples of the khabar al-wāhid; who is meant by the concept of “people/ummah” in the expression of “تَلَقِّي ‌الْأُمّةِ/الناس بِالْقَبُولِ” and the concept of accepted khabar according to hadīth methodologists are discussed.