MANHAJ KRITIKAN MUḤADDITHŪN TERHADAP RIWAYAT SIRAH DAN PENERAPANNYA DALAM PENULISAN SIRAH

Efforts in preserving the hadiths of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) obligate the hadith scholars to filter narrations attributed to the Prophet (PBUH), including those on his biography. These efforts have given birth to a methodology used to criticise the narrations since the days of the companions. However, applying the methodology to narrations pertaining to the biography of the Prophet (PBUH) or the sīrah has been a challenging task given the multitude of narrations that do not meet the criteria of acceptance by the muḥaddithun that infiltrate the knowledge of sīrah. Thus, this paper aims to scrutinise the methods of criticising hadiths employed by hadith scholars and the application of these methods on the works on sīrah. A qualitative study was conducted by collecting data from the major works on hadiths and sīrah. The finding demonstrates that the muḥaddithun’s critiques of the sīrah narrations are based on the critiques on sanad and matan. In applying the method, it is imperative to be murunah. This is done by placing each narration at its correct position by prioritising authentic and ḥasan hadiths, in addition to being tasahul on the permissible aspects based on the prescribed discipline.