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Essay / Goldziher's Journal Lays the Foundation: An Overview of Islam
In Islam and the Problem of Black Suffering, Jackson begins by stating that the creation of Islamic theology was the result of the religion's expansion. As Islam grew and included non-Arabs from different cultures and states, two groups of theologians, the traditionalists and the rationalists, emerged. Jackson points out that these two parties did not differ in the importance they placed on reason over revelation, or vice versa. Both recognized the importance of revelation (or tradition) and reason; however, the distinction was which sense should be used when reading and interpreting the revelation. Traditionalism and rationalism arose from the conflict between reason or revelation as the context in which to understand the Quran. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In The Formative Period of Islamic Thought, Watt describes the “Traditions” in detail. Unlike Jackson, he does not discuss the traditionalist point of view but refers to the "hadiths", or the sayings and accounts of actions of the Prophet (PBUH). Finally, for a Tradition to be considered reliable, there needed to be an “isnad”, or authentic chain of narrators. Nevertheless, because there was no systematic communication of the Traditions in the seventh century, Watt describes Goldziher's demonstration that the Traditions may not be impartial and accurate accounts, but rather were influenced by political or sectoral agendas. Watt later mentions traditionalists briefly, but only to say that scholars stopped identifying themselves as traditionalists or lawyers, because law and traditions were being studied. He then notes that the label "traditionalist" is more appropriate for the "mu-haddithun", who were scholars who participated in the transmission of Traditions. In contrast, the Ahl al-Hadith were those who not only transmitted the Traditions, but also emphasized the use of the Traditions in law. Watt ends by detailing the study of the Traditions and their use in determining theological and legal questions. In his introduction to the Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology, Winter describes the impact of Islamic theology on monotheism, with its unique perspective and room for interpretation. Winter continues to discuss the impact of theology on Islamic law by pointing out that most Muslims desired a moderate view of Islam that incorporated scripture but allowed for the creation of multiple definitions and rulings. He then introduces the debate about reason and revelation, describing rationalists as believing that reason trumps revelation. This portrayal contradicts Jackson's distinction between traditionalists and rationalists, who did not prioritize reason or revelation, but differed in the context in which revelation was to be understood. According to Winter, rationalists had a non-figurative representation of God, while traditionalists, or strict scripturalists, included anthropomorphic representations. features. However, Winter describes Leaman's discussion of reason and revelation as not being opposed to each other, but more in line with Jackson's idea that they are tools to be used in discussions on the understanding of the Quranic revelation. In the article "Quran and Hadith", Abel Haleem details the role of revelation and narration in "tradition", which refers to.