This book examines the relationship between the office of the qāḍī and
the transmission of hadith in first-century AH Basra. At a time when
hadith transmission, fatwā, and judicial activity had not yet developed
into clearly differentiated fields of scholarly specialization, qāḍīs provide
a significant case study for observing the intersection of legal office
and hadith transmission within the same individuals. Focusing on
thirteen figures identified as having served as qāḍīs in Basra during
the first Islamic century, the study investigates the extent to which judicial
office shaped the volume, sources, and content of hadith transmission,
as well as the similarities and differences among the transmission
practices of those who held the same office. Their hadith reports, teacher-
student relationships, family ties, legal opinions, scholarly circles,
and political connections are therefore examined together.
The analysis reveals no uniform pattern among Basran qāḍīs with regard
to hadith transmission. No marfūʿ or mawqūf reports are transmitted
from some qāḍīs, while only a small number of reports are preserved
from others; by contrast, some possess considerably broader
transmission networks. The prominence of family isnāds and personal
teacher-student relationships indicates that hadith transmission was
also shaped by scholarly and social ties established independently of,
and in some cases prior to, judicial office. Nor does the content of the
transmitted reports display a common orientation that directly corresponds
to the duties of the qāḍī. The evidence thus suggests that the relationship
of these figures to hadith varied according to their personal,
familial, and scholarly environments.
The final part of the study discusses these findings in relation to approaches
in the historiography of hadith that posit the gradual attribution
of legal opinions to earlier authorities and ultimately to the
Prophet. The continued transmission of numerous legal rulings under
the names of the qāḍīs themselves, the absence of a regular progression
from legal material to marfūʿ reports, and the lack of a single qāḍī
profile do not support a model of systematic elevation to the Prophet.
The Basran qāḍīs thus illustrate the varied and multilayered character
of the relationship between hadith and law in the first Islamic century,
shaped by individuals, families, scholarly circles, and different modes
of transmission.
Keywords: Hadith; hadith transmission; Basra; qāḍī; transmitter; law