Early development of the tradition of the self-confesed adulterer in Islam. An Isnād and Matn analysis

Abstract

This article applies isnād and matn criticism to traditions relating to the punishment of the self-confessed adulterer in Islam. Above all, it attempts to trace the relevant traditions to their earliest source, who, in the autthor’s view, is Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī. The article goes on to discuss the possible contents of this original source, which was apparentlly void of references to the personal name of the adulterer and provisions for his sanity and iḥṣān. The role of ‘Abd al-Razzāq al-Ṣan‘ānī in the elaboration of the matn comes under scrutiny. Later regional and personal variants of the original ḥadīṯ are analyzed in some detail. In its concluding section the article studies the provision for a fourfold confession by the adulterer. The author cites sources attesting to a controversy between ‘Abd al-Razzāq and Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī concerning the number of confessions needeed for the infliction of rajm.