Herbert Berg's Critique of the Approaches and Arguments of Nabia Abbott, Fuat Sezgin & Muhammad Mustafa Azami on Ḥadīth Literature
Herbert Berg (for any one who doesnt know) is a scholar of religion, whose research mainly focuses on the origins of Islam. He has a Ph.D. in the Study of Religion from the University of Toronto, and is currently working as visiting assistant professor in Rhodes College.
This thread will be a showcase of his critique of the arguments and approaches of Nabia Abbott, Fuat Sezgin & Muhammad Mustafa Azami on the Ḥadīth Literature. All the content presented are from his book:
The Development of Exegesis in Early Islam: The Authenticity of Muslim Literature from the Formative Period. UK, Taylor & Francis, 2013. pp. 18-26.
Now let us begin with Bergs critique of Nabia Abbot, and her arguments regarding the existance of a early continuous literary tradition in the early periods of Islam for Ḥadīths:
References from p. 56:
Then let us move to the critique of Berg on Fuat Sezigns arguments of similiar notions about an early literary tradition of Ḥadīth:
References from pp. 56-57:
And lastly, let us view the critique of Berg on Mustafa Muhammad Azamis defenses and arguments regarding the works of Joseph Schacht:
References from p. 57:
End of thread.
Btw sry for any typos because english is not my main language :D
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To add to one of my older threads regarding the divinity of Pharaoh in pre-Islamic Rabbinic texts. One most probable of them after the Mekhilta could be considered a one found in Bereshit/Genesis Rabbah.
Btw here are couple of references for the dating of Bereshit Rabbah to around the 5th century, so by that the text can be considered to be pre-Islamic. (For anyone who is interested in more material on this, I can provide them if asked).
Well, this argument is mostly based on the criterion of dissimilarity/embrassement. Yes they are valid tools and methods of argumentation, but I dont think that this really convinces me in this case. And that is for the reason that I, from my paradigm, can fully maybe...
trace the transimmison of this tradition to its commonlink al-Zuhri (671-741AD), and with some chances maybe to Said Ibn al-Musayyib (637-715). So the point about there being no reason to forge this because it could have been easily exposed, because...
2/6
every one would have known that the time that the desciptions of the events were not accurate, doesnt really work. And that is for the reason that I would argue that the time frame of the fabrication could have been somewhere around maybe from around 680-735AD, most...
3/6
🧵Pharaohs Divinity in the Quran: Parallel or a "Historical Miracle"?
Some contemporary Muslim apologists have argued that the knowledge of Pharaoh claiming himself to be divine found in the Quran (79:23-24, 28:38, 26:29 & 7:127) would be proof of its divine origin. The core of the argument could be simplified as follows:
1. The Quran mentions that the Pharaoh during Moses' time claimed to be a god. 2. This aligns with what modern historians and Egyptologists have discovered about Ramses II, who was known for declaring himself divine:
I have just lately realized how fallacious the claims about Qurans inimitability are. For starters the whole claim is inherently subjective and doesnt have any objective backing in anything. Of course you can pinch out some literary criteria for it, but it still comes down to...
huge amount of subjectivity, which leaves alot of room for biases to creep in. And the whole fact of this being pushed forward as the ultimate proof for the Qurans divinity is just nuts to me. Because surely (sry if getting too polemical lol) an all knowing god could do better...
in making his case for the ultimate proof of his existence, than making it boil down to ultimately subjective human judgements, with no objectivity to be seen. And secondly the whole argument just ends up in a endless sykle of goalpost shifting because you can always come up...