An Authenticity, Scope, and Tarjīḥ: An Operational Framework for Contemporary Hadith Interpretation Applied to Four Ethical Issues
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Abstract
Contemporary hadith scholarship continues to face a methodological tension between approaches that prioritise textual authority and those that emphasise historical and socio-contextual interpretation. This study develops an integrative framework for hadith interpretation and examines its analytical utility through four selected hadiths, each representing one contemporary issue: gender equality, religious moderation, human rights, and environmental ethics. Designed as qualitative conceptual library research, the study draws on primary hadith collections, including al-Kutub al-Sittah, Musnad Aḥmad, and al-Muwaṭṭa’, together with classical hadith commentaries and relevant contemporary scholarship. The four hadiths were purposively selected as application cases rather than as a representative corpus of contemporary hadith. Each hadith was examined through an integrated sequence comprising takhrīj al-ḥadīth, sanad and matn criticism, linguistic and historical-contextual analysis, intertextual reading, maqāṣid al-sunnah, and socio-contextual interpretation. Across the four cases, the framework produced distinct interpretive outcomes: the hadith concerning female political leadership was contextualised in relation to competence, justice, and the political circumstances of its transmission; the hadith on al-ḥanīfiyyah al-samḥah foregrounded tolerance and non-extremism; the hadith commanding mercy toward those on earth supported the protection of human dignity and non-discrimination; and the hadith on planting even at the approach of the Hour articulated ecological responsibility and sustainability. Rather than claiming empirical validation from this limited corpus, the study demonstrates the analytical applicability of the framework across four thematically different cases while preserving the distinction between hadith authentication and contextual interpretation. Its contribution lies in operationalising classical hadith criticism, contextual analysis, and maqāṣid al-sunnah within a single replicable interpretive framework. Further research using larger and more diverse hadith corpora is required to assess its broader applicability
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