Doctrinal Instruction in Early Islam: The Book of the Explanation of the Sunna by Ghulam Khalil (d. 275/888)(174 Islamic History and Civilization)

This pioneering study casts important new light on key issues in the development of dogmatic instruction in early Islam, as it examines the creed written by the Basran and Baghdadi Sunni preacher Ghulām Khalīl (d. 275/888). It includes a critical edition of the Arabic text and an English translation of what appears to be one of the earliest statements of religious beliefs in Islam. In particular, this book argues convincingly that this influential text was authored by the ninth century Ghulām Khalīl rather than the Hanbali preacher of Baghdad, al-Barbahārī - a claim repeatedly made by modern scholars, both Western and Eastern. The present publication broaches multi-layered themes with the aim of specifying the parameters of this “Muslim Creed” in terms of the composite relationship between its content and its origin. In addition, it tackles the important question of what may have led modern Salafis to embrace the doctrinal positions of this particular statement of belief and practice and, perhaps more importantly, to pursue its “institutionalization” as a religious orthodoxy.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Notes on Transliteration and Style Abbreviations Introduction 1 Ghulām Khalīl: Life, Career, and Image as a Scholar 2 The Kitāb Sharḥ al-sunna: Textual Evidence, Transmission, and Authorship 3 The Third/Ninth Century: The Veneration of Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal and the Proliferation of Creeds 4 Toward Common Ground: The People of the Sunna and the Community Epilogue: Doctrinal Instruction in Times of Political Change Translation of The Book of the Explanation of the Sunna Appendix I: List of Editions and Translations Appendix II: List of Traditions Transmitted on the Authority of Ghulām Khalīl General Bibliography Index of Proper Names Index of Geographical Names Index of Book Titles Index of Termini Arabic Edition Bibliography for the Arabic Edition Index for the Arabic Edition

About the Author :
Maher Jarrar (PhD 1989 from the University of Tübingen) is Professor at the American University of Beirut, both at the Civilization Studies Program and at the Department of Arabic. He has published numerous books and articles in the fields of Islamic studies, Arabic literature, and literary criticism. Sebastian Günther (Ph.D. (1989, University of Halle-Wittenberg) is Professor and Chair of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Göttingen. He has published extensively on the intellectual and religious history of Islam.