The Zaydi Hadith Tradition: Insights from Jonathan A.C. Brown
The following is an overview on the Zaydi Hadith Tradition by Jonathan A.C Brown taken from Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World (The Foundations of Islam)
The Zaydi Hadith Tradition
Zaydism is a branch of Shiism associated with Zayd b. ‘Alī (d. 122/740), son of the fourth imam ‘Alī Zayn al-‘Ābidīn, who rebelled unsuccessfully against the Umayyads in the twilight days of their rule. Although Zaydi Islam is a relatively small sect, flourishing in classical times in Kufa and northern Iran but now limited to northern Yemen, its hadith tradition deserves attention due to both its originality and influence.
Zaydis believe that the true teachings of Islam, as a religious system and a message of political justice, have been preserved by members of the family of the Prophet who rose up against the tyrannical and impious rule of the Umayyads, Abbasids, and later dynasties. Unlike Sunnis, Zaydis do not see early Islamic history as an idealized expansion of the pure faith under ultimately legitimate Muslim rulers. Zaydis believe that ‘Alī should have been the first caliph, but, unlike Imami Shiites, they believe that the Prophet’s instruction on this matter was ambiguous. Zaydis also break with Imami Shiism by not attributing a specific line of infallible, divinely specified imams with any special access to the esoteric truths of Islam and the Quran. Nor do they pay any special attention to the awaited Hidden Imam. Instead, Zaydis believe that the family of the Prophet is the historical protector and preserver of the true teachings of Islam and that it is their duty to stand up for justice in the face of oppressive rulers. Any member of the family of the Prophet who combines a mastery of Islamic scholarship with an ability to stand up against injustice has the right to call himself the imam. In many ways, Zaydism is a middle ground between Sunni and Imami Shiite Islam.
In their outlook on hadiths, Zaydis can be distinguished from Sunnis by four features: 1) an enhanced reverence for the family of the Prophet, 2) a case-by-case evaluation of the Companions, 3) a more cynical view of early Islamic history, and 4) their Mu‘tazilite thought. Zaydis summarize this with a quote from their Imam al-Hasan b. Yahyā b. al-Husayn b. Zayd b. ‘Alī:
“The solution to disagreements over what is permissible and prohibited is to follow the clear and established texts from the Quran and to draw on those well-known, consistently transmitted reports from the Prophet which have no chance of being conspired forgery, as well as reports from the righteous members of his Family that agree with the clear indications of the Book of God. In addition, we must follow the just and pious members of the Family of the Messenger of God. These are the compelling proofs for Muslims, and it is not permitted to follow other than these.”
The Zaydi Imam al-Murtadā Muhammad b. Yahyā (d. 310/922) said:
“Indeed many hadiths disagree with the Book of God most high and contradict it, so we do not heed them, nor do we use them as proof. But all that agrees with the Book of God, testified to by it as correct, is authentic according to us, and we accept it as evidence. And also what our ancestors narrated, father from son, from ‘Alī, from the Prophet, we use as proof. And what was narrated by the reliable (thiqa) people of the Prophet’s Companions, we accept and apply it. And what disagrees with [all] this we do not see as correct, nor do we espouse it.”
Zaydis feel that there is undeniable evidence from the Quran and Sunna that ‘Alī and his descendants through the Prophet’s daughter enjoy unique virtues and leadership responsibilities. The legal rulings and consensus of scholars from the Family of the Prophet and the hadiths they transmit are authoritative for Zaydis. Like Imamis, Zaydis accept the mursal hadiths of imams (their narrations from the Prophet without citing a full isnād). In addition, as Imam Sharaf al-Dīn (d. 965/1557–8) stated, whatever scholars from the Family of the Prophet declare to be authentic hadiths is so. Although Zaydis foreswear those who openly opposed the Family of the Prophet, they generally allow the narration of hadiths from Sunni transmitters either in order to use their hadiths as evidence against them or because those specific hadiths have been verified by Zaydi scholars. One of the Zaydi criticisms of the Sunni hadith tradition is the relatively small reliance on hadiths transmitted through the family of the Prophet. Zaydi scholars, for example, blame al-Bukhārī for narrating hadiths via Khārijites known for their hatred of ‘Alī but not through the revered imam Ja‘far al-Sādiq.
Zaydi Islam also upholds a unique stance on the Companions of the Prophet. Both Sunni and Imami Shiite Islam espouse absolute positions — either anyone who saw the Prophet even for a moment was upstanding or only those who actively supported ‘Alī were. For Zaydis, only those individuals who enjoyed prolonged exposure to the Prophet and remained loyal to his teachings after his death are worthy of the title ‘Companion.’ Individuals known for impious behavior, like Walīd b. ‘Uqba, or those who actively fought against ‘Alī, such as Mu‘āwiya, are not considered to be Companions at all. Zaydis take Sunnis to task for naively believing that anyone who met the Prophet could serve as a reliable hadith transmitter.
Zaydis maintained this more cynical perspective in their approach to early Islamic history in general. The political agendas of Umayyad and Abbasid rule, they assert, left lasting affects on Sunni Islam. They believed that the Umayyads had encouraged the forgery of anti-Alid hadiths as well as hadiths praising other less worthy Companions. The Abbasids cultivated the four Sunni madhhabs as a means to stem any loyalty to the Family of the Prophet, making a dismissal of the Prophet’s Family a hallmark of early Sunni Islam.
As influential to their hadith worldview as their Alid loyalties is the Zaydi commitment to the Mu‘tazilite school of theology and legal theory. Like other Mu‘tazilites, Zaydis believe that passing the tests of the Quran and reason is essential for determining the authenticity of hadith.
Zaydis often require hadiths to be massively transmitted (mutawātir) or accepted by the consensus of scholars in order to be used in defining theological stances. But Zaydis also accepted hadiths on these subjects if they were approved by imams. The Mu‘tazilite rejection of anthropomorphism has led Zaydis to dismiss any hadith that describes God in overly human terms in a manner that could not be interpreted figuratively. Zaydis thus hold that hadiths like the ones stating that when God sits on his throne it squeaks like a saddle or that Muhammad is physically seated next to God on His throne are elements of Jewish and Christian lore that crept into the Islamic tradition through early converts like Ka‘b al-Ahbār.
Major Zaydi Hadith Collections and Critics
The specifically Zaydi corpus of hadith is not as vast as either its Sunni or Imami Shiite counterparts. Its foundation is the Musnad of Zayd b. ‘Alī, which Zaydis claim to be the first book of hadiths written in Islam. It consists of 228 Prophetic hadiths, 320 reports from ‘Alī, and two reports from al-Husayn. Interestingly, many of the reports that Zayd narrates from his great-great grandfather ‘Alī appear as Prophetic hadiths in Sunni collections, such as the statement “The ulema are the heirs of the prophets. The prophets have not left a dinar or a dirham; rather, they left knowledge as an inheritance among the scholars.”
Small amālī (dictation session) collections are very important in Zaydi Islam. Two famous ones are the Amālī of Abū Ṭālib Yaḥyā b. Ḥusayn (d. 424/1033) and the Amālī al-sughrā of Imām al-Muʾayyad Aḥmad b. al-Ḥusayn al-Hārūnī (d. 421/1030). Another central work of hadith and law is the Jāmiʿ al-kāfī of Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad b. ʿAlī of Kufa (d. 445/1053–4).
Zaydis have generally drawn heavily on what we would define as the Sunni and Imami Shiite hadith reservoirs. Zaydi scholars regularly quote mainstream Sunni hadith collections as well as Imami works like the Usūl al-kāfī of al-Kulaynī and the Nahj al-balāgha of al-Sharīf al-Raḍī, choosing material that they feel conforms to Zaydi doctrine. Zaydis can draw from such eclectic sources because of the intermediate position that their school occupies between Sunni and Imami Shiite Islam. Sunni scholars that the Sunni tradition saw as favoring or cultivating a great affection for the Family of the Prophet are seen by Zaydis as pious Shiites. The Zaydi scholar Sārim al-Dīn al-Wazīrī (d. 914/1508) thus declares that al-Nasā’ī, who refused to write a book on the virtues of Mu‘āwiya, al-Ḥākim al-Naysābūrī, who declared the hadith of Ghadīr Khumm to be sound, and al-Ṭabarī are all Shiites.
The most important works of Zaydi hadith criticism appeared relatively late in Islamic history. Although these books draw at great length from earlier works of Zaydi hadith scholarship, few early works have survived intact. Zaydis view Ibn ‘Uqda (d. 332/944) (mentioned above as a Sunni and an Imami hadith critic, an indication of how elastic these sectarian identities could be) as the progenitor of their formalized study of hadith transmitters and criticism, citing his many lost books on the various students who transmitted from imams like Ja‘far al-Sādiq. The most frequently cited later works are al-Falak al-dawwār fī ‘ulūm al-hadīth wa al-fiqh wa al-āthār (The Orbiting Heavenly Body on the Sciences of Hadith, Reports and Law), an ambitious one-volume work by the fifteenth-century scholar Sārim al-Dīn Ibrāhīm al-Wazīrī that lays out the basics of the Zaydi worldview, hadith criticism, important transmitters, and stances on major legal issues, as well as the Kitāb al-I‘tiṣām of al-Qāsim b. Muḥammad b. ‘Alī (d. 1059/1620).
Source
Hadith – Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World 2nd Edition Page 126
Author: Jonathan A.C. Brown