The Scholarly Gatherings of Nineteenth Century India: al-Ajwibah al-fāḍilah and Reconsidering the Position of Hadiths

Authors : Selim Demirci

Pages : 7-30

Doi:10.33718/tid.1756336

View : 478 | Download : 325

Publication Date : 2025-11-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This article examines the relationship between hadith and fiqh in nineteenth-century India through the work al-Ajwibah al-fāḍilah by one of the leading Hanafī scholars of the period ʿAbd al-Ḥayy al-Laknawī. By analyzing al-Laknawī’s responses to the questions posed by Husayn Lāhôrī, a member of the Ahl al-Hadīth, the study aims to contextualize the internal debates and methodological approaches of the science of hadith within the unique scholarly environment of the Indian subcontinent. Despite the intellectual backdrop shaped by various challenges faced by Indian scholars -such as colonialism, the academic activities of orientalists, the intensive work of missionaries in the region, and the famous uprising of 1857 -the original approaches developed by scholars demonstrate how the hadith-fiqh relationship, and more specifically the Ahl al-Hadīth-Ahl al-Ra’y connection, is positioned. In this context, al-Laknawī emphasized his partial departure from the traditional Hanafī preferences by avoiding taqlīd in some fiqh issues such as his approach to narrations, evaluation of isnad and rāwī, the authority of primary hadith sources, and the methodology to be followed when confronted with contradictory narrations. In conclusion, al-Ajwibah al-fāḍilah can be seen as polemical texts, as well as a reflection of the new Hanafī understanding of hadith that took shape in India in the nineteenth century. The style used in the work, the topics discussed, the way they are presented, and the sources utilized take the reader to the scholarly gatherings of the period, revealing the vitality and intellectual depth of the discussions. At the same time, the article reveals that Laknawī’s method is not merely a reflection of the Hanafī line represented by renowned scholars of the region such as ‘Abd al-Haqq Dihlawī and Shāh Walī Allāh. Accordingly, although al-Laknawī ostensibly draws on the scholarly heritage represented by ‘Abd al-Haqq Dihlawī and Shāh Walī Allāh, he actually benefited from the atmosphere of scholarly debate and accumulation of his time and brought the traditional accumulation of the past to a new level. In terms of the balance he sought to establish between hadith and fiqh, by reinterpreting the approach begun by ‘Abd al-Haqq al-Dihlawī and systematized by Shāh Walī Allāh, he represented one of the original lines of Hanafīsm in the Indian subcontinent; in other words, the third main strand of this tradition. In conclusion, the study contributes to the repositioning of the hadith-fiqh relationship in the Indian subcontinent through the example of Laknawī and emphasizes the unique place of the region in the field of Islamic sciences.
Keywords : Hadis, el-Ecvibetü’l-fâżıla, Hanefî, Ehl-i Hadis, Leknevî

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