The Formation of the Islamic Understanding of Kalala in the Second Century AH (718-816 CE): Between Scripture and Canon

In The Formation of the Islamic Understanding of kalala in the Second Century AH (718-816 CE), Pavel Pavlovitch studies traditions (hadith) about the lexical and terminological meaning of the Quranic vocable kalala. Attempts to understand kalala began with acknowledging its unintelligibility but ultimately brought into existence a capacious body of interpretative hadith, associated with early Islamic authorities. The analysis of these traditions affords insights into the changing conception of scripture during the first two Islamic centuries, the early history of Islamic exegesis and jurisprudence, and varying scholarly attitudes towards constituent sources of Islamic law. The book highlights the importance of coherent methodology of dating and reconstructing Muslim traditions according to their lines of transmission (isnads) and their narrative content (matns).