Chapter 3

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In this chapter, Hallaq discusses what he calls a "distinctly new phase in the life of Islamic law" (Hallaq 76) - becuse the Quran, as he mentioned in chapter 2, was at the center of Islam, as well as the center of the Islamic spirit, adherence to it in conjunction with the Sunna became natural. As legal and religious knowledge began to blend, religious knowledge attained an elevated state, and those who were in possession of it gained social status, in addition to the authority to challenge the caliphs on legal matters.

These developments also led to increased specialization among legal and religious scholars, fuqaha[1]. And with more time being devoted to religious knowledge, the concept of Prohpetic Hadith [2] became much more prevalent in Islamic societies, as a distinct entity from the Sunna that they previously relied on.

Hallaq examines the traditionalist-rationalist conflict:

Rationalist: (ahl a ra'y) Signifies a perception of an attitude toward legal issues that is dictated by rational, pragmatic and practical considerations. Substantive legal reasoning that, for the most part, does not directly ground itself in what came later to be recognized as the valid textual sources (Hallaq 74)

Traditionalist:(ahl al-hadith) Held that law must rest squarely on Prophetic Hadith, the Quran being taken for granted by both rationalists and traditionalists. (Hallaq 74)

not to be confused with:

Traditionist: Person whose amin occupation was to collect, study and transmit hadith (Hallaq 74) This person could be either a rationalist or a traditionalist.