Conceptionalizing the Process of Transmission of Muslim Cultural Memories : Three Fundamental Challenges to Isnād-cum-Matn Analysis

Title data

Leube, Georg:
Conceptionalizing the Process of Transmission of Muslim Cultural Memories : Three Fundamental Challenges to Isnād-cum-Matn Analysis.
In: Comparative Islamic Studies. (2026) .
ISSN 1743-1638
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1558/cis.28853

Official URL:

Abstract in another language

The approach known as Isnād-cum-Matn Analysis proposes the application of the philological methodology of textual criticism to the wealth of prophetic ḥadīth and historiographical reports collected in Arabic-Islamic traditions. Within the methodological framework of textual criticism, Isnād-cum-Matn Analysis aggregates the chains of transmission or authorization of the isnāds into a stemma codicum or hypothetical sketch of the chains of transmission. This is then compared with a schematic comparison of the different variants of a given bundle of reports, which are again aggregated into a hypothetical stemma codicum, suggesting a logical sequence by which these variants may have developed.
In my contribution, I formulate three challenges to research in Arabic-Islamic discursive traditions, building on the methodological strand of Isnādcum-Matn Analysis. These call for a reconsideration of core assumptions of Isnād-cum-Matn Analysis that must either be accounted for within Isnād-cum-Matn Analysis, or within a new methodological paradigm of “Isnād-and-Matn Analysis.”

Further data

Item Type:	Article in a journal
Refereed:	Yes
Keywords:	Isnād-cum-Matn Analysis; intertextuality; contamination; process of transmission; narrative and structural patterns; early and classical Arabic-Islamic discursive traditions
Institutions of the University:	Faculties > Faculty of Languages and Literature > Chair of Islamic Studies with a special focus on Africa
Result of work at the UBT:	Yes
DDC Subjects:	200 Religion > 290 Other religions 400 Language > 490 Other languages 900 History and geography > 950 History of Asia
Date Deposited:	08 Apr 2026 08:27
Last Modified:	08 Apr 2026 08:27
URI:	https://eref.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/96745