TRADITION AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE WITHIN ISLAM AND THE ABRAHAMIC FAITHS

The present article looks into the position and significance of tradition within Islam and the Abrahamic Faiths. Tradition in its very theological sense is generally believed to have divine authority albeit not as part of the sacred scripture. The main interest here is to shed light on how different tradition in Islam in comparison to Judaism and Christianity is. Drawn upon examples and evidence, this article thus, studies the idea of tradition and underlines its notional and applied similarities and differences within the said three world religions. Further, this article also investigates and discusses the intricacies of the Islamic tradition.


INTRODUCTION
The Abrahamic Faiths that is Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, despite their contrasts have some points in common as well. The focus of the present article is to look into the notion of tradition and to discuss its status and significance within Islam and the two other Abrahamic Faiths. Tradition in its very theological sense is, as a rule, believed to have divine authority albeit not as part of the sacred scripture. There are however, differences in the notion and application of tradition in Islam in comparison to Judaism and Christianity. Drawing upon examples, the present study attempts to shed light on the similarities and differences that the notion of tradition holds within these three of the world religions.
In order to fully understand and apprehend the sense and the importance of tradition in the framework of religion, it is essential to look into it etymologically and semantically first, and to find out whether or not there is any common bond for this term in the faiths referred to here. This would lead the way to a better gathering of its function and practical value in Islam and an encompassing display of its correlations and possible contrasts and similarities in Judaism and Christianity. It would also underline the idea that tradition does in fact, exist in other faiths as well, and reject the misapprehension that it is a new notion and belief belonging uniquely to Islam. It would further, clarify as whether or not the existing bonds and contrasts between the notion of tradition and the application of traditions in Islam, Judaism and Christianity are somewhat coincidental or indeed derived from their common theological foundation being the Religions of the Book or Abrahamic Faiths.

Tradition
Before making any comparison between the concept of tradition as it is semiologically established within the said faiths, it is rather essential to discuss the term tradition itself as a notion and look into its commonalities within various faiths.
The lexical or dictionary fundamental definitions given for the term tradition, as noticed by Netton in his Islam, Christianity and Tradition, are numerous. According to him tradition can well refer to: 1. Beliefs and opinions or customs and rituals handed down and passed down from ancestors to posterity and from generation to generation, in particular, orally or by means of practices. In an old-fashioned sense, tradition as observed by Daniel Brown, may also refer to a deposit of knowledge or truth, originating with a past authority and handed down within a religious community. (Brown, D., 1996) 2 Netton's definitions of the word and his emphasis specifically on, for instance, 'the unwritten words and deeds of the Prophet Muḥammad in the Holy Qur'ān,' (above mentioned definition 2.c.) however, underline his tendency to the theological aspect and standpoint of the word tradition. This clearly indicates his pointing out to the structure and composition of traditions as being built up of those words and deeds of Muḥammad which are not written in the Qur'ān but found in the Ḥadīth or Sunna.
With respect to Brown's remarks, it could thus, be said that tradition is a deposit of knowledge or assumed truth interpretable in the framework of or in relation to such religions as Islam, Judaism and Christianity, like the knowledge that has emanated from Muḥammad to his community after him or the insightful narratives which are passed on from Moses and Jesus to their communities, companions and followers. In this sense, the notion of tradition is a clear commonality between the Abrahamic Faiths in question.
In their analyses and arguments of and about the question of tradition, Netton and Brown both strongly suggest the existence of further revelations other than the very sacred texts also for the prophets who come before the Prophet Muhammad. In the case of Islam these further revelations are the aḥādīth, the plural form of the Ḥadīth, otherwise known as the records and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, which are revered and received as a major source of religious law and moral guidance, and regarded as second only to the authority of the Qurʾān, the holy book of Islam, and considered a primary source of Islamic doctrines for its adherents. 3 Within the framework of the Abrahamic Faiths, this tradition retains a distinct worth and import which will be looked into and discussed next.

The Concept of Tradition and its Religious Significance and Impact
The concept of tradition in its conventional sense and framework has already been discussed. For a thorough understanding of its impact on and its implementation in the Abrahamic Faiths, it is crucial to study the term itself semantically and etymologically, and to delineate its factual aspects also its imports in relation to the faiths referred to, in particular in regard to Islam. The term tradition can be looked into from two perspectives of: one, theology and second, sociology. Theology introduces tradition as a doctrine or doctrines believed to have divine authority though not found in the holy scriptures. In Christianity, these doctrines are not explicit in the Bible but held to derive from the oral teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and the Apostles. In Judaism, they are the ordinances of the oral laws not in the Torah but held to have been given by God to Moses. And in Islam, tradition otherwise known as Ḥadīth or Sunna is the sayings or acts ascribed to the Prophet Muhammad but not recorded in the Qur'ān.
Sociology however, has it that tradition is a belief or behaviour and folk custom passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. It is a component of folklore, and the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, In Islamic faith, it specifically refers to the cluster of many different daily customs found in all Muslim communities, which are known as c Ādāt and c Urf or local and domestic customs and habits of the community.
Tradition, as also noted by Jean Jacques Waardenburg, Dutch theologian and Islamic Studies scholar (d. 2015), has: -an inherent character of process since it consists of a transmission, conscious or unconscious, of social and cultural elements that are part of a particular way of life or a specific organization of it. In this process of transmission, those who are at the receiving end are not simply passive receptacles. In fact, the vitality and very survival of a tradition depends on people assimilating elements of it because of the orientation and style or "taste" they give to life and the appeal of the community that partakes in the tradition. Tradition as transmission is an operation that implies an appeal; certain elements of it have a symbolic value and the tradition itself may even acquire a mythical value. 5 This delineation of tradition strongly supports the idea that Islamic tradition or the Sunna of the Prophet Muhammad is in fact, inherent in his community and that it is also transmitted, which is why it is assimilated by his very own Companions too. It furthermore, well explains why the concept of tradition or Sunna has lived in all Muslim communities from all backgrounds and how it has survived to this day.
In the continuation of his discussion on the essence and substance of tradition, Waardenburg displays further the importance of Sunna as a tradition underscoring that: Thus, the Sunna of the Prophet Muhammad in the words of Waardenburg, is an authority after the Holy Qur'ān retaining a figurative and symbolic essence. And for Brown this notion is a perpetual reflection and representation of the Prophet Muhammad's ways and manners.
The next issue to reflect on in this domain is the probable contrasts and similarities between tradition or hadīth in parallel context in the framework of Islam, and the same phenomenon in the sacred writings and scriptures, also in the substance of the religions that come before Islam, in order to rule whether the whole idea of tradition is specifically and entirely related to Islamic faith or it is in one way or another, present is all Abrahamic religions. It must be noted here that The Canonical Gospels have gone through four stages in their formation: The first stage being oral includes various stories about Jesus such as healing the sick, or debating with opponents, as well as parables and teachings. The Gospels or Good News originally meant the Christian message, but in the second century they come to be used also for the books in which the message is set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words and deeds of Jesus of Nazareth, ending in his trial and death and concluding with various reports of his postresurrection appearances. The oral gospel traditions is a theorized first stage in the formation of the written gospels as cultural information passed on from one generation to the next by word of mouth. The question of Ḥadīth preservation by being written down or orally via word of mouth, has been frequently debated by both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars. Nabia Abbott, the American papyrologist, palaeographer and scholar of Islam (d. 1981) for instance, has it that Ahadīth are written down during the life of the Prophet Muhammad, and affirms her idea by pointing out that literacy amongst the Arabs is a fact belonging to the pre-Islamic period. As to the high volume of the disputed reports on the writing down of the Ḥadīth, she underlines that the number those who have been in favour of this idea outnumbers the opposition groups. (Abbott, 1967) 16 Gregor Schoeler, the contemporary German scholar of Islamic Studies (b. 1944), agrees with Abbott however, he is more specific by saying that the Ahadīth are written down in the early period of Islam, but preserved in the form of private notes. 17 Michael Cook disapproves of this idea insisting instead that Judaism and Jewish origins have had an influence on the Muslim attitude vis a vis the notion of tradition, and that the hostility towards the codification of religious traditions existed from the inception of Islam. 18 Mustafa Azami, the Indian Hadith scholar (d. 2017), displays his approach in this connection by underlining that that the general belief in the late recording of the Ahadīth, also their uniquely oral transmission for over a century, has in fact, been due to the information provided by the scholars of Ḥadīth themselves. The earliest compilers of Ḥadīth named and introduced by scholars of Ḥadīth belong approximately to the latter half of the second century of the Hijra. 19 Azami also looks into the Ḥadīth investigation as well as the reports of those scholars who oppose the writing down of the Ahadīth. He notices that the said reports are all mainly derived from three Ḥadīth transmitted by Abū Sa c īd al-Khudrī, Abū Hurayra and Zayd b. Thābit, the three companions of the Prophet. He further, establishes that from the Science of Ḥadīth perspective, these three reports either lack a trustworthy content and are therefore, weak or are wrongly attributed to the Prophet Muhammad. In order to strengthen his argument, he refers to a Ḥadīth as the testimony, in which the Prophet encourages writing. 20 As noticed, the notion of Ḥadīth, its authenticity and preservation as well as its sense and status in Islam has been the hub of incessant disputes and debates among various scholars of this discipline in different periods of time. Some such as Francis Peters, have tried to prove that the traditions of the Prophet have not just been passed down orally rather, also by means of writing during his lifetime, unlike earlier scriptures, and others have taken the opposite angle insisting on their oral aspect. The existing disagreement in this regard is however, created by certain Ḥadīth of the Prophet which forbid the writing down of the Ḥadīth, and other Ḥadīth which encourage the idea. Both views are adopted and circulated by Muslim as well as non-Muslim scholars. However, those scholars who argue that writing down of the Ḥadīth has been recommended provide their evidence from the Ḥadīth which endorse this assumption. There is however, a difference of opinion among the scholars of Ḥadīth Studies regarding the distinction between the two categories. Some scholars have said that the Ḥadīth al-Nabawī are the words of God expressed by the Prophet, and the Ḥadīth al-Qudsī are the words and messages from God revealed and transmitted directly and precisely to the Prophet through dreams and inspirations thus, their content is from God but their actual wording from Muhammad. 22 And others have argued that there is no difference between the Qur'ānic revelation and the Ḥadīth al-Qudsī and that they should, therefore, be included in the Qur'ān. The explanation given by the scholars who oppose this idea is that the Qur'ān is regarded as mutawātir, that is reached through continuous narration, whereas Ḥadīth al-Qudsī is not so. 23 Furthermore, the Qur'ān is recited/matluw in the five daily prayers, and the Ḥadīth al-Qudsī is ghayr matluw being not recited. Nevertheless, the same classification and verification of authenticity applied to Ḥadīth al-Nabawī also apply to  The distinction between the two concepts has been frequently disputed and discussed within the classical works of Ḥadīth Literature. Despite all controversies and differences of opinion however, ahadīth whether al-Nabawī or al-Qudsī, have been preserved and passed down in the classical works of Ḥadīth Literature. It is worthy of notice that such distinctions do not exist in either Christianity or Judaism.

CONCLUSION
As seen in the discussions here, the notion of tradition in Abrahamic Faiths does in fact retain some similarities and also some differences. The Islamic tradition, otherwise known as the Ḥadīth, which has been transmitted orally and saved and preserved in written forms, does exhibit its complexities when it comes to study the Science of Ḥadīth criticisms. To establish the authenticity of the reports, for instance, Muslim scholars need to get deeply engaged in the challenges of scrutinizing the text and the chain of narration as well as in evaluating the related reports, which often contradict one another The idea of tradition does also exist within Judaism and Christianity, and Judaist and Christian traditions are saved and preserved via their devotees and followers in the form of the Mishnah and the Gospels. In this context the notion of tradition in Islam, Christianity and Judaism is comparable. However, it must be mentioned that within Islam, Muslims not only do have the Ḥadīth of the Prophet Muhammad, but also a separate science known as the c ilm al-ḥadīth or the Science of Ḥadīth, which would allow them to determine the reliability of the transmitters of the reports and the transmitted reports, and to thoroughly authenticate the sayings which emanate from the Prophet. This bonus distinguishes Islam from Christianity and Judaism.