Mushkil al-Hadith wa Bayanuhu
- Author died
- 406 AH
- Editions
- ‘Ālam al-Kutub
Mushkil al-Hadith wa Bayanuhu (The Difficult Hadith and Its Clarification) is a theological treatise by the Ash'ari scholar Ibn Furak (d. 406 AH / 1015 CE) dedicated to interpreting prophetic traditions whose literal wording suggests anthropomorphism.
Purpose and Scope
In the introduction to the work, Ibn Furak states that his objective was to dictate a treatise explaining well-known hadiths whose outward meanings suggest anthropomorphism (tashbih), which polemicists and atheists (al-mulhidun) seized upon to attack religion and specifically to disparage the traditionists (Ashab al-Hadith). The scope of the work is confined to theological difficulties regarding the divine attributes rather than mukhtalif al-hadith, which deals with apparent contradictions between legal narrations.
The text was also transmitted under variant titles; Ibn Khayr al-Ishbili records it under the title Ta'wil al-Akhbar al-Mutashabiha wa-l-Radd 'ala al-Mulhida (Interpretation of Ambiguous Reports and Refutation of the Heretics), noting that it was dictated by Ibn Furak to Abu Muhammad Abd al-Malik ibn al-Hasan al-Siqilli and transmitted through Abu 'Amr al-Dani. Al-Qadi Abu Ya'la similarly referred to the compilation as Ta'wil al-Akhbar (Interpretation of the Reports).
Method and Structure
Ibn Furak articulated the rationale for his method by dividing the scholars of hadith into two functional groups:
- The transmitters and narrators, whose role is to preserve chains of transmission and distinguish sound reports from defective ones, functioning like royal treasury keepers.
- The scholars of rational inquiry and systematic deduction, who derive branches from fundamental principles and repel the doubts of obfuscators, functioning as guards who defend those treasuries.
Ibn Furak situated his work within the mission of the second group. His method systematically redirects reports that outwardly imply corporealism (tajsim) or likeness to creation toward figurative interpretations (ta'wil) supported by textual and rational proofs, while intentionally omitting other categories of difficult reports to avoid unnecessary length.
Reception and Critique
Abu Bakr Ibn al-'Arabi commended the book, observing that earlier theologians (al-mutakallimun) had not dedicated an independent book or chapter to this specific genre of difficult hadith before Ibn Furak, whose sole focus remained the vindication of divine transcendence.
Conversely, the Hanbali jurist al-Qadi Abu Ya'la wrote his treatise Ibtal al-Ta'wilat li-Akhbar al-Sifat specifically as a rebuttal to Ibn Furak's work, seeking to refute his figurative interpretations of the divine attributes. Later critics also observed that Ibn Furak engaged in forced interpretive efforts (takalluf) and treated authentic, weak, and fabricated narrations alike as requiring theological interpretation rather than dismissing unauthentic reports on hadith-critical grounds alone.
Answer updated