Hadiths

Due to the gaining widespread respect in mainstream Islamic thought and its status as the second authority after the Quran, a significant portion of Sharia rules is derived from hadiths rather than the Quran. Throughout the history of early Islamic thought, there have been also approaches that question the authenticity, epistemological value, or capacity of hadiths to generate law or doctrine, and that limit or —either partially or entirely— reject them. These include the Kharijites, the Mu'tazila, certain early jurists (known as Ahl al-Ra'y, and theologians. Western critical scholarship participating in hadith studies categorically rejects the authenticity of hadith as an accurate record of the historical Muhammad. Scholars argue that the relevant corpus does not reflect 7th-century reality; rather, it represents a retrospective projection —manifesting through fabrications based on traditional systems of attribution— of perspectives shaped by the legal, theological, and political conflicts of the 8th to 10th centuries. Quranist Islam rejects the epistemic value of hadiths and does not attribute any sanctity to them.