Among the works of Abū Muḥammad 'Abd Allāh b. Muslim b. Qutayba, the Kitāb ta'wīl muḫtalif al-ḥadīṯ occupies a special place. If the other works of this author can be classified under various titles in the genre of adab , that is to say textbooks intended to ensure the intellectual, professional or moral training of a certain social category, this one ci presents a completely different character. Commissioned by a figure close to government circles anxious to strengthen the Sunni restoration, it stands out for its controversial character. Its impassioned introduction is a real indictment against falsafa , or Aristotelian-type scientific philosophy, kalām , or rationalist theology, and the havoc they are supposed to wreak in high Abbasid society. He also commands the Hanafi jurists, whose penchant for the personal interpretation of specific cases deeply shocks his taste for rule and tradition. It is therefore quite logical that the purpose of the Treaty of Divergences is based on the interpretation of ḥadiṯ, a tradition relating to the acts and words of Muhammad and his companions, of which Ibn Qutayba is the ardent defender and zealous philologist. |