The intellectual life of Islamic scholarship in the mid-twentieth century saw a significant effort to revitalize traditional learning, notably at Al-Azhar University in Cairo. A crucial document in this effort was a letter penned by Shaykh Muḥammad Zāhid al-Kawtharī (d. 1952), the last deputy of the Ottoman Shaykh al-Islam. Having fled Ataturk’s Republican militias, Kawtharī resided in Cairo and was acutely familiar with Al-Azhar’s system.
In his letter, Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-sunna fī al-Azhar (Reviving the Sciences of the Sunna in Al-Azhar), addressed to the then Shaykh al-Azhar, Muṣṭafā ʿAbd al-Rāziq (d. 1947), Kawtharī expressed concern that graduates were ill-equipped: they struggled to distinguish reliable from unreliable hadith, respond to critics, or clarify scriptural ambiguities. To address this, he outlined a comprehensive, ten-point reform agenda.
1. Structural & Curricular Foundations
Kawtharī’s first three points focused on establishing a serious, rigorous academic environment:
- Logistics and Timing: Primary sciences like Hadith should be taught in the Azhar Mosque after prayers, ensuring an uninterrupted and serious atmosphere, far from the commotions of a school schedule.
- Research Department: A dedicated research room was necessary, housing an exhaustive collection of works on hadith and related sciences from around the world. Students would be tasked with completing research assignments to foster scholarly competition.
- The Six Canonical Books (and Others): The curriculum must cover the Six Canonical Books through uninterrupted recitation (sard), focusing on the accurate vowelization of names and brief explanations, reserving lengthy commentary for advanced study.
2. Specialized Critical Sciences
The next four points called for the creation of specialized courses focused on the intricate sciences of hadith criticism:
- Hadith Terminology (Muṣṭalaḥ): A rigorous study of muṣṭalaḥ al-ḥadīth based on key commentaries (like al-Sakhāwī’s) to instill the critical foundations of the science.
- Fabricated Hadith: A specific class dedicated to identifying inauthentic hadith, primarily using Ibn ʿIrāq al-Kinānī’s Tanzīh al-sharīʿa to learn about fabricated texts and the narrators accused of fabrication.
- Disconnected Hadith (Marāsīl): An instructor would teach the laws and scholarly opinions regarding marāsīl (hadith with missing links in the chain), alongside an examination of suspended hadith (muʿallaq) in the Ṣaḥīḥayn (Bukhari and Muslim).
- Comparative Analysis: Students would study texts like Ibn al-Jawzī’s al-Taḥqīq to conduct comparative analysis of jurists’ evidences, thereby developing skill in concluding debates based on sound narrator criticism.
3. Contemporary Challenges & Defense
Finally, Kawtharī’s last points addressed the need for Al-Azhar to engage with the modern world and defend the tradition:
- Critical Study of Sīra and Maghāzī: The Prophetic biography (sīra) should be taught using a refined textbook grounded in narrator criticism principles. This would help students understand and rebut the motivations behind Orientalist critiques.
- Seminars on Select Topics: Seminars would cover advanced, intricate subjects such as identifying hidden defects (iʿlāl al-ḥadīth), abrogation, and the history of hadith compilation, inspiring students to produce original works.
- Responses to Orientalist Critiques: A dedicated committee or department was needed to write compelling, researched refutations. Crucially, these responses should be written in the language of the original critique and distributed internationally before being translated for the Muslim world.
Ultimately, the proposed reforms were never fully implemented, as Shaykh Muṣṭafā ʿAbd al-Rāziq passed away shortly after receiving the letter. Nevertheless, al-Kawtharī’s ten points remain an invaluable blueprint for serious, comprehensive hadith scholarship.