Editing Isnad (section)

== Origins in Islam ==
A number of propositions have been made concerning the time that isnads began to be used in conjunction with the passing on of tradition in the Islamic world. One of the most common pieces of evidence considered in these discussions is in a statement that has been attributed to the [[Basra|Basran]] scholar [[Ibn Sirin]] (d. 110/728 AD), which states:{{Sfn|Pavlovitch|2018|p=18}}

<blockquote>Lam yakūnū yas’alūna ‘an al-isnād. Fa-lammā waqa‘at al-fitna qālū: "Sammū la-nā rijāla-kum fa-yunẓaru ilā ahl al-sunna fa-yu’khadhu ḥadīthu-hum wa-yunẓaru ilā ahl al-bida‘ fa-lā yu’khadhu ḥadīthu-hum."<br>
They were not asking about the ''isnād''. When the ''fitna'' (civil war) broke out, they said, "name to us your informants (''rijāl''), so that we can recognize the people of [orthodox] tradition and accept their ḥadīth, and recognize the people of [heretical] innovation and accept not their ḥadīth."</blockquote>

According to this tradition, the use of isnads begins with the era of the ''fitna''. However, this term is ambiguous, and so much scholarly debate has concerned the meaning of ''fitna'' in this passage, as it could be taken as a reference to the [[First Fitna]] (656–616 AD) (the view of [[Muhammad Mustafa Azmi]]), the [[Second Fitna]] (680–692) (the view of [[G.H.A. Juynboll]]), or the [[Third Fitna]] (744–750) (the view of [[Joseph Schacht]], only possible if the tradition has been misattributed to, and therefore post-dates, Ibn Sirin). Since Juynboll, who has observed that the earliest sources most commonly associate the use of this word in isolation with the Second Fitna, it has become increasingly accepted that the tradition in question localizes the beginnings of the use of isnads to the era of the Second Fitna. Furthermore, Juynboll's assessment has alleviated the skepticism towards the question of whether Ibn Sirin made this claim.{{Sfn|Pavlovitch|2018|p=23–24}}

Therefore, isnads emerged in the Islamic tradition in the late first Islamic century. This occurred during the beginnings of efforts to offer systematic support for collected traditions. In this early stage, however, isnads were still not systematically invoked. The pivotal figure in the emergence of traditions concerning the Prophetic biography, [[Urwa ibn al-Zubayr]], used isnads, but not consistently. Later on, as the [[hadith sciences]] emerged and were formalized, they were documented more rigidly.{{Sfn|Gorke|Schoeler|2024|p=211}}