ABSTRACT
Hitherto, controversy has surrounded the issue of whether the major compilatory works of the Arabo-Islamic sciences composed between the second/eighth and fourth/tenth centuries, marked by their use of ↩isna¯d (chain of transmitters), depended on mainly written or oral sources. Examples of such compilations are the Kita¯b al-muwat.t.a↩ (The Book of the Well-Trodden [Path]) by Ma¯lik Ibn Anas (d. 179/796), the Kita¯b al-mag˙a¯zı¯ (The Book of the Campaigns) by Ibn Ish. a¯q (d. 150/767), the S.ah. ı¯h. (The Sound [Compilation]) of al-Bu 1ha¯rı¯ (d. 256/870) and Muslim (d. 261/875), at.-T. abarı¯’s (d. 310/923) Ta↩rı¯ 1h (History) and Tafsı¯r (Qur’a¯n Commentary), and Abu¯ ’l-Faragˇ al-Is.faha¯nı¯’s (d. 356/967) Kita¯b al-↩ag˙a¯nı¯ (The Book of Songs).58
