ABSTRACT
A group of Muslim scholars, who called themselves the ahl al-sunna, ‘the people of the sunna’, are generally termed the ‘Traditionalists’; the name ‘Traditionalist’ refers to the use of ḥadīth materials in preference to the independent powers of reason. One prominent early representative of this approach was Abū ʿUbayd al-Qāsim ibn Sallām. Born in about 154/770 in Herat, he studied in Kufa, Basra and Baghdad, lived in Khurasan and Baghdad, and ended his life in Mecca, where he died in 224/838. He was a scholar with broad intellectual interests whose influence on many fields of knowledge was significant and lasting. Works on the Qurʾān, ḥadīth, lexicography, law and theology are attributed to him.
