ABSTRACT
A group of Muslim scholars, generally termed the ‘Traditionalists’, called themselves the ahl al-sunna, ‘the people of the sunna’; the name ‘Traditionalist’ refers to the use of ˙ad• th materials in preference to the independent powers of reason. One prominent early representative of this approach was Ab¥ >Ubayd al-Qåsim ibn Sallåm. 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 Qur <ån, ˙ad• th, lexicography, law and theology are attributed to him.
