The Authority of Tradition from the Viewpoint of Mahmood Abu Riyyah

One of the people whose views on tradition caused much controversy is Mahmood Abu Riyyah. In his book Adhwaala al-Sunnah al-Muhammadiyyah he discusses certain issues which could not be acceptable to the Sunni students of hadith and, therefore, they accused him of opposing tradition. In contrast, his views on the Sunni circles of hadith have been greatly welcomed in the Shiite world, especially in Iran.In this article the researchers besides discussing the views of Abu Riyyah on tradition attempt to show this truth that although Abu Riyyah does not openly oppose tradition and some of his views on the critique of the existing hadith in the Sunni circles of hadith are correct and, therefore, the researchers reject the accusation that he is against tradition, nevertheless because of this advantage no one should ignore the hidden layers of his views and their dire consequences. In some cases he has spoken of tradition in such a way that the result could be nothing but the denial of tradition, and accepting his views will undermine the very origin of tradition, though he has expressed these views in criticizing the current sources of hadith of the Sunnis rather than rejecting the authority of tradition.