A Study of Goldziher's Viewpoint regarding the Priority of the Critique of the Chain of the Transmission of Hadith on the Critique of the Text of Hadith

Ignaz Goldziher، a famous western orientalist، believes that Muslims'' approach to criticize narrations is mostly limited to the critique of the chain of transmission (isnad). In addition، he argues that judgment about the content of narrations depends on the validity of the chain of transmission. After Goldziher، some orientalists have mentioned similar results and confirmed his views. Criticizing these viewpoints، Muslim researchers have cited some rules referring to the critique of the text. They have assumed that Sunni hadith scholars have usually criticized the text beside the critique of the chain of transmission. The present article tries to study Goldziher''s views، Muslim critics، and also Jonathan Brown who is a contemporary Muslim researcher. Strong and weak viewpoints are also studied. Brown believes that until the fourth century AH the critique of the text was implicit and hidden in the critique of the chain of transmission. In the fifth and sixth century AH، some scholars have started criticizing the text explicitly. However، it seems that some earlier hadith scholars have explicitly criticized the text of hadith. Finally، some samples of narrations are presented. Then، the study reports outcomes of a new research in the west about a historical topic in Sahih-al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim which has been carried out through criticism of text.