Criticism of Kister Exposure Method in the Evaluation of Islamic Narratives Based on the Narrative of Cutting Nails

Menachem. Y. Kister is one of the Jewish orientalists who has investigated narratives and historical texts, both Jāhilīyyah and Islam, in his works, from the review of a historical book such as Ansāb al-Ashrāf of Balādhari to a historical subject of the biography and Arab peoples such as Banī Qurayẓah and to the review of a Muslim character such as Lady Khadijah (as). He has even evaluated the hadith on a case-by-case basis. In an article entitled "Cut your nails", while examining its source, Kister has discussed why it is important with the alignment of other narratives. In the rest of the article, he has advanced another debate in a rhetorical way about the necessity or desirability of the hadith of cutting nails - based on Sunni sources, to put the process of the conclusion of the article on the innateness of this tradition since the time of Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh) in the verge of completion. Considering that his article is in conflict with the belief of Muslims regarding the importance of the document and its authenticity and the prophethood of the Holy Prophet (pbuh), it is necessary to criticize it. Analytical-descriptive analysis of Kister's writings, on the two axes of the source and the text of the narratives, shows that considering the tradition of cutting nails as natural since the time of Prophet Abraham (pbuh) is seriously criticized; it seems that the author of the article seeks to present a thematic research using narratives about the health-jurisprudential aspects of the tradition of cutting nails, and it has been taken in a different direction from the main mission of the article, which is the discussion about the narrative of "Cut your nails".