Comparative Hadith etc

[Luqman72]

Sorry, I’m no scholar, plus I’m a bit tired so I can’t find the exact quotes.

As far as I know there are various traditions which are similar in both schools of thought.

 

One example I came across iirc is that in sunni Islam it is an active charity to clear obstacles from the path, and also in Shia Islam it is an actual charity to clear obstacles from the path… And the Hadith adds “of a believer”.

 

Don’t trust me but I think I get these meanings similar to the Hadith. 
 

So what I am thinking about is one : 

 

is there an inter school research group that compares traditions?

 

two: if it is a matter of ijtihad fir a sunni to say that clearing obstacles from the path of a believer is better, then achieving the obstacles from the path of an enemy for example.

Can we not say therefore that some original meaning may be preserved in this Shia Hadith? Which may have been lost in the Sunni Hadith? 
 

I said May because I indicate possibility.

 

three: are there any scholars who consider traditions from “opposing camps” to be valid sources of information Islamic even if there may be classed as weak or problematic?

Rather than completely out of the ball park.

Given that there are apparently numerous traditions from both schools which coincide in meaning and are similarly worded, it would seem partisan to prejudice to regard the coinciding meanings as something like a random chance rather than the sources emanating from a single origin. 
 

four: could we use artificial intelligence programs like Tsne (which maps words in Hyperspace and gives terms’ meanings not a traditional logical word based definition but a numerical value and maps language as something that like a mind map in hyper space.) this could be used to map traditions and collections of traditions to see where words have similar meaning and therefore in TSNE similar described numerical value. 
This would be a scientific angle on how closely aligned the two schools are with regards to semantics. 
 

five: instead of using binary opposition and binary logic like yes/ no 1/0 and  Muslim or non Muslim, maybe modern scholars could use fuzzy logic and imprecise key terms in order to soften the blow of interfaith tensions sometimes.

 

six: in classical logic contradictions lead to what is called “explosion” i.e. is basically absurdity and anything follows from it like the moon is made from cheese. But there are modern logic called paraconsistent logics which are not as strict in the application of some of the rules of classical logic, but they save the face of certain  technologies (e.g. forensic data analysis where data may be in precise and ambiguous and sometimes contradictory, but they can be analysed scientifically all the same if we allow for a limited amount of contradiction, and therefore we can analyse things apparently with computers without the computer crashing or coming to absurd conclusions, if we are tolerant of a few contradictions here and there).

I think generally in classical scholarship there is a little tolerance of contradiction because in most collections there are various wording of the same tradition, slightly different each time, but this is overlooked, even though strictly speaking there may be inconsistent with one another. So this is no new thing this is just a playing modern logic to the issue to clarify things perhaps.
 

seven: in philosophy, there are some problems which are undecidable formally. So I am thinking like the high age of Aisha maybe formally undecidable given that there are various report and there is no absolute test as far as I know so maybe what it’s called epistemic humility maybe a good attitude to have i.e. to accept that there are some cases where our capacities are limited .

On the one hand, this would perhaps reduce some of the esteem we hold ourselves in, but on the other hand, Allah likes the humble as far as I know and therefore humility and justice even in the field of scholarship may be appropriate and therefore part of the straight path…

 

I’m not that accustomed to come into this formum so if I’m not back, please excuse me. I have health issues but I will try to look back in and check on any responses. Thanks again.

 

 

[TheWayofTheSalaaf]

I honestly would like to see an analysis of hadiths that reference between shia and sunni sources. I am a sunni so my hadith collections are not considered valid to shia and their collections are not really valid from my schools point of view. I have been using chatgpt to see if there is analogous hadiths between different hadith collection. Many times the same ideas are expressed with different words and different isnads but the meaning is valid for both shia and sunni. Personally I have a method of study that I do. I read hanbali sources but also consult Imam Malik. I find these two to be the best sources of fiqh. While my default is hanbali there are times where I find Imam Malik to be more persuasive. if I look at a tafsir I usually prefer jalalayn or ibn abbas though my school likes ibn kathir the most. I review many, even shia sources ones. 

[Ashvazdanghe]

On 6/14/2025 at 10:07 AM, Luqman72 said:

three: are there any scholars who consider traditions from “opposing camps” to be valid sources of information Islamic even if there may be classed as weak or problematic?

Rather than completely out of the ball park.

Yeah many Shia scholars have considered " traditions from “opposing camps” to be valid sources of  Islamic information even if there may be classed as weak or problematic" which for example comparative hadith study between all Sunni schools of thought & Shia school is very popular in Hawza of Qom .

https://jcst.atu.ac.ir/?lang=en

https://pht.journals.miu.ac.ir/article_9467_da3cbdfcc5daa605755d31f8ca227bd1.pdf