Hadith Genre, Qasasul-Anbiyāʾ, and Isrāʾīliyyāt:

A Genre-Critical Reading of Roberto Tottoli

Abstract

Contemporary Hadith studies have increasingly been framed within a rigid dichotomy between the normative approach, which regards Hadith as an authoritative religious source, and revisionist historiographical approaches that primarily question its historical authenticity. This polarization has left unresolved scholarly debates concerning the fluid boundaries between Prophetic Hadith, Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyāʾ, and Isrāʾīliyyāt in the formative period of Islamic literature. This study aims to reconstruct the implications of Roberto Tottoli's theory of genre fluidity for redefining Hadith as a literary category while examining its interaction with Isrāʾīliyyāt narratives in early Islamic literary traditions. Employing a qualitative library-based approach, this research adopts a figure-study method by critically examining Tottoli's principal works through genre criticism and placing them in dialogue with the epistemological perspectives of classical Hadith scholars, particularly Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ, Ibn Taymiyyah, and Ibn Kathīr. The findings demonstrate that during the pre-tadwīn period, the boundaries between Hadith, historical narratives, Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyāʾ, and Isrāʾīliyyāt remained fluid and mutually interconnected. In contrast, the post-tadwīn period witnessed the gradual establishment of disciplinary boundaries through the epistemology of isnād and textual verification, distinguishing canonical Prophetic traditions from broader narrative traditions. This study proposes a dialogical synthesis in which Hadith is understood simultaneously as a literary genre that evolved historically and as a normative source whose authority was secured through the epistemological framework of classical Hadith scholarship, thereby contributing a more balanced perspective to contemporary Hadith Studies.