Hadith: Origins and Developments by Harald Motzki

Muslims produced several metanarratives on hadith since its rise as a narrative genre in Islamic history, which gradually became more and more systematic. Among them are usul al-hadith, al-fiqh and ilm al-rijal. Sociologically speaking, this phenomenon was to be expected because every major narrative in the world, religious or secular, gives rise to its metanarrative(s). These metanarratives may sometimes conflict with each other. Indeed, it is commonly observed that every major narrative is subject to conflicting interpretations.