0021-1818_islam_98-1-2-i-259

42 Andreas Görke, Harald Motzki, Gregor Schoeler
Employing criteria of ‘embarrassment’ and ‘dissimilarity’ indeed may reveal
‘authentic’ traditions, but the exclusive focus on traditions that are in conflict
with the later Muslim view or that present Mu1ammad or other early Muslims in
a negative light necessarily results in a distorted image of Mu1ammad and the development
of Islam. 174
Shoemaker is undoubtedly correct in his assessment that the amount of ‘historical’
information gathered using the isnad-cum-matn analysis is small compared
to the voluminous and detailed depictions of the later Islamic sources,
but in this he is in line with Görke and Schoeler. 175 In his main points of criticism
regarding the sira traditions of ^Urwa b. al-Zubayr, however, Shoemaker
is wrong: There are several traditions that can convincingly be traced back to
^Urwa, and these traditions contain historical information that significantly exceeds
what can be gained by matn criticism alone.
III. The Traditions About the Murder
of Ibn Ab\ l-0uqayq (Harald Motzki)
Shoemaker’s description of Harald Motzki’s methods and publications must be
critically reviewed. To start with, in his introduction 176 Shoemaker approvingly
cross-references the views of the exponents of “hermeneutics of suspicion,” such
as Goldziher, Schacht, Cook and Juynboll, yet either conceals 177 or plays
down the substantial criticism of their premises and methods expressed by
Motzki, Schoeler, Görke and others. 178 When describing Motzki’s method,
Shoemaker writes: “Motzki, however, has argued for removing some of Juynboll’s
safeguards, seeing them as overly restrictive. In particular, he contends
that the single strands excluded by Juynboll should be taken into account, en-
174 Cf. Fück, “The Role of Traditionalism in Islam,” 16; Görke, “Prospects and Limits,”
141–142.
175 Cf. Görke, “Prospects and Limits,” 148–149.
176 Shoemaker, “In Search of ^Urwa’s Sira,” 257–269.
177 Ibid., 264f., note 17.
178 Motzki’s critique of the views expressed by Goldziher, Schacht and Cook can be found in
Die Anfänge der islamischen Jurisprudenz (Engl. transl. The Origins of Islamic Jurisprudence);
“Der fiqh des -Zuhr\,” 1–44 (Engl. transl. “The Jurisprudence of Ibn Shihab al-Zuhr\,” 1–46);
“Dating Muslim Traditions. A Survey,” 204–253. See also Schoeler, Charakter und Authentie
(Engl. transl. The Biography of Muhammad) and Görke “Eschatology, History, and the Common
Link,” 179–208.