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125-397: The most striking issue about the life of Muhammad and early Islamic history is that the source information emerged as the irregular products of the storytelling culture and the increasing progress of the details over the centuries. Lawrence Conrad examines the biography books written in the early post-oral period and sees that a time period of 85 years is exhibited in these works regarding

250-517: A Kinesthetic learning style would be used, involving the listeners through music, dream interpretation, or dance. For indigenous cultures of the Americas, storytelling is used as an oral form of language associated with practices and values essential to developing one's identity. This is because everyone in the community can add their own touch and perspective to the narrative collaboratively – both individual and culturally shared perspectives have

375-441: A Wayne Booth -esque rhetorical thrust, a dialectic process of interpretation, which is at times beneath the surface, conditioning a plotted narrative, and at other times much more visible, "arguing" for and against various positions; relies substantially on now-standard aesthetic figuration, particularly including the use of metaphor , metonymy, synecdoche and irony (see Hayden White , Metahistory for expansion of this idea);

500-456: A "surface" story, that entails knowing certain information and clues to unlocking the metaphors in the story. The underlying message of the story being told, can be understood and interpreted with clues that hint to a certain interpretation. In order to make meaning from these stories, elders in the Sto:lo community for example, emphasize the importance in learning how to listen, since it requires

625-643: A chain of transmitters". However, she adds that "nowadays, hadith almost always means hadith from Muhammad himself." In contrast, according to the Shia Islam Ahlul Bayt Digital Library Project, "... when there is no clear Qur'anic statement, nor is there a Hadith upon which Muslim schools have agreed. ... Shi'a ... refer to Ahlul-Bayt [the family of Muhammad] to derive the Sunnah of the Prophet"—implying that while hadith

750-530: A collection of parallel systems within Islam. Much of the early Islamic history available today is also based on the hadith, although it has been challenged for its lack of basis in primary source material and the internal contradictions of available secondary material. The hadith have been called by American- Sunni scholar Jonathan A. C. Brown as "the backbone" of Islamic civilization. Hadith may be hadith qudsi (sacred hadith)—which some Muslims regard as

875-707: A companion say, 'I heard the Prophet. ' " The one after him would then say, "I heard someone say, 'I heard a Companion say, 'I heard the Prophet ;...''" and so on. Different branches of Islam refer to different collections of hadith, although the same incident may be found in hadith from different collections. In general, the difference between Shi'a and Sunni collections is that Shia give preference to hadiths attributed to Muhammad's family and close companions ( Ahl al-Bayt ), while Sunnis do not consider family lineage in evaluating hadith and sunnah narrated by any of twelve thousand companions of Muhammad. Traditions of

1000-410: A dangerous place / he disguises himself / his disguise fools everybody / except for a common person of little account (a crone , a tavern maid or a woodcutter) / who immediately recognizes him / the commoner becomes the hero's ally, showing unexpected resources of skill or initiative. A theme does not belong to a specific story, but may be found with minor variation in many different stories. The story

1125-440: A different lens. Noted author and folklore scholar, Elaine Lawless states, "...this process provides new avenues for understanding and identity formation. Language is utilised to bear witness to their lives". Sometimes a narrator will simply skip over certain details without realizing, only to include it in their stories during a later telling. In this way, that telling and retelling of the narrative serves to "reattach portions of

1250-425: A form of storytelling for many ancient cultures . The Aboriginal Australian people painted symbols which also appear in stories on cave walls as a means of helping the storyteller remember the story. The story was then told using a combination of oral narrative, music , rock art and dance, which bring understanding and meaning to human existence through the remembrance and enactment of stories. People have used

1375-417: A larger story, thus storytelling can supplement analytical thinking. Because storytelling requires auditory and visual senses from listeners, one can learn to organize their mental representation of a story, recognize structure of language and express his or her thoughts. Stories tend to be based on experiential learning, but learning from an experience is not automatic. Often a person needs to attempt to tell

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1500-498: A long-held part of Islamic practice and belief are not mentioned in the Quran, but are reported in hadiths. Therefore, Muslims usually maintain that hadiths are a necessary requirement for the true and proper practice of Islam, as it gives Muslims the nuanced details of Islamic practice and belief in areas where the Quran is silent. An example is the obligatory prayers, which are commanded in the Quran, but explained in hadith. Details of

1625-641: A manuscript dated 844. A collection of hadiths dedicated to invocations to God, attributed to a certain Khālid ibn Yazīd, is dated 880–881. A consistent fragment of the Jāmiʿ of the Egyptian Maliki jurist 'Abd Allāh ibn Wahb (d. 813) is finally dated to 889. Sunni and Shia hadith collections differ because scholars from the two traditions differ as to the reliability of the narrators and transmitters. Narrators who sided with Abu Bakr and Umar rather than Ali , in

1750-401: A means by which to precipitate psychological and social change in the practice of transformative arts . Some people also make a case for different narrative forms being classified as storytelling in the contemporary world. For example, digital storytelling, online and dice-and-paper-based role-playing games. In traditional role-playing games , storytelling is done by the person who controls

1875-496: A method to teach ethics, values and cultural norms and differences. Learning is most effective when it takes place in social environments that provide authentic social cues about how knowledge is to be applied. Stories function as a tool to pass on knowledge in a social context. So, every story has 3 parts. First, The setup (The Hero's world before the adventure starts). Second, The Confrontation (The hero's world turned upside down). Third, The Resolution (Hero conquers villain, but it

2000-432: A number of artistic elements that typically interact in well-developed stories. Such elements include the essential idea of narrative structure with identifiable beginnings, middles, and endings, or exposition-development-climax-resolution-denouement, normally constructed into coherent plot lines; a strong focus on temporality, which includes retention of the past, attention to present action and protention/future anticipation;

2125-514: A number of different grounds. He lists the following arguments against the authenticity of sīra, followed here by counter arguments: If one storyteller should happen to mention a raid, the next storyteller would know the date of this raid, while the third would know everything that an audience might wish to hear about. Nevertheless, other content of sīra, like the Constitution of Medina , are generally considered to be authentic. The following

2250-469: A person's resume . It is sometimes written as "seerah", "sirah" or "sirat", all meaning "life" or "journey". In Islamic literature, the plural form, siyar , could also refer to the rules of war and dealing with non-Muslims. The phrase sīrat rasūl allāh , or as-sīra al-nabawiyya , refers to the study of the life of Muhammad. The term sīrah was first linked to the biography of Muhammad by Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri ( d. 124/741–2), and later popularized by

2375-483: A personal narrative serve"? This approach mainly looks at the power, authority, knowledge, ideology and identity; "whether it legitimates and dominates or resists and empowers". All personal narratives are seen as ideological because they evolve from a structure of power relations and simultaneously produce, maintain and reproduce that power structure". Political theorist, Hannah Arendt argues that storytelling transforms private meaning to public meaning. Regardless of

2500-631: A place in the co-creation of the story. Oral storytelling in indigenous communities differs from other forms of stories because they are told not only for entertainment, but for teaching values. For example, the Sto:lo community in Canada focuses on reinforcing children's identity by telling stories about the land to explain their roles. Furthermore, Storytelling is a way to teach younger members of indigenous communities about their culture and their identities. In Donna Eder's study, Navajos were interviewed about storytelling practices that they have had in

2625-541: A professor of literature at the University of Tennessee created the first organized storytellers league of its kind. It was called The National Story League. Wyche served as its president for 16 years, facilitated storytelling classes, and spurred an interest in the art. Several other storytelling organizations started in the U.S. during the 1970s. One such organization was the National Association for

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2750-544: A profound and controversial influence on tafsir (commentaries of the Quran). The earliest commentary of the Quran known as Tafsir Ibn Abbas is sometimes attributed to the companion Ibn Abbas. The hadith were used the form the basis of sharia (the religious law system forming part of the Islamic tradition), and fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). The hadith are at the root of why there is no single fiqh system, but rather

2875-462: A solution. Stories are effective educational tools because listeners become engaged and therefore remember. Storytelling can be seen as a foundation for learning and teaching. While the story listener is engaged, they are able to imagine new perspectives, inviting a transformative and empathetic experience. This involves allowing the individual to actively engage in the story as well as observe, listen and participate with minimal guidance. Listening to

3000-413: A story, who has accidentally broken something that belongs to the ahuaque, does not replace it or give back in some way to the ahuaque, the protagonist dies. In this way, storytelling serves as a way to teach what the community values, such as valuing the environment. Storytelling also serves to deliver a particular message during spiritual and ceremonial functions. In the ceremonial use of storytelling,

3125-411: A storyteller can create lasting personal connections, promote innovative problem solving and foster a shared understanding regarding future ambitions. The listener can then activate knowledge and imagine new possibilities. Together a storyteller and listener can seek best practices and invent new solutions. Because stories often have multiple layers of meanings, listeners have to listen closely to identify

3250-467: A substantial focus on characters and characterization which is "arguably the most important single component of the novel"; a given heterogloss of different voices dialogically at play – "the sound of the human voice, or many voices, speaking in a variety of accents, rhythms and registers"; possesses a narrator or narrator-like voice, which by definition "addresses" and "interacts with" reading audiences (see Reader Response theory); communicates with

3375-402: A time or place. Rather the purpose of hadith is to record a religious doctrine as an authoritative source of Islamic law . By contrast, while a khabar may carry some legal or theological implications, its main aim is to convey information about a certain event. Starting from the 8th and 9th century, many scholars have devoted their efforts to both kinds of texts equally. Some historians consider

3500-473: A tool to correct inappropriate behavior and promote cooperation. There are various types of stories among many indigenous communities. Communication in Indigenous American communities is rich with stories, myths, philosophies and narratives that serve as a means to exchange information. These stories may be used for coming of age themes, core values, morality, literacy and history. Very often,

3625-419: Is a form of Islamic oral tradition containing the sayings, actions, and approvals of the prophet Muhammad as relayed through a sequentially corroborated chain of narrators (multiple linkages of attested individuals who heard and repeated the hadith, from which the source of the hadith can be traced). Compilations of hadith were aggregated into distinct collections by Islamic scholars (known as Muhaddiths ) in

3750-678: Is a list of some of the early Hadith collectors who specialized in collecting and compiling sīrah and maghāzī reports: Storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories , sometimes with improvisation , theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment , education, cultural preservation or instilling moral values. Crucial elements of stories and storytelling include plot , characters and narrative point of view . The term "storytelling" can refer specifically to oral storytelling but also broadly to techniques used in other media to unfold or disclose

3875-423: Is a means for sharing and interpreting experiences. Peter L. Berger says human life is narratively rooted, humans construct their lives and shape their world into homes in terms of these groundings and memories. Stories are universal in that they can bridge cultural, linguistic and age-related divides. Storytelling can be adaptive for all ages, leaving out the notion of age segregation . Storytelling can be used as

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4000-471: Is assembled from lines which are repeated verbatim or which use one-for-one word substitutions. In other words, oral stories are built out of set phrases which have been stockpiled from a lifetime of hearing and telling stories. The other type of story vocabulary is theme, a set sequence of story actions that structure a tale. Just as the teller of tales proceeds line-by-line using formulas, so he proceeds from event-to-event using themes. One near-universal theme

4125-545: Is based on spoken reports in circulation after the death of Muhammad. Hadith were not promptly written down during Muhammad's lifetime or immediately after his death. Hadith were evaluated orally to written and gathered into large collections during the 8th and 9th centuries, generations after Muhammad's death, after the end of the era of the Rashidun Caliphate , over 1,000 km (600 mi) from where Muhammad lived. "Many thousands of times" more numerous than

4250-565: Is limited to the "Traditions" of Muhammad, the Shi'a Sunna draws on the sayings, etc. of the Ahlul-Bayt i.e. the Imams of Shi'a Islam. The word sunnah is also used in reference to a normative custom of Muhammad or the early Muslim community . Joseph Schacht describes hadith as providing "the documentation" of the sunnah . Another source (Joseph A. Islam) distinguishes between

4375-510: Is not enough for Hero to survive. The Hero or World must be transformed). Any story can be framed in such format. Human knowledge is based on stories and the human brain consists of cognitive machinery necessary to understand, remember and tell stories. Humans are storytelling organisms that both individually and socially, lead storied lives. Stories mirror human thought as humans think in narrative structures and most often remember facts in story form. Facts can be understood as smaller versions of

4500-451: Is often enmeshed in intertextuality, with copious connections, references, allusions, similarities, parallels, etc. to other literatures; and commonly demonstrates an effort toward bildungsroman , a description of identity development with an effort to evince becoming in character and community. Storytelling festivals typically feature the work of several storytellers and may include workshops for tellers and others who are interested in

4625-529: Is one of the many effective ways to educate both the young and old about their cultures, identities and history. Storytelling help the Navajos know who they are, where they come from and where they belong. Storytelling in indigenous cultures is sometimes passed on by oral means in a quiet and relaxing environment, which usually coincides with family or tribal community gatherings and official events such as family occasions, rituals, or ceremonial practices. During

4750-459: Is repetition, as evidenced in Western folklore with the " rule of three ": Three brothers set out, three attempts are made, three riddles are asked. A theme can be as simple as a specific set sequence describing the arming of a hero , starting with shirt and trousers and ending with headdress and weapons. A theme can be large enough to be a plot component. For example: a hero proposes a journey to

4875-538: Is sometimes substituted for amārāt or dalāʾil ). Another genre, called faḍāʾil wa mathālib — tales that show the merits and faults of individual companions , enemies, and other notable contemporaries of Muhammad. Some works of sīrah also positioned the story of Muhammad as part of a narrative that includes stories of earlier prophets , Persian Kings , pre-Islamic Arab tribes, and the Rashidun . Parts of sīrah were inspired by, or elaborate upon, events mentioned in

5000-638: Is the hadith of Abu Hurairah who said that Muhammad said: When God decreed the Creation He pledged Himself by writing in His book which is laid down with Him: My mercy prevails over My wrath. In the Shia school of thought, there are two fundamental viewpoints of hadith: The Usuli view and the Akhbari view. The Usuli scholars emphasize the importance of scientific examination of hadiths through ijtihad while

5125-584: Is true. Folklorists sometimes divide oral tales into two main groups: Märchen and Sagen . These are German terms for which there are no exact English equivalents, however we have approximations: Märchen , loosely translated as " fairy tale (s)" or little stories, take place in a kind of separate "once-upon-a-time" world of nowhere-in-particular, at an indeterminate time in the past. They are clearly not intended to be understood as true. The stories are full of clearly defined incidents, and peopled by rather flat characters with little or no interior life. When

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5250-482: The Arabian Nights ), cluster around mythic heroes (like King Arthur ), and develop into the narratives of the deeds of the gods and saints of various religions . The results can be episodic (like the stories about Anansi ), epic (as with Homeric tales), inspirational (note the tradition of vitae ) and/or instructive (as in many Buddhist or Christian scriptures ). With the advent of writing and

5375-467: The Kharijites also rejected the hadiths, while Mu'tazilites rejected the hadiths as the basis for Islamic law, while at the same time accepting the Sunnah and Ijma . Because some hadith contain questionable and ambiguous statements, the authentication of hadith became a major field of study in Islam. In its classic form a hadith consists of two parts—the chain of narrators who have transmitted

5500-538: The Odawa Tribe , young boys are often told the story of a young man who never took care of his body, and as a result, his feet fail to run when he tries to escape predators. This story serves as an indirect means of encouraging the young boys to take care of their bodies. Narratives can be shared to express the values or morals among family, relatives, or people who are considered part of the close-knit community. Many stories in indigenous American communities all have

5625-486: The Qur'an . These parts were often used by writers of tafsir and asbab al-nuzul to provide background information for events mentioned in certain ayat . In terms of structure, a hadith and a historical report ( khabar ) are very similar; they both contain isnads (chains of transmission). The main difference between a hadith and a khabar is that a hadith is not concerned with an event as such, and normally does not specify

5750-598: The carved trunks of living trees and ephemeral media (such as sand and leaves) to record folktales in pictures or with writing. Complex forms of tattooing may also represent stories, with information about genealogy , affiliation and social status. Folktales often share common motifs and themes , suggesting possible basic psychological similarities across various human cultures. Other stories, notably fairy tales , appear to have spread from place to place, implying memetic appeal and popularity. Groups of originally oral tales can coalesce over time into story cycles (like

5875-578: The 1930s, and the texts of epics such as the Odyssey . Lord found that a large part of the stories consisted of text which was improvised during the telling process. Lord identified two types of story vocabulary. The first he called "formulas": " Rosy-fingered Dawn ", " the wine-dark sea " and other specific set phrases had long been known of in Homer and other oral epics. Lord, however, discovered that across many story traditions, fully 90% of an oral epic

6000-593: The Abbasid period sought to authenticate hadith. Scholars had to decide which hadith were to be trusted as authentic and which had been fabricated for political or theological purposes. To do this, they used a number of techniques which Muslims now call the science of hadith . The earliest surviving hadith manuscripts were copied on papyrus. A long scroll collects traditions transmitted by the scholar and qadi 'Abd Allāh ibn Lahīʻa (d. 790). A Ḥadīth Dāwūd ( History of David ), attributed to Wahb ibn Munabbih , survives in

6125-467: The Akhbari scholars consider all hadiths from the four Shia books as authentic . The two major aspects of a hadith are the text of the report (the matn ), which contains the actual narrative, and the chain of narrators (the isnad ), which documents the route by which the report has been transmitted. The isnad was an effort to document that a hadith actually came from Muhammad, and Muslim scholars from

6250-802: The Perpetuation and Preservation of Storytelling (NAPPS), now the National Storytelling Network (NSN) and the International Storytelling Center (ISC). NSN is a professional organization that helps to organize resources for tellers and festival planners. The ISC runs the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN . Australia followed their American counterparts with the establishment of storytelling guilds in

6375-562: The Prophet is the command of God.” In 851 the rationalist Mu`tazila school of thought fell out of favor in the Abbasid Caliphate . The Mu`tazila, for whom the "judge of truth ... was human reason," had clashed with traditionists who looked to the literal meaning of the Quran and hadith for truth. While the Quran had been officially compiled and approved, hadiths had not. One result was the number of hadiths began "multiplying in suspiciously direct correlation to their utility" to

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6500-495: The Quran, proving that some hadith are a source of corruption and not a complement to the Quran. Joseph Schacht quotes a hadith of Muhammad that is used "to justify reference" in Islamic law to the companions of Muhammad as religious authorities—"My companions are like lodestars." According to Schacht, (and other scholars) in the very first generations after the death of Muhammad, use of hadith from Sahabah ("companions" of Muhammad) and Tabi'un ("successors" of

6625-592: The Quran. Among scholars of Sunni Islam the term hadith may include not only the words, advice, practices, etc. of Muhammad, but also those of his companions . In Shia Islam , hadith are the embodiment of the sunnah, the words and actions of Muhammad and his family, the Ahl al-Bayt ( The Twelve Imams and Muhammad's daughter, Fatimah ). Unlike the Quran, not all Muslims believe that all hadith accounts are divine revelation; in fact, scholars have thoroughly examined hadith to sort them into accuracy categories ever since

6750-630: The UK proposes that the social space created preceding oral storytelling in schools may trigger sharing (Parfitt, 2014). Storytelling has also been studied as a way to investigate and archive cultural knowledge and values within indigenous American communities. Iseke's study (2013) on the role of storytelling in the Metis community, showed promise in furthering research about the Metis and their shared communal atmosphere during storytelling events. Iseke focused on

6875-595: The Umayyad period, their reputation deteriorated because of their inclination to exaggerate and fantasize, and for relying on the Isra'iliyat . Thus they were banned from preaching at mosques. In later periods, however, works of sīrah became more prominent. More recently, Western historical criticism and debate concerning sīrah have elicited a defensive attitude from some Muslims who wrote apologetic literature defending its content. For centuries, Muslim scholars have recognized

7000-458: The actions of good or mischievous stock characters while also allowing room for children to make meaning for themselves. By not being given every element of the story, children rely on their own experiences and not formal teaching from adults to fill in the gaps. When children listen to stories, they periodically vocalize their ongoing attention and accept the extended turn of the storyteller. The emphasis on attentiveness to surrounding events and

7125-541: The art form or other targeted applications of storytelling. Elements of the oral storytelling art form often include the tellers encouragement to have participants co-create an experience by connecting to relatable elements of the story and using techniques of visualization (the seeing of images in the mind's eye), and use vocal and bodily gestures to support understanding. In many ways, the art of storytelling draws upon other art forms such as acting , oral interpretation and Performance Studies . In 1903, Richard Wyche,

7250-406: The authority of multiple persons without distinguishing the words of one person from another. This lack of precision led some hadith scholars to take any report that used a collective isnād to be lacking in authenticity. According to Wim Raven, it is often noted that a coherent image of Muhammad cannot be formed from the literature of sīra, whose authenticity and factual value have been questioned on

7375-577: The behavior. Parents in the Arizona Tewa community, for example, teach morals to their children through traditional narratives. Lessons focus on several topics including historical or "sacred" stories or more domestic disputes. Through storytelling, the Tewa community emphasizes the traditional wisdom of the ancestors and the importance of collective as well as individual identities. Indigenous communities teach children valuable skills and morals through

7500-542: The centuries after Muhammad's death. Hadith are widely respected in mainstream Muslim thought and are central to Islamic law . Ḥadīth is the Arabic word for things like a report or an account (of an event). For many, the authority of hadith is a source for religious and moral guidance known as Sunnah , which ranks second only to that of the Quran (which Muslims hold to be the word of God revealed to Muhammad). While

7625-411: The children the cultural ways, along with history, community values and teachings of the land. Children in indigenous communities can also learn from the underlying message of a story. For example, in a nahuatl community near Mexico City , stories about ahuaques or hostile water dwelling spirits that guard over the bodies of water, contain morals about respecting the environment. If the protagonist of

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7750-459: The companions) "was the rule", while use of hadith of Muhammad himself by Muslims was "the exception". Schacht credits Al-Shafi'i —founder of the Shafi'i school of fiqh (or madh'hab )—with establishing the principle of the using the hadith of Muhammad for Islamic law, and emphasizing the inferiority of hadith of anyone else, saying hadiths: "... from other persons are of no account in

7875-424: The context of entertainment, where the narration progresses as a sequence of patterns impressive in quality ... and is part of a thoughtful progress". Some approaches treat narratives as politically motivated stories, stories empowering certain groups and stories giving people agency. Instead of just searching for the main point of the narrative, the political function is demanded through asking, "Whose interest does

8000-482: The current reality, but with different settings and beings such as werewolves, aliens, daemons, or hidden societies. These oral-based role-playing games were very popular in the 1990s among circles of youth in many countries before computer and console-based online MMORPG's took their place. Despite the prevalence of computer-based MMORPGs, the dice-and-paper RPG still has a dedicated following. Oral traditions of storytelling are found in several civilizations; they predate

8125-526: The date of Muhammad's birth. Conrad defines this as "the fluidity (evolutionary process) is still continuing" in the story. In the Arabic language the word sīrah or sīrat ( Arabic : سيرة ) comes from the verb sāra, which means to travel or to be on a journey. A person's sīrah is that person's journey through life, or biography , encompassing their birth, events in their life, manners and characteristics, and their death. In modern usage it may also refer to

8250-423: The disputes over leadership that followed the death of Muhammad, are considered unreliable by the Shia; narrations attributed to Ali and the family of Muhammad, and to their supporters, are preferred. Sunni scholars put trust in narrators such as Aisha , whom Shia reject. Differences in hadith collections have contributed to differences in worship practices and shari'a law and have hardened the dividing line between

8375-548: The early period following the Prophet Muhammad's death. Different collections of hadīth would come to differentiate the different branches of the Islamic faith. A minority of Muslims believe that Islamic guidance should be based on the Quran only , thus rejecting the authority of hadith; some further claim that many hadiths are fabrications ( pseudepigrapha ) created in the 8th and 9th centuries AD, and which are falsely attributed to Muhammad. Historically, some sects of

8500-429: The earth. In this way, children learn to value their place in the world as a person in relation to others. Typically, stories are used as an informal learning tool in Indigenous American communities, and can act as an alternative method for reprimanding children's bad behavior. In this way, stories are non-confrontational, which allows the child to discover for themselves what they did wrong and what they can do to adjust

8625-411: The eighth century to the present have never ceased to repeat the mantra "The isnad is part of the religion—if not for the isnad, whoever wanted could say whatever they wanted." The isnad literally means "support", and it is so named because hadith specialists rely on it to determine the authenticity or weakness of a hadith . The isnad consists of a chronological list of the narrators, each mentioning

8750-443: The environment and the non-playing fictional characters, and moves the story elements along for the players as they interact with the storyteller. The game is advanced by mainly verbal interactions, with a dice roll determining random events in the fictional universe, where the players interact with each other and the storyteller. This type of game has many genres, such as sci-fi and fantasy, as well as alternate-reality worlds based on

8875-547: The face of a tradition from the Prophet, whether they confirm or contradict it; if the other persons had been aware of the tradition from the Prophet, they would have followed it". This led to "the almost complete neglect" of traditions from the Companions and others. Collections of hadith sometimes mix those of Muhammad with the reports of others. Muwatta Imam Malik is usually described as "the earliest written collection of hadith" but sayings of Muhammad are "blended with

9000-473: The final authority of a hadith of Muhammad , so that even the Quran was "to be interpreted in the light of traditions (i.e. hadith), and not vice versa." While traditionally the Qur'an has traditionally been considered superior in authority to the sunna, Al-Shafi'i "forcefully argued" that the sunna was "on equal footing with the Quran", (according to scholar Daniel Brown) for (as Al-Shafi'i put it) “the command of

9125-399: The five salat (obligatory Islamic prayers) that are not found in the Quran, as well as everyday behavior such as table manners, dress, and posture. Hadith are also regarded by Muslims as important tools for understanding things mentioned in the Quran but not explained, a source for tafsir (commentaries written on the Quran). Some important elements, which are today taken to be

9250-472: The foundation of the community. Storytelling is used as a bridge for knowledge and understanding allowing the values of "self" and "community" to connect and be learned as a whole. Storytelling in the Navajo community for example allows for community values to be learned at different times and places for different learners. Stories are told from the perspective of other people, animals, or the natural elements of

9375-414: The gender of the narrator and what story they are sharing, the performance of the narrative and the audience listening to it is where the power lies. Therapeutic storytelling is the act of telling one's story in an attempt to better understand oneself or one's situation. Oftentimes, these stories affect the audience in a therapeutic sense as well, helping them to view situations similar to their own through

9500-552: The given story. Therefore, children in the Quechua community are encouraged to listen to the story that is being told in order to learn about their identity and culture. Sometimes, children are expected to sit quietly and listen actively. This enables them to engage in activities as independent learners. This teaching practice of storytelling allowed children to formulate ideas based on their own experiences and perspectives. In Navajo communities, for children and adults, storytelling

9625-588: The hands of aggrieved soldiers, in 656. No direct sources survive directly from this period so we are dependent on what later writers tell us about this period. According to British historian of Arab world Alfred Guillaume, it is "certain" that "several small collections" of hadith were "assembled in Umayyad times." In Islamic law, the use of hadith as it is understood today (hadith of Muhammad with documentation, isnads, etc.) came gradually. According to scholars such as Joseph Schacht , Ignaz Goldziher , and Daniel W. Brown, early schools of Islamic jurisprudence used

9750-412: The idea of witnessing a storyteller as a vital way to share and partake in the Metis community, as members of the community would stop everything else they were doing in order to listen or "witness" the storyteller and allow the story to become a "ceremonial landscape", or shared reference, for everyone present. This was a powerful tool for the community to engage and teach new learner shared references for

9875-560: The importance of oral tradition in indigenous communities teaches children the skill of keen attention. For example, Children of the Tohono O'odham American Indian community who engaged in more cultural practices were able to recall the events in a verbally presented story better than those who did not engage in cultural practices. Body movements and gestures help to communicate values and keep stories alive for future generations. Elders, parents and grandparents are typically involved in teaching

10000-800: The increasing popularity of written and televised media in much of the world. Modern storytelling has a broad purview. In addition to its traditional forms ( fairytales , folktales , mythology , legends , fables etc.), it has extended itself to representing history, personal narrative, political commentary and evolving cultural norms. Contemporary storytelling is also widely used to address educational objectives. New forms of media are creating new ways for people to record, express and consume stories. Tools for asynchronous group communication can provide an environment for individuals to reframe or recast individual stories into group stories. Games and other digital platforms, such as those used in interactive fiction or interactive storytelling , may be used to position

10125-411: The intended meaning of hadith in religious tradition is something attributed to Muhammad but that is not found in the Quran. Scholar Patricia Crone includes reports by others than Muhammad in her definition of hadith: "short reports (sometimes just a line or two) recording what an early figure, such as a companion of the prophet or Muhammad himself, said or did on a particular occasion, preceded by

10250-500: The late 1970s. Australian storytelling today has individuals and groups across the country who meet to share their stories. The UK's Society for Storytelling was founded in 1993, bringing together tellers and listeners, and each year since 2000 has run a National Storytelling Week the first week of February. Hadith Hadith ( Arabic : حديث , romanized :  ḥadīṯ ) or athar ( Arabic : أثر , ʾaṯar , lit.   ' remnant ' or ' effect ' )

10375-604: The life of Muhammad and the early history of Islam were passed down mostly orally for more than a hundred years after Muhammad's death in AD 632. Muslim historians say that Caliph Uthman ibn Affan (the third khalifa (caliph) of the Rashidun Caliphate , or third successor of Muhammad, who had formerly been Muhammad's secretary), is generally credited with urging Muslims to record the hadith just as Muhammad had suggested that some of his followers to write down his words and actions. Uthman's labours were cut short by his assassination, at

10500-471: The narrative of a story. Storytelling, intertwined with the development of mythologies , predates writing. The earliest forms of storytelling were usually oral , combined with gestures and expressions. Storytelling often has a prominent educational and performative role in religious rituals (for example, the Passover Seder ), and some archaeologists believe that rock art may have served as

10625-515: The narrative". These gaps may occur due to a repression of the trauma or even just a want to keep the most gruesome details private. Regardless, these silences are not as empty as they appear, and it is only this act of storytelling that can enable the teller to fill them back in. Psychodrama uses re-enactment of a personal, traumatic event in the life of a psychodrama group participant as a therapeutic methodology, first developed by psychiatrist, J.L. Moreno , M.D. This therapeutic use of storytelling

10750-504: The noun ḥadīth ( حديث   IPA: [ħæˈdiːθ] ) means "report", "account", or "narrative". Its Arabic plural is aḥādīth ( أحاديث [ʔæħæːˈdiːθ] ). Hadith also refers to the speech of a person. In Islamic terminology, according to Juan Campo, the term hadith refers to reports of statements or actions of Muhammad, or of his tacit approval or criticism of something said or done in his presence. Classical hadith specialist Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani says that

10875-466: The number of hadith grew enormously. While Malik ibn Anas had attributed just 1720 statements or deeds to the Muhammad, it was no longer unusual to find people who had collected a hundred times that number of hadith. Faced with a huge corpus of miscellaneous traditions supporting different views on a wide variety of controversial matters—some of them flatly contradicting each other—Islamic scholars of

11000-424: The number of verses pertaining to law in the Quran is relatively small, hadith are considered by many to give direction on everything from details of religious obligations (such as Ghusl or Wudu , ablutions for salat prayer), to the correct forms of salutations and the importance of benevolence to slaves. Thus for many, the "great bulk" of the rules of Sharia are derived from hadith, rather than

11125-431: The one from whom they heard the hadith, until mentioning the originator of the matn along with the matn itself. The first people to hear hadith were the companions who preserved it and then conveyed it to those after them. Then the generation following them received it, thus conveying it to those after them and so on. So a companion would say, "I heard the Prophet say such and such." The Follower would then say, "I heard

11250-480: The past and what changes they want to see in the future. They notice that storytelling makes an impact on the lives of the children of the Navajos. According to some of the Navajos that were interviewed, storytelling is one of many main practices that teaches children the important principles to live a good life. In indigenous communities, stories are a way to pass knowledge on from generation to generation. For some indigenous people, experience has no separation between

11375-444: The people of the desert. According to the scholars Harald Motzki and Daniel W. Brown the earliest Islamic legal reasonings that have come down to us were "virtually hadith-free", but gradually, over the course of second century A.H. "the infiltration and incorporation of Prophetic hadiths into Islamic jurisprudence" took place. It was Abū ʿAbdullāh Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī (150-204 AH), known as al-Shafi'i , who emphasized

11500-441: The physical world and the spiritual world. Thus, some indigenous people communicate to their children through ritual, storytelling, or dialogue. Community values, learned through storytelling, help to guide future generations and aid in identity formation. In the Quechua community of Highland Peru, there is no separation between adults and children. This allows for children to learn storytelling through their own interpretations of

11625-449: The prescribed movements and words of the prayer (known as rak'a ) and how many times they are to be performed, are found in hadith. However, hadiths differ on these details and consequently salat is performed differently by different hadithist Islamic sects. Quranists, on the other hand, believe that if the Quran is silent on some matter, it is because God did not hold its detail to be of consequence; and that some hadith contradict

11750-539: The printed and online press. Storytelling was used to explain natural phenomena, bards told stories of creation and developed a pantheon of gods and myths. Oral stories passed from one generation to the next and storytellers were regarded as healers, leaders, spiritual guides, teachers, cultural secrets keepers and entertainers. Oral storytelling came in various forms including songs, poetry, chants and dance. Albert Bates Lord examined oral narratives from field transcripts of Yugoslav oral bards collected by Milman Parry in

11875-423: The problem of authenticity of hadith. Thus they have developed sophisticated methods (see Hadith studies ) of evaluating isnāds (chains of transmission). This was done in order to classify each hadith into "sound" ( ṣaḥīḥ ) for authentic reports, as opposed to "weak" ( ḍaʿīf ) for ones that are probably fabricated, in addition to other categories . Since many sīrah reports also contain isnād information and some of

12000-509: The quoter of the hadith ( Traditionists quoted hadith warning against listening to human opinion instead of Sharia; Hanafites quoted a hadith stating that "In my community there will rise a man called Abu Hanifa [the Hanafite founder] who will be its guiding light". In fact one agreed upon hadith warned that, "There will be forgers, liars who will bring you hadiths which neither you nor your forefathers have heard, Beware of them." In addition

12125-483: The report (the isnad ), and the main text of the report (the matn ). Individual hadith are classified by Muslim clerics and jurists into categories such as sahih ("authentic"), hasan ("good"), or da'if ("weak"). However, different groups and different scholars may classify a hadith differently. Historically, some hadiths deemed to be unreliable were still used by Sunni jurists for non-core areas of law. Western scholars are generally skeptical of

12250-561: The rulings of the Prophet's Companions , the rulings of the Caliphs , and practices that “had gained general acceptance among the jurists of that school”. On his deathbed, Caliph Umar instructed Muslims to seek guidance from the Quran, the early Muslims ( muhajirun ) who emigrated to Medina with Muhammad, the Medina residents who welcomed and supported the muhajirun (the ansar ) and

12375-577: The sayings of the companions", (822 hadith from Muhammad and 898 from others, according to the count of one edition). In Introduction to Hadith by Abd al-Hadi al-Fadli, Kitab Ali is referred to as "the first hadith book of the Ahl al-Bayt (family of Muhammad) to be written on the authority of the Prophet". However, the acts, statements or approvals of Muhammad are called "Marfu hadith" , while those of companions are called "mawquf (موقوف) hadith" , and those of Tabi'un are called "maqtu' (مقطوع) hadith" . The hadith had

12500-503: The senses to bring one's heart and mind together. For instance, a way in which children learn about the metaphors significant for the society they live in, is by listening to their elders and participating in rituals where they respect one another. Stories in indigenous cultures encompass a variety of values . These values include an emphasis on individual responsibility, concern for the environment and communal welfare. Stories are based on values passed down by older generations to shape

12625-721: The source. ... A practice which is contained within the Hadith may well be regarded as Sunna, but it is not necessary that a Sunna would have a supporting hadith sanctioning it. Some sources ( Khaled Abou El Fadl ) limit hadith to verbal reports, with the deeds of Muhammad and reports about his companions being part of the sunnah , but not hadith. Islamic literary classifications similar to hadith (but not sunnah ) are maghazi and sira . They differ from hadith in that they are organized "relatively chronologically" rather than by subject. Other "traditions" of Islam related to hadith include: The hadith literature in use today

12750-491: The speeches and sermons made by Muhammad, like his speech at the Farewell Pilgrimage . Some of the sīrah accounts include verses of poetry commemorating certain events and battles. At later periods, certain type of stories included in sīrah developed into their own separate genres. One genre is concerned with stories of prophetic miracles, called aʿlām al-nubuwa (literally, "proofs of prophethood"—the first word

12875-551: The stories are used to instruct and teach children about cultural values and lessons . The meaning within the stories is not always explicit, and children are expected to make their own meaning of the stories. In the Lakota Tribe of North America, for example, young girls are often told the story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman , who is a spiritual figure that protects young girls from the whims of men. In

13000-493: The stories we read, the "neuro-semantic encoding of narratives happens at levels higher than individual semantic units and that this encoding is systematic across both individuals and languages." This encoding seems to appear most prominently in the default mode network. Storytelling in serious application contexts, as e.g. therapeutics, business, serious games, medicine, education, or faith can be referred to as serious storytelling. Serious storytelling applies storytelling "outside

13125-481: The story correspond to each unique situation. Indigenous cultures also use instructional ribbing — a playful form of correcting children's undesirable behavior— in their stories. For example, the Ojibwe (or Chippewa) tribe uses the tale of an owl snatching away misbehaving children. The caregiver will often say, "The owl will come and stick you in his ears if you don't stop crying!" Thus, this form of teasing serves as

13250-471: The story of that experience before realizing its value. In this case, it is not only the listener who learns, but the teller who also becomes aware of his or her own unique experiences and background. This process of storytelling is empowering as the teller effectively conveys ideas and, with practice, is able to demonstrate the potential of human accomplishment. Storytelling taps into existing knowledge and creates bridges both culturally and motivationally toward

13375-613: The supernatural intrudes (as it often does), it does so in an emotionally fraught manner. Ghost and Lovers' Leap stories belong in this category, as do many UFO stories and stories of supernatural beings and events. Another important examination of orality in human life is Walter J. Ong 's Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word (1982). Ong studies the distinguishing characteristics of oral traditions, how oral and written cultures interact and condition one another, and how they ultimately influence human epistemology. Storytelling

13500-401: The supernatural occurs, it is presented matter-of-factly, without surprise. Indeed, there is very little effect, generally; bloodcurdling events may take place, but with little call for emotional response from the listener. Sagen , translated as " legends ", are supposed to have actually happened, very often at a particular time and place, and they draw much of their power from this fact. When

13625-426: The sīrah and maghāzī literature to be a subset of Hadith. During the early centuries of Islam, the sīrah literature was taken less seriously compared to the hadiths . In Umayyad times, storytellers ( qāṣṣ , pl. quṣṣāṣ ) used to tell stories of Muhammad and earlier prophets in private gatherings and mosques , given they obtained permission from the authorities. Many of these storytellers are now unknown. After

13750-409: The sīrah compilers ( akhbārīs ) were themselves practicing jurists and hadīth transmitters ( muḥaddiths ), it was possible to apply the same methods of hadīth criticism to the sīrah reports. However, some sīrah reports were written using an imprecise form of isnād, or what modern historians call the "collective isnād" or "combined reports". The use of collective isnād meant that a report may be related on

13875-414: The telling of the story, children may act as participants by asking questions, acting out the story, or telling smaller parts of the story. Furthermore, stories are not often told in the same manner twice, resulting in many variations of a single myth. This is because narrators may choose to insert new elements into old stories dependent upon the relationship between the storyteller and the audience, making

14000-459: The two saying: Whereas the 'Hadith' is an oral communication that is allegedly derived from the Prophet or his teachings, the 'Sunna' (quite literally: mode of life, behaviour or example) signifies the prevailing customs of a particular community or people. ... A 'Sunna' is a practice which has been passed on by a community from generation to generation en masse, whereas the hadith are reports collected by later compilers often centuries removed from

14125-492: The underlying knowledge in the story. Storytelling is used as a tool to teach children the importance of respect through the practice of listening. As well as connecting children with their environment, through the theme of the stories, and give them more autonomy by using repetitive statements, which improve their learning to learn competence. It is also used to teach children to have respect for all life, value inter-connectedness and always work to overcome adversity. To teach this

14250-601: The unity building theme of the message becomes more important than the time, place and characters of the message. Once the message is delivered, the story is finished. As cycles of the tale are told and retold, story units can recombine, showing various outcomes for a person's actions. Storytelling has been assessed for critical literacy skills and the learning of theatre-related terms by the nationally recognized storytelling and creative drama organization, Neighborhood Bridges, in Minneapolis . Another storyteller researcher in

14375-611: The use of stable, portable media , storytellers recorded, transcribed and continued to share stories over wide regions of the world. Stories have been carved, scratched, painted, printed or inked onto wood or bamboo, ivory and other bones, pottery , clay tablets, stone, palm-leaf books , skins (parchment), bark cloth , paper , silk, canvas and other textiles, recorded on film and stored electronically in digital form. Oral stories continue to be created, improvisationally by impromptu and professional storytellers, as well as committed to memory and passed from generation to generation, despite

14500-404: The user as a character within a bigger world. Documentaries , including interactive web documentaries , employ storytelling narrative techniques to communicate information about their topic. Self-revelatory stories, created for their cathartic and therapeutic effect, are growing in their use and application, as in psychodrama , drama therapy and playback theatre . Storytelling is also used as

14625-413: The value of hadith for understanding the true historical Muhammad, even those considered sahih by Muslim scholars, due to their first recording centuries after Muhammad's life, the unverifiability of the claimed chains of transmission, and the widespread creation of fraudulent hadiths. Western scholars instead see hadith as more valuable for recording later developments in Islamic theology. In Arabic,

14750-434: The values and ideologies of the Metis. Through storytelling, the Metis cemented the shared reference of personal or popular stories and folklore , which members of the community can use to share ideologies. In the future, Iseke noted that Metis elders wished for the stories being told to be used for further research into their culture, as stories were a traditional way to pass down vital knowledge to younger generations. For

14875-442: The vast incommunicable constructs of psychopaths. In contemporary life, people will seek to fill "story vacuums" with oral and written stories. "In the absence of a narrative, especially in an ambiguous and/or urgent situation, people will seek out and consume plausible stories like water in the desert. It is our innate nature to connect the dots. Once an explanatory narrative is adopted, it's extremely hard to undo," whether or not it

15000-434: The verses of the Quran, hadith have been described as resembling layers surrounding the "core" of Islamic beliefs (the Quran). Well-known, widely accepted hadith make up the narrow inner layer, with a hadith becoming less reliable and accepted with each layer stretching outward. The reports of Muhammad's (and sometimes his companions') behavior collected by hadith compilers include details of ritual religious practice such as

15125-554: The word tradition or hadith is used instead. The sīrah literature includes a variety of heterogeneous materials, containing mainly narratives of military expeditions undertaken by Muhammad and his companions . These stories are intended as historical accounts and are used for veneration. The sīrah also includes a number of written documents, such as political treaties (e.g., Treaty of Hudaybiyyah or Constitution of Medina ), military enlistments, assignments of officials, letters to foreign rulers, and so forth. It also records some of

15250-412: The words of God —or hadith sharif (noble hadith), which are Muhammad's own utterances. According to as-Sayyid ash-Sharif al-Jurjani, the hadith qudsi differ from the Quran in that the former are "expressed in Muhammad's words", whereas the latter are the " direct words of God ". A hadith qudsi need not be a sahih (sound hadith), but may be da'if or even mawdu' . An example of a hadith qudsi

15375-404: The work of Ibn Hisham ( d. 833). In the first two centuries of Islamic history , sīrah was maghāzī (literally, 'stories of military expeditions'), which is now considered to be only a subset of sīra —one that concerns the military campaigns of Muhammad. Early works of sīrah consist of multiple historical reports, or akhbār , and each report is called a khabar . Sometimes

15500-432: Was described by Reynolds Price , when he wrote: A need to tell and hear stories is essential to the species Homo sapiens  – second in necessity apparently after nourishment and before love and shelter. Millions survive without love or home, almost none in silence; the opposite of silence leads quickly to narrative, and the sound of story is the dominant sound of our lives, from the small accounts of our day's events to

15625-485: Was incorporated into Drama Therapy , known in the field as "Self Revelatory Theater". In 1975 Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas developed a therapeutic, improvisational storytelling form they called Playback Theatre . Therapeutic storytelling is also used to promote healing through transformative arts , where a facilitator helps a participant write and often present their personal story to an audience. The art of narrative is, by definition, an aesthetic enterprise, and there are

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