MAN'S "HOLLOW CORE": ETHICS AND AESTHETICS IN HADITH LITERATURE AND CLASSICAL ARABIC ADAB

Classical Arabic Hadith literature is largely composed of micro-narratives recording the sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad. This study seeks to examine their literary form by focusing on selected examples listed in the canonical Hadith compendia under the heading of adab, a term which may be rendered here as "practical ethics" but which is also commonly used to designate classical Arabic belles-lettres. While the latter is a type of literature quite distinct from the literature of Hadith the texts here studied point to a certain interface between them. The ethical dimension of adab as it appears in Hadith is examined further in the light of Hayden White's theory on the relation between narrativity and law. Contrasting the micro-narrative of Hadith with the "macro-narrative" of the epic provides further insight into its approach to adab and serves to highlight its distinct literary and religious aesthetic.