Shihab’s Thought Of Hadith: A Critical Analysis

Shihab is a Muslim scholar from the Indonesian Archipelago, who has produced a comprehensive exegesis entitled Al-Mishbah. He had stressed on understanding the Qur’anic verses according to the context and not focusing on the text alone. Hence, this study aims to critically analyze on his Hadith thought. To get a clearer view, this study has adopted the literature analysis method with al-Mishbah as a source inclusive of various Tafsir and Hadith books as major references.This study found that he emphasized the importance in interpreting the Qur’an with authentic Hadith. However, there are instances to strengthen his interpretation by rejecting the authentic Hadith and refers to the weak Hadith. Additionally, sometimes he rejected the Hadith just becausehis tendency is towards the metaphorical than the real meaning of the verses. Furthermore, thereis a Hadith which stated just mentioning translation only, causing inconvenience to the publicto know its authenticity.