The Methodological Value and the Function of Ma'ruf/Mashur Sunnah in Determination and Critique of Hadith

Sunnah, along with Quran, has become an essential criteria in the Islamic thought in determination and critique of hadith in terms of their relatedness to the Prophet. However, different approaches toward the determination and the content of the Sunnet as the essential factor in terms of the articulation and functionality of this criteria have been appeared in the long historical proccess. Thus, this paper, especially, is a step for articulating the place of ma'rouf/mashour sunnah, which was a dominant concept in the first two centuries of the Hijri calendar, in determination and critique method of hadith and also, its historical background and function. Even though there are some limitations of active usage of ma'rouf/mashour sunnah originated from different understandings of sunnah, it is an important and primary criteria developed from methodological structure of the determination and the critique of hadith, and also it is a criterion which keeps its value in its consistency, applicability and functionality.