Contradictory Evidence and the Exemplary Scholar

The Lives of Sahnun B. Saʿ Id (D. 854)

Bibliographic Data

ID8967944
AuthorsJonathan E Brockopp (0000-0002-1326-2718, corresponding author), Jonathan Brockopp
Year2011
Volume43
Issue1
Pages115-132
Publication date2011-01-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal Middle East Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-7438 • E-ISSN: 1471-6380
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0020743810001224
OpenAlexW2168483113
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited16

When writing biographies of historical figures, narrative convention requires that concision and clarity be wrested from sources that are multiple and often confusing. In this article, I argue that multiple accounts of a person's life may be more than an accident arising from the way that information was compiled. Rather, such multiplicity renders exemplary figures adaptable to a wide variety of circumstances, making them even more useful as a focus of devotion and emulation. Examining multiple accounts of early Maliki scholar Sahnun b. Saʿ id (d. 854), including those of his travels in search of knowledge and of his suffering under the miḥna (trial) in Kairouan, I find that close attention to apparently contradictory evidence may not get us any closer to understanding the man himself, but it does offer us much information about the ways in which he was considered an exemplary individual

Aesthetics · Art · CLARITY · Convention · Emulation · Epistemology · Literature · Narrative · Social science · Sociology · Variety (cybernetics · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Historical and Linguistic Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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