In classical Islamic learning, texts were formal records of prior oral master-student encounters

Evidence

Writing then was the formal expression of a prior nonformal activity that represented an intensely intellectual and spiritual interaction between teacher and student, between “guide” and disciple, and between one scholar and another (in scholarly “circles” as well as in disputation sessions, among other forms of intellectual interaction). — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 149

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies that in Islamic scholarly culture the written text is derivative of living oral/spiritual transmission — a reversal of the modern assumption that knowledge is primary in writing.
• XREF: Parallels the oral-to-written transmission dynamics in classical rabbinic and early Christian traditions; also relevant to the ‘knowledge as living chain’ idea in hadith studies.