Islamic source criticism predated comparable methods anywhere in the world

Evidence

One consequence of this desire to collect precedents and examples from the sanctified figures of the past is an almost obsessive concern with accuracy. If your purpose in history is to find out the manifestation of God’s will—and from a Muslim point of view, Sunna is no less than that—it is obviously extremely important to get it right. From an early time, there are not only variant versions but even contradictory versions of the same event; hence the development, by early Muslim historians, of a very sophisticated science of source criticism, a comparative method far in advance of anything known in the world until that time. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1935 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Early Muslim historians pioneered source criticism far ahead of any contemporary method — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 1935; Biblical source-criticism techniques inevitably transferred to studying early Islam — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing: The Orientalists…, 275; Treating history as sacred precedent drove early Muslim source criticism — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 1933

Broader Connections

• Early Muslim historians pioneered source criticism far ahead of any contemporary method #corroborates (1.00) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1935