Textual authority in this scholarly tradition required oral transmission from a master.

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 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Canonical authority can circulate through oral and popular channels — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival…, 639; Oral transmission offered superior authenticity and moral accountability over texts — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 267; The forged Sacromonte texts were given an elaborate divine chain of textual transmission. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1762 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• In classical Islamic learning, texts were formal records of prior oral master-student encounters #corroborates (0.92) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 149