Abstract

Turuq al-taḥammul al-ʿilm is the methods of receiving a ḥadīth from the teacher in the science of ḥadīth. In general, scholars have pointed out eight different methods. While some of these methods are accepted as unanimously by everyone, some methods have led to polemics throughout the history. The methods did not appear out of nowhere, but appeared in a process. In this article, mukātaba (correspondence), one of the eight methods, will be examined and the events that laid the groundwork for this method from the time of the Prophet will be discussed. Furthermore, the use of mukātaba in the ḥadīth transmission up to the third hijrī century will be mentioned. In addition, the origin and development of the term mukātaba will be researched. Finally, modes of transmission used while transmitting the aḥadīth obtained by this method in ḥadīth collections will be examined. As a result of the research, it has been seen that in the first centuries, kitāba/mukātaba was mentioned together with munāwala or ijāza, but later on, it began to be considered as a separate method. While it was mostly mentioned as kitāba until Ibn al-Salāh, it started to be called mukātaba later on.