GENRE ANALYSIS AND RELIGIOUS TEXTS: A METHODOLOGICAL MODEL OF HADITH COMMENTARY

This article proposes a methodological model of genre analysis to apply to Muslim exegesis on the compilations of Prophetic traditions, known as h_: adı¯th commentary. Inspired by John Swales’s approach to genre analysis, and drawing upon 23 Sunni h_: adı¯th commentary texts from the tenth century to the present, the model consists of a number of analytical strategies and research questions, as well as specific generic analyses, in four steps: identifying the main generic features of these commentary texts, including the characteristics of their expository and hortatory discourses; examining their internal structures as constructed by commentators; and applying the move analysis of rhetorical structures twice—to both their introduction and the body of the text. The proposed model offers a way to make h_: adı¯th commentary texts more accessible and manageable, and helps explore the structural commonalities and differences within the commentary tradition across generations and throughout the Muslim world.