This article reconstructs the methodological meaning of doubt (al-shakk) in classical hadith criticism by reading the conceptual architecture of Firas bin Muhammad bin Sasi’s Nazariyyat al-Shakk ‘inda al-Muhaddithin. The primary uploaded document consists of the book cover and its detailed table of contents; therefore, the study deliberately treats the source as structural evidence rather than claiming access to every argument in the full chapters. A qualitative library-research design is employed through structural content analysis and comparative reading with major works of hadith methodology and modern scholarship. The analysis identifies five interconnected dimensions: doubt as a controlled epistemic attitude, the religious-historical-rational foundations of critical scrutiny, ethical and competence requirements for the critic, cognitive and empirical instruments of verification, and an operational sequence from data collection to comparison, judgment, terminology, and second-order review. The study argues that hadith-critical doubt is best understood not as radical skepticism but as disciplined verification oriented toward justified acceptance or rejection. Its reflexive, comparative, and cumulative character offers a useful framework for contemporary hadith studies, including source criticism in digital environments.
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