New material on the use and meaning of the term Isrā’iliyyāt

New sources and studies which appeared in the last twenty years have paved the way for a more comprehensive discussion on the use and meaning of the term Isrāʾīliyyāt in Islamic literature. After the first quotation of the term Isrāʾīliyyāt in al-Masʿūdī’s Murūj al-dhahab, the sources evidence continuity in the attestation of the term before and after Ibn Taymiyya, who was the first author to consistently use the term in theological contexts. The attestations display a variety of meanings attributed to the term: Isrā’īliyyāt are connected to traditions and narratives on the prophets, some ḥadīth-like reports, and are sometimes evoked to define a kind of report or tradition, or to indicate a hypothetical literary genre. Transmitters and authors involved display different attitudes and some references seem to reflect a neutral attitude, but a negative one is the most common trait. Ibn Taymiyya intensified this and infused a new theological meaning into the term. In general, the uses and meanings of the term as a whole bear evidence on how Isrāʾīliyyāt continuously circulated to introduce, label and above all dismiss some narratives, transmitters or authors.