compelling case???

[azkad]

Hi there,
Could you please explain what the sentence, especially the underlined ones, mean?

Some researchers even refrained from using the Hadith as a historical source for early Islam because they were convinced that a complelling case for genuine hadiths could not be proposed.

Please help, it is urgent. Thanks in advence.

[BobK]

Hi there,
Could you please explain what the sentence, especially the underlined ones, mean?

Some researchers even refrained from using the Hadith as a historical source for early Islam because they were convinced that a complelling case for genuine hadiths could not be proposed.

Please help, it is urgent. Thanks in advence.

A 'compelling case for' something is an argument that is so strong that you are compelled to believe it. The researchers who didn't use the Hadith as a historical source believed that the people who said that it was a historical source had not justified their belief with a strong enough argument ("made a sufficiently compelling case for it")

b