Studies in Hadith Methodology and Literature

Author: Muhammad Mustafa Azmi

http://www.peopleofsunnah.com/downloads/summary/12-hadith/1498-studies-in-hadith-methodology-and-literature.html

This book fulfils the need of college students as well as that of the educated laymen. The author has avoided unnecessary details and technical language as far as possible though never comprimising the rigorous standards of scholarship.

A careful reading of the book would eliminate most of the doubts which have been created deliberately or out of ignorance, by the Orientalists and others, providing basic knowledge of the subject and would prepare the reader to undertake further studies in the science of Hadith and its allied fields.

The books has been divided into two parts. Part One deals with the subject of Hadith Methodology: the meaning, concept and authority of Hadith; the teaching, learning and diffusion of Hadith, acquiring and recording of Hadith; chain of Transmitters (isnad); criticism of Hadith; grading of Hadith and Hadith Scholars; and finally the question of the forged Hadith, its causes and means of elimination.

Part Two discusses the literature, introducing the six principle books, as well as six others which had great significance and represent a stage in the compilation of Hadith literature. This sections also provides information on the compilers of these collections and their respective modes of scholarship.

Professor Muhammad Mustafa Al-Azami, one of the world's premier scholars of Hadith, was born in Mau, India in the early 1930s and received his education successively at Dar al-Ulum Deoband, India (1952), al-Azhar University, Cairo (M.A., 1955), and University of Cambridge (Ph.D., 1966). He is Professor Emeritus at King Sa'ud University (Riyadh) where he also chaired the department of Islamic Studies; he holds a Saudi citizenship. Al-Azami served as curator of the National Public Library, Qatar; Associate Professor at Umm al-Qura University (Makkah); Visiting Scholar at University of Michigan (Ann Arbor); Visiting Fellow at St. Cross College (University of Oxford); King Faisal Visiting Professor for Islamic Studies at Princeton; and Visiting Scholar at University of Colorado (Boulder). He is also an Honorary Professor at University of Wales (Lampeter). His publications include Studies in Early Hadith Literature, Hadith Methodology and Literature, On Schacht's Origins of Muahmmadan Jurisprudence, Dirasat fi al-Hadith an-Nabawi, Kuttab an-Nabi, Manhaj an-Naqd 'ind al-Muhaddithin, and al-Muhaddithun min al-Yamamah. Among his credited works are al-Ilal of Ibn al-Madini, Kitab at-Tamyiz of Imam Muslim, Maghazi Rasulullah of Urwah ibn Zubayr, Muwatta Imam Malik, Sahih ibn Khuzaimah, and Sunan ibn Majah. Many of al-Azami's works have been translated internationally, and his forthcoming works include The Qur'anic Challenge: A Promise Fulfilled, and The Isnad System: Its Origins and Authenticity. In 1980 he was the recipient of the prestigious King Faisal International Award for Islamic Studies.