Scholars from Europe, the Middle East and North America explore medieval and modern approaches to the study of Hadith
Examining and exemplifying the latest methods and trends in Hadith Studies, this book treats scholarship from the early Middle Ages to the 21st century. It looks at how hadiths were transmitted and organised by Muslim scholars to give us the collections we use today, and how hadiths were used to define the life of pietyas well as to tell us the revealed law. Some chapters seek to overturn, refine or reaffirm dominant paradigms within the field. Others look to expand our horizons in new directions. Comprising studies from the Middle East, Europe and North America, this book makes a major contribution to a controversial and challenging field.

Key Features
. Explores and analyses state-of-the-art scholarship in Hadith Studies in the Middle East and the West
. Provides a rich analysis of the global trends in Hadith Studies, affording a broad understanding of the field and bringing together contributions from scholarly communities typically inaccessible to one another

Case studies include
. Setting down the Qur'an and Hadith in writing
. The development of the Islamic call to prayer (adha n)
. Ibn al-Mubarak, a famous 8th-century Hadith transmitter
. 10th-century Sufi Hadith collectors
. The technical term madar
. Contrasts between the treatment of Hadith by specialists and jurisprudents
. Controversy over Hadith in modern Lebanon, Syria and Turkey, and between Sunnis and Shi¿is


Belal Abu-Alabbas is British Academy Newton International Fellow at the University of Exeter. Michael Dann is Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Illinois. Christopher Melchert is Professor of Arabic and Islam at the University of Oxford.
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Cover image: manuscript image of a chapter heading from the book of exegesis of ¿a¿i¿ al-Bukhari with its parallel from the electronic Shamila Library

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Acknowledgements