SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The Prophetic traditions of Islam, which are commonly referred to as the hadiths (literally: reports), preserve the sum and substance of the corpus of anecdotes, statements, and deeds connected with the life the Prophet Muhammad. Together with the Qur’an, the hadiths critically provide the religion of Islam with its principal scriptural sources. Early Islamic scholarship set about codifying these traditions in the quest to enshrine the sources of the religion’s faith and ritual practice. Each hadith (or ‘report’) is typically supported by a chain of transmission known as the isnad (literally, support). This lists the names of the individuals narrating a given hadith, serving to illustrate its specific level of authenticity; studies of the isnad formed an important part of hadith scholarship. Given their paramount importance as far as the articulation of Islam is concerned, the hadıths have long attracted the attention of western academic scholarship; indeed, the range of research papers and monographs devoted to this area of learning serves as testimony to the sustained academic and critical engagement with this pre-eminent scriptural source. This proposed series of four volumes (1600 pp.) will provide an authoritative collection of the seminal research articles produced by western academic scholarship on the subject of the hadith over the past century, including recent papers on the subject; it will bring together the finest examples of scholarship devoted to the hadith and the classical literature which surrounded it, furnishing an indispensable reference resource for academics, research institutions, governmental organisations, and those with a general interest in Arabic and Islamic studies.