The Wiley Blackwell Concise Companion to the Hadith

The most comprehensive and up-to-date English-language guide on hadith scholarship

The source of much of our knowledge of the first two centuries of Islamic history, the hadith literature is made up of thousands of traditions collected during the formative years of Islam. Alongside the Qur'an, the hadith forms a second major body of Islamic scripture, and much of Islamic belief and practice rests on the hadith including Islamic law, Islamic theology, Qur'anic interpretation, political thought, and personal behavior. Yet despite its importance to Muslims worldwide and its indispensable role as a source for early Islamic history, the hadith remains unexplored territory for many non-specialist readers.

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Hadith is a concise yet comprehensive overview of both Islamic and Western traditions of hadith study, offering up-to-date scholarship and providing readers with an essential guide to this distinctive aspect of Islam.

Written by a multidisciplinary team of distinguished scholars, the Companion discusses questions of authenticity, epistemology and authority in the hadith and explores the relationship of the hadith literature to other ways of transmitting knowledge and establishing authority.

Filling a significant gap in current literature in the field, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Hadith is a valuable resource for students, scholars, and researchers in Islamic studies, Islamic law, history, and theology.