Qur'an and Hadith Studies Part B

Preserved in the form of individual reports and dicta, the literary material of the hadiths (Prophetic traditions) serves as one of the foundational textual sources of the Islamic faith. 

The classical traditions of learning associated with the study of the hadith have a distinguished literary heritage, spanning across many centuries. This module examines the hadiths, reflecting upon their theoretical importance with the matrices of classical Islamic thought. Introducing the academic scholarship which has defined the study of traditions, the module gauges the significance of the classical forms of writing which developed around their collection and analysis as formulated by scholars.

Prerequisites

Given that this is essentially a text-based module, it is expected that students should be able to read and comprehend classical Arabic material.

Objectives and learning outcomes of the module

1. Situate the Hadith within its historical context and setting
2. Identify and gauge the distinct compositional and thematic elements of the Hadith
3. Appreciate the Hadith's dynamic impact as a literary text across a range of classical intellectual discourses
4. Acquire a critical awareness of the scholarly debates and discussions which have informed the academic study of the Hadith
5. Develop critical tools for the advanced study of Arabic and Islamic literary materials

Workload

Total of 10 weeks teaching with 2 hours classroom contact per week consisting of a 1 hour lecture and a 1 hour seminar.

Scope and syllabus

1. Contextualising the Sunnah: its authority and development
2. Western Academic scholarship and the Hadith: debates and discourses
3. A Study of Mālik's Muwaṭṭa: authorship and contents
4. Saḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and the authority of a narration reported by one individual (Khabar al-wāḥid).
5. Naqd al-matn (content criticism) in the process of Hadith authentication
6. Hadith Fabrication

Method of assessment

• 20% - PowerPoint presentation (10-12 minutes)
• 80% - Essay (2500 words)
• The exact assessment deadline dates are published on the relevant module Moodle/BLE page

Suggested reading

Bibliography

• Abu-Alabbas, Belal, Christopher Melchert, and Michael Dann entitled Modern Hadith Studies: Continuing Debates and New Approaches (2020).
• Sijpesteijn, Petra and Camilla Adang (eds.). Islam At 250: Studies in Memory of G.H.A. Juynboll. Leiden: Brill, 2020.
• Blecher, Joel, Said the Prophet of God: Hadith Commentary Across a Millennium. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2017.
• Brown, Jonathan A. C., Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World (Oxford: Oneworld, 2009).
• Garrett Davidson. Carrying on the Tradition: A Social and Intellectual History of Hadith Transmission across a Thousand Years (Brill, 2020).
• Goldziher, Ignaz, Muhammedansiche Studien (Halle: n.p., 1889-1890); S. M. Stern (ed.), Muslim Studies (London: Allen and Unwin, 1967-1971); reprinted with a new introduction by Hamid Dabashi (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2006).
• Juynboll, G. H. A., Muslim Tradition: Studies in Chronology, Provenance, and Authorship of Early Ḥadīth (1983).
• Juynboll, G. H. A., Studies on the Origins of Islamic Ḥadīth (Aldershot: Variorum, 1996) [A collection of articles].
• Juynboll, G. H. A., Encyclopaedia of Canonical Ḥadīth (Leiden: Brill, 2007).
• Melchert, Christopher. Hadith, Piety, and Law: Selected Studies. Atlanta, Georgia: Lockwood Press, 2015.
• Motzki, Harald (tr. Marion H. Katz), The Origins of Islamic Jurisprudence: Meccan Fiqh before the Classical Period (Leiden: Brill, 2002).
• Motzki, Harald (ed.), Ḥadīth: Origins and Development (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004).
• Sayeed, Asma, Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013).
• Schacht, Joseph, ‘A revaluation of Islamic traditions’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 81 (1949): 143-154.
• Schacht, Joseph, On the Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence (Oxford: Clarendon, 1950).
• Schoeler, Gregor, (tr. Uwe Vagelpohl, ed. James Montgomery), The Oral and the Written in Early Islam (Abingdon: Routledge, 2006).
• Schoeler, Gregor, and Shawkat M. Toorawa. The Genesis of Literature in Islam: From the Aural to the Read. Rev. ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009.
• Shah, Mustafa (ed.), The Ḥadīth: Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies (London: Routledge, 2010).
• Ṣiddiqi, Muḥammad Zubayr, The Ḥadīth Literature: Its Origin, Development and Special Features (Calcutta: Calcutta University, 1961; reprinted Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1993).
• Wensinck, A. J., Concordance et indices de la tradition Musulmane (Leiden: Brill, 1931).

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