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intermediate📚 29 articles⏱️ 10 hours

The Qur'an and the Hadith Sciences

Trace how the Qur'an was collected and transmitted, how the hadith corpus was gathered and graded, and how the schools of law grew out of both.

Start LearningBegins with The Quran (Al-Qur'an)

Learning Sequence

Articles are ordered so each builds on the one before. You can also read them in any order that suits you.

  1. The Quran (Al-Qur'an)textProphetic EraThe holy book of Islam, believed by Muslims to be the direct word of Allah revealed to Prophet Muhammad through the Angel Gabriel (Jibril) over 23 years. The Quran serves…
  2. Al-Lawh al-Mahfuz: The Preserved Tablet in Islamic TheologytheologyProphetic EraThe Preserved Tablet, in Islamic theology the divine record in which Allah's knowledge and decrees are inscribed. Named in the Qur'an and elaborated in the hadith literat…
  3. Compilation of the Qur'an under Abu BakreventRashidun CaliphateAfter heavy losses among the Qur'an reciters at Yamama, Caliph Abu Bakr ordered Zayd ibn Thabit to gather the Qur'an into a single written record. The resulting suhuf was…
  4. Standardization of the Quran under Uthman ibn AffaneventRashidun CaliphateThe standardization of the Quran under Caliph Uthman (644–656 CE) was a defining act of early Islam. Undertaken around 650 CE to address regional differences in recitatio…
  5. Hadith - The Prophetic TraditionstextProphetic EraHadith are the recorded sayings, actions, and approvals of Prophet Muhammad, serving as the second primary source of Islamic guidance after the Quran. These prophetic tra…
  6. Sunnah - The Prophetic WaytextProphetic EraThe Sunnah represents the teachings, practices, and sayings of Prophet Muhammad, serving as the second primary source of Islamic guidance after the Quran. It provides pra…
  7. Muhammad al-BukharipersonAbbasid CaliphateMuhammad al-Bukhari (810-870 CE) was the most influential hadith scholar in Islamic history. His Sahih al-Bukhari, compiled through decades of rigorous authentication wor…
  8. Imam MuslimpersonAbbasid CaliphateMuslim ibn al-Hajjaj (817–875 CE) compiled Sahih Muslim, the second most authoritative hadith collection in Sunni Islam. A student of al-Bukhari, he grouped all chains of…
  9. Imam Abu DawoodpersonAbbasid CaliphateAbu Dawood Sulaiman ibn al-Ash'ath (817–889 CE) was one of the six canonical hadith scholars of Sunni Islam. His Sunan Abu Dawood, distilled to about 4,800 hadith, was th…
  10. Imam al-Nasa'ipersonAbbasid CaliphateAhmad ibn Shu'ayb al-Nasa'i (829–915 CE) was one of the six canonical hadith scholars of Sunni Islam. His al-Sunan al-Sughra (al-Mujtaba) is distinguished by exceptionall…
  11. Imam al-TirmidhipersonAbbasid CaliphateAbu Isa Muhammad ibn Isa al-Tirmidhi (824–892 CE) compiled Jami' al-Tirmidhi, the fourth of the six canonical Sunni hadith collections. He systematized the 'hasan' (good)…
  12. Ibn MajahpersonAbbasid CaliphateAbu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Majah (824–887 CE) compiled Sunan Ibn Majah, the sixth and most debated of the six canonical Sunni hadith collections. It is noted for…
  13. Al-Tabari: Historian and Exegete of the Abbasid AgepersonAbbasid CaliphateAl-Tabari (839-923) was the most important historian and Quranic exegete of the early Islamic period. His annalistic History and his vast commentary on the Quran preserve…
  14. Islamic Schools of Jurisprudence: The MadhabstheologyAbbasid CaliphateThe madhabs, the schools of Islamic law that developed methods for deriving rulings from the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Four Sunni schools and the Shi'a traditions have guide…
  15. Imam Abu HanifapersonUmayyad CaliphateAbu Hanifa al-Nu'man ibn Thabit (699–767 CE) founded the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, the most widely followed legal tradition in the Muslim world. A silk merchant tur…
  16. Imam Malik ibn AnaspersonUmayyad CaliphateMalik ibn Anas (711–795 CE) was the Imam of Medina and founder of the Maliki school of jurisprudence. His Al-Muwatta was the first systematic work joining hadith with leg…
  17. Imam al-Shafi'ipersonAbbasid CaliphateMuhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (767–820 CE) founded the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence and was the architect of Islamic legal theory. His Al-Risala established the first …
  18. Imam Ahmad ibn HanbalpersonAbbasid CaliphateAhmad ibn Hanbal (780–855 CE) founded the Hanbali school of jurisprudence and compiled the Musnad, one of the largest hadith collections. His refusal to affirm the doctri…
  19. Sharia - Islamic Law and GuidancetheologyProphetic EraSharia is the comprehensive legal and moral framework of Islam, derived from the Quran and Sunnah. It encompasses ethics, spirituality, and social justice, aiming to prom…
  20. Al-Nawawi: Jurist of the Shafi'i School and Compiler of Riyad al-SalihinpersonMedieval Islamic WorldAl-Nawawi (1233-1277) was a Shafi'i jurist and hadith scholar of Damascus who died at forty-four having written some of the most widely used books in Sunni Islam, includi…
  21. Ibn TaymiyyahpersonMedieval Islamic WorldTaqi al-Din Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah (1263–1328 CE) was a Hanbali jurist and theologian in Mamluk Damascus and Cairo. He critiqued speculative theology and practices such as t…
  22. Ibn Kathir: Exegete and Historian of Mamluk DamascuspersonMedieval Islamic WorldIbn Kathir (c. 1300-1373) was a Shafi'i scholar of Mamluk Damascus whose commentary on the Quran and universal history became two of the most widely read works in Sunni I…
  23. Al-SuyutipersonMedieval Islamic WorldJalal al-Din al-Suyuti (1445-1505 CE) was an Egyptian scholar of the late Mamluk period and the most prolific author in Islamic literature. His Al-Itqan remains the stand…
  24. Mahmud Hasan DeobandipersonSouth Asian IslamThe first student of Darul Uloom Deoband, who taught there for forty years and led it from 1890. Known as Shaykh al-Hind, he organised the Silk Letter Movement, was impri…
  25. Anwar Shah KashmiripersonSouth Asian IslamA Kashmiri scholar of hadith who led Darul Uloom Deoband as its principal and chief teacher of hadith from 1915 to 1927. His major works, including the four-volume Fayd a…
  26. Shabbir Ahmad UsmanipersonSouth Asian IslamA scholar of hadith and Qur'anic commentary who taught at Darul Uloom Deoband and Dabhel, completed Tafsir-e-Usmani, and began the Arabic commentary Fath al-Mulhim. He le…
  27. Muhammad Zakariya KandhlawipersonSouth Asian IslamA hadith scholar of Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur who taught for over fifty years and wrote a six-volume Arabic commentary on Malik's Muwatta. His Urdu devotional tracts, coll…
  28. Muhammad Yusuf KandhlawipersonSouth Asian IslamThe second leader of the Tablighi Jamaat, who directed it from 1944 to 1965 and oversaw its spread beyond South Asia. A graduate of Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur, he compiled …
  29. Abd al-Fattah Abu GhuddapersonModern EraA Syrian Hanafi scholar and editor whose critical editions of works of law and hadith brought many neglected texts into print. He introduced modern South Asian hadith sch…

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