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, then follow the commentators and hadith scholars who carried that work into the modern period.
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.
- The Quran (Al-Qur'an)textFoundational BeliefsThe Quran is the scripture of Islam, held by Muslims to be the speech of Allah revealed to Prophet Muhammad over some twenty-three years. It comprises 114 surahs and, in β¦
- Al-Lawh al-Mahfuz: The Preserved Tablet in Islamic TheologytheologyFoundational BeliefsThe 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 literatβ¦
- 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 wasβ¦
- Hafsa bint Umar: Custodian of the First Qur'anic CompilationpersonProphetic EraHafsa bint Umar, daughter of Umar ibn al-Khattab and a wife of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), held the written compilation of the Qur'an made under Abu Bakr. Uthmaβ¦
- Standardization of the Quran under Uthman ibn AffaneventRashidun CaliphateThe standardization of the Quran under Caliph Uthman (644β656 CE) was a defining act of early Islam. Undertaken around 650 CE to address regional differences in recitatioβ¦
- Abdullah ibn Mas'udpersonProphetic EraAbdullah ibn Mas'ud (c. 594β653 CE) was among the earliest converts to Islam, a close companion of the Prophet, and the scholar who carried the Quranic and legal traditioβ¦
- Hadith - The Prophetic TraditionstextFoundational BeliefsHadith are the recorded sayings, actions, and approvals of Prophet Muhammad, serving as the second primary source of Islamic guidance after the Quran. These prophetic traβ¦
- Sunnah - The Prophetic WaytextFoundational BeliefsThe Sunnah represents the teachings, practices, and sayings of Prophet Muhammad, serving as the second primary source of Islamic guidance after the Quran. It provides praβ¦
- Ibn HishampersonAbbasid CaliphateIbn Hisham (d. 218 AH / 833 CE) was a historian and philologist of Basra and Fustat who produced the recension of Ibn Ishaq's biography of Prophet Muhammad. It is the oldβ¦
- 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 worβ¦
- Imam MuslimpersonAbbasid CaliphateMuslim ibn al-Hajjaj (817β875 CE) compiled Sahih Muslim, the second most authoritative hadith collection in Sunni Islam. A student of al-Bukhari, he grouped all chains ofβ¦
- Imam Abu DawoodpersonAbbasid CaliphateAbu Dawood Sulaiman ibn al-Ash'ath (817β889 CE) was one of the six canonical hadith scholars of Sunni Islam. His Sunan Abu Dawood, distilled to about 4,800 hadith, was thβ¦
- Imam al-TirmidhipersonAbbasid CaliphateAbu Isa Muhammad ibn Isa al-Tirmidhi (824β892 CE) compiled Jami' al-Tirmidhi, the fourth of the six canonical Sunni hadith collections. He systematized the 'hasan' (good)β¦
- Imam al-Nasa'ipersonAbbasid CaliphateAhmad ibn Shu'ayb al-Nasa'i (829β915 CE) was one of the six canonical hadith scholars of Sunni Islam. His al-Sunan al-Sughra (al-Mujtaba) is distinguished by exceptionallβ¦
- Ibn MajahpersonAbbasid CaliphateAbu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Majah (824β887 CE) compiled Sunan Ibn Majah, the sixth and most debated of the six canonical Sunni hadith collections. It is noted forβ¦
- 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 preserveβ¦
- 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 guideβ¦
- Imam Abu HanifapersonUmayyad CaliphateAbu Hanifa al-Nu'man ibn Thabit (699β767 CE) founded the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, the most widely followed legal tradition in the Muslim world. A silk merchant turβ¦
- Imam Malik ibn AnaspersonUmayyad CaliphateMalik ibn Anas (711β795 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 legβ¦
- Imam al-Shafi'ipersonAbbasid CaliphateMuhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (767β820 CE) founded the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence and was the architect of Islamic legal theory. His Al-Risala established the first β¦
- Imam Ahmad ibn HanbalpersonAbbasid CaliphateAhmad ibn Hanbal (780β855 CE) founded the Hanbali school of jurisprudence and compiled the Musnad, one of the largest hadith collections. His refusal to affirm the doctriβ¦
- Sharia - Islamic Law and GuidancetheologyFoundational BeliefsSharia is the comprehensive legal and moral framework of Islam, derived from the Quran and Sunnah. It encompasses ethics, spirituality, and social justice, aiming to promβ¦
- Al-Zamakhshari: The Language of the Qur'anpersonIslamic Golden AgeAl-Zamakhshari (1075-1144) was an Arabic scholar of Khwarazm whose commentary Al-Kashshaf read the Qur'an through its grammar and rhetoric. Completed at Mecca, where he eβ¦
- 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, includiβ¦
- Ibn TaymiyyahpersonMedieval Islamic WorldTaqi al-Din Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah (1263β1328 CE) was a Hanbali jurist and theologian in Mamluk Damascus and Cairo. He critiqued speculative theology and practices such as tβ¦
- 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 Iβ¦
- 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 standβ¦
- Shah Waliullah DehlawipersonSouth Asian IslamShah Waliullah Dehlawi (1703-1762 CE), pioneering Indian Islamic scholar and reformer who revitalized Islamic thought through synthesis of Islamic sciences, emphasis on iβ¦
- Mahmud Hasan DeobandipersonSouth Asian IslamThe first student of Darul Uloom Deoband, afterwards its chief teacher and rector, known by the title Shaykh al-Hind. He organised the Silken Letters scheme of 1916 againβ¦
- Anwar Shah KashmiripersonSouth Asian IslamA Kashmiri scholar of hadith who rose to be chief teacher and shaykh al-hadith at Darul Uloom Deoband, and led it after 1915. His lectures became the Arabic commentaries β¦
- Shabbir Ahmad UsmanipersonSouth Asian IslamA scholar of hadith and Qur'anic commentary, chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband. He completed Mahmud Hasan's Qur'an glosses, began the Arabic commentary Fath al-Mulhim on β¦
- Mufti Muhammad ShafipersonSouth Asian IslamA Hanafi jurist who served as head mufti of Darul Uloom Deoband and founded Darul Uloom Karachi in 1951. His Urdu commentary Ma'arif al-Qur'an, which began as a radio proβ¦
- 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, collβ¦
- Muhammad Idris KandhlawipersonSouth Asian IslamA scholar of hadith and Qur'anic commentary who taught at Darul Uloom Deoband, Hyderabad State, Bahawalpur and Lahore. He wrote an eight-volume Urdu tafsir, an Arabic comβ¦
- 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 β¦
- 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 schβ¦