living islam _ Islamic tradition
Recent English literature on Mustalah
As-Salamu `alaykum,
I leafed through the International Islamic University of Malaysia's Dr. Muhammad Hashim Kamali's 2002 _Hadith Methodology_ chapters on munkar, on forgeries, and the conclusion on "proposed reforms". I found it disappointing in comparison to the Kamali of the _Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence_ as if they were two different persons, especially the conclusion of the _Hadith Methodology_ which is at times embarrassing.As Kamali himself indicates in his foreword, the lack of adequate literature in English on Mustalah makes it fill a gap and therefore would force us, for now, to recommend it to those English readers who want to read a general textbook on Mustalah.
Nevertheless, the books of Dr. M.M. Azami in English on Hadith methodology and history remain the best in quality. It would have been fairest of Kamali's to acknowledge them as well as those of his predecessors who pioneered the field even though eclipsed by the machinery of orientalist publications.
It was also a pleasure to see the recent Malaysian re-publication of M. Hamidullah's _Introduction to the Preservation of Hadith_ which contains a complete bilingual edition and translation of Hammam ibn Munabbih's Sahifa from Abu Hurayra with a study of its integration into the two _Sahihs_.
The latter is a must in the library of the history of the Sunna. A distinguished legacy of inter-connected Hyderabadi scholarship played an important role in the defense of the binding proof of the Sunna in the European languages thus: Dr. Mansur Gaylani --> Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah --> Dr. Muhammad Mustafa al-A`zami. May Allah reward them and grant us the blessings of their learning.
gibril
[SP; 2005-09-29]
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