Los hadices, los dichos atribuidos al profeta Mahoma, forman una literatura sagrada que para los musulmanes ocupa el segundo lugar en importancia solo para el Corá mismo. Como fuente de ley, ética y doctrina, el vasto cuerpo de hadices continúa ejerciendo una influencia decisiva. La erudición islámica, por lo tanto, ha dedicado enormes esfuerzos a reunir y clasificar al hadiz, y asegurar su autenticidad. Este libro es la única introducción en inglés que presenta todos los aspectos del tema. Explica el origen de la literatura, la evolución del sistema isnad, la problemática relación entre los académicos y el estado, el problema de la falsificación y el desarrollo gradual de un enfoque sistemático del material. Esta edición es una versión completamente revisada y actualizada del original, que se publicó por primera vez en 1961 con gran reconocimiento académico. Muhammad Zubayr Siddiqi fue profesor de cultura islámica en la Universidad de Calcuta. -
The hadith, the sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, form a sacred literature which for the Muslims ranks second in importance only to the Qur'an itself. As a source of law, ethics and doctrine, the vast corpus of hadith continue to exercise decisive influence. Islamic scholarship has hence devoted immense efforts to gathering and classifying the hadith, and ensuring their authenticity. This book is the only introduction in English which presents all the aspects of the subject. It explains the origin of the literature, the evolution of the isnad system, the troubled relationship between scholars and the state, the problem of falsification, and the gradual development of a systematic approach to the material. This edition is a fully revised and updated version of the original, which was first published in 1961 to considerable scholarly acclaim. Muhammad Zubayr Siddiqi was Professor of Islamic Culture in the University of Calcutta.

Of the quartet of hadith books I relied on heavily for my magisterial (in more ways than one, ha, I slay me) term paper, "Authority, awesomeness and dialogism: the hadith of Muhammad as reported speech in early Islam," Siddiqi was the solidest in many ways - a good introduction that managed to get into fine points of interpretation in a way that the layman could understand - mostly because he'd been trained up to it by Siddiqi's instruction and constant support. Solid. ( )