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Book Review: Hadith Literature: Its Origin, Development and Special Features
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate
I recently finished reading Hadith Literature: Its Origin, Development and Special Features, by Muhammad Zubayr Siddiqi, the Late Professor of Islamic Culture at Calcutta University (may Allah have mercy on him). I loved this book so much that my wife got bored of hearing me sing its praises over dinner.
What delighted me most about this book was that it was pithy, to the point, and thoroughly documented—the mere 12.5 pages of Chapter 1 have no fewer than 96 “if-you-don’t-believe-me-then-look-here”-footnotes. For lack of their authors’ scholarship, most modern books are verbose and repetitive. Not this one. (The flip side is that you may have to read some passages more than once to really apprehend what’s being said.)
One of my dear friends guided me to this book and advised me to buy the Islamic Texts Society edition revised by Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, not the original edition produced by the author. Curious about the differences between the two versions, I thought it would be worthwhile to procure both and do a comparison. The comparison turned out to be a lesson in ikhlas.
The front cover of the book reads,
Hadith Literature
Its Origin, Development & Special Features
by
Muhammad Zubayr Siddiqi
[ITS Logo]
The first page of the book is blank. The only words on the next page are, “Hadith Literature”. The third page initially appears to be a reproduction of the front cover. If you look closely, though, you may notice the obscure, small-print addition,
Edited and Revised by
Abdal Hakim Murad
I compared many pages of the original and new editions, and the book has been completely reworked by Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, but— in his usual low-profile and unassuming manner—he seems to have concealed his labours, stepped aside, and given all credit to the original author.
Here are some of his changes that I noticed.
(1) The original Hindustani English of almost every sentence has been recast into the delightfully tight, scholarly, and elegant English of a native Englishman that makes you want to keep reading. A wonderful break from the Islamic literature in English that teems with language errors and poor style.
(2) The original author referred to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) by simply calling him “Muhammad”. The new edition recasts each reference into the respectful title, “the Prophet”. Tafsir al-Jalalayn says,
Make not the calling of the messenger among you as your calling one of another (by saying, ‘O Muhammad!’, but say, ‘O Prophet of God’, or, ‘O Messenger of God!’ gently, respectfully and in a low voice). (Tafsir al-Jalalayn on 24:63)
(3) The sometimes confrontational style of the original book (“the orientalist ABC says XYZ and I will now show you why he was wrong”) has been recast into a positive portrayal of the facts, and explicit mention of orientalist mistakes is often pushed out to the footnotes. Much of the Islamic literary scene, in contrast, is strewn with explicit and adversarial refutations of specific individuals. The point of writing books, though, is to convince readers, not to gratify one’s own ego by refuting them. If a reader is treated with respect, his ego will give way; if his ignorance is brazenly exposed, his ego will protest even if it knows that it is wrong.
(4) The new edition contains three invaluable appendices (there is no way, of course, to know that these are the fruits of the editor’s labour unless you return to the original book and discover their conspicuous absence).
The first appendix, called Women in Hadith Scholarship, brings to light the traditional role of women in the transmission of religious knowledge, a role that needs to be revived in our times.
The second appendix is a brief who’s who of orientalist scholarship, liberally sprinkled with incisive critiques of its most important mistakes.
The third appendix describes the orientalists’ hard work in producing a critical edition of the seminal Tabaqat of Ibn Sa`d. This highlights another key feature of the book as a whole: the authors are not ashamed to give credit where it is due. Although we disagree with many orientalist conclusions, we also acknowledge their valuable contributions, and perhaps their greatest contribution to the field of Islamic studies has been the publication of critical editions of rare and valuable classical works.
Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad writes in the Editor’s Preface,
It is to be hoped that in its new guise the work will continue to be of benefit in University courses on Islamic studies, and will, perhaps, serve to resolve a number of obstinate misunderstandings about the nature and provenance of this literature.
His hope deserves fulfillment: the next time I teach Introduction to Hadith Methodology, this book will—in sha Allah—be the required textbook.
Jazak Allahu Khayr for the review, especially the heads up about the different editions.