Contrary to popular opinion, the bulk of Islamic law does not come from the Quran but from hadith, first-hand reports of the Prophet Muhammad’s words and deeds, passed from generation to generation. However, with varying accounts often only committed to paper a century after the death of Muhammad, Islamic scholars, past and present, have been faced with complex questions of historical authenticity. In this wide-ranging introduction, Jonathan A. C. Brown explores the collection and criticism of hadith, and the controversy surrounding its role in modern Islam. This edition, revised and updated with additional case studies and attention to the very latest scholarship, also features a new chapter on how hadiths have been used politically, both historically and in the Arab Spring and its aftermath. Informative and accessible, it is perfectly suited to students, scholars and general readers interested in this critical element of Islam.

AN INDEPENDENT BEST BOOKS ON RELIGION 2014 PICK Few things provoke controversy in the modern world like the religion brought by Prophet Muhammad. Modern media are replete with alarm over jihad, underage marriage and the threat of amputation or stoning under Shariah law. Sometimes rumor, sometimes based on fact and often misunderstood, the tenets of Islamic law and dogma were not set in the religion’s founding moments. They were developed, like in other world religions, over centuries by the clerical class of Muslim scholars. Misquoting Muhammad takes the reader back in time through Islamic civilization and traces how and why such controversies developed, offering an inside view into how key and controversial aspects of Islam took shape. From the protests of the Arab Spring to Istanbul at the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and from the ochre red walls of Delhi’s great mosques to the trade routes of the Indian Ocean world, Misquoting Muhammad lays out how Muslim intellectuals have sought to balance reason and revelation, weigh science and religion, and negotiate the eternal truths of scripture amid shifting values.

The World Trade Center bombing, suicide attacks in Israel, the slaughter of tourists in Egypt and innocents in Algeria. One of the world's great religions, Islam has become identified today with senseless bloodshed, its followers branded as irrational fanatics with a penchant for violence. Ours is the era of the "Islamic threat." But another story remains to be told. Beyond the headlines, a transformation is under way in both the style and message of Islamic politics at the end of the twentieth century: a startling shift from militancy to democracy with vast implications for the West. Drawing on his years of reporting in more than a dozen countries of the Muslim world, Anthony Shadid charts the striking way in which the adolescence of yesterday's Islamic militants is yielding to the maturity of today's activists. Through interview and travelogue, he chronicles a new generation-in Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey and elsewhere-that is finding a more realistic and potentially more successful future through democratic politics. A crucial element of this change, and of Legacy of the Prophet , is his exploration of the failure of militant Islam in countries like Sudan and Iran, defeats that ironically may help make way for an alternative, democratic future. The transformation promises a better future for a region long ruled by soldiers and despots. For the West, it offers a compelling opportunity to find common ground with the Muslim world. But to do so, the book argues that we must make the difficult choice of supporting the emergence of democratic Islamic movements, possibly even allowing to come to power governments that, as it stands, have no love for the West. Legacy of the Prophet promises to redefine the debate over the future of political Islam.

Revival and Reform in Islam is at once an intellectual biography of Muhammad al-Shawkani, and a history of a transitional period in Yemeni history. This was a time when a society dominated by traditional Zaydi Shiism shifted to one characterised instead by Sunni reformism. The author traces the origins and outcomes of this transition, presenting the first systematic account of the ways in which the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century reorientation of the Zaydi madhhab, and consequent 'sunnification' of Yemeni society, were intricately linked to tensions within the political realm. In advocating juridical systematization of religious belief and practice, Shawkani espoused a socio-religious order which in its dominant features echoed key aspects of Western modernity. Yet he did so in a context bereft of Western ideational influence. This study then presents a textured account of eighteenth-century Islamic reformist thought and challenges the meaning of modernity in an Islamic context.

2007 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, different religious factions within the Muslim community laid claim to the Prophet's legacy. Drawing on research from Sunni and Shi>ite literature, Liyakat N. Takim explores how these various groups, including the caliphs, scholars, Sufi holy men, and the Shi>ite imams and their disciples, competed to be the Prophetic heirs. The book also illustrates how the tradition of the "heirs of the Prophet" was often a polemical tool used by its bearers to demand obedience and loyalty from the Muslim community by imposing an authoritative rendition of texts, beliefs, and religious practices. Those who did not obey were marginalized and demonized. While examining the competition for Muhammad's charismatic authority, Takim investigates the Shi>ite self-understanding of authority and argues that this was an important factor in the formation of a distinct Shi>ite leadership. The Heirs of the Prophet also provides a new understanding of textual authority in Islam by examining authority construction and the struggle for legitimacy evidenced in Islamic biographical dictionaries.

Kecia Ali delves into the many ways the Prophet’s life story has been told from the earliest days of Islam to the present, by both Muslims and non-Muslims. Emphasizing the major transformations since the nineteenth century, she shows that far from being mutually opposed, these various perspectives have become increasingly interdependent.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1874.

The life and legacy of Elijah point to an end-time restoration that is happening now. The living legacy of Elijah is a restored altar of living stones (Jews and Gentiles who worship Jesus in one body). His legacy releases the rain of coming revival. Those who receive Elijah's legacy will be wrapped in the presence of God, and this will result in the raising up of the Elisha Generation. In The Elijah Legacy you will learn about: The restoration of the prophetic. The Elisha Generation. The forerunner-finisher anointing. The double portion Confronting the Jezebel spirit. The rise and fall of Islam. The end-time harvest.