Customer Reviews

A Manual of Hadith

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is a great introduction to Hadith for any one, Muslim or non-Muslim. The fact that it contains about 700 Hadith (of which about 2/3 are from Bukhari) arranged under different subjects pertinent to practicing the different facets of Islam, also makes it a good desktop reference.

A unique feature of this book (other than the excellent English translation) is the addition of explanatory footnotes which make it easier to place some of the Hadith in context.

I have not seen a comparable book in the market. I highly reccomend it to anyone wanting to have an accessible collection of authentic Hadith.

In his brief introduction to this work, Mr. Ali states that he has spent 45 years devoted to the task of translating basic Islamic texts into various languages. In this work, the wisdom of a seasoned translator surely shines forth. Here he presents 690 hadith (513 taken from Bukhari), selected exclusively from the most reliable sources. However, in addition to the translation, he also contributes informed introductions to each section, beginning each with Qur'anic citations as well as what I find to be non-controversial, remarkably non-sectarian synopses (Ali was taught in the Ahmadiyyian school, but throughout offers interpretation that is tenable by more than just that school) of the importance of the hadith to Islamic theology. Informative footnotes are throughout. So mindful is he as a translator of the nuances missed in translation that, when pertinent, he comments on possible meanings lost when moving from the original to the target language. Though there are certainly other works that delve more deeply into exegetical issues, I have found fewer sources that more accessibly offer the Hadith in English.

The only drawback, for which I cannot bring myself to deduct a venerated "amazonian star", is that during the publication period Ali was not able to collect the needed resources to produce a similar treatment of the historical or prophetical hadith - an ommission that I regret.

Unlike the other reviewers of this book at this site, I am not a Muslim, and while I would like to think that I have some appreciation of sectarian differences in Islam I cannot say that I understand the nature of the polemic cited in the other reviews. The book is a fine, shipshape collection of hadith with Arabic text and English translation, arranged in an intelligent order; it is hardbound as well, so it is an excellent value to anyone starting out the study of hadith. My interest in the book was as a student of Arabic. As any literate Arab would be familiar with at least the more common hadith, most students of Arabic would be happy to have a reference on the subject which is informative and intelligent without being overly exhaustive, which is exactly what this book is.

This is a superb resource for students of classical Arabic. Arabic and English texts are set side by side on the same page, only the essence of each hadith is presented (eliminating long isnads and variations of the hadith), and the Arabic texts are fully voweled. This is the ideal work for an intermediate level between textbook readers and slogging through real old Arabic texts. The editor's notes and introductions are interesting, providing insight into at least one Muslim's view of the meaning and relevance of hadith in modern times. Whatever weaknesses this book may possess it was good enough to lead me to a deeper study of the original sources.

It's ironic that a book which the author says was intended for Muslim converts can be so useful to the average non-Muslim westerner. There are many points which I think make this an exceptional hadith collection.

The hadiths are selected based on their dealings with practical everyday life. Westerners who are curious as to how Muslims order their daily lives in accordance with Islam will find countless guidelines here. The hadiths are categorized into subject by chapters. It makes for a handy manual. Those wanting sayings dealing with more abstract Muslim theology will have to look elsewhere.

Given the time and place in which Ali worked, I'm all the more amazed at the clarity of his translation. The writing has a clean, modern, timeless feel to it. This is aided by the type font chosen and the high quality paper. The original Arabic and its English translation are side by side, which may be useful to some. As you read these sayings, you're sometimes struck by the differences in thought processes between that ancient era and our modern one. But despite the very different mindsets, you also realize that the hadiths are filled with plenty of good, simple common sense rules, applicable in any era.

But in case the cultural gap is too wide for some, Ali gives us lots of assistance. His introductory comments in each chapter and his many explanatory footnotes for each of the hadiths give us all the explanations we could need for references and concepts that would be totally alien to modern westerners. He makes sure you'll understand each hadith contained in the book.

As you see from the other reviews of this book, translating and compiling a book of hadiths is a complicated and controversial matter. But I'll leave all those esoteric worries to the scholars. I'm satisfied because this book is so useful in helping us westerners understand the foundations of Muslim behavior in this day and age. With the things going on in the world today, this is a crucial thing to be able to do, and in my opinion, this book is the one to enable you to do it. With writing this skillful, it might be worthwhile to check out Ali's other books on Islam as well.

A Manual of Hadith by Maulana Muhammad Ali should not be regarded as a comprehensive or _per se_ theological work. It is clearly pastoral and missionary. It has a pronounced ideological bent that places it squarely in the camp of modernization and humanism as subordinated to Islamic traditions on the Sub-continent. The reader should bear in mind that the collection must have been assembled and translated in the first part of the 20th century.

The author claims to be a devoted Muslim, and Muslim tradition suggests that he should be accepted as such baring strong evidence to the contary. The modernizing humanist branch of the Salfia movement _al la_ Muhammad Abduh is certainly controversial and less vocal than that of Sayid Qutb and his ilk, but must surely be in the realm of Islam and its evolving theology.

If the doctrinaire Qutbis give a Westerner an excellent argument for atheism or Buddahism, A Manual of Hadith (viewed as a document from a certain time in India) redeems Islam and is moreover an effective missionary missive to English speaking peoples.

I love this book. I am Muslim-American but grew up in a sectarian home,therefore everything I know about Islam has been self-taught. I've always wanted to read Hadith and I finally found this book which introduces it, translates it thoughtfully, provides remarks and opinions about how many hadith have been misrepresented in modern day Islam. I recommended this book to several of my friends, as it is like reading a novel. It reads well, keeps you intrigued and educates you on why certain elements are part of Islam. Love it.

This collection, dependent heavily on Bukhari, sanitizes what Bukhari himself reduced: the then-known collection of over 400,000 haditha to over 7000. The original 9th Bukhari's compilation runs about 1300 pages with over 7000 haditha.(You can find Bukhari's full text collection online.) The really odd and frightening stuff is in the full Bukhari version. One never knows with these collections what hazrat Mohammad really said since they were collected 150-200 yrs after he lived and are subject to the collators preconceptions about what Mohammad would, in fact, have said. Remember, there is no canon for these sayings. I gave my copy away after taking pains to download the full electronic collection.

This is a classical sample of deceptive literature common in the last 50 years. The life of the Holy Prophet is protrayed in a way to palacate the uninformed in Islam that he is also a prophet apart from himself as known to the billions who follow his hadiths. The writer is a modern crusader and is merely potraying the Holy prophet to both the unsuspectingly non-believer and illiterate Muslims. The author himself strictly speaking is not a proponent of Haddith and belonged to a neo-colonial religious movement known as Qadiani which has since the gaining of independence by the Indian sub-continent has been exposed as a non-muslim movement. Inbetween the message, author Muhammad Ali proposed a general shift by Muslims from their adherence to the Haddith of the Holy Prophet to the new social order advanced by the prophet of Qadiani the Mirza Ghulam Ahmedi. -bin

I would be very very careful about buying this book, especially since so many other excellent translations of hadith exist. Qadianis are not muslims, as is well known and established, and they have a definate agenda when publishing books which cannot be ignored.