A Manual of Hadith

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 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.

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.

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 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.