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Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World, 2nd ed. Jonathan A.C. Brown London: Oneworld Publications, 2018. 353 pages.
The true measure of success for any written work is the attention it receives from its readers; the publication of subsequent editions is one such marker. The first publication of Jonathan Brown's critically acclaimed textbook on hadīth placed the complex domain and vast tradition of Prophetic hadīth works, perhaps for the very first time, at the center of lay English readership. At long last, a work existed that bridged the deep gulf between contemporary academic studies and traditional Islamic scholarship, especially considering that nowhere is this rift deeper than in the field of hadīth studies. His work was appreciated across a variety of circles across faith and sectarian lines, and now the publication of the second edition bears testimony to the success it truly deserves.
Ironically, in the rich Islamic tradition no books-apart from the Qur'an of course-received more continual and sustained attention, generation to generation, than the numerous works that documented and chronicled hadīth reports about the Prophet of Islam. In particular, the Sahih of Bukharī and the Muwatta ' of Malik of Madînah are the only two works that have documented complete recitals in each generation going back in an uninterrupted chain to their compilers. It is then fitting that Brown's research on the hadīth tradition yielded no less than three major books, all of which have been well received and continue to be discussed and read: in addition to the subject of the present review, The Canonization of al-Bukhārī and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunni Hadīth Canon (Brill, 2007) and Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophets Legacy (Oneworld Publications, 2014).
The immediate aim of this book is to help the reader make sense of the complexity and breadth of the Sunni hadīth tradition, with hopes of answering a more distant and more fundamental question: whether the tradition accurately represents the actual teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. Of course, for Brown the answer is obvious, but his hope is to take you on a journey of three hundred-odd pages to show you why.
Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the lexicon of hadīth (termed musţalah al-hadīth),...