Muhammad Mustafa Al-A'zami (; 1930 – 20 December 2017) was an Indian-born Saudi Arabian contemporary

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

scholar best known for his critical investigation of the theories of fellow Islamic scholars

Ignác Goldziher Ignác (Yitzhaq Yehuda) Goldziher (22 June 1850 – 13 November 1921), often credited as Ignaz Goldziher, was a Hungary, Hungarian scholar of Islam. Alongside Joseph Schacht and G.H.A. Juynboll, he is considered one of the pioneers of modern aca ...

, David Margoliouth, and

Joseph Schacht Joseph Franz Schacht (, 15 March 1902 – 1 August 1969) was a British-German professor of Arabic and Islam at Columbia University in New York. He was the leading Western scholar in the areas of Islamic law and hadith studies, whose ''Origins of M ...

Life and education

He was born in Mau,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

then in the

Azamgarh district Azamgarh district is one of the three districts of Azamgarh division in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Etymology The district is named after its headquarters town, Azamgarh. Azam, a son of Vikramajit, founded the town in 1665. Vikramajit ...

(hence his nisba) in the early part of the year 1930. Al-A'zami received his education successively at

Darul Uloom Deoband Darul Uloom Deoband is an Islamic university and seminary ( darul uloom) in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh, India, at which the Sunni Deobandi Islamic movement began. Established in 1866 by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, Fazlur Rahman Usmani, Sayy ...

(1952),

Al-Azhar University The Al-Azhar University ( ; , , ) is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is known as one of the most prestigious universities for Islamic ...

(M.A., 1955), and the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

(Ph.D., 1966). Muhammad Mustafa Azmi died on 20 December 2017, aged 87.

Career

Azmi was a Professor Emeritus at

King Saud University King Saud University (KSU, ) is a public university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Established in 1957 by King Saud bin Abdulalziz to address the country's skilled worker shortage, it is the first university in Saudi Arabia. It was known as Riyadh U ...

where he also chaired the department of Islamic Studies. He served as curator of the National Public Library of Qatar, Associate Professor at

Umm al-Qura University Umm al-Qura University (UQU; ) is a public university in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The university was established as the College of Sharia (Islamic law) in 1949 during the reign of King Abdulaziz ibn Saud before being joined by new colleges and rena ...

, visiting scholar at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

(Ann Arbor), Visiting Fellow at St Cross College, Oxford, King Faisal Visiting Professor for Islamic Studies at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, and visiting scholar at the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a Public university, public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a Federated state, state, it is the fla ...

. He was also an Honorary Fellow in Islamic Studies at the

University of Wales, Trinity Saint David The University of Wales Trinity Saint David () is a public university with three main campuses in South West Wales, in Carmarthen, Lampeter and Swansea, a fourth campus in London, and learning centres in Cardiff, and Birmingham. The universit ...

Awards and recognition

In 1980, he was the recipient of the King Faisal International Award for Islamic Studies. Much of A'zami's work focused on challenging Western scholarship on hadith literature, especially on highlighting the fact that there was already intense literary activity on hadiths during the lifetime of the Muslim prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

, at his encouragement.Herbert Berg
The Development of Exegesis in Early Islam: The Authenticity of Muslim Literature from the Formative Period
Routledge Studies in the Qur'an. Transferred to digital publishing in 2005. he died on 20 December 2017

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

, 2013.

Literary works

*''Studies in Early Hadith Literature'', His doctoral thesis at the University of Cambridge *''Hadith Methodology and Literature'', a general introduction to the subject *''The History of the Qur'anic Text from Revelation to Compilation: A Comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments'' *''On Schacht's Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence'' *''Dirasat fi al-Hadith an-Nabawi'' *''Kuttab an-Nabi'' *''Manhaj an-Naqd 'ind al-Muhaddithin'' *''al-Muhaddithun min al-Yamamah'' His forthcoming works include ''The Qurʾānic Challenge: A Promise Fulfilled'' and ''The ʾIsnād System: Its Origins and Authenticity''.

Edited works

*''al-ʿIlal'' of Ibn al-Madini *''Kitāb at-Tamyiz'' of

Imam Muslim Abū al-Ḥusayn Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj ibn Muslim ibn Ward al-Qushayrī an-Naysābūrī (; after 815 – May 875 CE / 206 – 261 AH), commonly known as Imam Muslim, was an Islamic scholar from the city of Nishapur, particularly known as a ' ...

*''Maghāzi Rasulullah'' of

Urwah ibn Zubayr Urwa ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam al-Asadi (; ) was an early Muslim traditionist, widely regarded as a founding figure in the field of historical study among the Muslims. He was a son of Muhammad's close aide al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, and a nephe ...

*''

Muwatta Imam Malik ''Al-Muwaṭṭaʾ'' (, 'the approved') or ''Muwatta Imam Malik'' () of Malik ibn Anas, Imam Malik (711–795) written in the 8th-century, is one of the earliest collections of hadith texts comprising the subjects of Sharia, Islamic law, compile ...

'' *'' Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah'' *'' Sunan ibn Majah''

References

Bibliography

الشيخ محمد مصطفى الأعظمي ومساهمته العلمية في الحديث النبويالشيخ محمد مصطفى الأعظمي ومساهماته العلمية في مجال الحديث النبوي: دراسة استقرائيةMuhammad Mustafa Azamis Contribution to and hadith Literature and his Critique of Orientalists

External links

Interview with al-A'zami (In the Arabic language)

King Faisal International Award for Islamic Studies, 1980, winner: Al-A'zami
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azami, Muhammad Mustafa Saudi Arabian curators 1930 births 2017 deaths People from Mau Hadith scholars Fellows of St Cross College, Oxford Princeton University faculty University of Michigan faculty University of Colorado Boulder faculty People associated with University of Wales Trinity Saint David Academic staff of King Saud University 20th-century Indian Muslims Biographical evaluation scholars Deobandis People from Azamgarh Muslim scholars of Islamic studies