Dr. Bilal Philips writes: “The Prophet’s sayings and actions were primarily based on revelation from Allah and, as such, must be considered a fundamental source of guidance second only to the Qur’an.” According to Dr. Philips, the Hadith, the record of these sayings and actions, plays a vital role in that it transmits revelation, tafseer (exegesis of the Qur’an), Islamic law, and the Islamic moral ideal. For instance, the Prophet’s “…character and social interactions became prime examples of moral conduct for Muslims. Consequently, the daily life of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) as recorded in the hadith represents an ideal code of conduct. It is largely due to the science of hadith that the final message of Islam has been preserved in its original purity for all times.” In Usool al-Hadeeth, the reader will embark on a course of study that will, Allah willing, enable him or her to make critical and intelligent use of the body of Hadith literature in his or her daily life.

This book presents an extensive, in-depth analysis of great Muhaddithun (scholars of the science of Hadith). Each chapter presents detailed biographies of Malik b. Anas, Ibn Hanbal, al-Bukhari, Muslim, al-Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, an-Nasai, Ibn Majah, ad-Darimi and al-Bayhaqi along with the methods they used in Hadith collection and classification. This work is especially important in today’s world where many Muslims have a dire need to connect with the great corpus of work that was produced by the scholars or traditional Islam. A work such as Scholars of Hadith has been long overdue in the English language and it will certainly make for productive reading for all interested in deepening their knowledge of Islam.