Madrasat al-Hadith fi Misr
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- Editions
- al-Hayʼah al-ʻĀmmah li-Shuʼūn al-Maṭābiʻ al-Amīrīyah bi-al-Qāhirah
Madrasat al-Hadith fi Misr (The School of Hadith in Egypt, full title: Madrasat al-Hadith fi Misr mundhu Suqut Baghdad ila Nihayat al-Qarn al-'Ashir al-Hijri) is a specialized historical and methodological study of Hadith scholarship in Egypt by Muhammad Rashad Khalifa .
Scope and Composition
The work examines the development of Hadith scholarship and the activity of traditionists in Egypt, focusing primarily on the era extending from the fall of Baghdad to the Mongols in 656 AH / 1258 CE to the end of the tenth century AH, closing chronologically with the death of al-Munawi in 1031 AH / 1622 CE . To contextualize this period, the author also traces the foundational phase of Hadith transmission in Egypt beginning with the Islamic conquest in 20 AH and the settlement of the Prophet's Companions .
The book was published in Cairo by al-Hay'ah al-'Ammah li-Shu'un al-Matabi' al-Amiriyyah in 1403 AH (1983 CE) in a single volume of 527 pages .
Structure and Content
The work is structured into an introduction, three comprehensive parts (abwab), and a conclusion :
- Part One: Prominent Hadith Scholars in Egypt (A'lam al-Muhaddithin fi Misr): Divided into four chapters covering the Companions, the Successors (Tabi'un), and their followers; the notable traditionists from the fall of Baghdad through the end of the eighth century AH; the scholars of the ninth and tenth centuries AH; and the scholarly output and Hadith compositions produced by prominent Egyptian traditionists arranged chronologically up to al-Munawi .
- Part Two: Methodologies of Hadith Scholars (Manahij al-Muhaddithin): Divided into three chapters analyzing the methodological stages of Hadith transmission, compilation, and systematization in Egypt before the fall of Baghdad, the methods prevailing after the fall of Baghdad, and a comparative evaluation between the two eras .
- Part Three: Hadith Compilations (al-Mudawwanat al-Hadithiyyah): Devoted to examining eight specific genres of Hadith literature, with a chapter dedicated to each: legal Hadith collections (ahadith al-ahkam), exhortation and warning (al-targhib wa-l-tarhib), comprehensive compilations (al-jawami'), works of additional transmissions (al-zawa'id), clarification of ambiguous names (tawdih al-mubhamaat), principles of Hadith terminology (usul al-hadith), Hadith extraction and verification (al-takhrij), and biographical evaluation literature (al-rijal) .
In the conclusion, the author outlines the rationale for discussing regions outside Egypt and earlier historical periods, noting that tracing lineages of transmission and cross-regional intellectual exchanges was necessary to present an integrated analysis of the Egyptian school .
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