محمد مصطفى الأعظمي
Muhammad Mustafa al-A'zami (RH)
Also known as: M. M. Azami, Mustafa Azmi, al-Azami
1350–1439 AH · 1930–2017 CE
Hadith
Indian-born hadith scholar whose research showed that hadith were written down from the earliest generation.
Muhammad Mustafa al-A'zami was born in Mau in northern India and studied at Deoband, at al-Azhar and at the University of Cambridge. His doctoral thesis, published as Studies in Early Hadith Literature, gathered evidence that the Companions and their students wrote hadith down from the beginning, answering Western scholars who held that most hadith were late inventions.
He taught for many years at King Saud University in Riyadh and edited early texts such as Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah, Muslim's Kitab al-Tamyiz and the Muwatta' of Malik. He also wrote The History of the Qur'anic Text on the transmission of the Quran. He received the King Faisal International Prize for Islamic Studies in 1980.
Life journey
- 1930 CE Mau مئو
- 1948 CE Deoband ديوبندStudied at Deoband; the year is approximate.
- 1952 CE Cairo (al-Qahira) القاهرةStudied at al-Azhar.
- 1955 CE Doha الدوحةWorked at the public library in Qatar.
- 1964 CE Cambridge كامبريدجWrote his doctorate on early hadith literature at Cambridge.
- 1966 CE Makkah مكةTaught in Makkah.
- 1973 CE Riyadh الرياضDied 2017 CE · 1439 AHProfessor of hadith at King Saud University until his retirement; the year is approximate.
Key works
- Dirasat fi al-Hadith al-Nabawi دراسات في الحديث النبوي وتاريخ تدوينهStudies in Early Hadith LiteratureHis Cambridge thesis on the writing down of hadith in the first two centuries (1968).
Places in their life
Photo: CumaliOnal, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Adli Wahid (minor modifications by Basile Morin), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sources
- Muhammad Mustafa al-Azami, Studies in Early Hadith Literature (1968)
- King Faisal International Prize, laureate citation (1980)