Muhammad Mustafa Azmi
Indian-born Saudi Arabian hadith scholar (1930–2017)
Muhammad Mustafa Al-A'zami (Arabic: محمد مصطفى الأعظمي; 1930 – 20 December 2017) was an Indian-born Saudi Arabian contemporary hadith scholar best known for his critical investigation of the theories of fellow Islamic scholars Ignác Goldziher, David Margoliouth, and Joseph Schacht.
Life and education
He was born in Mau, India then in the Azamgarh district (hence his nisba) in the early part of the year 1930. Al-A'zami received his education successively at Darul Uloom Deoband (1952), Al-Azhar University (M.A., 1955), and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom (Ph.D., 1966).
Muhammad Mustafa Azmi died on 20 December 2017, aged 87.
Career
Azmi was a Professor Emeritus at King Saud University 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, visiting scholar at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Visiting Fellow at St Cross College, Oxford, King Faisal Visiting Professor for Islamic Studies at Princeton University, and visiting scholar at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He was also an Honorary Fellow in Islamic Studies at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David.
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, at his encouragement.
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.
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