Blecher - Said the prophet of God: Hadith commentary across a millennium

This book has made every attempt to employ English equivalents to Arabic and Urdu words when one exists. This applies to well-known figures, places, texts, and groups, like Muhammad, Osama bin Laden, Mamluk, Crdoba, Gujarat, al-Qaeda, Sunni/Shii, Salafi, and the Quran. It also applies to common nouns like hadith, sultan, and emir that are found in English dictionaries. Hadith is used in both the singular and the plural, as is English convention. In all other cases, Arabic terms have been written with standardized academic transliteration adapted from the Encyclopedia of Islam, 3rd edition, ed. Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krmer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, and Everett Rowson (Leiden: Brill, 2007-). Plurals, with some exceptions, are typically formed by adding an s to the singular, such as ijza s (rather than ijzt ). Texts with both Arabic and Urdu are transliterated according to Arabic transliteration conventions.

For modern figures or groups with Urdu or Arabic names that have been published without standard academic transliterations, I retain their published or popular transliteration as is (e.g., Salahuddin Yusuf rather than al al-Dn Ysuf; Deobandis and Barelvis rather than Deobands and Barilws). Likewise, quotations that include Arabic or Urdu terms have been transliterated as is. The first time I mention an Arabic or Urdu name, I give the full name, and in subsequent mentions I use a short name, at which point I dispense with the definite article al- (Badr al-Dn al-Ayn, but subsequently Ayn). In the notes, which are designed for specialists, the definite article al- is retained (e.g. Nawaw in the text, but al-Nawaw in the notes). However, if the short name includes Ibn, I usually retain al- (e.g., Ibn al-Munayyir, Ibn al-Tn). Book titles are usually given in shortened form, often replacing al- with the if it is included in the first word of the title (e.g. the Muwaa ) but longer titles are generally included in the notes.

Dates have been given in both the common era and the Islamic ( hijr ) calendars up to the nineteenth century, after which only the common era date is given.

Since there are often many different printings and page numberings of hadith commentaries, I frequently append information in the notes about the book and chapter heading in the hadith collection under which a pertinent commentarial discussion can be found. This information is intended to help specialists locate the passage more quickly even if they do not have the precise edition I am citing. This information will appear in the following format: Author, Book Title, volume:page number (book title in hadith collection: chapter heading), e.g., al-Asqaln, Fat al-br, 12:175 ( Kitb al-udd: Bb kam al-tazr wal-adab ).

Lastly, the following abbreviations have been employed: the Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition, edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs, eds. (Leiden: Brill, 19602006) will be abbreviated as EI2, and the Encyclopedia of Islam, 3rd edition, will be abbreviated as EI3. The Encyclopedia of the Quran, edited by Jane Dammen McAulliffe (Leiden: Brill, 2006), will be abbreviated as EQ.