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The Islamic Sciences

The sciences of Islam, from their divine origins to their systematic preservation.

46 articles

The Compilation of the Quran

  1. Part 1

    The Script Already Existed: Zabad, Jabal Usays and Harran

    27 min read
  2. Part 2

    The First Revelation in the Cave of Hira

    29 min read
  3. Part 3

    The Scribes of the Prophet ﷺ

    32 min read
  4. Part 4

    The Seven Aḥruf: Umar ﵁ and Hisham ﵁ at the Mosque

    34 min read
  5. Part 5

    Letters Bearing a Seal: The Chancery of the Prophet ﷺ

    30 min read

The Science of Hadith

  1. Part 6

    The Prophet's ﷺ Permission to Write Down Hadith

    34 min read
  2. Part 7

    The Sahifa as-Sadiqa of Abdullah ibn Amr ﵁

    27 min read

The Compilation of the Quran

  1. Part 8

    The Year of the Muʿarada

    27 min read
  2. Part 9

    The Testimony of Aisha ﵂ on the Wahy

    27 min read

The Science of Hadith

  1. Part 10

    The Sahifa of Ali ﵁ on His Scabbard

    29 min read

The Compilation of the Quran

  1. Part 11

    Yamamah: the Death of the Huffaz

    28 min read
  2. Part 12

    Zayd Gathers the Quran

    26 min read
  3. Part 13

    Tawatur: Why a Single Manuscript Was Never the Source

    28 min read
  4. Part 14

    The Suhuf of Hafsa ﵂: A Chain of Preservation

    31 min read
  5. Part 15

    The Alarm of Hudhayfah ﵁

    30 min read
  6. Part 16

    The Commission of Uthman ﵁

    27 min read
  7. Part 17

    The Mushaf Travels: Five Copies, Five Cities

    28 min read

The Science of Hadith

  1. Part 18

    The Fifty Writing Companions ﵃: a census of the first generation

    25 min read
  2. Part 19

    Abu Hurayra ﵁ and His ~800 Students

    33 min read
  3. Part 20

    The muhaddithat: Aisha ﵂ and the women of the transmission

    23 min read

The Compilation of the Quran

  1. Part 21

    Abu al-Aswad ad-Du'ali ﵀ and the First Dots

    27 min read

The Science of Hadith

  1. Part 22

    Abdullah ibn Abbas ﵁: The Sea of Knowledge

    36 min read
  2. Part 23

    The Rihla: Jabir ﵁ Travels a Month for One Hadith

    33 min read

The Compilation of the Quran

  1. Part 24

    Al-Hajjaj's Regional Mushafs and the Charge of Eleven Words

    31 min read

The Science of Hadith

  1. Part 25

    Abu Bakr ibn Hazm ﵀: the Second Recipient of the Caliphal Order

    38 min read
  2. Part 26

    The Caliphal Order of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz ﵀

    30 min read
  3. Part 27

    Ibn Sirin ﵀ and the Birth of the Isnad Requirement

    34 min read
  4. Part 28

    The Sahifa of Hammam ibn Munabbih ﵀ in Sanaʿa

    30 min read
  5. Part 29

    Muhammad ibn Shihab al-Zuhri ﵀: the First Systematic Compiler

    36 min read
  6. Part 30

    Tahammul al-'ilm: how hadith was taught and received

    25 min read
  7. Part 31

    Suhail ibn Abi Salih ﵀ and the nuskhah of Abu Salih ﵀

    37 min read
  8. Part 32

    Ibn Ishaq ﵀ and the first systematic Maghazi

    35 min read

The Compilation of the Quran

  1. Part 33

    Khalil ibn Ahmad ﵀ and the Modern Diacritical System

    27 min read

The Science of Hadith

  1. Part 34

    al-Layth ibn Saʿd ﵀: the Cairo school

    34 min read
  2. Part 35

    Imam Malik ﵀ and the Muwatta' of Medina

    36 min read
  3. Part 36

    Three-quarters of a million hadith: the sum that counts channels

    25 min read
  4. Part 37

    Jarh wa-Ta'dil: the Science of Narrator Criticism

    35 min read
  5. Part 38

    Ibn Khuzaymah ﵀ and the folio of his Sahih

    29 min read

The Compilation of the Quran

  1. Part 39

    The Seven Canonical Qurra' and the Codification of Ibn Mujahid ﵀

    29 min read
  2. Part 40

    The Palimpsest That Proves Nothing: Mingana, Puin and the "Other Quran"

    32 min read
  3. Part 41

    Free Order, Fixed Text: The Partial Mushafs of Salar Jung

    29 min read

The Science of Hadith

  1. Part 42

    Cambridge 1966: the Dissertation that Refutes Goldziher and Schacht

    37 min read

The Compilation of the Quran

  1. Part 43

    The Sana'a Manuscripts

    27 min read
  2. Part 44

    Carbon-14 Confirms the Timeline: The Tübingen Fragment

    27 min read
  3. Part 45

    The Birmingham Folios

    27 min read
  4. Part 46

    The Topkapi and Tashkent Mushaf

    27 min read