Al-Bukhārī

Dr Belal Abu-Alabbas, B.A. (Al-Azhar), DPhil (Oxford), is a historian of Islamic intellectual and legal thought (7th–13th centuries). His research focuses on the hadith corpus, Islamic law and theology in the formative and classical periods. Dr Abu-Alabbas has previously held lectureships at the University of Nottingham and the University of Bristol, and a British Academy International Fellowship at the University of Exeter. He currently holds lectureships at Cambridge Muslim College and Al-Azhar University and is a Research Associate at the University of Nottingham. Among his publications are Belal Abu‑Alabbas, Christopher Melchert, and Michael Dann, eds., Modern Hadith Studies: Continuing Debates and New Approaches (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020) and Belal Abu‑Alabbas, “The Principles of Hadith Criticism in the Writings of al‑Shāfiʿī and Muslim”, Islamic Law and Society 24:4 (2017): 311–35.

• AcknowledgementsNote on Dates, Places, and TermsIntroduction: The Need for a New Study of al-Bukhari1. The Political and Intellectual Context2. Life and Career3. Works: Purpose, Composition, and Early Transmission4. Hadith Criticism5. Theology6. The Lafẓ Controversy7. Political Theology8. Legal Principles9. Polemics with Ahl al-RaʾyConclusions: Beyond al-Bukhari, Ahl al-Hadith and the Sunni ProjectBibliography

Abu-Alabbas’s meticulous study of al-Bukhārī's life and thought, with its unparalleled discussions of his legal theory and theology, especially the theology of God’s speech, establishes al-Bukhārī as not only an eminent collector of ḥadīth but also a key contributor to the articulation of Sunni traditionalism.