Publisher's Synopsis
Understanding hadith science is crucial to understanding the foundations of Islamic theology, shariah, and Islamic thought. This book outlines the history, development, and current practice of hadith science with special attention to Shia scholarship. It covers hadith terminology, sources of hadith, chains of narration, categories of hadith, the criteria for accepting hadith narrators, and transmission of hadith. Additionally, the book includes a translation of a seminal work on hadith studies, Dirayat al-Hadith, by the renowned sixteenth-century Shia scholar al-Shahid al-Thani the work that paved the way for the modern Shia study of hadith.