Hadith Scholarship in 5th Century Cordoba

Mahdi Hushmand

The present work is a review of Khalid al-Samadi, Harakat al- Hadith bi Qurtuba Khilal al-Qarn al-Khamis al-Hijri (Morocco: Wizarat al-Awqaf, 1995), 447 pp. The land of Andulus (Muslim Spain), including such cities as Cordoba, Granada, and Seville, witnessed great academic movements in the Islamic civilization. Andulus was the cite of Islamic-Arabic civilization in the Western world, hence such books as the one currently under review contributes to knowing the intermediate chains of transmitting Islamic scholarship into this land. In this book, al-Samadi narrows down the scope of the book to Cordoba, the fifth century, the great hadith scholar Abu Muhammad Abd al-Rahaman b. Attab, and hadith sciences. Al-Samadi studies the socio-political circumstances of the then Cordoba, the character and life of Ibn Attab, and a bibliography of his works as well as his hadith doctrines. The book finishes with a detailed index of topics, the research sources consulted, and certain geographical maps.

Key Words: Hadith Scholarship, 5th Century, Cordoba, Khalid al-Samadi, Socio-Political Circumstances.

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