Studies in Hadith Methodology and Literature

He was born in Mau, India in the early 1930s, Al-A'zami received his education successively at Darul Uloom Deoband (1952), Al-Azhar University (M.A., 1955), and the University of Cambridge (Ph.D., 1966). He is Professor Emeritus at King Saud University where he also chaired the department of Islamic Studies. Al-A'zami served as curator of the National Public Library of Qatar, Associate Professor at Umm al-Qura University, Visiting Scholar at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Visiting Fellow at St Cross College, Oxford, King Faisal Visiting Professor for Islamic Studies at Princeton University, and Visiting Scholar at the University of Colorado at Boulder.[1] He is also an Honorary Fellow in Islamic Studies at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David.

In 1980, he was the recipient of the King Faisal International Award for Islamic Studies. Much of A'zami's work focused on the correction of perceived inadequacies of Western scholarship on hadith literature, especially on highlighting the fact that there was already intense literary activity on hadiths during the lifetime of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, at his encouragement.

His forthcoming works include The Qur'anic Challenge: A Promise Fulfilled and The Isnad System: Its Origins and Authenticity.