Fascinating and relevant

A great idea and a great book. This is perfect for anyone who actually wants to learn about Islam, rather than just confirm a positive or negative bias. I was very impressed that Brown was able to maintain an academic perspective through some of the more controversial subjects like jihad, gender, child marriage, apostasy, and reformation.

17 people found this helpful

Fantastic Book, Horrible Arabic Pronunciation

Brown's book is a well-researched introduction to and explication of the history of the Ahadeeth (Prophetic Traditions) and the challenges faced by Islamic scholars (and laymen) in interpreting and using them to help form and apply/practice Islamic Law.

While the narrator does a good job overall, his pronunciation of Arabic terms is cringe-worthy to anyone familiar with the Arabic language. It was so bad at times I almost stopped listening. Here are a few (transliterated) examples:

It's Muhammad not Mukhaamed
Maalik not Maleek
Waliullah not Waali Aalah
Qur'aan not Kooran
Ulemaa not Ooo Llama

And the list goes on.

It would have been much better to have used a narrator who had at least a basic understanding of Arabic pronunciation, especially in a book that uses so many Arabic terms on every page. Other than that it was a fantastic read (listen) that I recommend to anyone interested in the subject matter.

20 people found this helpful

An academic view on the controversies surrounding Hadith

The author is a formidable scholar in Islamic studies and presents objective criticisms surrounding specific Hadiths which may have particular consequences upon culture, social relations, and law.

Slightly difficult to follow in Audiobook format due to chapter sections jumping around chronologically, but informative and engaging nonetheless.

4 people found this helpful

Very Thoughtful and Honest

Religion is central to so many lives, yet people rarely explore the authenticity of the traditions they hold so dear. This book is a wonderful work on authenticity in Islam. It helped expand my horizons and put me on the path to a deeper, more progressive, more inclusive understanding of God’s universe.

2 people found this helpful

One of the Greatest books of our time!

Book with most nuanced arguments, research, scholarship. Unlike any other. Highly recommended to Muslims/Non-Muslims alike.

1 person found this helpful

A research of great value.

I'm gonna be honest. It's not the casual easy read. Mr brown digs in too deep and doesn't spare the details. Sometimes it's not gonna be easy to get by the chapter. But that's what a research of great value is like. In the end you are left with immense satisfaction with what you have learned and a feeling that every bit was worth it. Thank you Mr. Brown for the great effort.

As for Paul (The performer) he did really well but his Arabic was often times not recognizable. I kept repeating parts trying to figure out what the word he's trying to say is.

Great work overall.

2 people found this helpful

Narration ruined this for me

The narrator does not pronounce the Arabic names correctly and honestly just sounds like a computer generated narration. I just couldn’t continue. So unfortunate because it sounded like an interesting book.

Terrible Arabic pronunciation, excellent book

Do yourself a favor and actually read this book instead of listening to it. The audio version is hard for me to recommend, simply due to that alone. At the least, I've learned to look at reviews to see how the narrator is before I purchase an Audiobook. With all due respect to the narrator, listening to it was a big pain, cringeworthy, and a major distraction from the actual wonderful, well-researched content because of how terrible the Arabic pronunciation is. The voiceover narration does not do justice to the book. I learned a lot from this book, I appreciated Dr. Brown's academic and educational approach, and that it wasn't merely an exercise in Muslim apologetics.

The First and Best American MuHadith . . . Ameen

Dr Brown is the first non Orientalist and or native born Middle-easterner that has broken the “spell”, the myth propagandized by Western Muslims and Eastern Muslims that only native Al Arabiyyi speakers can be “authentic” Hadith Scholars in the Arab-Ulema- sense of the term. Muslim Arab believe superstitiously that only they can be a Mujtahid and not non Arabs.

Informative,objective, amazing and interesting Work!

One of the best if not the best book that provides readers with a wealth of information about the Islamic traditions from different arrays and Islamic backgrounds. I finds it particularly useful as it provides non- biased referenced information about several schools of Islamic faith. This book has a lot of information that may not be easily acceptable in this simple but great (form and narration)that is in my opinion should be appealing to any reader trying to understand what Islam is all about!