This definitive sourcebook presents more than fifty authoritative new translations of key Islamic texts. Edited and translated by three leading specialists and clearly contextualized for introductory-level students, it illustrates the growth of Islamic thought from its seventh-century origins, through to the end of the medieval period. Eight thematically-organized sections cover the Qur'an and its interpretation, the life of Muhammad, hadith, law, ritual, mysticism, and Islamic history. Among the selections are Ibn 'Abbas's account of the heavenly journey; al-Taftazani on the uncreatedness of the Qur'an as God's speech; al-Farabi on the faculties of the soul; and extracts from Rumi's Mathnawi. Classical Islam includes a glossary, extensive bibliography and explanatory prefaces for each text. With many extracts translated here for the first time into English, this is an essential resource for the study of early and medieval Islam and its legacy.

Table of Contents

Part I: Formation and Salvation History 1. The Quran 2. The Life of Muhammad 3. Hadith 4. Religious History Part 2: Elaboration of the Tradition 5. Quaranic Interpretation 6. Theology and Philosophy 7. Law and Ritual 8. Sufism

Author Biography

Norman Calder, who died in 1998, was a Senior Lecturer in Arabic at the University of Manchester. His Studies in Early Muslim Jurisprudence (Oxford 1993) and numerous articles have had a lasting impact on the study of Islamic law. Jawid Mojaddedi, Associate Research Scholar in Iranian Studies at Columbia University, is the author of The Biographical Tradition in Sufism (Curzon 2001) and an editor of Encyclopaedia Iranica. Andrew Rippin, Professor of Islamic History and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Victoria, Canada, is the author of Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices (2nd edition, Routledge 2001).