Although the non-Muslim world is not as familiar with the Hadīth as with the Qurān, it is the Hadīth that is the most important single source of Islamic laws, precepts, and practices. Ever since the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad, millions of Muslims have attempted to miimc his dress, diet, hairstyle, toilet mores, and sexual and marital habits in the hope of being more like the man who walked in the ways of Allah. Whether one visits Saudi Arabic or Central Asia, India or Malaysia, Muslims by the millions can be found conforming to the Prophet's views on the veil, polygamy, and ablution. The Hadīth constitutes a voluminous literature. Every word from Muhammad's lips, every nod or shake of his head, every one of his gestures and mannerisms was important to his followers. They remembered these as best they could and passed these "traditions" on from generation to generation. Using the Sahīh Muslim, a massive work consisting of 7,190 traditions divided into 1,243 chapters, Ram Swarup quotes representative selections that touch upon the main tenets of Islam: faith, purification, prayer, fasting, pilgrimmage, marriage and divorce, crime and punishment, religious wars (jihad), paradise, hell, repentance, and many others. According to /muslim theologians, Islam is a "complete" and "completed" religion that deals not only with theological matters, but also with all aspects of the believer's life. It is equally political and military. It has much to do with statecraft, and it has a very specific view of the world peopled by "infidels" or non-Muslims. Since most of the world is still "infidel," it is very important for those who are not Muslim to understand Islam. "Understanding the Hadith" provides many insights into the mindset of the typical Muslim who is raised on these traditions.$c From back cover.

Noted Indian writer and polymath Ram Swarup explores the meaning of Islam through the words of the Sahih Muslim, considered by Muslims to be one of the most authoritative of the collections of "traditions" (Arabic Hadith) about the life of the Prophet Muhammad. Like the Koran, these traditions are believed to be divinely revealed by Allah and they complement the verses of the Koran, in many cases expanding upon them and explaining the context of their revelation. As Swarup notes in his introduction, to Muslims the Hadith literature represents the Koran in action, stories of "revelation made concrete in the life of the Prophet." Among the orthodox they are considered as sacred as the Koran itself. Swarup is plainly skeptical of the claim that the Hadith literature is divinely inspired. In the introduction he says, "The Prophet is caught as it were in the ordinary acts of his life - sleeping, eating, mating, praying, hating, dispensing justice, planning expeditions and revenge against his enemies. The picture that emerges is hardly flattering. . . . One is . . . left to wonder how the believers, generation after generation, could have found this story so inspiring. The answer is that the believers are conditioned to look at the whole thing through the eyes of faith. Previously published as: Understanding Islam through Hadis. New Delhi : Voice of India, 1983. Previously published as: Understanding Islam through Hadis. New Delhi : Voice of India, 1983.