ABSTRACT
In this book I have done a number of things that need to be explained at the beginning. Although there are extensive quotations from the Qur’an, there is little direct quotation from the reported sayings of the Prophet and those close to him, the hadith literature. This is not because I do not think the ahadith are an important source of information, because of course they are, nor does it mean that I do not think they can be assessed in terms of their authenticity. I am sure they can, and the ahadith are a vital source of information on both early Islam and on how to interpret the Qur’an. On the other hand, because the ahadith are so controversial and difficult to pin down exactly, and because of arguments about their authenticity I felt it was better to refer to them when useful but not explicitly use them in most places of the book. I have sometimes used and quoted particular ahadith, but not as much as I might have done, and I hope readers will not take this to be a sign of my lack of trust in them.
