List of Illustrations

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Notes on dates, transliteration, abbreviations and citations

1 The Problem(s) with Islam

A world full of God

Taking Islamic scripture and its interpreters seriously

2 A Map of the Islamic Interpretive Tradition

The word of God, the teachings of His Prophet and the mind of man

Obey God and obey His Messenger

The beginnings of the Islamic interpretive tradition

Abu Hanifa and the Partisans of Reason

Malik and the authority of custom

The power of reason: the Greek legacy and Islamic theology

Shafi'i and the beginnings of Sunni Islam

The collection and criticism of Hadiths

Putting reason in its place in Sunni theology and law

The great convergence of Sunni Islam

Legal theory and its discontents

Sufism and inspiration from God

The iconoclasts and Islamic revival

Twilight of an era

3 The Fragile Truth of Scripture

A crisis of confidence

Canons and reading scripture with charity

The turning over of an era

Reading scripture so it's true

The Islamic science of epistemology and interpretation (Usul al-Fiqh)

The language of God and the rhetoric of His Prophet

The Qur'an: valid for all times and places

Hadiths and interpreting the life of the Prophet

Changing times and the reasons behind scriptural law

The interaction of the Qur'an and Hadiths in time

Into the weeds: the case of raising one's hands in prayer

The summer of the liberal age

4 Clinging to the Canon in a Ruptured World

Upstarts at the end of time

The treason of interpretation

Heresy acceptable: ruptures in canonical communities

Slay the unbelievers wherever you find them: jihad and (re)interpreting scripture

Women cannot lead: historicizing scripture versus God's inscrutable law

Sex with little girls: interpreting scripture amid changing norms

The ulama, the state and Shariah authenticity without scripture

The court must not be political - morality and truth in a ruptured world

5 Muslim Martin Luthers and the Paradox of Tradition

The paradox of interpretive control

The rule of interpretation in the conflict between Sunni and Shiite Islam

Tradition as governor, scripture as subject

Killing one's children: tradition betraying scripture

Reconsidering the penalty for apostasy: tradition redeeming scripture

Women leading prayer: should scripture trump tradition?

The 'Qur'an Only' movement

No escaping tradition

The price of reformation

The guide of tradition: a necessary but thankless job

6 Lying about the Prophet of God

The truth, what's that?

Noble Lies and profound truths

The ulama as guardians

Appealing to the flesh: using unreliable Hadiths in Sunni Islam

A familiar habit: assisting truth in Western scripture and historiography

Seventy-two virgins: pragmatic truth and the heavenly reward of martyrs

The cost of Noble Lying

Muslim objections to the Noble Lie

Genre versus book: reviving an old approach to authenticating Hadiths

The dangers of Noble Lying for Muslims today

Pragmatic truth and the beauty of Noble Lying

7 When Scripture Can't Be True

The Qur'an and domestic violence

Who decides what God means?

Courts have the final word

Saying 'no' to the text and the hermeneutics of suspicion

Appendix I: Marracci and Ockley on Aisha's Marriage to the Prophet

Appendix II: Hadiths on a Parent Killing His Child

Ratings of the Hadith by Muslim critics

Examination of individual narrations

My evaluation of the Hadith

Citations for Hadith of a Father Killing His Child

Appendix III: The Hadith of riba and Incest

Ratings by Hadith critics

My evaluation of the Hadith of Riba and Incest

Citations for the Hadith

Appendix IV: The Hadith of the Seventy-Two Virgins

Overall rating

Citations for the Hadith of the Seventy-Two Virgins

Notes

Select Bibliography

Index