This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal,
volume 27, number 1 (2004). For further information or to
subscribe to the Christian Research Journal go to:
http://www.equip.org A crucial key to understanding the Islamic
worldview lies in understanding the importance of the hadith
(the traditions of Muhammad) to Muslims. Only the Qur’an is a
higher authority than the hadith for Muslims. There are
literally hundreds of thousands of records of the words and
deeds of Muhammad, but unlike the New Testament the hadith were
recorded over a two-hundred-year period after Muhammad’s death,
and not by eyewitnesses or friends of eyewitnesses as we have
with the Gospel accounts of the life and teachings of Christ.
The first authoritative collection of the hadith was compiled by
al-Bukhari, who died in AD 870, which was 238 years after
Muhammad’s death. Despite the questions concerning the
reliability of the hadith, Christians can use the hadith, along
with the Qur’an, as a bridge for sharing their faith wi