Hadith Scholarship in the West

In this paper, the author tries to review different standpoints regarding hadith scholarship either from the Western scholars or Muslims. To do this task, at first he introduces the most important issues and scientific discussions discussed by different groups of hadith scholars with different tendencies in the two recent centuries. Rendering a brief introduction, he has come up with the origin of transmission of hadith within which the following issues are investigated: origin of new hadith studies, its historicity, and methods of recording and relating hadith. In the next chapter, he points to the origin and authenticity of documents under the title of Isnad in the Islamic and Western studies. In the third chapter is concerned with the methods of analysis and historicity of hadith.