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.