Page:Thomas Patrick Hughes - Notes on Muhammadanism - 2ed. (1877).djvu/181



theological literature is very extensive, and m consequence of the cheapness of lithographic printing, it is daily increasing.

The following are its chief divisions:—

(1.) Hadís.—Accounts of the precepts and practice of Muhammad. The collectors of Hadís may be numbered by hundreds, but the chief authorities are the six books known as the Siháh-i-Sita, or "six correct books." The popular work on the subject amongst the Sunnis of India being the Mishkát-ul-Musábih. (See article on Traditions.)

(2.) Usúl (lit. "roots").—Treatises on the rules and principles of the four foundations of the Islám law,—being expositions of the exegesis of the Qurán and Hadís, and the principles of Ijmaʾ and Qiás. The most popular works on this subject are the Manár, by