Muhammad Mustafa Azmi

Muhammad Mustafa Al-A'zami (; Arabic: محمد مصطفى الأعظمي;‎ 1930–2017) was a contemporary Indian hadith scholar best known for his critical investigation of the theories of fellow Islamic scholars Ignác Goldziher, David Margoliouth, and Joseph Schacht.
Life and education.
He was born in Mau, India in the early part of the year 1930. Al-A'zami received his education successively at Darul Uloom Deoband (1952), Al-Azhar University (M.A., 1955), and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom (Ph.D., 1966).
Career.
Azmi was a Professor Emeritus at King Saud University where he also chaired the department of Islamic Studies. He served as curator of the National Public Library of Qatar, Associate Professor at Umm al-Qura University, Visiting Scholar at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Visiting Fellow at St Cross College, Oxford, King Faisal Visiting Professor for Islamic Studies at Princeton University, and Visiting Scholar at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He was also an Honorary Fellow in Islamic Studies at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David.
Awards and recognition.
In 1980, he was the recipient of the King Faisal International Award for Islamic Studies. Much of A'zami's work focused on challenging Western scholarship on hadith literature, especially on highlighting the fact that there was already intense literary activity on hadiths during the lifetime of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, at his encouragement.
Literary works.
His forthcoming works include "The Qurʾānic Challenge: A Promise Fulfilled" and "The ʾIsnād System: Its Origins and Authenticity".
Death.
Muhammad Mustafa Azmi died on 20 December 2017, aged 87.