The Height of Prophet Adam: At the Crossroads of Science and Scripture

The Height of Prophet Adam: At the Crossroads of Science & Scripture explores scholarly efforts to treat the conflict between hadith regarding Prophet Adam’s height and extant empirical data. What may appear as a straightforward hadith about the father of humankind brings to the fore a web of interconnected disciplines: epistemology, science, archeology, the status of the Ṣaḥīḥayn, the evolution of hadith analysis, and the isrāʾīliyyāt. This case study hopes to contribute to two broader conversations: (1) the conflict between science and hadith, a crisis of faith for many Muslims today, and (2) the notion that the scholars of Islam’s rich intellectual history were oblivious to the issues plaguing the minds of modern Muslims.