Isa Khan's Notes on Hadith Methodologies (Oxford College)

3. Sahih Muslim: a. Abu ‘Awaana al-Isfarayeeni (316AH). (See comparison between Sahih Muslim and a Mustakhraj upon it 145, 146). Unit Two: al-Mualafaat Ghair al-Musnada: Books that were written to service the original books of hadith. Lesson One: Al-Kutub ul-Jaami’a These are books...

3. Sahih Muslim: a. Abu ‘Awaana al-Isfarayeeni (316AH). (See comparison between Sahih Muslim and a Mustakhraj upon it 145, 146). Unit Two: al-Mualafaat Ghair al-Musnada: Books that were written to service the original books of hadith. Lesson One: Al-Kutub ul-Jaami’a These are books which combine the Ahaadith of specific books and are organized according to chapters. Beginning of this Methodology: This began in the end of the fourth century. Jaami’ ul-Usool fi Ahaadith ir-Rasool by Ibn ul-Atheer: Author: Al-Mubarak ibn Muhammad known as Ibn ul-Atheer. Subject Matter: Combining the Ahaadith of the Saheehayn, Muwatta, Sunan Abi Dawood, Jaami’ ut-Tirmidhi, and Sunan an-Nasaai and organizing them all into chapters. His Methodology and Organization of Ahaadith: 1. He organized his book into 3 parts: Al-Mabaadi: where he explained his Manhaj, Al- Maqaasid: the contents of the book, al-Khawaateem: This contains the table of contents (Fihris) for the common words in the Ahaadith, then for the names of the narrators, then for the general topics of the book. 2. He organized the hadith into chapters depending on their topics, then organized the chapters by their letters. He divided each chapter into sub-chapters, and included a table of contents at the end of the book to find their locations. 3. He only kept the Ahaadith Marfoo’a and Mawqoofa from the six books. 4. He erased the Asaaneed and only kept the Sahabi for Ahaadith Marfoo’a and the narrator from the Sahabi for the Ahaadith Mawqoofa. 5. He kept the names of the narrator of the hadith beside the hadith along with a letter which symbolized the books it was found in: )‫ (خ‬For al-Bukhari, )‫ (م‬for Muslim ,)‫(ط‬ for Muwatta Maalik, )‫ (ت‬for at-Tirmidhi ،)‫ (د‬for Abu Dawood, (‫ (س‬for an-Nasaai. (See example from Jaami’ ul-Usool 147). 6. He thought that some Ahaadith might be difficult to find in their chapters, so he took words or meanings from them that they are known by, placed them in a chapter at the end of his book and organized them according by their letters and mentioned their location in the book. (See example 148). Status: 1. It is easy to find the Ahaadith within the book. 2. Going through the book allows one to read all the Ahaadith from the six books. Lesson Two: Al-Mukhtasaraat Definition: These are books which summarized previous books containing Asaaneed by removing excess information and keeping the main content. Rules of Summarizing: 1. Clarifying that the book is a summarized version of the original. 2. Must contain the main contents of the original and maintain the goals of the author. 3. The summary must be concise and to the point without excessive information. Beginning of this Methodology: Al-Imam an-Nasaai (303AH) was one of the first to do this when he summarized his ‘Sunan al-Kubra’ into ‘al-Mujtaba’. At-Tajreed us-Sahih li Ahadith il-Jaami’ is-Sahih by az-Zabeedi: Author: Ahmad ibn Ahmad az-Zabeedi. Subject Matter: Summary of Sahih ul-Bukhari. His Methodology and Organization of Ahaadith: 1. He organized his book into chapters and sub-chapters in accordance with those in al- Bukhari in general, and removed the sub-chapter headings. 2. He erased the Asaaneed and only mentioned the Sahabi. 3. He only retained the connected Ahaadith. 4. He removed the repetitions even those from different Sahaba. (See example from at-Tajreed us-Sahih and comparing it to Sahih ul-Bukhari 149, 150, 151). Mukhtasar Sahih Muslim by al-Munthiri: Author: ‘Abdil ‘Adheem ibn ‘Abdil Qawi al-Munthiri. Subject Matter: Summary of Sahih Muslim. His Methodology and Organization of Ahaadith: 1. He changed the order of the chapters and Ahaadith. 2. He erased the Asaaneed. 3. He did not include the introduction of al-Imam Muslim. (See example from Mukhtasar Sahih Muslim and comparing it to Sahih Muslim 152, 153). Lesson Three: At-Tarteebaat These are books in which rearrange the contents of other books in order to more easily benefit from them. Importance of Rearranging Previous Books: 1. It is considered a version of the original, so if the original is lost, the rearranged version contains the same contents. 2. It places related Ahaadith which were separated together. 3. It simplifies the process of finding specific Ahaadith and allows us to benefit from books which were not used due to their difficulty. Types of Tarteebaat: 1. Rearranging into Abwab (chapters). 2. Rearranging into Atraaf (organizing hadith according to the names of Sahaba and only mentioning a part of the ahaadith with its asaaneed). (See example of atraaf 154) Al-Fath ur-Rabbaani li Tarteeb Musnad il-Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal ash-Shaybani by as- Sa’aati: Author: Ahmad ibn ‘Abdirrahman al-Banna as-Sa’aati. Subject Matter: Reorganizing the Ahaadith in Musnad Ahmad into chapters and sub-chapters. Reason for this Book: He saw that it was difficult to find Ahaadith in the original. His Methodology and Organization of Ahaadith: 1. He organized his book into seven sections based on the topic, then he divided these sections into chapters and sub-chapters. (The seven sections are: Tawheed and basics of Deen, Fiqh, Tafseer and Quran, at-Targheeb, at-Tarheeb, History and Seerah, Fitna and the signs of the last day). 2. And each section has chapters in it and under each chapter are the ahaadith. 3. He erased the Asaaneed except the Sahabi for Ahaadith Marfoo’a or the name of the narrator for Ahaadith Mawqoofa. His Methodology for Repetitions: 1. If a hadith of one Sahabi was repeated in the Musnad, in general he kept the narration that was most authentic and contained additional meanings and he mentioned the different wordings from the other narrations alongside it. 2. If the hadith was from multiple Sahaba, he mentioned the most authentic one that contained more rulings and referred to the others. 3. He included all the Ahaadith from Musnad Ahmad. (See example from al-Fath ur-Rabbaani 156 in Arabic only). Al-Ihsaan fi Taqreeb Sahih ibn Hibbaan by Ibn Balabaan: Author: ‘Ali ibn Balabaan known as al-Ameer. Subject matter: Rearranging the Ahaadith in Sahih ibn Hibbaan into the commonly used chapters of the religion. Reason for the Book: He noticed the people did not use Sahih ibn Hibbaan due to its difficulty. His methodology and organization of hadith: 1. He organized the book into chapters and sub-chapters. 2. He retained the titles that Ibn Hibbaan wrote for the Ahaadith. 3. He did not erase the Asaaneed and kept the commentary from Ibn Hibbaan related to the science of Hadith and Fiqh. 4. He included symbols to indicate where the Ahaadith were found in the original book. (See example from al-Ihsaan 157). Lesson Four: Az-Zawaaid Definition: These are books which contain additional Ahaadith mentioned in specific books that are not present in other books especially the main sources of Ahaadith like Al-Kutub us-Sitta. A Hadith is Considered to be from the Zawaaid if: 1. If it is not present in the books. 2. If it is present but from another Sahabi. 3. It is in the books but without an addition. Benefits of Books of Zawaaid: 1. When combined together, they are a large source of Ahaadith. 2. Sources of Mutaaba’aat and Shawaahid. 3. Preserved contents of books which may be lost today. The Beginning of this Methodology: Began in the eighth century. It developed when Al-’Iraaqi encouraged his student al-Haythami to gather the Zawaaid of Musnad Ahmad not found in the six books. Misbah uz-Zujaja fi Zawaaid ibn Majah by al-Booseeri: Author: Ahmad ibn Abi Bakr al-Booseeri. Subject Matter: Mentioning the Zawaaid of Sunnan ibn Majah that are not in the 5 other books. His Methodology and Organization of Ahaadith: 1. He organized the Ahaadith into chapters and sub-chapters similar to Sunan ibn Majah. 2. He speaks about each isnad.158 His Methodology of Considering Ahaadith Zawaaid: 1. If a hadith is present in the five books from the same Sahabi, he did not include it. 2. If it was present from another Sahabi, he included it.159 Majma’ uz-Zawaaid wa Manba’ ul-Fawaaid by Abu ul-Hussein al-Haythami: Author: Nur ud-Deen al-Haythami. Subject Matter: Gathering the Zawaaid of the Masaaneed of Ahmad, al-Bazzaar, Abu Ya’laa and the three Ma’aajim of at-Tabaranee that are not in the six books of hadith. Reason for Compilation: Response to the request from his sheikh al-’Iraaqi. His Methodology and Organization of the Ahaadith: 1. He removed the Asaaneed. 2. Organized Ahaadith into chapters and sub-chapters. 3. He references the book where the Hadith was taken from. 4. He references previous or later Ahaadith and chapters. 5. He rules on the Ahaadith. 160 His Methodology for Considering a Hadith to be from the Zawaaid: 1. If it was not in the six books. 2. If it was present in them, but without an important addition. 3. If it was present from another Sahabi. 4. If the hadith was present with a longer version or shorter. Status: 1. It is considered a large source of hadith. 2. It preserved the Zawaaid of some lost books. 3. Contains the authors rulings on the Ahaadith and many of the narrators. Al-Mataalib ul-’Aaliya bi Zawaaid al-Masaaneed ath-Thamaaniya by Ibn Hajr: Author: Ibn Hajr al-‘Asqalaani (852 AH). Subject Matter: Compilation of the Zawaaid of the ten Masaaneed (Musnad at-Tayaalisi, al- Humaidi, Musaddad, Ibn Abi Shaibah, Ibn Abi ‘Umar al ‘Adani, Ahmad ibn Manee’, ‘Abd ibn Humaid, al-Haarith ibn Abi Usama, some of Musnad Ishaaq and Musnad Abi Ya’la) that were not present in the six books and Musnad Ahmad Reason for Compilation: He wanted to gather the Ahaadith in one organized book to make finding them easy. His Methodology and Organization of Ahaadith: 1. He organized the Ahaadith into chapters and sub-chapters, and in these he put the ones which were clearer in evidence first. 2. He mentions the Marfoo’ before Mawqoof unless the latter is stronger. 3. He retained the Asaaneed. 4. He mentions the ruling of the Ahaadith and speaks about the narrators.161 The Ahaadith he Considered to be Zawaaid: 1. Ahaadith which are not present in the original or are present with a different chain. 2. Zawaaid of Aathaar (Statements of Sahaba and those after). 3. A disconnected hadith in the original which is connected in the other books. (Such as the Mu’alaqaat in Sahih il-Bukhari). 4. Ahaadith in the other books from a narrator who heard the hadith before the Ikhtilaat if the original mentions a narrator who heard them after the Ikhtilaat. 5. Ahaadith in the original from a Sahabi who is not named but is mentioned in the other books, or the opposite. Status: Preserved the Zawaaid of some books which have been lost. Lesson Five: Ash-Shuruh Definition: These are books which explain the books of the sunnah, by providing clarification, extracting rulings and pointing out benefits related to the Asaaneed and Mutoon. Beginning of this Methodology: 1. ‘Muhktalif ul-Hadith’ can be considered an aspect of explaining Ahaadith. Imam ash- Shafi’i was one of the first to write about this in his book “Ikhtilaaf ul-Hadith’. 2. The first stages of explanations were present in the beginning of the third century when the scholars wrote books about Ghareeb ul-Hadith. 3. The first to write books explaining Ahaadith were at-Tabari (310AH) with his book Tahtheeb ul-Aathaar and al-Khattaabi (388AH) with his two books ‘Ma’aalim us-  Sunnan’ (Explanation of Sunan Abi Dawood) and ‘A’laam ul-Hadith’ (Explanation of Sahih ul-Bukhari). Importance of Books Explaining Ahaadith: 1. Clarify the meanings of the Ahaadith. 2. Extract rulings and benefits. 3. Clarify ambiguities, reconcile between apparently contradicting texts and other benefits. 4. Mention the contexts of Ahaadith and why they were said/done. 5. Gather the chains of Ahaadith. Fath ul-Baari bi Sharh Sahih il-Bukhari by Ibn Hajr: Author: Ibn Hajr al-’Asqalaani (852AH). Reason for this Book: He found that Sahih ul-Bukhari did not have an explanation that was suitable for it. His Methodology and Organization of Ahaadith: 1. He began with an introduction called ‘Hady us-Saari’ containing ten chapters including the Manhaj of al-Bukhari and a discussion about the Mu’alaqaat, his Hadith selection and other things. 2. He discussed the relevance between the Ahaadith and al-Bukharis chapter headings if it was unclear. 3. He extracted many benefits related to the Matn or the Isnad. 4. He connected the Mu’alaqaat, 163 5. He mentioned the opinions of the scholars based on the Ahaadith. 6. He ended each chapter with a conclusion, mentioning within it the number of Ahaadith and whether Muslim agreed or not. 162 His Methodology Related to the Science of Hadith: 1. He mentions the opinions of the scholars of al-Jarh wa at-Ta’deel (Criticizing and appraising) regarding the narrators. 2. He rules on many Ahaadith and speaks about some narrators. 164 His Methodology Related to the Mutoon of Ahaadith: He paid attention to the Fiqh of Al-Imam ul-Bukhari in his ‘Taraajim’ and extracting rulings from them and spoke about the relevance of certain Ahaadith to the chapter they were placed in. 165 Status: 1. Ibn Hajrs reliance on the most authentic narration of Sahih ul-Bukhari, the narration of Abu Dhar al-Harawi. 2. It is a complete explanation. 6. Defense of al-Imam ul-Bukhari. Sharh Sahih Muslim by an-Nawawi: Author: Yahya ibn Sharaf An-Nawawi (676AH). Subject Matter: Explanation of Sahih Muslim. His Methodology and Organization of Ahaadith: 1. He wrote titles for the sub-chapters, then mentioned the Ahaadith under followed by the Fiqh and meanings. He left the statements of al-Jarh wa at-Ta’deel at the end. 2. His Methodology Related to The Science of Hadith: 3. He pays close attention to the difference in wording between the narrators and points out the correct narration. His Methodology Related to Fiqh and Mutoon: 1. He wrote the sub-chapter titles. 2. He extracted rulings and mentioned the difference of opinion between the scholars in the Masaail. 3. He transmitted the statements of the scholars. He was a follower of the Shafi’ee Madhhab but did not strictly adhere to it. Status: 1. It stands out due to its simplicity but is also detailed and comprehensive. 2. It is a thorough explanation, containing information about the Asaaneed, Mutoon and jurisprudential rulings including the differences between the scholars about these rulings. (See example from al-Minhaaj 166, 167). ‘Awn ul-Ma’bood Sharh Sunnan Abi Dawood by al-’Adheemaabaadi: Author: Muhammad Shams ul-Haqq al-’Adheemaabaadi. Subject Matter: Explanation of Sunnan Abi Dawood. It is a summary of his book “Ghaayat ul- Maqsood.” Reason for the Book: He began writing a longer explanation (Ghaayat ul-Maqsood) but feared it would take too long, so he summarized it and completed it as this book. His Methodology and Organization of Ahaadith: 1. He transmitted the sub-chapters and the Ahaadith under it from the most authentic manuscripts. 2. He clarified the meaning of the sub-chapter titles and speaks about narrators, then he clarifies the Ghareeb and the meaning of the hadith. 3. Much of the content is short however, the prolonged some of the Masaail. His Methodology Related to the Science of Hadith:  1. He focused on mentioning the differences between the different narrations and manuscripts of Sunnan Abi Dawood. 2. He explained the terminologies used by Abu Dawood. 3. He did ‘Takhreej’ of the Ahaadith (mentioned which books they are found in) and mentioned their rulings. His Methodology Related to the Fiqh and Mutoon: 1. He spoke about the Fiqh of the Ahaadith and extracted rulings and benefits. 2. He transmitted the opinions of some scholars and weighed between their opinions. Status: 1. Expansive knowledge of the author along with the correct ‘Aqeedah. 2. Contains the differences between the narrations of the Sunnan. (See example from ‘Awn ul Ma’bood 168). Tuhfat ul-Ahwathi bi Sharh Jaami’ ut-Tirmidhi by al-Mubarakfoori: Author: Abu ul-’Alaa al-Mubarakfoori (1353AH). His Methodology and Organization: He mentions the Ahaadith under the chapter titles and he clarifies what is meant by them, then he speaks about the Isnaad then he explains the Ghareeb. His Methodology Related to the Science of Hadith: 1. He explains the terminologies used by at-Tirmidhi. 2. He did Takhreej of the Ahaadith in the book and those that at-Tirmidhi said: “wa fil- baab”. (He tried to figure out what these ahaadith were). 3. He mentions the rulings of the scholars from the hadith. His Methodology Related to Fiqh and the Mutoon: 1. He mentions the different opinions and he finds the strongest one. 2. He identifies the men who were not named at-Tirmidhi. (the men who at-Tirmidhi has transmitted opinions in fiqh from). (See Example From Tuhfat ul-Ahwathi by Mubarakfoori 169).