بسم الله وحده والصلاة والسلام على من لا نبي بعده
ʿĀlimah Siddiqa al-Fārsiyyah
Student, Takhassus Fil Hadith
Checked and Approved:
Mufti Ismail Moosa
www.ulumalhadith.com
Title: Al-Madkhal ilā ʿUlūm al-Ḥadith al-Sharīf
Genre: Ḥadīth
Language: Arabic
Author: Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAbdul Malik (hafiẓahullah)
Publisher: Markaz ad-Daʿwah al-Islamiyyah Dhaka Bangladesh
Pages: 200
The Author
Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAbdul Malik is a Bangladeshi Islamic scholar and researcher of Ḥadīth. He is the head of the department of Ḥadīth studies at Markaz ad-Daʿwah al-Islamiyyah at Dhaka, Bangladesh. He specialized in Ḥadīth studies under the guidance of Maulana ʿAbd ar-Rashid Nuʿmani receiving his Takhassus degree in Ḥadīth studies from Binnori town Jamiʿah al-ʿUlum AI-Islamiyyah in 1991. He then went to Dar al-ʿUlum Karachi and specialized in Fiqh and Fatwa under the guidance of Shaykh Muḥammad Taqi ʿUthmani receiving his Takhassus degree in Fiqh in 1993. Then he worked as a researcher under the guidance of ʿAbd al-Fattaḥ Abu Ġuddah in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia until 1995. He has authored many books, of which majority are in Bengali.
Overview
Shaykh Muḥammad writes in the beginning of his book, Al-Madkhal ilā ʿUlūm al-Ḥadith al-Sharīf, the reason behind his authorship of this book. He mentions that of the preliminary knowledge that a student of knowledge should know before studying Ḥadīth is the knowledge of the status of a Ḥadīth in the books of Ḥadīth, as well as which books of Asma ar-Rijal to refer to in order to read the profiles of the narrators. Thereafter, he must proceed to knowing the strong narrators from weak ones, as well as knowing authentic Aḥadīth from the inauthentic ones. The students of Ḥadīth in the time of our pious predecessors naturally acquired all of this preliminary knowledge by extensively reading books of Ḥadīth such as the Masanid, Sunan, Ma‘ajim, etc., and would discuss their contents frequently. Consequently, they did not need to be taught how to perform istikhraj, as opposed to our time today.
Students nowadays face difficulty in locating a Ḥadīth from its original sources and knowing the profiles of its narrators. Thus, Shaykh ʿAbdul Malik writes, he authored this book upon the request of many people, so that it can help students acquire guidance on how they can go about learning how to perform istikhraj, and how to recognize strong narrators from weak ones, and authentic Aḥadīth from inauthentic ones. He strongly condemns students who are lazy in reading books, adhering to their Shuyukh, discussing with their peers, and who suffice by merely referring to online search engines, and calls this the habit of the ignorant ones.
Istikhraj al-Ḥadīth
Shaykh ʿAbdul Malik writes that when a student intends to perform istikhraj, he must first read three books in their entirety:
- Ar-Risalah al-Mustatrifah Li Bayan Mashuri Kutub as-Sunnah al-Musharrafah by ‘Allamah al-Muhaddith Muḥammad bin Ja’far al-Kattani [d. 1345] Raḥimahullah.
- Buhuth Fi as-Sunnati al-Musharrafah by Doctor Akram al-Umari Hafiẓahullah.
- Fawa’id Jami‘ah Bar ‘Ujjalah Nafi‘ah by ‘Allamah ‘Abdul Halim al-Chishti Hafiẓahullah.
These books will familiarize the students with the names of the most important books on Ḥadīth and Asma ar-Rijal. Moreover, a student will benefit from reading Mu’jam al-Matbu‘at al-‘Arabiyyah Wa al-Mu‘arrabah by Ustaḏ Yusuf Elian Sarkis [d. 1932] to learn the dates and places in which those books were published. After familiarizing themselves with the titles of the books of Ḥadīth and Rijal, students must thereafter briefly study the books and familiarize themselves with its contents, topics, structure, and the methodology of its author. Later, when the need arises to locate a Ḥadīth, or to reveal the strength of a narrator of its chain, the student will be able to refer to those respective books without undue hardship.
The Types of Fahāris
Fahāris are books that contain the table of contents for thousands of Aḥadīth. It helps one locate the original source of a Ḥadīth based on its various aspects such as its narrator, topic, first few words, etc. There are four types of Fahāris books:
- Fahāris books based on the beginning of the Aḥadīth, listed alphabetically.
Among the first scholars who arranged their books based on their beginnings are al-Hāfiẓ Abū Shujā’ ad-Daylamī [d. 509AH] in his book “Firdous al-Akhbār Bi Ma’thūr al-Khitāb”, and al-Hāfiẓ as-Sūyūtī [d. 911 AH] in his book “al-Jāmi’ as-Saġīr” and “Jam’ al-Jawāmi”.
- Fahāris books based on any part of the Ḥadīth, listed alphabetically.
The books of this second type are known as the books of Atraf al-Ḥadīth and are very rare to find. Among them is a contemporary work titled “Mawsu‘ah Atraf al-Ḥadīth an-Nabawi ash-Sharif” in 11 huge volumes, compiled by Shaykh Abū Hājar Muḥammad as-Sa‘īd Zaġlūl Hafiẓahullah. This work includes the contents of 150 books of Sunnah, Sirah, Fiqh, ‘Ilal, Rijal, Mawḍu‘at and Tafasir. The contents of this category are listed in an alphabetical order, and its purpose is to guide the reader towards finding the source of the Ḥadīth. Thus, it is required that the reader should know several parts of the Ḥadīth by memory in order to locate it. The author advises the student to read the methodology of every author in the beginning of their book before using it, as every author has a distinct method, even if they follow an alphabetical sequence. For example, some authors consider ‘lam-alif’ as a separate letter that comes in between waw and ya, whereas others consider it as a lam that has an alif after it, so they place it between kaf and mim.
- Fahāris books based on the main and distinctive words of the Ḥadīth.
In this category, the Mufahris (the one compiling the table of contents) gathers all the Aḥadīth of the books that he wishes to compile into a Fihrisah, then selects the main word or words of each Ḥadīth that indicate the most towards it. For example, in order to locate the Ḥadīth: “Indeed, actions are based upon intention…”, the main words are an-niyyah, al-hijrah, al-a’mal, ad-dunya, yankiha, or yatazawwaja. All the main words are thereafter listed in accordance with the sequence of the books of Luġah such as Imam az-Zamakhshari’s “al-Asas”. Thus, one may check under the category of these words in order to find the Ḥadīth. The author adds, that the best method of compiling Aḥadīth through this type is by listing the words of every Ḥadīth, as Imam Ibn Qudāmah has done in his “Mu’jam al-Muġni”.
Regarding the book “al-Mu’jam al-Mufahris Li Alfaẓ al-Ḥadīth”, Shaykh ‘Abdul Malik mentions that it contains many errors, and scholars have authored books to indicate towards them. He mentions that Ustaḏ Sa’d al-Marsafi [d. 2018 CE] (Raḥimahullah) has divided the errors of the book into seven categories, all of which spanned over 100 pages.
- Fahāris books based on the topics, historical figures, and geographical locations of the Ḥadīth.
An example for this category is the book “Miftaḥu Kunuz as-Sunnah” of the orientalist doctor Arent Jan Wensinck [d. 1939 CE]. This compilation is originally in English, but Ustaḏ Muḥammad Fu’ad Abd al-Baqi (Raḥimahullah) is the one who translated it to Arabic, and it was published in Cairo in 1934 CE. This work contains the contents of 14 books of Sunnah, including the six canonical books of Ḥadīth, Mu’atta of Imam Malik, Musnad of Imam Ahmad, Sunan of Imam ad-Dārmi, Musnad of Abu Dawud at-Tayalisi, Sirah of Ibn Hishām, Kitāb al-Māġazi of Imam al-Waqidi, at-Tabaqat al-Kubra of Imam Ibn Sa’d, and the Musnad which is attributed to Zayd bin ‘Ali, but this attribution is incorrect. The benefit of this category is that it is not necessary to have any portion of the Ḥadīth memorized, and neither who narrated it. Rather, it is sufficient to know the topic of the Ḥadīth to be researched.
The Distinguishing Features of this Book
Many books have been compiled with the title ‘al-Madkhal Ila ‘Ulum al-Ḥadīth’, and a lot of them share very similar content, as opposed to one compiled by Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAbdul Malik. Among some of the distinguishing features of this book are:
- Whilst many introductory Ḥadīth books contain common discussions on Ḥadīth terminology, Tadwin al-Ḥadīth and the rejectors of Ḥadīth, this book discusses other unique topics that a student of Ḥadīth will find very beneficial such as discussions on Istikhraj, types of Fahāris, profiles of narrators, weakening and authenticating narrators, a discussion on how to revive the sciences of Ḥadīth and much more.
- It discusses contemporary issues related to the science of Ḥadīth, rather than classical topics.
- It gives practical advice on which books students should refer to in order to develop their skills and knowledge in various areas of Ḥadīth.
- It familiarizes a student with multiple titles of different books and mentions any criticism there may be regarding them.
Conclusion
Shaykh Muḥammad Abdul Malik’s book Al-Madkhal ilā ʿUlūm al-Ḥadith al-Sharīf is a very beneficial book for students of Ḥadīth, particularly those students who want practical advice and guidance on studying the sciences of Ḥadīth. The main topics that are discussed in this book are: the method of doing Takhrij, the method of acquiring familiarity with profiles of narrators, as well as important discussions on the different types of Hadith books, al-Jarḥ wa at-Ta’dil, how to recognize authentic Aḥadīth from inauthentic Aḥadīth, what a student needs to study from the Usul and Mustalah of Ḥadīth and much more. One may consider this book to be a compilation of how one’s real teacher would advise one in going about studying Ḥadīth. It is truly unique and unlike other books on the topic.
The book may be accessed here.