بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
29, Jumad al-Aakhir, 1444 AH (Sunday, 22 January, 2023)
There were books of aḥādīth that were compiled before Imām Mālik. However, Imām Mālik was the first:
1) To gather aḥādith and put them in a systemic sequence according to the chapters of Fiqh.
2) To aim to quote only that which is authentic.
Reason for Compilation
Let us now look at what prompted Imām Mālik to write this book.
There are two issues that motivated Imām Mālik to write his Muwaṭṭaʾ:
1) He read the compilation of a scholar before him which was void of aḥādīth
He read the book of a scholar by the name of ‘Abd al-‘Azīz ibn Mājishūn (d . 164). This scholar wrote a book which was also called a Muwaṭṭaʾ in which he gathered various rulings of Fiqh and the verdicts of the fuqahā’ of Madīnah. These leading scholars where Ṣaḥābah and Tābi’īn.
Qāḍi ʿIyāḍ relates:
قال غيره أول من عمل الموطأ عبد العزيز بن الماجشون (ت 164 ه) عمله كلاماً بغير حديث فلما رآه مالك قال ما أحسن ما عمل ولو كنت أنا لبدأت بالآثار، ثم شددت ذلك بالكلام ثم عزم على تصنيف الموطأ. (ترتيب المدارك – 1 / 103)
Others said that the first person to write a Muwaṭṭaʾ was ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Majishūn. (d. 164 A.H.) He wrote in it statements and not aḥādīth. When Mālik saw it, he said, ‘What a good thing he did, and if it were me, I would have started with the Āthār, then emphasised that with statements.’ He then resolved to compile the Muwaṭṭaʾ.
This was the main motivation for him to commence writing a book wherein there are proofs for the practises of the ‘ulamā’ of Madīnah. Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ‘Alawī al-Ḥasanī writes:
وإن السبب الحقيقي الذي دفعه إلى التفكير في التأليف هو رؤية الكتاب الذي ألفه ابن الماجشون (فضل الموطأ وعناية الأمة الإسلامية به – ص: 22)
The real reason which prompted him towards considering to author (the book) was seeing the book which was authored by Ibn al-Mājishūn.
This led him to commence on a small scale. ʿAllāmah Kawtharī explains this saying:
فبدأ يمهد السبيل لذلك (تقدمة أحاديث الموطأ للدارقطني – ص: 3)
So he started paving the way for it.
In this manner, the Muwaṭṭaʾ started on an unofficial scale. Shaykh Muḥammad al-Ḥasanī says that it is likely that the book was not so formal that it could be made public; for the general public to read and benefit. He writes:
لم يكن الموطأ على حالة صالحة للقراءة والاستفادة العامة. بل كان مفرقا من غير ترتيب وتنظيم وليس شاملا لكل مسائل العلم وأبواب الفقه المعروفة وما كان عليه العمل عند أهل المدينة ،وإنما كان عبارة عن مباحث متفرقة و مواضيع متنوعة (فضل الموطأ وعناية الأمة الإسلامية به – ص: 23)
The Muwaṭṭaʾ was not in a adequate state for public reading and benefitting. Rather it was divided without any sequence and arrangement, it also didn’t include every issue of knowledge and every well known chapter of jurisprudence, and the practice according to the people of Madīnah. It was actually expressions of a variety of topics and different places.
In short, in the initial stages, Imām Mālik saw the Muwaṭṭaʾ of another scholar. He liked it, but he felt that it is deficient due to being void of prophetic narrations. Hence, he embarked on this project on a small scale and in a very unofficial manner.
2) Years later, the leader of that time, Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr (95 – 158 AH), wanted a standard book on Ḥadīth to be written. He was probably unaware that Imām Mālik was already privately compiling something on a small scale. Hence, he advised Imām Mālik to write a book. There are many different reports pertaining to the discussion between Abū Ja’far and Imām Mālik. We will suffice by quoting the following:
وروى أبو مصعب أن أبا جعفر قال لمالك: ضع للناس كتاباً أحملهم عليه. فكلمه مالك في ذلك فقال ضعه فما أحد أعلم منك…..
…..وفي رواية إن المنصور قال له: يا أبا عبد الله ضم هذا العلم ودون كتباً وجنب فيها شدائد ابن عمر ورخص ابن عباس وشواذ ابن مسعود واقصد أوسط الأمور وما اجتمع عليه الأئمة والصحابة. (ترتيب المدارك وتقريب المسالك – 1 / 101)
Abū Muṣʿab narrated that Abū Jaʿfar said to Mālik: ‘Compile a book for the people so I can impose it on them.’ Mālik then spoke to him regarding it, and he said, ‘Compile it, no one knows more than you.’ […]
In another narration, Manṣūr said to him: ‘O Abū ʿAbdullāh, compile this knowledge and write books, avoided therein the severity of Ibn ʿUmar, the concessions of Ibn ʿAbbās and the exclusivity of Ibn Masʿūd. Choose moderation in the matters and what the scholars and the companions agreed upon.’
There are many other narrations of this sort.
This was a great encouragement for Imām Mālik . ʿAllāmah Kawtharī says:
فتقوت عزيمة مالك ، حتى تجرد لجمع الصفوة من الأحاديث والأثار المروية عند أهل المدينة ، ولجمع العمل المتوارث بينهم ، مقتصرا في الرواية على شيوخ أهل المدينة (تقدمة أحاديث الموطأ للدارقطني – ص: 3)
So Mālik’s determination was strengthened, until he occupied himself in gathering select aḥādīth and āthār narrated by the people of Madīnah, and to collect the practices inherited among them, limiting himself to the narrations of the senior scholars of Madīnah.
Commencement Date and Duration
We have gathered four things thus far:
• Imām Mālik started to write the Muwaṭṭaʾ very early in his life, taking inspiration from another scholar.
• A ruler thereafter requested that Imām Mālik should write.
It is essential that we determine on which pilgrimage Abū Ja’far suggested this to Imām Mālik, so that we can learn exactly when the Imām started to write on an official basis:
Shaykh ʿAbdul Fattāḥ Abū Ghuddah writes that he researched to find the years in which the leader Abū Jaʿfar performed ḥajj. He found that Abū Jaʿfar performed ḥajj five times:
• 140 AH
• 144 AH
• 147 AH
• 152 AH
• 158 AH
وقد استقرأت حجات أبي جعفر بعد خلافته، في “تاريخ الطبري”، فتبين أنها كانت خمس حجات، أولها في سنة 140 ثم سنة 144، ثم سنة 147، ثم سنة 152، ثم سنة 158، التي توفي فيها بمكة حاجا محرما. (تقدمة تعليق الممجد – 1 / 14)
The (dates of the) pilgrimages of Abū Jaʿfar after his caliphate were researched (and documented) in Tārīkh aṭ-Ṭabarī, and it became clear that they were five pilgrimages, the first of which was in the year 140, then in the year 144, then in the year 147, then in the year 152, and then in the year 158, in which he passed away in Makkah, as a pilgrim in iḥrām.
It could be in any of these pilgrimages that the ruler advised Imām Mālik .
From another report we learn that Imām Mālik was with Abū Ja’far on another pilgrimage, and they spoke about the book. That illustrates that the book was already complete. ‘Allāmah Ibn ‘Abdil Barr transmits:
وما ذكره محمد بن عمر فحدثناه الحارث بن أبى أسامة عن محمد بن سعد ، عنه قال سمعت مالك بن أنس يقول: لما حج أبو جعفر المنصور ، دعانى فدخلت عليه ، فحادثته وسألنى فأجبته ، فقال إنى عزمت أن آمر بكتبك هذه التى قد وضعت يعنى الموطأ فتنسخ نسخا ثم أبعث الى كل مصر من أمصار المسلمين منها نسخة وآمرهم أن يعملوا بما فيها ولا يتعدوها الى غيرها ويدعوا ما سوى ذلك من هذا العلم المحدث فانى رأيت أصل العلم رواية أهل المدينة وعلمهم (الإنتقاء في فضائل الثلاثة الأئمة الفقهاء – ص: 80)
When Abū Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr performed ḥajj, he called me. I went and I spoke to him, and he asked me, and I answered him. He then said, ‘I have resolved to order these books of yours that have been written, meaning Al- Muwaṭṭaʾ, so that copies are made, then I will send copies to every Muslim city, and I will order them to practice what is in it and not transgress it, and leave everything besides this new knowledge, for I regard the foundation of knowledge, the narrations of the people of Madīnah and their teachings.’
This suggests that the book was complete, and the leader is now considering to make it a code of law.
Likewise, there were students of Imām Mālik transmitting from him the Muwaṭṭaʾ just a few years after 140 AH. For example, ʿAlī ibn Ziyād transmitted the Muwaṭṭaʾ before the year 150 AH. We will discuss that presently, in shāʾ Allāh.
However, in contrast to the above, there are narrations which suggest that the book was not yet complete, until the demise of Abū Ja’far.
Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ quotes that the Muwaṭṭaʾ was not complete until the year in which Abū Jaʿfar passed away:
فوضع الموطأ فلم يفرغ منه حتى مات أبو جعفر (ترتيب المدارك وتقريب المسالك – 1 / 60)
So he wrote the Muwaṭṭaʾ and did not finish it until Abū Jaʿfar passed away.
That would mean that the Muwaṭṭaʾ was not completed by the year 158 AH, since Abū Jaʿfar passed away in that year.
The method of combining all of these is that Imām Mālik continued to revise and edit the Muwaṭṭaʾ until his demise. Thus, technically, the book was only to be fully completed in the year that Imām Mālik passed away. Every year the book was altered, edited, and changed. There was an annual edition which was newer. Thus, at every given year from around 150 AH, the book was complete; in a sense that the copy in the year was the final version. If Imām Mālik passed away earlier, that would be the final official copy of the Muwaṭṭaʾ. However, since Imām Mālik lived on, he continued to edit the Muwaṭṭaʾ, and thus, the new copy of the Muwaṭṭaʾ made the others incomplete. If Imām Mālik lived beyond 179 AH, the Muwaṭṭaʾ that we have today would have also been different.
Once the above is understood, we cannot understand how it is said that it took between 40 – 60 years to write the Muwaṭṭaʾ; yet there are so many students who acquired the Muwaṭṭaʾ in his life. Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥabībullāh ash-Shanqīṭī said:
والزمن الذي به قد ألفا موطأ الإمام فيه اختلفا
فقيل عنه أربعون عاما وقيل ستون ترى تماما (دليل السالك – ص: 60)
The time frame in which the Imām authored the Muwaṭṭaʾ has views that are contradictory…
It is said that it was forty years… while others said it was plausibly presented in sixty.
If we ignore the fact that Imām Mālik acquired the initial idea from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Mājishūn’s book (by assuming that he might have not commenced then), it will mean that the leader issued this command to Imām Mālik during the year of 140 AH.
Taking into consideration that Imām Mālik passed away in 179 AH, it will mean that Imām Mālik took 38-39 years to write the book. Arabs generally round off amounts like these, and even in English we tend to sometime to the same (If something is $9.90, we will simply say that it is $10).
Hence, the narration mentioning that Imam Mālik dedicated 40 years of his life to this blessed book is rounded off from 38 / 39 to 40. ʿAllāmah Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr mentions with his chain to ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdil Wāḥid that he said:
عرضنا على مالك الموطأ إلى أربعين يوما فقال كتاب ألفته في أربعين سنة أخذتموه في أربعين يوما قلما تَتَفقهون فيه (الاستذكار – 1 / 13)
We read the Muwaṭṭaʾ to Mālik [and completed it in] forty days. He then said, ‘A book that I wrote in forty years, which you have studied in forty days, you will hardly understand it.’
Another transmission has that Imām Mālik worked on the book for sixty years. Abū Nuʿaym narrates with his chain to Abū Khulayd, that he said:
أقمت على مالك فقرأت الموطأ في أربعة أيام فقال مالك علم جمعه شيخ في ستين سنة أخذتموه في أربعة أيام لا فقهتم أبدا (حلية الأولياء – 6 / 331)
I stayed with Mālik and recited the Muwaṭṭaʾ in four days. Mālik said, ‘knowledge that was collected by a scholar in sixty years, you took it in four days. You will not understand it.’
That would mean that he started to write the Muwaṭṭaʾ around the year 119- 120 AH, when he was still about 26- 27 years old, and then spent his life thereafter working on this book. This could be an indication to the time that he started on a small scale; after seeing ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Mājishūn’s book.
The point to appreciate from all these is that you have an expert spending 40-60 years just on this one book. This is enough to illustrate the lofty status of this noble book.
Quality Check
Although he was constantly checking through the book himself, Imām Mālik was conveying it to very capable and accomplished students who grew up to become leading muḥaddithīn and fuqahā’. If he had to make any mistakes, these competent scholars in his majlis would correct him. Despite all of that, Imām Mālik still says that he showed his book to seventy fuqahā’.
Abū ‘l-Ḥasan ibn Fahr narrated in his book: Faḍāʾil Mālik with his chain that Imām Mālik said:
عرضتُ كتابي هذا على سبعين فقيهاً من فقهاء المدينة. (تزيين الممالك – ص: 89)
I showed this book of mine to seventy jurists of Madīnah.
The First to Write a Muwaṭṭaʾ
Imām Mālik gave this book the title: Al-Muwaṭṭaʾ. There are different views on who was the first the coin this term.
1) Imām Mālik
Some scholars claim that indeed, Imām Mālik was the very first person to ever give a book this type of a title. Ibn Fahr said:
لم يسبِق مالكا أحد على هذه التسمية (تزيين الممالك – ص: 89)
No one has ever used this name before Mālik.
Imām Ṣuyūṭi quoted this statement.
2) Ibn Abī Dhi’b
Some scholars felt that Ibn Abī Dh’ib was the was the first. They base this on a statement of Imām Dārquṭnī. ʿAllāmah Khaṭīb quotes from his teacher, Aḥmad ibn Ghālib who quotes from Imām Dārquṭnī that he said:
أول من صنف من البصريين سعيد بن أبي عروبة وحماد بن سلمة وصنف ابن جريج ومالك بن أنس وكان ابن أبي ذئب صنف موطأ فلم يخرج. (الجامع لأخلاق الراوي وآداب السامع – 5 / 141)
The first to compile among the people of Basra was Saʿīd ibn Abi ʿArubah and Ḥammād ibn Salamah, Ibn Jurayj, Mālik ibn Anas also compiled and Ibn Abi Dhiʾb wrote a Muwaṭṭaʾ, but it wasn’t circulated.
Ibn Abī Dhi’b was older than Imām Mālik. He was born in the year 80 AH and passed away in 159 AH. You will need proof to claim that Imām Mālik gave the title Muwaṭṭaʾ before him.
3) ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Ibn Majishūn
From the statement that we quoted in the beginning, it is very clear in that narration that ‘Abd al-‘Azīz was the first:
قال غيره أول من عمل الموطأ عبد العزيز بن الماجشون (ت 164 ه) عمله كلاماً بغير حديث فلما رآه مالك قال ما أحسن ما عمل ولو كنت أنا لبدأت بالآثار، ثم شددت ذلك بالكلام ثم عزم على تصنيف الموطأ. (ترتيب المدارك وتقريب المسالك – 1 / 102)
Others said that the first person to write a Muwaṭṭaʾ was ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Mājishūn. (d. 164 A.H.) He wrote in it statements and not aḥādīth. When Mālik saw it, he said, ‘What a good thing he did, and if it were me, I would have started with the Āthār, then emphasised that with statements.’ He then resolved to compile the Muwaṭṭaʾ. (Tartīb al-Madārik – 1 / 103)
Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ‘Alawī al-Mālikī gives a counter response to this. He writes:
قلت: وهذا لا يتعارض مع قول من قال: “أول من عمل الموطأ عبد العزيز بن الماجشون” بل إن ميزة الأولية لمالك باقية ، لأن أولية مالك في إطلاق الإسم ، فهو أول من استعمل لفظ “الموطأ” وأطلقه. أما أولية ابن الماجشون فهي في نوع العمل والطريقة ، ويفسر هذا ما أخرجه ابن عبد البر عن الفضل بن محمد بن حرب قال: “أول من عمل كتابا بالمدينة على معنى الموطأ ابن الماجشون” والشاهد هو قوله: “على معنى الموطأ” أي: على طريقة ومنهج الموطأ. وهذا لا ينافي أن أول من سمى هذا العمل موطأ هو الإمام مالك. وأصرح من هذا: قول ابن فهر: لم يسبق مالكا أحد إلى هذه التسمية ، فإن من ألف في زمانه بعضهم سمى ب “الجامع” وبعضهم سمى ب “المؤلف” وبعضهم ب المصنف (فضل الموطأ وعناية الأمة الإسلامية به – ص: 20)
We say, ‘This does not contradict the opinion of those who say that the first to compile a muwaṭṭaʾ was ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Mājishūn, rather the advantage is given to Mālik because he was the first to give the name and to use the word ‘muwaṭṭaʾ’, To consider Ibn al-Mājishūn as the first will be with regards to the type of the action and its manner. The extraction from Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr regarding Faḍl bin Muḥammad bin Ḥarb expounds on this, he says, ‘The first to work on a book in Madīnah in the style of a muwaṭṭaʾ was Ibn al-Mājishūn.’ The proof from this statement is the words ‘ʿalā maʾnā ‘l-muwaṭṭaʾ’. This does not oppose the fact that the first to name this kind of work ‘Muwaṭṭaʾ’ was indeed Imām Mālik. The statement of Ibn Fahr further clarifies this, ‘Mālik was not preceded by anyone in keeping this name, this is because those who authored books in his time kept the names ‘Al-Jāmiʾ’ and some kept the name ‘Al-Mu’allaf’ and ‘Al-Muṣannaf’.
Nevertheless, we cannot be sure and state with absolute certainty who was the very first person to write a book and call it a muwaṭṭāʾ. What we can be certain of; is that Imām Mālik indeed was from amongst the first three.
Method of Compilation
Imām Mālik did not write and publish this book like is common. Rather, he would dictate the book. To acquire a copy, a student would be required to attend his lessons and write down everything.
It is in this light also that that Ahmed el-Shamsi writes:
“The challenges of defining authorial agency are compounded in specific historical contexts and cultures of writing. In the early Islamic written tradition, the way in which important works such as Ibn Isḥāq’s Sīra and Malik b. Anas’s Muwaṭṭaʾ were composed and disseminated meant that that the role of the nominal author or originator of the text was entwined with that of the texts subsequent transmitters. The authors original text (insofar as there was one) would be copied by students, who would then check the accuracy of their copies against the authors copy in auditory sessions in which either the original or the copy was read aloud. A students copy, thus certified, became the student recension, which was transmitted to the subsequent students.” (The Muwaṭṭaʾ And Its Recensions – page 1-2)
This is a very important point to keep in mind, so that you can understand the differences in the various transmissions. So Shaykh El-Shamsy concludes the paragraph saying:
“The author, meanwhile, would continue to teach the text to further students of his own, making changes to the text and adding and subtracting material in the process. Consequently, the students’ recensions would naturally come to differ over time.” (The Muwaṭṭaʾ And Its Recensions – page 2)
ʿAllāmah Kawtharī wrote:
فأخذ مالك يلقي الموطأ على أصحابه ، فيتلقونه منه سماعا ، ولم يكن تأليفه الكتاب ليعطيه للناس فينسخوه ويتداولوه بينهم ، كعادة أهل الطبقات المتأخرة في تصانيفهم ، بل كان التعويل حينذاك على السماع فقط.
Mālik thus began transmitting the Muwaṭṭaʾ to his companions, and they received it from him by listening. His composing the book was not to give it to people so that they could copy it and circulate it among themselves, as is the custom of the people of later eras regarding their compilations, rather the reliance at that time was only on listening.
وكان تأليفه الكتاب لنفسه خاصة ، لئلا يغلط فيما يلقيه على الجماعة ، كعادة أهل طبقته من العلماء في تأليفهم ، ولذا كان يزيد فيه وينقص منه ، حسب ما يبدو له في كل دور من أدوار التسميع المختلفة ، فاختلفت نسخ الموطأ ترتيبا ، وتبويبا، وزيادة، ونقصا، وإسنادا، وإرسالا ، على اختلاف مجالس المستملين.
He composed the book specifically for himself, lest he err in what he transmits to the group, as is the custom of the people of his class of scholars in their compilations. Therefore, he used to add to it and delete, according to what appeared best to him in each of the different rounds of recitation. Hence, the copies of the Muwaṭṭaʾ differed in order, classification, addition, deletion and chain of transmission, according to the different assemblies of the recipients.
فأصبح رواتها على اختلاف الختمات هم مدونوها في الحقيقة ، منهم من سمع عليه “الموطأ” سبع عشرة مرة، أو أكثر، أو أقل، بأن لازمه مددا طويلة تسع تلك المرات (تقدمة أحاديث الموطأ للدارقطني – ص: 3)
So, its narrators, according to the different completions, are the ones who wrote it down in reality. Among them were those who read “Al-Muwaṭṭaʾ” to him seventeen times, or more, or less, in that they accompanied him for long periods of time, nine of those times.
As mentioned above, over these four to six decades, every year when the Muwaṭṭaʾ was being read to Imām Mālik , he analysed the narrations, inspected the verdicts, and improved on the content.
Year after year he continued adding, deleting and editing. Hence, when he initially wrote the Muwaṭṭaʾ, there were many more narrations:
قال عتيق الزبيري: وضع مالك الموطأ على نحو من عشرة آلاف حديث فلم يزل ينظر فيه سَنة ويسقط منه حتى بقي هذا ولو بقي قليلاً لأسقطه كله. يعني تحرياً. (ترتيب المدارك وتقريب المسالك – 1 / 102)
ʿAtīq az-Zubayrī said, ‘Mālik compiled the initial Muwaṭṭaʾ with approximately ten thousand aḥādīth, then continued looking through it yearly, and deleting from it until this remained. And if he remained for a little while longer, he would have deleted it all, out of caution.’
ʿAtīq az-Zubayrī is mentioning that Imām Mālik initially had ten thousand narrations in the Muwaṭṭaʾ. But since he was deleting, you have other scholars who mentioned lesser amounts. For example, ʿAllāmah Ṣuyūṭī quotes from Alkiyā al-Harāsī :
إن موطأ مالك كان اشتمل على تسعة الاف حديث ، ثم لم ينقي حتى رجع على سبعمأة (تزيين الممالك – ص: 88)
Mālik’s Muwaṭṭaʾ contained nine thousand Aḥādīth, then it was not refined until he retracted seven hundred.
Others mentioned amounts that are less than half:
قال سليمان بن بلال لقد وضع مالك الموطأ وفيه أربعة آلاف حديث أو قال أكثر. (ترتيب المدارك وتقريب المسالك – 1 / 102)
Sulayman ibn Bilāl said, ‘Mālik composed the Muwaṭṭaʾ and it contained four thousand aḥādīth.’ Or he said more.
Besides that; just as there were narrations that were deleted, there were narrations that were added as well:
قال أبو محمد بن حزم: آخر شيء رُوي عن مالك من الموطآت:
(موطأ أبي مصعب)، و(موطأ أحمد بن إسماعيل السهمي)، وفي هذين الموطأين نحو من مائة حديث زائدة. وهما آخر ما روي عن مالك.
وفي ذلك دليل على أنه كان يزيد في (الموطأ) أحاديث كل وقت، كان أغفلها، ثم أثبتها، وهكذا يكون العلماء – رحمهم الله -. (سير أعلام النبلاء – 11 / 437)
Abū Muḥammad ibn Ḥazm said: ‘The last of what was narrated from Mālik from the Muwaṭṭaʾat is the Muwaṭṭaʾ of Abī Muṣʿab, and the Muwaṭṭaʾ of Aḥmad ibn Ismāʿīl as-Sahmī. There are about a hundred additional aḥādīth in these two. And they are the last of what was narrated from Mālik.’
This is evidence that he used to continuously add aḥādīth to Al-Muwaṭṭaʾ, he would disregard them, then verify them, and this is the way of the scholars – may Allāh have mercy on them.
Technically, you can say that narrations were swapped. We will hopefully discuss the number of narrations in the various Muwaṭṭaʾ. For now, just know that the amounts have changed every year.
Mawlānā Zakariyyā Khandlawi wrote:
فإنه – رضي الله عنه – كان ينقيه ويختبره عاما فعاما ، ولذا ترى الاختلاف في النسخ من الزيادة والنقصان (مقدمة أوجز المسالك – ص: 93)
He – may Allāh have mercy on him – used to refine it and assess it year by year, and therefore, you see differences in the copies- additions and omissions.
May Allāh Taʿālā have mercy on them all.