بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

4 Muharram, 1444 AH (Sunday, 23 July , 2023)

Place Where Imām Muslim Wrote The Ṣaḥīḥ

Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar said:

ومسلم ‌صنف ‌كتابه ‌في ‌بلده بحضور أصوله في حياة كثير من مشايخه. (النكت على كتاب ابن الصلاح لابن حجر -1 / 283)

Amount of Time It Took To Write The Ṣaḥīḥ

Aḥmad ibn Salamah said:

‌كنت ‌مع ‌مسلم في تأليف (صحيحه) خمس عشرة سنة. (سير أعلام النبلاء – 12 / 566)

“I was with [Imām] Muslim during the compilation of his Ṣaḥīḥ for 15 years.”

This was the duration of the book.

The fact that he mentions that he was with Imām Muslim for 15 years does not negate that Imām Muslim could have probably even taken more time to write the book. He was probably only with Imām Muslim for 15 years whilst Imām Muslim was writing the book, and the few other years that Imām Muslim was writing, he was not present. It could be that he came a few years after Imām Muslim already commenced, or maybe he left a few years before Imām Muslim could complete the book. So the fact that he mentions that he was with Imām Muslim for 15 years whilst he was writing the Ṣaḥīḥ does not necessarily mean that Imām Muslim took 15 years to write the book. Thus, the only benefit we derive from this statement is that we now know that Imām Muslim took a ‘minimum’ of 15 years to write the book. He definitely did not write it in less than 15 years.

We need to determine if there is anything else to substantiate that Imām Muslim did indeed only take 15 years, or if he took more time.

There is another narration that convinces us that Aḥmad ibn Salamah was with Imām Muslim from the beginning until the end. Aḥmad ibn Salamah mentioned that he was with Imām Muslim from the year 227 AH until the time Imām Muslim passed away. ‘Afṣī used to say:

سمعت أحمد بن سلمة يقول: ‌صحبت ‌مسلم ‌بن ‌الحجاج ‌من ‌سنة ‌سبع وعشرين إلى أن دفنته. (تاريخ نيسابور طبقة شيوخ الحاكم – جمع البيروتي ص: 123)

Putting the above two reports together, it is reasonable to deduce that the entire duration took 15 years.

Date of Completion

We mentioned above that ‘Allāmah Dhahabī quoted from Aḥmad ibn Salamah that he said:

‌كنت ‌مع ‌مسلم في تأليف (صحيحه) خمس عشرة سنة. (سير أعلام النبلاء – 12 / 566)

‘Allāmah ‘Irāqī quoted that Aḥmad ibn Salamah said:

‌كنت ‌مع ‌مسلم بن الحجاج في تأليف هذا الكتاب سنة خمس ومائتين (التقييد والإيضاح – 1 / 131)

We know that Imām Muslim was only born in 206 AH. According to ‘Allāmah ‘Irāqī, he was born in 204 AH. Thus, ‘Allāmah ‘Irāqī says:

هكذا رأيته بخط الذي اعترض على ابن الصلاح سنة خمس ومائتين فقط وأراد بذلك أن تصنيف مسلم لكتابه قديم فلا يكون تاليا لكتاب البخاري وقد تصحف التاريخ عليه وإنما هو سنة خمسين ومائتين: بزيادة الياء والنون! وذلك باطل قطعا لأن مولد مسلم رحمه الله سنة أربع ومائتين. (التقييد والإيضاح – 1 / 131)

It now depends on whether you want to consider the quotation of ‘Allāmah ‘Irāqī to be the same statement as ‘Allāmah Dhahabī. In that case, the mistake was not in converting the 50 to 5, rather, it was in converting the words:

خمس عشرة سنة

To

سنة خمس ومائتين

If we assume that the statement was quoted incorrectly, then whatever is based on the statement will be incorrect. That will mean that it is incorrect for scholars to use the quotation of ‘Allāmah ‘Irāqī to prove that Imām Muslim did indeed terminate the writing of his Ṣaḥīḥ in 250 AH.

A second point to note is that no chain is given for this statement, and:

• Aḥmad ibn Salamah passed away in 286 AH

• ‘Allāmah Dhahabī was only born in 673 and he passes away in 748 AH (It is clear that there are a minimum of four centuries between ‘Allāmah Dhahabī and Aḥmad ibn Salamah).

• ‘Allāmah ‘Irāqī was only born in 725 AH.

Thus, there are many missing links in this quotation. Again, it is up to an individual whether he would still want to consider the report despite the missing links, or would he rather pass this statement.

Despite the above two issues, scholars still considered this statement and from there claimed that Imām Muslim commenced in 235 AH and completed the book in 250 AH.

Shaykh ‘Abdul Fattāḥ Abū Ghuddah quoted the way ‘Allāmah Dhahabī quoted the statement from Aḥmad ibn Salamah and the way ‘Allāmah ‘Irāqī quoted it, and he accepted both statements. Based on that, he then commented:

فأفاد النص الأول الذي نقله الحافظ الذهبي أن مسلما بقي في تأليف صحيحه خمس عشر سنة. وأفاد النص الثاني الذي نقله الحافظ العراقي – بربطه مع النص الأول – أنه فرغ من تأليفه سنة 250 ه ، فيكون مسلم قد بدأ في تأليفه سنة 235 حين كانت سنه 29 سنة، وانتهى منه حين كانت سنه 44 سنة ، وقد عاش بعد الفراغ من تأليفه 11 سنة (تتمة الموقظة – ص: 139)

Mawlānā Zakariyyā Kāndlawī wrote it Lāmi’:

وتأليف مسلم في سنة خمسين ومأتين كما جزم به العراقي وحكاه السيوطي في التدريب وكان مدة تأليفه خمس عشر سنة (لامع الدراري – ص: 40)

From this many scholars deduced that he probably commenced writing his Ṣaḥīḥ in 235 AH, and his age would be 31 according to those who feel that he was born in 204 AH and 29 according to those who feel that he was born in 206 AH.

Mawlānā Yūnus Jawnpūrī said:

فيكون ابتداءه سنة خمس وثلاثين ومأتين حين كان عمر مسلم إحدى وثلاثين سنة ، على المشهور في ولادته 204 (اليواقيت الغالية – 3 / 322)

Likewise, Shaykh Ṭawālabah mentioned:

وإنما يفهم منه أن مسلما فرغ من تأليفه في تلك السنة، ويكون قد ابتدأه سنة خمس وثلاثين ومأتين هجرية، وعمره أنذاك تسعة وعشرون عاما، وهو قول يسوغه العقل والمنطق (الإمام مسلم – ص: 104)

In short, if you consider that ‘Allāmah ‘Irāqī quoted the statement from Aḥmad ibn Salamah incorrectly, and also that there are so many centuries between ‘Allāmah ‘Irāqī and Aḥmad ibn Salamah, then you cannot be convinced that most definitely Imām Muslim completed the book in the year 250 AH.

There is one statement from a leading student of Imām Muslim, Shaykh Ibrāhīm ibn Sufyān an-Nisāpūrī, where he said that they completed reading the book to Imām Muslim in the year 257 AH. ‘Allāmah Ibn aṣ-Ṣalāḥ quotes:

قال إبراهيم فرغ لنا مسلم من قراءة الكتاب في شهر رمضان سنة سبع وخمسين ومائتين. (صيانة صحيح مسلم – ص: 107)

Likewise, is written on one of the reliable manuscripts. Shaykh ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Īsā al-Murādī wrote at the end of one of the manuscripts:

وجدت في النسخة التي سمعت منها هذا الكتاب: وفروع مسلم بن الججاج الحافظ رحمه الله يوم الأربعاء لعشر خلت من شهر رمضان سنة سبع وخمسين ومأتين (نسخة الإسكوريال – أ)

Some scholars assumed this to mean that that Imām Muslim completed writing his book in 257 AH. However, Shaykh ‘Abdul Fattāḥ Abū Ghuddah wrote in the footnotes of his own addendum of al-Muqiḍah:

فليس هذا الذي ذكره إبراهيم من التأريخ إلا تأريخا لسماعه الكتاب من مؤلفه الإمام مسلم في هذه السنة، وليس هو بتأريخ فراغ تأليف الكتاب (تعليقة تتمة الموقظة – ص: 139)

Yes, there is another way to strengthen that probably Imām Muslim did complete his book in 250 AH. This again entails deducing it from two separate narrations.

1) Imām Bukhārī came to Nisāpūr in 250 AH

‘Allāmah Dhahabī said:

وقال أبو عبد الحاكم: ‌أول ‌ما ‌ورد ‌البخاري نيسابور سنة تسع ومائتين، ووردها في الأخير سنة خمسين ومائتين، فأقام بها خمس سنين يحدث على الدوام. سير أعلام النبلاء – ط الرسالة 12/ 404

2) From the time he came to Nisāpur, Imām Muslim stayed very close to Imām Bukhārī

‘Allāmah Khaṭīb said:

ولما ورد البخاري نيسابور في آخر أمره ‌لازمه ‌مسلم، وأدام الاختلاف إليه. تاريخ بغداد ت بشار 15/ 121

Again, this does not necessarily mean that Imām Muslim stopped writing. He could have been spending many hours with Imām Bukhārī, and when he was not with him, he could have been writing.

In short, there is no concrete evidence to prove when Imām Muslim commenced or completed his Ṣaḥīḥ. Due to a few inferences and considering statements that lack chains, we could assume that he commenced the book in 235 AH and he completed it in 250 AH.

Number of Narrations

Imām Muslim was a leading Ḥāfiẓ of Ḥadīth, and he knew thousands of narrations by heart. That means that he had thousands of narrations at his disposal to select from for his Ṣaḥīḥ. Imām Nawawī said:

وجمعه من ‌ألوف مؤلفة من الأحاديث الصحيحة. (شرح النووي على مسلم – 1 / 14)

We know for sure that he selected it from 300 000 narrations. ‘Allāmah Khaṭīb quoted with his chain:

عن الحسين بن محمد الماسرجسي، يقول: سمعت أبي، يقول: سمعت مسلم بن الحجاج، يقول: صنفت هذا المسند الصحيح من ثلاث مائة ألف حديث مسموعة. (تاريخ بغداد – 15 / 121)

Imām Muslim carefully selected a few narrations from this large amount at his disposal.

We now need to determine how many narrations exactly he ultimately selected.

Generally, for every book, there will be differences in the total number, since some would count the statements of Ṣaḥābah and Tābi’īn as separate statements, whereas others would only count the Marfu’ narrations separately. However, for Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, it is much more complicated. This is due to how Imām Muslims quotes the chains and his entire methodology throughout the book. He has the following unique system:

1) He quotes from multiple unique teachers

2) He quotes to a scholars and then makes Taḥwīl and quotes with other chains to that scholar

3) He cites additional chains after a narration

4) He highlights differences in the chains

5) He quotes different chains to reveal a difference in the text.

Due to these reasons, the numbering, counts and conclusions on the number of narrations for Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim differ drastically. Those counting would differ on what to count as a separate narration, and what to consider as part of the previous narration.

Total Number According to Earlier Scholars

Amount of Narrations Without Repetitions

‘Allāmah Ibn aṣ-Ṣalāḥ mentioned the number of narrations of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī in his Muqaddimah, but he did not mention the number of the narrations of Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim in his Muqaddimah. ‘Allāmah ‘Irāqī said:

‌ولم ‌يذكر ‌ابن ‌الصلاح ‌عدة ‌أحاديث ‌مسلم (التقييد والإيضاح – ص: 27)

Probably the reason why ʿAllāmah Ibn aṣ-Ṣalāh did not mention the amount of narrations in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim in his Muqaddimah is because he did mention it in his Ṣiyānah Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. He wrote:

‌‌الفصل التاسع روينا عن أبي قريش الحافظ رحمه الله وإيانا قال كنت عند أبي زرعة الرازي فجاء مسلم بن الحجاج فسلم عليه وجلس ساعة فتذاكرا فلما أن قام قلت له هذا جمع ‌أربعة ‌آلاف حديث في الصحيح فقال أبو زرعة فلمن ترك الباقي (صيانة صحيح مسلم – ص: 101)

‘Allāmah Ibn ‘Asākir quoted this with his chain to Abū Quraysh, Muḥammad ibn Jumu’ah that he said:

كنا عند أبي زرعة الرازي فجاء مسلم بن الحجاج فسلم عليه وجلس ساعة وتذاكرا فلما أن قام قلت له هذا جمع أربعة آلاف حديث في الصحيح فقال أبو زرعة لم ترك الباقي. (تاريخ دمشق 93/58)

‘Allāmah Ibn aṣ-Ṣalāḥ commented that probably this amount of 4,000 excludes the repeated Aḥādīth.

أراد والله أعلم إن كتابه هذا ‌أربعة ‌آلاف حديث أصول دون المكررات. (صيانة صحيح مسلم – ص: 101)

 Taking from him, Imām Nawawī mentioned the same:

ومسلم بإسقاط المكرر نحو أربعة آلاف. (التقريب والتيسير – ص: 104)

A point to note is that Imām Nawawī added the word ‘naḥw’, indicating that this is an approximate amount. ‘Allāmah ‘Irāqī accepted this number. In al-Kāfī, ‘Allāmah Tabrīzī also agreed with it and said:

وجملة ما في كتاب مسلم نحو أربعة آلاف بإسقاط المكرر، والله أعلم. (الكافي في علوم الحديث – ص: 141)

All of these scholars are saying with certainty that there are 4000 narrations in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. However, Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar dismissed this by simply saying:

قلت: ‌وعندي ‌في ‌هذا ‌نظر. (النكت لابن حجر – 1 / 296)

He did not present any reason for his claim, nor did he suggest any alternate number. This number of 4000 then was mentioned by most scholars until Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim was formally printed less than 100 years ago. For atleast 700 years, scholars would claim that there are 4000 narrations in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, and for the centuries before that, we don’t have any other number mentioned for the number of narrations that exclude repetitions. Thus excluding Mukarrarāt, Mutāba’āt and Shawāhid – excluding all the additional chains that Imām Muslim quotes – the amount was said to be 4000 narrations.

Numbering According to his Number in the modern Day prints

The very first person to number/count the narrations is Shaykh Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī (1882 – 1967). He adopted the methodology from the Orientalists and came up with a unique method of counting all the different chains. In his print, he numbered the narration to 3,033. He even boasted saying:

وهو عمل ما سبقني إليه أحد من جميع المشتغلين بهذا الصحيح إذ كان جلُّ جهدهم أن يطلقوا عددا ما ورقها تخمينا وارتجالا لا يرتكز على أساس سليم، فجئت أنا بهذا الحصر كي أضع حدا حاسما فاصلا لهذا الاضطراب والبلبلة ولله الحمد”.

Note: Shaykh Muḥammad Fu’ād ‘Abdul Bāqī was an expert in typing and editing manuscripts. But he was not a great scholar. Despite his contribution, he definitely was not a Muḥaddith. He also worked a lot with the Orientalists.

Due to how complex it is to number the narrations, Shaykh Mūḥammad Fu’ād ‘Abdul Bāqī provided two numbers for every narration:

1) A continuous number that runs throughout the book without restarting. (This is called ar-Raqm at-Tasalsulī) This number runs throughout the book. It is the number of the primary narrations; from the beginning of the book to the end.

2) A number that only counts the primary narration of each chapter (for each chapter, he resets the number to one. Shaykh Mashhūr Āl Salmān and Shaykh Ṭawlābah)

(Note: This is something exclusively for Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, and other publishers also adopted the same system. Thus, one should read about the methodology of the print that he is using.)

This was the numbering of Shaykh Muḥammad Fu’ād ‘Abdul Bāqī. Since he was the first from modern day editors to number the narrations of Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, scholars of Ḥadīth, researchers, authors and academics actually considered this count of his. They mainly used it for referencing narrations, but many actually considered it as the actual precise number of narrations that feature within Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. For example, Shaykh Shu‘ayb al-Arnāwūṭ wrote in the footnotes of Siyar A’lām an-Nubalā:

مجموع ما في ” صحيح مسلم ” من الأحاديث غير المكررة (3033) حديثا. (تعليقة سير أعلام النبلاء – 12 / 566)

In the Ṭawq an-Najāh print – which features amongst the best prints of this Kitāb – Shaykh Zuhayr an-Nāsīr used the numbering of Shaykh Muḥammad Fu’ād ‘Abdul Bāqī and numbered the narrations accordingly.

Likewise, in the Muassasah Risālah print, they also used this as the one count for the narrations. In the Dār Ṭaybah print as well, they used the numbering of Shaykh Muḥammad Fu’ād ‘Abdul Bāqī.

(If a scholar is spending so many years typing the Kitāb, and he really aims for his print to be amongst the best, he will only rely on the numbering system of what he feels to be the most precise. Otherwise, there is nothing stopping him from numbering the narrations according to his own system, since he is typing out the book anyway. This shows how much consideration the scholars who actually worked on Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim gave for his numbering system.)

Although his count became famous, it is highly inaccurate. The reason is that he had to be loyal to the Orientalists that he was working with. Shaykh Muḥammad ‘Awwāmah said:

وعدد أحاديث صحيح مسلم في ترقيم الأستاذ محمد فؤاد عبد الباقى رحمه الله تعالى: 3033، وفيه خلل كبير ، سببه تعامله مع جماعة المستشرقين أصحاب ((المعجم المفهرس لألفاظ الحديث النبوي)) فهم الذين أسسوا له منهج ترقيم الحديث، على غير بصيرة منهم (تعليقة تدريب الراوي – 2 / 382)

 Shaykh Mashūr ibn Ḥasan Āl Salmān:

وبلغت في عدِّ محمد فؤاد عبد الباقي (3033) حديثًا من غير تكرار، وقد فحصت عددًا لا بأس به منها، فوجدت فوتًا فيه، أتيت عليه في نشرتي من “صحيح مسلم”، وهذه نماذج يسيرة من ذلك. (تعليقة الكافي – ص: 142)

He then presents numerous examples on errors of Shaykh ‘Abdul Bāqī, and he says:

فهو لم يقم على أصل سليم، ووقع فيه (بلبلة) و (اضطراب). )تعليقة الكافي – ص: 146)

In the Dār at-Ta’ṣīl print they presented a summary on why Shaykh Muḥammad Fu’ād ‘Abdul Bāqī’s number cannot be accurate:

ولكن يشوب ذلك أن الشيخ محمد فؤاد عبد الباقي قد يجعل للحديث الواحد رقمين فأكثر، وبالعكس، وكذا الحال بالنسبة لفنسنك، ومن هنا فلا يركن إلى صنيعهما (مقدمة صحيح مسلم – 1 / 102)

It is clear from this that the researchers of Dār at-Ta’ṣīl did not accept the numbering of Shaykh Muḥammad Fu‘ād ‘Abdul Bāqī.

They counted the narrations in a completely different and unique manner, and the total that they reached was just two less than Shaykh Muḥammad Fu’ād. The wrote:

هذا ، وقد قمنا في دار التأصيل بعَد أحاديث المسند الصحيح للإمام مسلم باعتبار الراوي والمتن، وذلك بعد الانتهاء من ضبط وتحقيق الكتاب على الأصول الخطية المعتمدة، وبالاستعانة بالحاسب الألى، فكان العدد على وجه التحديد كما يلى: عدد الاحاديث بدون المكرر (الأصول): 3031 حديثا

Nevertheless, from this we can see that the amount of 3033 or 3031 is just 25% off what ‘Allāmah Ibn aṣ-Ṣalāḥ quoted, and what earlier scholars would say.

May Allāh Taʿālā have mercy on them all

سبحانك اللهم وبحمدك ، أشهد أن لا إله إلا أنت ، أستغفرك وأتوب إليك