Al-Suyuti on the Merits of Imam ‘Ali
Dr Stephen R Burge
This article was specially written for The Institute of Ismaili Studies’ Website
The first paragraph of the article is reproduced below:
There are a great many short hadith (traditions attributed to Prophet Muhammad) collections comprising forty ahadith (pl. of hadith). The most famous is the Forty Ahadith of Muhyi al-Din Abu Zakariyya Yahya b. Sharaf al-Nawawi (d. 631/1233). The al-Nawawi collection, actually containing forty-two ahadith, was aimed at the general public. This can be seen in the work’s brevity, and the fact that the ahadith act as his summary of Islam as understood by the ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamaah (commonly referred to as Sunni Muslims), exploring the most important ideas and beliefs. The collection also contains many of the most famous ahadith in the Sunni canon, and so allows those members of society who might be daunted by weighty tomes such as the Sahihayn of al-Bukhari and Muslim (considered by most Sunni Muslims to be authoritative collections of ahadith), or who might find the works like the Musnad of Ibn Hanbal (a collection of ahadith with supporting chains of transmission) intimidating.
الإثنين سبتمبر 11, 2023 8:10 am من طرف الاسماعيلي اليامي
