al-Fath al-Samawi
- Author died
- 1031 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-ʿĀṣimah
al-Fath al-Samawi bi-Takhrij Ahadith al-Qadi al-Baydawi (The Heavenly Opening in the Extraction of the Hadiths of al-Qadi al-Baydawi) is a hadith reference and authentication work authored by the Egyptian Shafi'i scholar Abd al-Rauf al-Munawi (d. 1031 AH / 1622 CE) . The work is dedicated to identifying the primary sources, chains of transmission, and legal and critical status of the traditions cited in the Quranic commentary Anwar al-Tanzil wa-Asrar al-Ta'wil by al-Baydawi (d. 685 AH or 691 AH) .
Background and Purpose
In his introduction, al-Munawi observes that while multiple scholars had produced works extracting and verifying the hadiths in al-Zamakhshari's Quranic commentary al-Kashshaf, he found no prior scholar who had dedicated an independent monograph (ta'lif mustaqill) specifically to extracting the traditions in al-Baydawi's Tafsir . He emphasizes that a standalone verification was urgently needed because the narrations embedded in al-Baydawi's commentary encompass authentic (sahih), weak (da'if), fabricated (mawdu'), and baseless or entirely untraceable reports (ma la asla lahu) . al-Munawi notes that he compiled this treatise despite suffering severe distress, grief, and physical afflictions at the time of writing .
Structure and Method
The work is organized sequentially following the chapters of the Quran, opening with Surat al-Fatiha and proceeding through the text of al-Baydawi's commentary . For each entry, al-Munawi:
- Cites the specific excerpt from al-Baydawi's Tafsir containing a prophetic narration, Companion statement, or interpretive report .
- Attributes the narration to its primary compilations, including the major collections of hadith and early tafsir works (such as those of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, al-Darimi, Ibn Khuzayma, Ibn Hibban, al-Bayhaqi, Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Ibn Abi Hatim, and Ibn Mardawayh) .
- Highlights textual differences (riwayāt), analyzes transmission defects such as interrupted chains (inqita'), clarifies when al-Baydawi combined separate narrations into one, and notes discrepancies between al-Baydawi's cited phrasings and the canonical recordings .
- Evaluates the authenticity of narrations, including exposing widely circulated forged traditions concerning the specific virtues of individual Quranic surahs .
- Incorporates linguistic and rhetorical explanations for obscure terms and concepts found within the hadiths .
Publication
The work was edited by Ahmad Mujtaba ibn Nadhir Alam al-Salafi and published in three volumes by Dar al-Asimah in Riyadh (1409 AH / c. 1988–1989 CE) .
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