al-Ifsah an Ahadith al-Nikah
- Author died
- 974 AH
- Editions
- Dar Ammar
al-Ifsah an Ahadith al-Nikah (Clarification of the Hadiths of Marriage) is a hadith treatise on the virtues, rulings, and ethics of marriage by the Shafi'i scholar Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (909–974 AH / 1504–1567 CE).
Purpose and Composition
In the introduction, al-Haytami explains that he authored the book after observing the custom of the inhabitants of Mecca during his era, who would recite verses from the Quran and hadiths concerning the virtues, benefits, and legal rulings of marriage in the sermon preceding the marriage contract. Having noticed that some speakers cited fabricated (mawdu') narrations in these sermons, he initially intended to gather a collection of forty hadiths on the topic and document their narrators.
Structure and Method
Although the author originally planned to compile forty traditions, the final work contains 130 main hadiths, in addition to supplementary narrations cited alongside primary entries and further traditions included in the epilogue.
Al-Haytami's method consists of citing each hadith, identifying who recorded it, noting some of its transmission routes (turuq) and variant phrasings (alfadh), and occasionally providing related traditions that share its meaning before moving to the next entry. He concludes the work with a chapter on marital rights, beginning with the rights of the husband over his wife and following with the rights of the wife over her husband.
Reception and Publication
Although al-Haytami composed the text specifically to warn against fabricated reports, commentators note that he nevertheless included several fabricated traditions within the collection.
The work was edited by Muhammad Shakur Amrir al-Mayadini and published by Dar Ammar in Amman in 1406 AH (1986 CE) in a single 208-page volume.
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