al-Ilam bi Naqd Kitab al-Rawd al-Bassam
- Author died
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- Editions
- Mu’assasat Ghirās lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzī‘ wa-al-Di‘āyah wa-al-I‘lān
al-I‘lam bi-Naqd Kitab al-Rawd al-Bassam (The Notification Regarding the Critique of the Book al-Rawd al-Bassam) is a contemporary critical Hadith monograph written by the Kuwaiti researcher Muhammad Sabah Mansur . Published in 1423 AH / 2003 CE, the work provides a detailed scholarly examination and correction of the Hadith compilation and grading found in al-Rawd al-Bassam bi-Tartib wa-Takhrij Fawa'id Tammam by Dr. Jasim al-Fuhayd al-Dawsari .
Background and Purpose
The author completed the manuscript on 23 Sha‘ban 1423 AH / 28 October 2002 CE in al-Jahra, Kuwait . The book originated as marginal notes and corrections compiled while studying al-Dawsari's multi-volume work on Tammam al-Razi's Fawa'id . Prompted by consultations with students of Islamic knowledge and scholars—and receiving guidance from Shaykh Ali ibn Hasan al-Athari—Mansur assembled these annotations into an independent treatise .
The stated objectives of the work were to offer advice (nush) to readers and the author, to defend the Prophetic Sunnah against errors in authentication, and to address al-Dawsari's explicit and implicit criticisms of modern Hadith scholar Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani .
Structure and Methodology
Mansur categorizes the scholarly errors identified in al-Rawd al-Bassam into several broad areas :
- Rulings and judgments on the authenticity of traditions (al-hukm 'ala al-ahadith) .
- Shortcomings and omissions in source referencing and attribution (al-qusur fi al-'azw) .
- Deficiencies in detecting hidden defects ('ilal) and related rulings in narrator criticism (al-jarh wa-al-ta'dil) .
- Scribal errors, corruptions, and textual distortions (al-tashif wa-al-tahrif) .
- Textual omissions and incorrect diacritics/vocalization (al-saqt wa-aghlat al-dabt) .
- Critical evaluation of individual narrators .
- Linguistic and grammatical mistakes .
To substantiate his corrections of the texts and chains of transmission, Mansur relied on four comparative copies of Fawa'id Tammam :
- An incomplete manuscript from the Zahiriyya Library (parts 1 through 19), sourced via the manuscripts department at Kuwait University .
- A complete manuscript from the Chester Beatty collection, also obtained from Kuwait University .
- The printed two-volume edition edited by Hamdi Abd al-Majid al-Salafi and published by Maktabat al-Rushd in Riyadh .
- The two-volume doctoral dissertation edition prepared by Abd al-Ghani al-Tamimi at Umm al-Qura University .
Publication
The book was published in its first edition in 1423 AH / 2003 CE by Mu’assassat Gheras li-l-Nashr wa-l-Tawzi‘ in Kuwait .
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