al-Ilmam bi Sharh Umdat al-Ahkam
- Author died
- 1417 AH
- Editions
- مطبعة السعادة
al-Ilmam bi Sharh Umdat al-Ahkam (Grasping the Commentary on the Pillar of Rulings) is a two-volume legal hadith commentary by the Saudi scholar Ismail al-Ansari (d. 1417 AH / 1996 CE), written as an explanatory guide to Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi's (d. 600 AH) hadith collection Umdat al-Ahkam .
Purpose and Scope
The work was tailored for male and female students at the intermediate, secondary, and scientific institute levels . It addresses the need for concise textbooks that allow students to grasp religious sciences and complete curriculum requirements without having to consult lengthy reference works . The underlying text, Umdat al-Ahkam, comprises legal hadiths agreed upon by Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari and Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj .
Method and Structure
For each hadith in the collection, al-Ansari follows a standardized pedagogical structure :
- Hadith Text: Quoting the tradition as transmitted in the matn .
- Narrator Identification (Rawiyuh / Ruwatih): Brief biographical notices covering the Companions who transmitted the hadith, including their lineages, conversions, virtues, and dates of death .
- Vocabulary (Mufradatuh): Lexical and morphological glosses of uncommon terms, grammatical particles, and phrases .
- Rulings and Benefits (Yustafadu minh): An enumerated list of juridical rulings, theological points, and practical lessons derived from the hadith without overinterpretation or contrived deduction .
In the second volume, al-Ansari maintained the same method while expanding his notes to address issues essential to the commentary, and repeated the biographies of narrators who had already appeared in the first volume to facilitate study without requiring students to cross-reference earlier volumes .
Publication
The first edition of Volume 1 was published in 1381 AH (1962 CE) by Matabi Dar al-Fikr in Damascus . The second edition of Volume 2 was published in 1392 AH (1972 CE) by Dar al-Tawhid .
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