al-Maqasid al-Hasana fi Bayan Kathir min al-Ahadith al-Mushtahara ala al-Alsina
- Author died
- 902 AH
- Editions
- t al-Ghumari · T al-Maymana · +1
al-Maqasid al-Hasana fi Bayan Kathir min al-Ahadith al-Mushtahara ala al-Alsina (The Good Aims in Clarifying Many of the Hadiths Circulated on the Tongues) is a hadith reference work by the Shafi'i scholar and hadith master Shams al-Din al-Sakhawi (831–902 AH / 1428–1497 CE), devoted to evaluating popular narrations and proverbs widely circulating among people .
Background and Purpose
Al-Sakhawi was prompted to compile the work by the widespread tendency among people to transmit phrases and attribute them carelessly to the Prophet without knowing whether they had any authentic transmission basis . He underscored that falsely attributing statements to the Prophet is among the gravest of major sins, citing scholarly positions regarding the severe ruling on intentional fabrication .
The book belongs to an established genre of critical works on widely circulating narrations, preceded by such treatises as Ibn Taymiyya's Ahadith al-Qussas, Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi's al-Tadhkira fi al-Ahadith al-Mushtahara, and the work of al-Sakhawi's teacher Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, al-La'ali al-Manthura fi al-Ahadith al-Mashhura .
Structure and Methodology
Al-Sakhawi organized the narrations alphabetically according to the initial letters of each statement to allow fast retrieval, and added a topical index arranged by subject headings at the end of the text . In standard numbered printings, the compilation contains 1,356 entries .
In his introduction, al-Sakhawi explained that his use of the word "hadith" in the title was in its general linguistic meaning rather than its strict technical sense; consequently, the book treats:
- Prophetic reports (marfu),
- Companion statements (mawquf),
- Successor statements (maqtu), and
- Widely quoted sayings that have no origin in the prophetic tradition at all .
For each entry, al-Sakhawi identifies the primary source collections that recorded the text, traces its transmission routes and chains of narrators, and evaluates its authenticity (whether sound, acceptable, weak, or baseless) . Where he found no source for a report, he noted its absence, and when he suspected that a report might have an undiscovered origin, he refrained from a categorical ruling and stated, "I do not know it" (la a'rifuh) .
Reception and Scholarly Impact
Al-Maqasid al-Hasana came to be recognized among hadith scholars as one of the most comprehensive and technically rigorous reference works on popular narrations . Ibn al-Imad al-Hanbali described it as more comprehensive than the contemporaneous compilation by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, al-Durar al-Muntathira fi al-Ahadith al-Mushtahara, though noting that each book preserved reports not found in the other .
Later scholars relied heavily on al-Sakhawi's compendium. Najm al-Din al-Ghazzi compiled Itqan ma Yahsun min al-Akhbar al-Da'ira ala al-Alsun by combining the contents of al-Zarkashi's, al-Sakhawi's, and al-Suyuti's works . Similarly, Ismail al-Ajluni drew extensively upon al-Maqasid al-Hasana while composing his major dictionary of popular traditions, Kashf al-Khafa' .
Abridgments and Editions
Due to its detailed transmission chains, several scholars prepared abridgments and summaries of al-Maqasid al-Hasana:
- Al-Sakhawi's student Ibn al-Dayba al-Shaybani (d. 944 AH) abridged it into Tamyiz al-Tayyib min al-Khabith mimma Yaduru ala Alsinat al-Nas min al-Hadith, condensing the chains of transmission to the primary narrator and source while adding supplementary remarks marked with "I say" (qultu) .
- Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad al-Manufi (d. 939 AH) summarized it alongside materials from al-Suyuti in al-Wasa'il al-Saniyya min al-Maqasid al-Sakhawiyya .
- A summary was prepared by Taqi al-Din al-Futuhi, and another by Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Manufi (d. 931 AH) under the title al-Durra al-Lami'a fi Bayan Kathir min al-Ahadith al-Sha'i'a .
- Muhammad ibn Abd al-Baqi al-Zurqani (d. 1122 AH) compiled two abridgments, one larger and one smaller .
The original work was published in Cairo edited by Abd Allah al-Ghumari and Abd al-Wahhab Abd al-Latif (Dar al-Adab al-Arabi, 1375 AH), and later in Beirut edited by Muhammad Uthman al-Khisht (Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi, 1405 AH) .
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