al-Maqsad al-Ali fi Zawaid Abi Yala al-Mawsili
- Author died
- 807 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah
al-Maqsad al-Ali fi Zawaid Abi Yala al-Mawsili (The Lofty Objective Concerning the Unique Hadiths of Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili) is a hadith collection compiled by Nur al-Din al-Haythami (d. 807 AH / 1405 CE) that extracts traditions from the Musnad of Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili (d. 307 AH / 919 CE) not found in the six canonical books (al-Kutub al-Sittah) .
Background and Purpose
In his introduction, al-Haythami stated that while examining the Musnad of Abu Ya'la, he discovered an abundance of valuable traditions overlooked by many scholars . Consequently, he set out to gather and organize these unique reports (zawa'id) topically according to the chapters of jurisprudence (abwab al-fiqh) to facilitate reference for himself and other researchers .
Although the work is occasionally cited under variants such as al-Maqsad al-A'la fi Zawa'id Abi Ya'la or al-Maqsad al-Mu'alla ila Zawa'id Abi Ya'la, its correct title is al-Maqsad al-Ali fi Zawaid Abi Yala al-Mawsili .
Scope and Methodology
The work focuses on hadiths transmitted by Abu Ya'la that are absent from the six canonical collections (the Sahihayn of al-Bukhari and Muslim, and the four Sunan works) . Al-Haythami included:
- Entire traditions not found anywhere in the Six Books .
- Traditions that share a common origin with those in the Six Books but contain additional wording or context in Abu Ya'la's narration, which al-Haythami explicitly pointed out with phrasing such as "narrated by so-and-so except for his statement..." .
Al-Haythami drew primarily upon the transmission of Abu 'Amr ibn Hamdan—representing the shorter recension (al-riwayah al-sughra) of Abu Ya'la's Musnad—and supplemented it with the narrations of the Ten Promised Paradise from the transmission of Abu Bakr ibn al-Muqri', which represents the extended recension (al-riwayah al-kubra) .
Structure
The compilation contains the full chains of transmission (isnads) alongside the hadith texts . It is divided into 58 thematic books (kutub), beginning with Kitab al-Iman (Book of Faith), followed by Kitab al-Ilm (Book of Knowledge), Kitab al-Taharah (Book of Purification), and Kitab al-Salah (Book of Prayer), and concluding with Kitab al-Wara' (Book of Scrupulousness) and Kitab al-Zuhd (Book of Asceticism) .
Influence and Later Compilations
Al-Maqsad al-Ali was one of several specialized zawa'id monographs produced by al-Haythami, alongside works dedicated to the extra traditions of Musnad Ahmad, Musnad al-Bazzar, and the Mu'jam works of al-Tabarani . At the suggestion of his teacher Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi, al-Haythami later merged the material from these separate monographs into his comprehensive encyclopedia Majma' al-Zawa'id wa-Manba' al-Fawa'id, where he omitted the complete chains of transmission and evaluated the authenticity and reliability of the narrators .
Printed Editions
The text has been published in modern editions, including:
- An edition edited by Nayif al-Du'ays, published by Tihamah in Jeddah (1402 AH / 1982 CE) .
- An edition edited by Sayyid Kasrawi Hasan, published by Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah in Beirut (1413 AH / 1992 CE) .
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