al-Muallim bi-Fawaid Muslim
- Author died
- 536 AH
- Editions
- al-Dār al-Tūnisiyyah lil-Nashr
al-Muallim bi-Fawaid Muslim (The Instructor on the Points of Benefit in Muslim's Collection) is an early 6th-century AH commentary on Sahih Muslim by the Maliki jurist al-Mazari (d. 536 AH / 1141 CE) .
Composition and Context
The work originated as dictations given during teaching sessions in Ramadan 499 AH in the city of al-Mahdiyyah, when Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj's Sahih was read to al-Mazari . As al-Mazari later explained, he had not set out initially to compose an independent commentary; instead, students recorded the analytical points he delivered in class—some verbatim, but mostly by meaning—and presented the collected notes to him upon finishing the reading, whereupon he reviewed, refined, and authorized the text .
While contemporaneous scholars composed limited treatments around the same period—such as Abd al-Ghafir al-Farisi's (d. 529 AH) al-Mufhim fi Sharh Gharib Sahih Muslim, Ibn al-Hajj's (d. 529 AH) commentary confined to the Book of Faith and the prologue, and Ismail ibn Muhammad al-Isfahani's (d. 535 AH) incomplete commentary—al-Muallim is regarded as the earliest surviving comprehensive commentary on Sahih Muslim . The title is vocalized as al-Mu'lim in the active participle form, though it is also widely pronounced al-Mu'allam, and is cited in historical records as al-Muallim bi-Fawaid Muslim or al-Muallim fi Sharh Muslim .
Content and Method
Because the work originated from teaching sessions rather than a planned monograph, it does not explain every narration in Sahih Muslim . Al-Mazari generally selected one or two central hadiths per thematic chapter to comment upon, citing only the specific phrase requiring explanation rather than the entire text . He passed over most of Muslim's famous methodological introduction, commenting on merely six or seven points within it, and his arrangement of narrations occasionally departed from Muslim's original order .
Methodologically, the commentary focuses on:
- Legal derivation (fiqh al-hadith): Extracting rulings and demonstrating the coherence between prophetic traditions and established legal principles, often tracing the development of positions within the Maliki school .
- Theological analysis: Addressing doctrinal questions from an Ash'ari perspective, including the figurative interpretation (ta'wil) of divine attribute traditions, along with governance topics such as the imamate, conditions of political allegiance (bay'ah), the relative merit of the Companions, and espionage during warfare .
- Hadith criticism and philology: Examining transmission pathways (turuq), noting variant readings among transmitters of the Sahih, and clarifying rare linguistic terms (gharib) and grammatical intricacies .
Reception and Scholarly Lineage
Al-Muallim established the template for Maghrebi and Andalusian commentaries on Sahih Muslim and was commended by later authorities . Ibn Khaldun described it as encompassing the finest points of hadith scholarship and multiple legal disciplines, and Ibn Khallikan characterized it as a superior commentary .
The work initiated a chain of successive expansions and super-commentaries:
- Qadi Iyad (d. 544 AH) wrote Ikmal al-Mu'lim bi-Fawa'id Muslim (Completing the Teacher), filling omissions and commenting on al-Mazari's notes .
- Subsequent Maliki scholars continued this line with works titled Ikmal al-Ikmal, including Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Baqquri (d. 707 AH) and Isa ibn Mas'ud al-Mankallati (d. 743 AH) .
- Al-Ubbiyy (d. 827 AH; also given as 828 AH) authored Ikmal Ikmal al-Mu'lim, integrating the commentaries of al-Mazari, Qadi Iyad, Abu al-Abbas al-Qurtubi, and al-Nawawi .
- Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Sanusi (d. 895 AH) composed Mukammil Ikmal al-Ikmal to supplement al-Ubbiyy's work .
Later hadith scholars drew extensively upon al-Muallim, including al-Qurtubi in al-Mufhim, al-Nawawi in al-Minhaj, and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in Fath al-Bari .
The book was edited and published in three volumes by Muhammad al-Shadhili al-Nayfar .
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