al-Mudawi li Ilal al-Jami al-Saghir wa Sharhay al-Manawi
- Author died
- 1380 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Kutubī
al-Mudawi li-Ilal al-Jami al-Saghir wa-Sharhay al-Manawi (The Remedy for the Defects of al-Jamiʿ al-Saghir and the Two Commentaries of al-Munawi) is a critical hadith work by the Moroccan scholar Ahmad ibn al-Siddiq al-Ghumari (d. 1380 AH / 1960 CE), examining the hidden defects, transmitters, and chains of transmission in Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti's hadith collection al-Jami al-Saghir and its two commentaries by Zayn al-Din Muhammad Abd al-Rauf al-Munawi (d. 1031 AH / 1622 CE) .
Genesis and Purpose
The book originated from marginal annotations that al-Ghumari initially recorded on al-Taysir bi-Sharh al-Jami al-Saghir, al-Munawi's concise commentary on al-Suyuti's collection . After examining al-Munawi's larger commentary, Fayd al-Qadir, al-Ghumari observed that despite its extensive utility, it contained even more mistakes and erroneous assumptions regarding hadith criticism than al-Taysir . He subsequently extracted his notes on al-Taysir, tracked down the errors in Fayd al-Qadir, and expanded them into a comprehensive critical treatise .
Al-Ghumari composed the book to serve as an authoritative reference for resolving discrepancies and verifying hadith transmissions . He argued that al-Munawi lacked sufficient expertise in the technical craft of hadith criticism, which led to confusion and errors, and claimed that al-Munawi was prone to criticizing al-Suyuti's judgments out of personal animosity, even though correctness lay largely with al-Suyuti . Nonetheless, al-Ghumari also noted that he did not excuse al-Suyuti's own mistakes and scrutinized them where appropriate, though he regarded al-Suyuti's errors as far fewer in comparison to those of al-Munawi .
Method and Composition
In addressing the commentaries, al-Ghumari adopted a specific convention: when critiquing al-Munawi's smaller commentary (al-Taysir), he quoted him simply as "the commentator said" (قال الشارح), whereas for the larger commentary (Fayd al-Qadir), he explicitly designated it as "the larger one" (الكبير) . His analysis focuses on investigating hadith pathways (turuq), hidden defects (ilal), chains of transmission (asanid), and biographical evaluations of transmitters (rijal) .
The composition of the text progressed over several years:
- The author finished writing the first volume on the morning of Thursday, 14 Ramadan 1365 AH .
- The fifth volume was completed on the evening of Monday, 19 Muharram 1369 AH, followed by the sixth volume .
Reception and Publication
The author's brother, the Moroccan hadith scholar Abdullah ibn al-Siddiq al-Ghumari, frequently praised the work during his teaching circles in Tangier, describing it as one of the finest books written in its field and stating: من أراد صناعة الحديث فعليه بالمداوي ("Whoever desires the craft of hadith should turn to al-Mudawi") . The book was published in six volumes by Dar al-Kutubi in Cairo in 1996 CE .
Answer updated