al-Muin ala Tafahhum al-Arbaeen
- Author died
- 804 AH
- Editions
- t Daghash
al-Muin ala Tafahhum al-Arbaeen (The Helper in Understanding the Forty) is a commentary by the Egyptian Shafi'i jurist and hadith master Ibn al-Mulaqqin (723–804 AH / 1323–1401 CE) on the famous forty-hadith collection compiled by al-Nawawi.
Content and Method
The work provides an exposition of al-Nawawi's compilation, which covers foundational hadiths encompassing Islamic theology, legal rulings, jurisprudence, and asceticism. Ibn al-Mulaqqin structures his commentary around clarifying the meanings of the texts, citing relevant prophetic traditions, companion reports (athar), poetic verses, and the opinions of earlier scholars. His method involves extensive quotation from preceding authorities, accompanied by critical evaluation, editorial additions, and abridgments where necessary.
Throughout the commentary, Ibn al-Mulaqqin explicitly references several of his other compositions, including:
- al-I‘lam bi-Fawa’id ‘Umdat al-Ahkam (his commentary on Umdat al-Ahkam)
- al-Badr al-Munir (his hadith verification of al-Rafi'i's al-Sharh al-Kabir)
- al-Tawdih li-Sharh al-Jami‘ al-Sahih (his commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari)
- al-Muqni‘ fi ‘Ulum al-Hadith
- Rijal al-‘Umdah
- al-Ashbah wa-l-Naza’ir
- Ghayat al-Sul fi Khasa’is al-Rasul
Reception, Manuscripts, and Editions
Subsequent scholars of the Shafi'i and wider Sunni tradition recorded the work among the primary commentaries on al-Nawawi's al-Arba‘un, including al-Sakhawi in al-Manhal al-'Adhb al-Rawi and Ibn Hajar al-Haytami in al-Fath al-Mubin.
Manuscript copies of the work are preserved in repositories such as al-Maktaba al-Mahmudiyyah at King Abdulaziz Public Library in Medina (MS 608/232, comprising 218 pages) and the library of the Islamic University of Madinah (MS 4/8361).
The text has been published in modern printed editions, including an edition edited by ‘Abd al-‘Al Mus‘ad (Cairo: al-Faruq al-Hadithah, 1426 AH / 2005 CE) and another edited by Daghsh ibn Shabib al-‘Ajmi (Kuwait: Maktabat Ahl al-Athar, 1433 AH / 2012 CE).
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