al-Musnad al-Mustakhraj ala Sahih Muslim li-Abi Nuaym
- Author died
- 430 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmīyah
al-Musnad al-Mustakhraj ‘ala Sahih Muslim is a hadith work by the hadith master Abu Nu‘aym al-Asbahani (336–430 AH / 948–1038 CE), in which he compiled independent chains of transmission for the narrations found in Sahih Muslim by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj .
Title and Date of Composition
The work is known under several related titles across biographical and bibliographic literature. Ibn Nuqtah recorded the full title as al-Musnad al-Sahih al-Mustakhraj ‘ala Kitab Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj al-Qushayri, which corresponds to the inscription on the title leaf of the first volume of the Zahiriyyah manuscript . In that inscription, Abu Nu‘aym noted that he completed the compilation on Monday, 18 Muharram 373 AH . Ibn al-Salah referred to it as al-Musnad al-Mustakhraj ‘ala Kitab Muslim, while later authorities, including al-Dhahabi, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, and al-Kattani, frequently designated it by the abbreviated title al-Mustakhraj ‘ala Sahih Muslim .
Purpose and Methodology
The compilation belongs to the mustakhraj genre, in which a scholar takes the hadiths of an established collection and narrates them through his own independent chains of transmission (asānīd) rather than relying on the original author's line of transmission, meeting the original author’s chain at his immediate teacher or higher . Such works were composed to achieve higher chains of transmission (‘uluww al-isnād), provide corroborating paths that strengthen the reports, and preserve beneficial variations in hadith wording .
Abu Nu‘aym's stated objective was strict extraction (mujarrad al-istikhraj) rather than the addition of extensive independent legal chapter headings or extraneous narrations, in contrast to earlier works such as that of Abu Awanah al-Isfarayini . Methodologically, Abu Nu‘aym demonstrated close adherence to Muslim’s original structure and sequence :
- He maintained Muslim's ordering of hadiths within individual chapters across various Companions, whether Muslim cited them as primary proofs or as corroborating evidence .
- He preserved the sequence of different transmission routes for a single hadith, occasionally postponing a route that possessed a higher elevation in his own chains solely to mirror the order adopted in Sahih Muslim .
- Because the narrations were cited through distinct chains, the wordings at times contain slight textual variances compared to the original text of Muslim .
Transmission and Reception
The book was preserved and transmitted through several well-documented chains. Among the principal lines of transmission recorded on surviving parts is the transmission from Abu Nu‘aym through his student Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn Ahmad al-Haddad, and from al-Haddad to Abu al-Hasan Mas‘ud ibn Abi Mansur al-Jammal, who transmitted it to Abu al-Hajjaj Yusuf ibn Khalil al-Dimashqi . Later hadith scholars, including Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, studied and received the work via these continuous chains of audition and transmission licenses (ijāzāt) .
The text has been published in modern print, including an edition edited by Muhammad Hasan Muhammad Hasan Isma‘il al-Shafi‘i (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1417 AH / 1996 CE) .
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