al-Mustadrak ala al-Sahihayn

al-Mustadrak ala al-Sahihayn (The Rectification upon the Two Sahihs) is a major hadith compendium by the scholar Abu Abd Allah al-Hakim al-Naysaburi (321–405 AH / 933–1014 CE) al-Madkhal fi Tarikh al-S…+1, designed to supplement the two canonical collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim with authentic traditions that met their criteria but were omitted by them Maqalat Mawqi al-Durar al…+1.

Purpose and Scope

In his introduction, al-Hakim stated that scholars in Nishapur and elsewhere requested that he compile a book of hadiths transmitted through chains whose narrators meet the standards of al-Bukhari and Muslim, noting that neither compiler had claimed to include every authentic narration al-Madkhal fi Tarikh al-S…+1. The work encompasses unique transmission paths (turuq) and narrations al-Hakim collected across his travels and from regional teachers, particularly scholars of Nishapur documented in his biographical history al-Mustadrak ala al-Sahih…+1.

Methodology and Classification

Al-Hakim divided the hadiths in the work into distinct categories based on their authenticity and chains of transmission Minhaj al-Muhaddithin fi …:

• Narrations meeting the criteria of both al-Bukhari and Muslim, which he designated as authentic according to the condition of both (sahih ala shart al-shaykhayn) Minhaj al-Muhaddithin fi ….
• Narrations meeting the criteria of al-Bukhari alone or Muslim alone (sahih ala shart al-Bukhari or sahih ala shart Muslim) Minhaj al-Muhaddithin fi ….
• Narrations he judged authentic in their chain of transmission (sahih al-isnad) without strictly meeting the conditions of either compiler, alongside occasional reports whose weaknesses he noted Minhaj al-Muhaddithin fi ….

Scholars discussed al-Hakim's phrase "according to their condition" (ala shartihima). While Ibn al-Salah, Ibn Daqiq al-Id, and Salah al-Din al-Ala'i understood it to mean that the individual narrators in the chain were used as authoritative proof (ihtijaj) by al-Bukhari or Muslim, Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi noted that al-Hakim's introductory wording suggested narrators comparable in reliability to those used by the two compilers al-Intibah lima qala al-H…+1.

Scholarly Reception and Critique

While recognized as an indispensable repository of rare hadiths and chains al-Mustadrak ala al-Sahih…+1, al-Mustadrak faced scrutiny for al-Hakim's leniency (tasahul) in authentication Kashf al-Zunun an Asami a…+1.

Although Abu Sa'd al-Malini claimed that none of the book's hadiths fulfilled the conditions of the two compilers, Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi rejected this assessment as extreme Minhaj al-Muhaddithin fi …+1. Al-Dhahabi estimated that roughly a third to a half of the work satisfies the conditions of both compilers or one of them, about a quarter consists of good or sound chains containing subtle defects, and the remainder contains weak, anomalous (manakir), or fabricated (mawdu') narrations, from which he compiled a separate treatise of around one hundred baseless reports Minhaj al-Muhaddithin fi …+1. Ibn al-Jawzi included approximately sixty of its narrations in his work on fabrications (al-Mawdu'at), though later scholars defended al-Hakim regarding most of them al-Asas fi al-Sunna wa Fi…+1.

Critics, including Ibn Kathir and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, highlighted specific methodological lapses:

• Declaring a chain to meet the criteria of both compilers when it combined narrators used separately by each (such as Simak ibn Harb, used by Muslim, transmitting from Ikrima, used by al-Bukhari) al-Wasit fi Ulum wa Musta…+1.
• Stating that a hadith was omitted by al-Bukhari and Muslim when it was already present in one or both of their works al-Intibah lima qala al-H…+1.

Ibn Hajar explained that al-Hakim composed al-Mustadrak in his advanced years and drafted it as an unrevised manuscript; his dictation ended roughly midway through the second of six parts, with the remainder transmitted only through general authorization (ijazah), and death overtook him before he could edit and refine the draft al-Intibah lima qala al-H…+1.

Related Works and Abridgments

Numerous scholars authored summaries, marginalia, and critiques of al-Mustadrak:

• Talkhis al-Mustadrak (also known as Mustanad al-Alim fi Talkhis al-Mustadrak) by Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi, in which he summarized the book, evaluated al-Hakim's rulings, and noted narrations unique to al-Hakim over the Four Sunan al-Mustadrak ala al-Sahih…+1.
• Mukhtasar Talkhis al-Dhahabi by Siraj al-Din Ibn al-Mulaqqin (d. 804 AH), abridging al-Dhahabi's summary Mukhtasar Talkhis al-Dhah…+1.
• al-Kalam ala Ahadith Kathira fiha Da'f min Mustadrak al-Hakim by Ibn Abd al-Hadi Mukhtasar Talkhis al-Dhah….
• al-Mustakhraj ala Mustadrak al-Hakim by Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi Mukhtasar Talkhis al-Dhah….
• Incomplete commentaries and notes by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (titled Tawdih al-Mudrak fi Tashih al-Mustadrak) al-Intibah lima qala al-H…+1.
• An abridgment by Burhan al-Din al-Halabi (Sibt Ibn al-Ajami) al-Intibah lima qala al-H…+1.