al-Taliq al-Mumajjad ala Muwatta Muhammad
- Author died
- 1304 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Qalam
al-Taʿliq al-Mumajjad ʿala Muwattaʾ Muhammad (The Glorified Commentary on Muhammad's Muwatta) is an extensive Arabic commentary by the Indian jurist and hadith scholar Abu al-Hasanat al-Lakhnawi (1264–1304 AH / 1848–1886 CE) on Malik ibn Anas’s al-Muwattaʾ in the recension (riwayah) of his student Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani .
Composition and Context
Lakhnawi began composing the commentary in Shawwal 1291 AH while residing in Hyderabad in the Deccan . He drafted nearly half of the work, reaching the chapter on pilgrimage (Kitab al-Hajj), before pausing his writing in Shawwal 1292 AH to undertake his second pilgrimage to the Two Holy Mosques . Following his return in Rabiʿ al-Awwal 1293 AH and a prolonged period of illness contracted during his travels, he resumed work on the book, adding supplementary material to earlier sections and completing the entire commentary in Shaʿban 1295 AH while around twenty-seven to thirty years of age .
Lakhnawi wrote the work to serve as a comprehensive elucidation of Shaybani's transmission of al-Muwattaʾ, arguing in his introduction that this specific recension possessed distinct merits and points of preference over the widely circulated recension of Yahya ibn Yahya al-Laythi .
Structure and Method
The work opens with a substantial introductory treatise divided into numbered beneficial discussions (fawaʾid) . These cover:
- The historical stages of hadith recording and classification .
- The virtues of al-Muwattaʾ and the origins of its title .
- The various recensions and transmitters of the text, comparing the narrations of Yahya al-Laythi and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan .
- A biographical defense of Muhammad ibn al-Hasan against criticisms leveled by earlier traditionists regarding legal reasoning (raʾy) .
- A detailed count of the hadiths and non-prophetic reports (athar) transmitted by Shaybani .
- An autobiography by Lakhnawi placed at the end of the ninth benefit .
In the commentary itself, Lakhnawi follows the chapter sequence of Shaybani's Muwattaʾ, explaining lexical nuances, vocalizations, and the narrator chains (isnad) . Methodologically, he juxtaposes the legal rulings across the various schools of jurisprudence, weighing differing arguments (tarjih) with impartiality rather than partisan loyalty (taʿassub) . In his preface, he explicitly notes his willingness to repeat beneficial discussions across separate chapters whenever he could introduce new insights .
Reception and Publication
The commentary has been widely praised by scholars for combining rigorous hadith critique with deep comparative jurisprudence . Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Nadwi lauded the work for its balanced scholarly tone, intellectual breadth, and fair treatment of both hadith and jurisprudence . Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah highlighted Lakhnawi's extensive documentation and precision, remarking that the book was an extraordinary achievement for a young scholar .
Historically, the book was published more than five times in India and Pakistan using lithographic stone printing (al-tibaʿah al-hajariyyah) . Because these lithographs utilized dense Persianate script with intertwined marginal and interlinear glosses, they were difficult for scholars outside South Asia to navigate . A modern critical edition in movable Arabic type was later prepared by Dr. Taqi al-Din al-Nadwi, who verified the text, integrated the marginal annotations into structured footnotes, checked citations against original sources, and provided comprehensive indexes; this edition was published in three volumes by Dar al-Qalam in Damascus .
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