al-Taliqat al-Hisan ala Sahih Ibn Hibban
- Author died
- 1420 AH
- Editions
- Dār Bā Wazīr lil-Nashr wal-Tawzīʿ
al-Taʿlīqāt al-Ḥisān ʿalā Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān (The Fine Comments on Sahih Ibn Hibban) is a multi-volume work of hadith authentication and critical commentary by the Albanian-Syrian hadith scholar Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani (d. 1420 AH / 1999 CE) . The book evaluates and grades the narrations compiled in Abu Hatim Ibn Hibban's (d. 354 AH / 965 CE) hadith collection as rearranged by Amir Ala al-Din Ali ibn Balban al-Farisi (d. 739 AH / 1339 CE) .
Background and Composition
The base collection, originally compiled under the title al-Musnad al-Ṣaḥīḥ ʿalā al-Taqāsīm wa-al-Anwāʿ by Ibn Hibban, was structured according to a complex schema of categories and subcategories rather than conventional legal chapters or chains of transmission . In the eighth century AH, Ibn Balban rearranged the entire collection thematically under standard topical headings in his work al-Iḥsān fī Taqrīb Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān .
Al-Albani began his work on the takhrij (verification and sourcing) of the collection on 25 Muharram 1413 AH, as recorded in his own hand . It became one of the last major hadith compilations he undertook and stands among his largest works, encompassing 7,448 hadiths . Al-Albani initially intended to title the book Mukhtaṣar al-Iḥsān fī Taqrīb Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān wa-Tamyīz Saqīmihi min Ṣaḥīḥihi wa-Shāddhihi min Maḥfūẓihi, before modifying the title to al-Taʿlīqāt al-Ḥisān ʿalā Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān, citing it under this latter title in several works published during his lifetime as well as in the final sections of the manuscript itself .
Scope and Methodology
The primary focus of the work is hadith criticism: verifying the transmission chains (asānīd) and distinguishing authentic (ṣaḥīḥ) and well-preserved (maḥfūẓ) narrations from defective (saqīm) and anomalous (shādh) ones . This critical examination addressed the known leniency (tasāhul) attributed to Ibn Hibban in declaring narrators reliable and authenticating hadiths .
Al-Albani based his textual work on the Lebanese print of Ibn Balban's arrangement, adding corrections, cross-references, and marginalia . The book's editorial framework focuses purely on hadith validation; theological remarks by Ibn Hibban involving figurative interpretation (taʾwīl) of divine attributes were not systematically tracked or critiqued in order to keep the work centered on its hadith-critical purpose .
Publication
The work was published posthumously in 1424 AH / 2003 CE by Dār Bā Wazīr lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia . Edited and prepared for print by Khalil al-Rawi, the edition spans 12 volumes, consisting of 10 volumes of text and 2 volumes of detailed indexes . The published text maintains al-Albani's numbering scheme while providing concordance cross-references in parentheses to the Muʾassasat al-Risālah edition along with Ibn Hibban's original category numbers .
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