al-Taqrib wa al-Taysir lil-Nawawi
- Author died
- 676 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Kitāb al-‘Arabī
al-Taqrib wa al-Taysir (in full: al-Taqrib wa al-Taysir li-Ma'rifat Sunan al-Bashir al-Nadhir) is a concise manual on Hadith terminology and principles (usul al-hadith) by the Shafi'i jurist and traditionist al-Nawawi (d. 676 AH / 1277 CE) .
Composition and Structure
The work forms the final stage in a chain of abridgments stemming from the foundational compendium 'Ulum al-Hadith by Ibn al-Salah (d. 643 AH / 1245 CE) . al-Nawawi had previously condensed Ibn al-Salah's treatise into his intermediate work, Irshad Tullab al-Haqa'iq ila Ma'rifat Sunan Khayr al-Khala'iq . He then prepared al-Taqrib wa al-Taysir as an ultra-condensed summary of al-Irshad to serve as an accessible reference for students . In his preface, which opens with praise to God as "the Opener, the Benefactor" (al-Fattah al-Mannan), al-Nawawi states that his aim was to maximize conciseness without compromising essential meaning while ensuring clarity of phrasing .
The text preserves the thematic arrangement and sequence of hadith categories originally established by Ibn al-Salah . It achieves brevity by omitting superfluous illustrative examples, condensing extensive arguments, and formulating definitions into distilled rules .
Transmission
The work was studied with and transmitted directly from al-Nawawi during his lifetime . His prominent student Ibn al-Attar (d. 724 AH / 1324 CE) recited the text from memory in its entirety before al-Nawawi in rapid succession in late Dhu al-Qi'dah 674 AH, as documented in an autograph transmission note . It was also read directly to the author by Badr al-Din Ibn Jama'ah .
Commentaries
Owing to its compact and dense phrasing, al-Taqrib became the subject of several major commentaries and supplementary treatises by subsequent traditionists:
- Sharh al-Taqrib wa al-Taysir by Zayn al-Din al-'Iraqi (d. 806 AH / 1404 CE) .
- A commentary by Burhan al-Din Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Qabaqibi al-Halabi (d. c. 850 or 851 AH) .
- Fath al-Qarib fi Sharh Mu'allaf al-Nawawi al-Taqrib by Shams al-Din al-Sakhawi (d. 902 AH / 1497 CE), which he taught and read aloud to scholars in Mecca .
- Tadrib al-Rawi fi Sharh Taqrib al-Nawawi by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH / 1505 CE) . In its introduction, al-Suyuti remarked that despite the prestige of the work and its author, no one before him had undertaken a comprehensive commentary—a claim contradicted by earlier commentaries such as that of al-'Iraqi . al-Suyuti also authored a supplementary annex titled al-Tadhhib fi al-Zawa'id 'ala al-Taqrib .
Publication
al-Taqrib wa al-Taysir has been printed both independently and alongside its commentaries. An independent edition was edited by Muhammad Uthman al-Khisht and published in Beirut by Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi (1405 AH / 1985 CE) in a single volume of 128 pages .
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