al-Thamar al-Mustatab fi Fiqh al-Sunnah wa al-Kitab
- Author died
- 1420 AH
- Editions
- Ghirās li-l-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ
al-Thamar al-Mustatab fi Fiqh al-Sunnah wa al-Kitab (The Pleasant Fruit in the Fiqh of the Sunnah and the Book) is an early legal treatise by Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani (d. 1420 AH / 1999 CE) dedicated to Islamic jurisprudence grounded in the Quran and authentic Prophetic traditions.
Background and Composition
The work originated as concise teaching outlines and reference notes prepared by al-Albani for his jurisprudence classes delivered to youth in Syria. He subsequently expanded these notes into a comprehensive legal work aimed at examining jurisprudential rulings alongside their proofs from the Quran and authentic Sunnah.
According to an inscription in al-Albani's handwriting on the manuscript cover, drafting concluded in 1366 AH (c. 1947 CE). Evidence in the text—such as his legal discussion regarding Palestinian refugees sheltering in mosques during the 1948 Nakba—indicates that he ceased working on it before 1370 AH (c. 1950 CE), leaving the broader project incomplete. Al-Albani later noted that he had intended in this book to systematically distinguish between conditions (shurut), pillars (arkan), and obligatory elements (fara'id), but he was diverted from completing it because such detailed classifications required extensive research beyond the scope of his subsequent jurisprudential works.
Methodology
In the opening section—spanning roughly the first dozen pages—al-Albani relied on abbreviated letter symbols to denote primary hadith collections (such as kh for al-Bukhari, m for Muslim, d for Abu Dawud, and حم for Ahmad) without recording volume or page numbers. As the work progressed, his method shifted toward writing source titles in full, citing volume and page references, and providing detailed analyses of chains of transmission (asanid) and hadith authenticity. The book is characterized by extensive, detailed research and represents one of his earliest large-scale writings.
Publication
The manuscript remained unpublished in al-Albani's private library for several decades. It was published posthumously in a first edition in 1422 AH (2001 CE) by Gheras Publishing in Kuwait, spanning two volumes.
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