Aqd al-Durar fi Sharh Mukhtasar Nukhbat al-Fikar
- Author died
- 1342 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Rushd
Aqd al-Durar fi Sharh Mukhtasar Nukhbat al-Fikar (The String of Pearls in Explaining the Abridgment of Nukhbat al-Fikar) is a commentary on Hadith terminology by the Iraqi scholar Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi (1273–1342 AH / 1857–1924 CE; also recorded as born in 1272 AH) . The work is an exposition of al-Mukhtasar min Nukhbat al-Fikar, an epitome of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's foundational primer Nukhbat al-Fikar fi Mustalah Ahl al-Athar written by Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ahmad ibn Barakat al-Ahmadi (d. after 1150 AH) .
Background and Composition
The base text was composed by the Shafi'i scholar Abd al-Wahhab al-Ahmadi, who completed his abridgment of Ibn Hajar's primer at the end of the year 1150 AH . Al-Alusi praised al-Ahmadi's epitome for distilling the core rules and essential opinions of classical and later Hadith scholars into concise expressions, but noted that no existing commentary had yet unlocked its concise phrasing or clarified its subtle allusions .
Prompted by the encouragement and persistent requests of his peers, and seeking to prevent such a concise summary from remaining neglected, al-Alusi authored his commentary . According to an autograph note found in the manuscript, al-Alusi completed writing the work in late Rabi' al-Awwal 1299 AH (1882 CE) .
Contents and Method
The treatise covers the standardized taxonomy of Hadith sciences as condensed by al-Ahmadi from Ibn Hajar's work. It opens with definitions and categorizations of reports according to their transmission paths:
- Mutawatir (mass-transmitted) and ahad (solitary transmissions) .
- Solitary reports subdivided into mashhur (well-known), 'aziz (rare/reinforced), and gharib (singular), distinguishing between absolute isolation (al-fard al-mutlaq) and relative isolation (al-fard al-nisbi) .
- The conditions of acceptability (maqbul) and rejection (mardud) of reports .
The work proceeds through the classifications of narrators and transmitter discrepancies, concluding with onomastic categories in Hadith transmission, including al-mu'talif wa-l-mukhtalif (names written identically but pronounced differently) and al-mutashabih (names identical in one component but differing in the patronymic or vice versa) .
In his commentary, al-Alusi followed a balanced, moderate method, illustrating rules with practical examples, untangling compact terminology, and citing divergent scholarly viewpoints on controversial points .
Transmission and Publication
A manuscript of the work is preserved at the library of Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (no. 4987), transcribed in 1326 AH from an earlier copy completed by Muhammad al-Shaykh in Rabi' al-Awwal 1324 AH . The text was edited and annotated by Islam ibn Mahmud Dirbalah and published in a single volume by Maktabat al-Rushd in Riyadh in 1420 AH (1999/2000 CE) .
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