Bayan Khata Man Akhta Ala al-Shafii lil-Bayhaqi
- Author died
- 458 AH
- Editions
- Mu’assasat al-Risālah
Bayan Khata Man Akhta Ala al-Shafii (Clarification of the Errors of Those Who Erred Against al-Shafi'i) is a hadith treatise by the Shafi'i hadith scholar Abu Bakr al-Bayhaqi (384–458 AH / 994–1066 CE), written to defend al-Shafi'i against misattributed narrations and erroneous criticisms.
Purpose and Content
The work was composed as part of al-Bayhaqi's specialized writings dedicated to vindicating al-Shafi'i's scholarly standing and defending his legacy, alongside his broader biographical compilation Manaqib al-Shafi'i. In this treatise, al-Bayhaqi provides a detailed critical examination of errors and mistaken conclusions that critics and later transmitters wrongly attributed to al-Shafi'i or his legal transmissions.
Sources and Methodology
The work relies on the methods of hadith criticism (jarh wa-ta'dil) and comparative chain analysis (takhrij), evaluating diverse paths of transmission and identifying corrupt or anomalous narrations. In multiple entries, al-Bayhaqi identifies and rejects forged reports; for instance, he exposes a fabricated report attributed through Ahmad ibn Yaqub (known as Ibn Maqatar), explicitly stating that the hadith was fabricated (mawdu') and that he deemed it unlawful to transmit from him. Al-Bayhaqi also draws directly upon the writings of his teacher al-Hakim al-Naysaburi, quoting multiple passages from al-Hakim's work Mashayikh al-Shafi'i (The Teachers of al-Shafi'i) as well as his Manaqib.
Manuscripts and Publication
A manuscript copy of the work is preserved in the Arif Hikmat Library in Medina (under general no. 195, collection no. 80). The text was edited by Nayif al-Du'ays and published by Mu'assasat al-Risalah in Beirut (1402 AH / 1983 CE).
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