Bughyat al-Multamis fi Subaiyat Hadith al-Imam Malik ibn Anas
- Author died
- 761 AH
- Editions
- 'Alam al-Kutub
Bughyat al-Multamis fi Subaiyat Hadith al-Imam Malik ibn Anas (Arabic: بغية الملتمس في سباعيات حديث الإمام مالك بن أنس, lit. 'The seeker's desire regarding the seven-narrator transmissions of the hadith of Imam Malik ibn Anas') is a hadith compilation compiled by the Shafi'i scholar and hadith master Salah al-Din al-Alai (694–761 AH / 1295–1359 CE), dedicated to seven-link chains of transmission connecting him to the Prophet Muhammad through Imam Malik ibn Anas .
Composition and Transmission
Al-Alai compiled (kharraja) the work in the month of Dhu al-Hijjah 733 AH (1333 CE) . It was transmitted and recorded directly from him by his student Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Nandrumi al-Maliki, who noted hearing it from al-Alai in Ramadan 752 AH (1351 CE) . The book is also recorded among al-Alai's works in his Itharat al-Fawa'id al-Majmu'ah and in biographical literature .
Content and Method
The work focuses on elevated chains of transmission (asānīd ʿāliyah), specifically those containing seven intermediaries (subāʿiyyāt) between al-Alai and the Prophet via Imam Malik . In organizing the text, al-Alai structured the book as follows:
- Introductory and biographical sections: The author begins with a concise biographical entry for Malik ibn Anas, covering his lineage, select teachers, prominent narrators who transmitted from him, his virtues (manāqib), scholarly appraisals of his rank, and the transmission routes through which al-Alai received Malik's al-Muwatta' .
- Hadith narrations and chain analysis: Al-Alai cites the elevated hadiths and provides concise critical commentary on their chains of transmission (rijāl and asānīd) .
- Corroborating transmission paths: Whenever an elevated narration relies on transmission by permission (ijāzah), al-Alai appends an alternate route received through continuous direct audition (samāʿ muttaṣil) from Malik's hadiths—even if that secondary route possesses a longer, lower chain (anzal)—in order to verify continuous oral transmission .
Publication
The book was edited and annotated by Hamdi Abd al-Majid al-Salafi and published by Alam al-Kutub in Beirut (first edition, 1405 AH / 1985 CE) .
Answer updated