Fath al-Wadud fi Sharh Sunan Abi Dawud
- Author died
- 1138 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat Layyinah
Fath al-Wadud fi Sharh Sunan Abi Dawud (The Opening of the Loving Lord in Explaining the Sunan of Abu Dawud) is a concise hadith commentary and gloss on Sunan Abi Dawud, authored by the Hanafi jurist and hadith scholar Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Abd al-Hadi al-Sindi (d. 1138 AH / 1726 CE) .
Purpose and Sources
In his introduction, al-Sindi describes the work as a concise gloss (taʿliq latif) designed to serve students and teachers during hadith lessons . He composed it primarily by summarizing the majority of Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti's marginalia on the collection (Mirqat al-Suʿud), to which he appended explanations and clarifications essential for teaching and study .
Before commencing the commentary, al-Sindi summarizes Abu Dawud al-Sijistani's epistle to the people of Mecca (Risalat Abi Dawud ila Ahl Makkah), highlighting Abu Dawud's methodology regarding mursal narrations, unrejected transmitters, and narrations that Abu Dawud left without critical comment (maskut ʿanh) . He also cites evaluations from earlier scholars such as Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Abu Sulayman al-Khattabi, Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, and Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi affirming the central role of Sunan Abi Dawud in legal jurisprudence .
Method and Content
The commentary follows the arrangement of Sunan Abi Dawud, beginning with the Book of Purification (Kitab al-Taharah) . Al-Sindi explains the structural logic of Abu Dawud's chapter sequence, vocalizes rare names and kunyas of narrators in the chains of transmission, resolves grammatical difficulties, defines obscure vocabulary, and explicates the legal inferences drawn from the narrations . He also addresses textual variants across transmissions of the Sunan and reconciles seemingly conflicting narrations .
Reception and Publication
The work is counted among al-Sindi's series of marginal commentaries on the six canonical hadith collections . It was frequently cited and debated by later commentators on Sunan Abi Dawud, including Shams al-Haqq al-Azim Abadi in Awn al-Mabud .
The commentary was edited by Muhammad Zaki al-Khawli and published in four volumes by Maktabat Linah in 1431 AH / 2010 CE .
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