Hashiyat al-Kharashi Muntaha al-Raghba fi Hall Alfaz al-Nukhba
- Author died
- 1101 AH
- Editions
- دار اليسر
Hashiyat al-Kharashi Muntaha al-Raghba fi Hall Alfaz al-Nukhba (The Ultimate Desire in Resolving the Words of the Nukhba) is a work on hadith terminology by the Maliki jurist and first rector of al-Azhar, Muhammad al-Kharashi (1010–1101 AH / 1601–1690 CE) . The book serves as an explanatory gloss on Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani’s foundational treatise Nukhbat al-fikar fi mustalah ahl al-athar and its authorial commentary, Nuzhat al-nazar .
Background and Composition
In his introduction, al-Kharashi stated that he initially gathered extensive notes and discussions concerning Ibn Hajar's Nukhbat al-fikar across numerous folios as a personal aide-mémoire . Seeking to make the material comprehensively useful, he decided to organize these scattered points, attributing each benefit to its originator and adding necessary elucidations and qualifiers for every subject . His stated objective was to provide students with a single, consolidated reference that would suffice over the multiple separate commentaries and glosses circulating in his era . A manuscript colophon records that he completed the work on a Wednesday in late Safar 1087 AH .
Structure and Sources
The book is structured as a synthesis and abridgment of four major earlier supercommentaries composed on Nuzhat al-nazar . Al-Kharashi systematically cited these four authorities using designated single-letter abbreviations:
- Qāf (ق): The Hanafi scholar Ibn Qutlubugha (Qasim ibn Qutlubugha), a student of Ibn Hajar .
- Bāʾ (ب): Burhan al-Din al-Biqa'i .
- Jīm (ج): Ali al-Ujhuri .
- Hāʾ (هـ): His teacher, Ibrahim al-Laqqani .
Throughout the text, al-Kharashi summarized the conclusions reached in these glosses, presenting their technical discussions on hadith terminology, definitions, and isnad analyses before indicating the source with the corresponding siglum .
Transmission and Documentation
Muntaha al-raghba is documented among al-Kharashi’s works in bibliographical and biographical compendia, including Ismail Pasha al-Babani's Iydah al-maknun, Khayr al-Din al-Zirikli's al-A'lam, and Umar Rida Kahhala's Mu'jam al-mu'allifin . Manuscript copies of the text have been preserved across several libraries, including the Taymuriyya collection, the Egyptian National Library (Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya), the Makka Holy Mosque Library (Maktabat al-Haram al-Makki, MS 751), and the Ez-Zitouna collection .
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