Kashf al-Mushkil min Hadith al-Sahihayn
- Author died
- 597 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Watan
Kashf al-Mushkil min Hadith al-Sahihayn (Unveiling the Difficult in the Hadiths of the Two Sahihs) is a hadith commentary by the Baghdadi Hanbali scholar Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597 AH / 1201 CE) that clarifies obscure phrases, linguistic difficulties, and apparent contradictions in the reports of Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim .
Composition and Purpose
Ibn al-Jawzi completed the composition of the work on 8 Rajab 576 AH . The book belongs to the mushkil al-hadith genre, focusing on elucidating challenging textual passages, resolving theological or legal perplexities, and explaining rare vocabulary (gharib) found in the two most authoritative Sunni hadith collections .
Structure and Method
The work is organized according to the musnad format, arranging hadiths under the names of the individual Companion narrators . At the beginning of each Companion's section, Ibn al-Jawzi provides biographical information, notes the total number of hadiths transmitted by that Companion, and specifies how many of them were recorded in the Sahihayn .
Within each musnad, he structures the entries by first presenting reports agreed upon by both al-Bukhari and Muslim, followed by those narrated solely by al-Bukhari, and finally those narrated solely by Muslim . For hadiths requiring explanation, he introduces his commentary with formulas such as "From what is problematic in the hadith..." (fa-min al-mushkil fi al-hadith), subsequently addressing lexical obscurities, reconciling reports that outwardly appear at variance, and responding to hypothetical queries using question-and-answer formulations (fa-in qila... fa-l-jawab) . His commentary also addresses theological interpretations of texts touching upon divine attributes .
Reception, Abridgment, and Editions
The book was utilized by later scholars of hadith commentary and legal rulings . Haji Khalifa records in Kashf al-Zunun that a scholar abridged the work after observing that Ibn al-Jawzi had included hadiths that did not pose genuine difficulty or had left certain problematic texts without an exhaustive explanation; this abridgment, which preserved the structural order of the original, was completed in Rabi' al-Akhir 746 AH .
In modern print, Kashf al-Mushkil min Hadith al-Sahihayn was edited by Ali Husayn al-Bawwab and published in Riyadh by Dar al-Watan in 1418 AH .
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