Kayfiyyat al-taamul ma al-fihris al-aam li asma kutub al-sunna
- Author died
- 1442 AH
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- Kayfiyyat al-taamul ma al-fihris al-aam li asma kutub al-sunna
Kayfiyyat al-taʿāmul maʿ al-fihris al-ʿāmm li-asmāʾ kutub al-sunna (How to Deal with the General Index of Titles of the Books of the Sunna) is a recorded academic lecture by the Syrian hadith scholar Nūr al-Dīn ʿItr (d. 1442 AH / 2020 CE) dedicated to the methodology of navigating primary hadith reference indices, classifying source genres, and conducting practical hadith extraction (takhrīj) .
Background and Context
The work represents the transcript of the third lecture in a pedagogical series delivered by Nūr al-Dīn ʿItr on 3 February 2010 CE, later compiled and formatted for digital publication by Tawfīq ibn Muḥammad al-Qurayshī . In the lecture, ʿItr addresses advanced students on the techniques of referencing classical hadith compilations, emphasizing the necessity for scholars in training to build a foundational library centered on the Six Books or Eight Books of Hadith, reinforced by comprehensive compendia such as Ibn al-Athīr's Jāmiʿ al-uṣūl, al-Haythamī's Majmaʿ al-zawāʾid, Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī's al-Maṭālib al-ʿāliya, and Ibn al-Athīr's lexicographical work al-Nihāya fī gharīb al-ḥadīth .
Content and Methodological Topics
Classification of Reference Works
ʿItr examines the general alphabetical index of the eight foundational collections of the Sunna, noting that while the alphabetical listing is useful, organizing such an index according to the thematic chapters of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī would be pedagogically superior because al-Bukhārī's topical categorization is the most extensive . He then outlines the major historical genres of works organized by narrator names (al-muṣannafāt ʿalā al-asmāʾ):
- Masānīd (singular: musnad): Compilations organized under the names of the Companion narrators, which emerged around 200 AH . ʿItr highlights the difficulty of locating traditions under prolific narrators (al-mukthirūn) such as Abū Hurayra, Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, and ʿĀʾisha, recalling his own experience searching across multiple copies of the Musnad of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal at the al-Asad National Library while editing Ibn Jamāʿa's Hidāyat al-sālik . He details the utility of masānīd, including assessing the overall corpus of individual Companions, recognizing their thematic narrative tendencies, and refuting modern polemics against prolific Companions by uncovering corroborating chains (shawāhid) .
- Maʿājim (singular: muʿjam): Works arranged alphabetically by the names of the author's teachers (shuyūkh), exemplified by the three dictionaries of al-Ṭabarānī (al-Muʿjam al-ṣaghīr, al-Muʿjam al-awsaṭ, and al-Muʿjam al-kabīr) . He explains that al-Muʿjam al-kabīr functions partly as a musnad because it is organized by Companion names in alphabetical order, and notes that it was printed from a lacunose unique manuscript from the Topkapı Saray library in Turkey .
- Aṭrāf Compilations: Works that index traditions by opening phrases or thematic descriptions, subdivided under each Companion by their student Successors (tābiʿūn) . He praises al-Mizzī's fourteen-volume Tuḥfat al-ashrāf bi-maʿrifat al-aṭrāf as a peerless tool for tracing intersecting chains of transmission (asānīd) across the Six Books and their supplements . He also touches upon modern alphabetical incipit indices, tracing their printed origins to al-Tawqādī's Miftāḥ al-ṣaḥīḥayn and the works of Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī, while warning students against inaccuracies introduced by non-specialist indexers .
Review of Student Exercises
The second portion of the text contains ʿItr's direct critique of twenty practical takhrīj exercises submitted by his students . His comments establish standard protocols for academic citation in hadith studies:
- Referencing primary texts directly rather than attributing a hadith to commentary titles or abridgments unless clarifying the specific printed version used .
- Observing standard citation sequences by listing the chapter (kitāb), section (bāb), volume, page, and hadith number, utilizing standard abbreviations rather than verbose prose .
- Explicitly identifying the Companion narrator, distinguishing between verbatim textual match and transmission by meaning (al-riwāya bi-l-maʿnā), and citing authentication verdicts delivered by classical authorities such as al-Tirmidhī, al-Ḥākim al-Naysābūrī, and al-Dhahabī .
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