Mukhtasar Sahih Muslim lil-Mundhiri
- Author died
- 656 AH
- Editions
- ta al-Albani
Mukhtasar Sahih Muslim (Arabic: مختصر صحيح مسلم, lit. 'Abridgment of Sahih Muslim'), also titled in manuscripts as al-Jāmiʿ al-Muʿallim bi-Maqāṣid Jāmiʿ Muslim, is an abridgment of Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj's hadith collection compiled by the hadith scholar Abd al-Azim al-Mundhiri (581–656 AH / 1185–1258 CE) .
Composition and Purpose
Al-Mundhiri composed the work in 639 AH (1241–1242 CE) . In his introduction, he stated that his objective was to summarize Sahih Muslim into a compact volume that would be easier for memorizers to retain and more accessible for readers to consult . He also reorganized its contents to enable students to locate specific topics and traditions quickly, while retaining the core intent and substance of the original collection .
Method and Reception
In streamlining the collection, al-Mundhiri stripped the full chains of transmission (asānīd) and recorded only the hadith texts . He did not adhere strictly to Muslim's original chapter division (tabwīb), and rearranged the placement of several traditions relative to each other .
Scholars widely recognized the work as one of the most prominent and widely circulated abridgments of Sahih Muslim . However, critics noted that because it functions largely as a selective summary (intiqāʾ wa-talkhīṣ), it left out several important narrations and relevant textual additions (zawāʾid) needed for certain subject headings .
Commentaries and Editions
The 19th-century Indian scholar Siddiq Hasan Khan wrote an extensive commentary on the abridgment titled al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj fī Kashf Maṭālib Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj, which was published alongside al-Mundhiri's text in Bhopal, India, in 1302 AH (1884–1885 CE) .
The abridgment was later edited and annotated as a standalone text by Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani, who cross-referenced each tradition to the primary text of Sahih Muslim and added explanatory glosses largely drawn from al-Sirāj al-Wahhāj . This standalone edition was published in Beirut in 1389 AH (1969 CE) for the Kuwaiti Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, and subsequently reprinted in multiple editions .
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