Muwafaqat al-Khabar al-Khabar fi Takhrij Ahadith al-Mukhtasar

Author died
852 AH
Editions
Maktabat al-Rushd lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzī‘

Muwafaqat al-Khabar al-Khabar fi Takhrij Ahadith al-Mukhtasar (Arabic: موافقة الخبر الخَبَر في تخريج أحاديث المختصر, lit. 'The Correspondence of Report with Knowledge in the Extraction of the Hadiths of the Mukhtasar') is a hadith work by the Shafi'i scholar and hadith master Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (773–852 AH / 1372–1449 CE) dedicated to authenticating and tracing the sources of narrations used in legal theory (usul al-fiqh) .

Subject and Scope

The book is an extensive takhrij (hadith extraction and chain criticism) of the prophetic traditions and transmitted reports (athar) cited as legal evidence in Mukhtasar al-Muntaha (also known as al-Mukhtasar al-Kabir), the prominent manual of legal theory by the Maliki jurist Ibn al-Hajib (d. 646 AH) . It is considered one of the broadest and most comprehensive reference works written on the hadiths of usul al-fiqh .

Composition and Method

Ibn Hajar delivered the work through dictation sessions (amali) held before his students, counting it among his dictated compendia alongside his takhrij of al-Nawawi's al-Adhkar . The sessions were recorded sequentially as numbered gatherings (majalis); for example, the conclusion of the first volume marks session 129 of the takhrij of Ibn al-Hajib's Mukhtasar, which corresponded to session 279 of his general amali series . In each entry, Ibn Hajar cites the text mentioned by Ibn al-Hajib, provides full chains of transmission, determines the degree of soundness or weakness, notes elevated paths of transmission (uluww), and clarifies textual or biographical inaccuracies found in earlier sources .

The book drew upon and expanded earlier attempts to extract the narrations of Ibn al-Hajib's manual, such as works by Ibn Abd al-Hadi, Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi, and Ibn al-Mulaqqin . Ibn Hajar made extensive reference to and critical engagement with Tuhfat al-Talib bi-Ma'rifat Ahadith Mukhtasar Ibn al-Hajib by Ibn Kathir, frequently quoting Ibn Kathir's verdicts and tracing reports that Ibn Kathir had noted as unlocated .

Transmission and Printed Editions

The work was preserved in several manuscripts, the primary one being a complete codex in 240 dictation sessions transcribed in 859 AH by Ibn Hajar's student Ali ibn Sudun al-Ibrahimi from the copy of his fellow student Burhan al-Din ibn Khidr al-Uthmani . Other surviving witnesses include a partial manuscript in the Feyzullah Efendi collection at the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul (MS 507), containing 91 sessions (from session 152 to 241), as well as manuscripts in Cairo, India, and Pakistan .

Muwafaqat al-Khabar al-Khabar has been published in modern editions:

  • An edition prepared by Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Hamad as a doctoral dissertation at the Islamic University of Madinah in 1404 AH, printed in two volumes .
  • An edition edited by Hamdi Abd al-Majid al-Salafi and Subhi al-Samarra'i, published in two volumes by Maktabat al-Rushd in Riyadh (1412 AH / 1992 CE; second edition 1414 AH / 1993 CE) .

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