Sahih al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib

Sahih al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib (The Authentic Traditions of Encouragement and Deterrence) is a hadith reference work by the twentieth-century scholar Nasir al-Din al-Albani (d. 1420 AH / 1999 CE) that isolates and verifies the authentic narrations contained in the classic compilation al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib by Abd al-Azim al-Mundhiri (581–656 AH / 1185–1258 CE) Mukhtasar Sahih Muslim li…+1.

Background and Purpose

Al-Mundhiri's original compilation was widely esteemed and consulted by preachers, teachers, and scholars across various disciplines for traditions regarding virtues, righteous deeds, and moral warnings Sahih al-Targhib wa al-Ta…+1. However, al-Albani observed that al-Mundhiri's internal grading convention—introducing sounder reports with the active preposition ‘an and weaker ones with the passive verb ruwiya—was ambiguous, inconsistent, and often misunderstood by non-specialists, which contributed to the widespread circulation of weak and even fabricated narrations Daif al-Targhib wa al-Tar…+1.

While preparing lessons from al-Mundhiri's work for his students, al-Albani resolved to evaluate every narration individually using the principles of hadith terminology (mustalah al-hadith) and biographical evaluation (al-jarh wa al-ta‘dil) Sahih al-Targhib wa al-Ta…. He finished preparing and verifying these lessons on 26 Rajab 1396 AH Sahih al-Targhib wa al-Ta…. To provide readers with distinct references, he divided the original compilation into two separate works: Sahih al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib, intended for religious practice and devotion, and Da'if al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib (The Weak Traditions of Encouragement and Deterrence), intended to alert readers to unreliable reports so they would avoid attributing them to the Prophet ﷺ Sahih al-Targhib wa al-Ta….

Methodology and Sources

Al-Albani based his text on the printed Muniriyyah edition of al-Mundhiri's compilation, rectifying textual corruptions, omissions, and typographical errors encountered during his examination without burdening the margins with excessive annotations Sahih al-Targhib wa al-Ta…. In examining the chains of transmission and al-Mundhiri's editorial lapses, he drew heavily on earlier scholarly critiques, especially ‘Ujalat al-imla’ (The Prompt Dictation) by Burhan al-Din Ibrahim al-Naji (d. 900 AH), which he praised for its precision and extensive identification of al-Mundhiri's oversights Sahih al-Targhib wa al-Ta…+1. He also consulted Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's abridgment, al-Muntaqa min al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib (The Selection from al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib), edited by Habib al-Rahman al-A'zami and others Sahih al-Targhib wa al-Ta….

In his rulings, al-Albani retained narrations whose chains met the criteria of authenticity (sahih) or soundness (hasan), whether in their own right or through corroborating routes and witness narrations (shawahid wa mutaba‘at) Sahih al-Targhib wa al-Ta…+1. He also revised his judgments across subsequent printings; in the preface to the third edition of the first volume, he noted the removal of eight hadiths that he subsequently deemed weak and moved to Da‘if al-Targhib, crediting a critique by Bakr Abu Zayd for alerting him to the weakness of one of those narrations Sahih al-Targhib wa al-Ta….

Publication

The first volume of Sahih al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib went through multiple early editions, culminating in a third revised edition in 1409 AH published by Maktabat al-Ma‘arif in Riyadh under the direction of Sa‘d al-Rashid Sahih al-Targhib wa al-Ta…. The publisher subsequently issued the remaining volumes of the complete work in multi-volume editions, including releases in 1421 AH (2000 CE) Sahih al-Targhib wa al-Ta…+1.