al-Baghawi, Abu Muhammad
Sharh al-Sunnah lil-Baghawi
- Author died
- 516 AH
- Editions
- al-Maktab al-Islāmī
Sharh al-Sunnah (Explanation of the Sunnah) is a comprehensive hadith and jurisprudence compendium composed by the Shafi'i scholar and hadith master Abu Muhammad al-Husayn ibn Mas'ud al-Baghawi (d. 516 AH / 1122 CE) . The work gathers authoritative prophetic traditions across religious disciplines, combining hadith transmission with legal commentary, theological doctrine, and lexical analysis .
Purpose and Scope
Al-Baghawi stated in his introduction that the work was compiled to encompass the sciences of hadith and the legal and practical benefits derived from prophetic traditions . He aimed to collect authoritative narrations dispersed throughout earlier collections, including sahih compilations, sunan works, musnads, and thematic treatises (ajza'), creating an extensive reference for Muslim creed, law, worship, and ethics .
The book spans nearly every area of Islamic religious scholarship, including:
- Beliefs and fundamentals of religion (usul al-din)
- Religious knowledge and methodology
- Acts of worship ('ibadat) and commercial and civil transactions (mu'amalat)
- Proofs of prophethood and revelation, prophetic biography (siyar), military campaigns (maghazi), and virtues of the Companions (manaqib)
- Portents of the Hour, the resurrection, reckoning, heart-softeners (raqa'iq), and Islamic etiquette
Methodology and Structure
Al-Baghawi arranged the work topically according to the standard thematic structure of hadith compilations (musannafat) . He designated major subject areas as "books" (kutub) and subdivided them into specific chapters (abwab), closely following the arrangement of al-Bukhari's al-Jami' al-Sahih . He began with the book of faith (Kitab al-Iman), followed by knowledge (Kitab al-'Ilm), and borrowed numerous chapter titles verbatim from al-Bukhari, such as "The Virtue of Knowledge" (Bab fadl al-'ilm) and "Adherence to the Book and the Sunnah" (al-I'tisam bi-l-Kitab wa-l-Sunnah) .
Each major book, and often individual chapters, opens with relevant Quranic verses, followed by exegetical statements transmitted from the Companions and Successors . Al-Baghawi recorded each prophetic tradition with his own connected chains of transmission (asanid) back to the Prophet ﷺ .
In selecting narrations, al-Baghawi restricted himself to reports relied upon by early hadith authorities and documented in their works, explicitly omitting inverted (maqlub), fabricated (mawdu'), and obscure or unknown (majhul) reports . While the majority of the traditions are sound (sahih) or fair (hasan), he occasionally incorporated weak (da'if) reports to elucidate ambiguous phrasing in a sound tradition, to supply a ruling when no stronger narration was available, or as supporting evidence (shawahid wa-mutaba'at) .
Legal and Linguistic Content
Following the cited traditions, al-Baghawi provided extensive commentary detailing the legal rulings (fiqh) and deductions of the Companions, the Successors, and leading mujtahid jurists on both agreed-upon and contested issues . He frequently cited the evidentiary bases used by different legal schools and offered independent legal weighing (tarjih) when appropriate .
In addition to legal analysis, he elucidated obscure hadith vocabulary (gharib al-hadith), vocalized and verified the names and lineages of narrators, and supplied concise biographical notices drawn from earlier authorities .
Reception and Editions
The work was widely accepted among scholars for its breadth and synthesis of hadith transmission and jurisprudence . Tashkubrizadah recorded in Miftah al-Sa'adah that al-Baghawi received the honorific title Muhyi al-Sunnah ("Reviver of the Sunnah") after composing the book, reportedly due to a dream in which the Prophet ﷺ told him: "You have revived my Sunnah by explaining my hadiths" .
A widely cited modern critical edition was edited by Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut and Zuhayr al-Shawish, published in Beirut by al-Maktab al-Islami (initially appearing in 1391 AH / 1971 CE, with a subsequent second edition in 1403 AH / 1983 CE) .
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