Sharh Kitab al-Baith al-Hathith
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- Sharh Kitab al-Baith al-Hathith
Sharh Kitab al-Baith al-Hathith is a contemporary commentary by the Egyptian hadith scholar and preacher Hasan Abu al-Ashbal al-Zuhayri on al-Ba'ith al-Hathith, the widely studied manual of Hadith terminology and critical methodology.
Textual Background and Lineage
The commentary addresses a text whose lineage forms one of the central instructional traditions in the field of Hadith sciences (mustalah al-hadith). The foundational root of the work is the comprehensive manual 'Ulum al-Hadith by Ibn al-Salah (d. 643 AH), which the eighth-century historian and traditionist Ibn Kathir (d. 774 AH) abridged under the title Ikhtisar 'Ulum al-Hadith, supplementing it with critical remarks and material from al-Bayhaqi's al-Madkhal ila al-Sunan.
In the fourteenth century AH, the Egyptian scholar Ahmad Muhammad Shakir (d. 1377 AH) edited and annotated Ibn Kathir's abridgment, entitling his own annotations al-Ba'ith al-Hathith Sharh Ikhtisar 'Ulum al-Hadith to preserve the title popularized in modern printings while retaining the historical identity of Ibn Kathir's original text.
Scope and Content
The commentary delivers a pedagogical exposition of the classifications and disciplines of Hadith criticism treated across the base work. Its subject matter encompasses the definitions and criteria of authentic (sahih), fair (hasan), and weak (da'if) reports, the mechanisms of transmission and audition, the ranks and rules of impugnment and validation (al-jarh wa-al-ta'dil), and the identification of defects ('ilal) in chains of transmission and texts.
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