Silsilat al-Athar al-Sahiha aw al-Sahih al-Musnad min Aqwal al-Sahaba wa al-Tabiin
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Silsilat al-Athar al-Sahiha aw al-Sahih al-Musnad min Aqwal al-Sahaba wa al-Tabiin (The Series of Authentic Traditions, or the Authentic Supported Reports from the Sayings of the Companions and Successors) is a multi-volume hadith collection compiled and authenticated by Abu Abd Allah al-Dani ibn Munir Al Zahawi . The work is devoted to collecting and grading narrations (athar) attributed to the Companions and Successors across diverse fields of Islamic law and dogma .
Purpose and Scope
Al Zahawi compiled the work to address what he viewed as the absence of a comprehensive reference work dedicated specifically to authenticating the non-prophetic reports (athar) transmitted from early generations . Emphasizing that understanding the Quran and the Prophetic Sunnah requires adhering to the comprehension of the righteous predecessors (al-salaf), he argued that non-prophetic narrations must be subjected to the same rigorous standards of chain-of-transmission analysis as prophetic traditions .
The scope of the collected traditions encompasses theological creed (aqida), manners and ethics (akhlaq), acts of ritual worship (ibadat), and transactions (muamalat) . Although the collection was defined to include reports from the Companions and Successors, the author noted that he occasionally included statements from prominent later scholars where significant benefit warranted it .
Method and Sources
The author extracted traditions from primary hadith literature, including published Sunan, Musnad collections, large compendiums, and specific hadith monographs, as well as accessible manuscripts . His methodology consists of:
- Citing each report with its complete chain of transmission (isnad) from the source collections .
- Evaluating the biographical reliability of the transmitters using classical biographical evaluation (jarh wa-tadil) sources .
- Documenting parallel and supporting transmission lines (mutabaat and shawahid) to identify hidden defects or corroborate routes .
- Relying primarily on the evaluations of earlier classical scholars when available, or otherwise providing an independent grading applying the standard rules of hadith criticism .
- Appending scholarly commentary, derived rulings, and textual benefits to the traditions .
Publication and Reception
The book was reviewed and prefaced by Abd Allah ibn Salih al-Ubaylan, who wrote his foreword on 3 Muharram 1424 AH, commending the author's critical method and comparing the expected benefit of the compilation to Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani's Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahiha in the realm of prophetic traditions .
The work was published sequentially by Dar al-Faruq in Beirut:
- Volume 1: Completed by the author on 3 Safar 1423 AH in al-Jiyyah, Mount Lebanon, and published in Jumada al-Ula 1424 AH / August 2003 CE, containing reports 1 through 350 .
- Volume 2: Published in Jumada al-Akhirah 1427 AH / July 2006 CE, containing reports 351 through 700 .
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