Subul al-Salam Sharh Bulugh al-Maram
- Author died
- 1182 AH
- Editions
- t Hallaq · T al-Hadith
Subul al-Salam Sharh Bulugh al-Maram (The Ways of Peace: Commentary on the Attainment of the Objective) is an intermediate-level commentary on legal hadiths written by the Yemeni scholar al-San'ani (1099–1182 AH / 1688–1768 CE) . The work explains Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's legal hadith collection Bulugh al-Maram min Adillat al-Ahkam by clarifying hadith terminology, analyzing legal disagreements, and deriving juristic rulings .
Composition and Sources
The book is an abridgment and refinement of al-Badr al-Tammam Sharh Bulugh al-Maram, an expansive commentary composed by the judge of Sanaa, al-Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Maghribi (1048–1119 AH; another report gives 1115 AH) . Al-Maghribi had structured his work around earlier reference texts, drawing hadith criticism and documentation (takhrij) from Ibn Hajar’s al-Talkhis al-Habir, textual commentary from Ibn Hajar’s Fath al-Bari, al-Nawawi’s commentary on Sahih Muslim, and Ibn Raslan’s commentary on the Sunan, while taking juristic differences from Ibn Rushd’s Bidayat al-Mujtahid and Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Murtada’s al-Bahr al-Zakhkhar .
In his preface, al-San'ani noted that his objective was to clarify the phrasings of Bulugh al-Maram and elucidate its meanings in a concise manner accessible to students, avoiding both disruptive brevity and tedious elaboration . He excised extraneous scholarly disputes except where directly connected to textual evidence, while introducing numerous original scholarly benefits and evaluations (ziyadat) not found in al-Maghribi's original text . Al-San'ani frequently engaged in independent legal preference (tarjih) based on evidence, addressing matters where al-Maghribi had left divergent opinions without evaluation .
Structure and Scope
The commentary adheres to the legal chapters established in Bulugh al-Maram, spanning acts of worship (ibadat) and transactions (mu'amalat) through to judicial rulings and testimonies, ending with Kitab al-Jami', which compiles hadiths on ethics, supplications, and remembrances . For each tradition, the author addresses the authenticity of the chain of transmission, linguistic definitions, variant narrations, and the positions adopted across multiple legal schools .
Reception and Derivatives
Subul al-Salam became widely circulated among scholars and students of Islamic law and hadith, serving as a staple reference in academic institutions and libraries . The Indian scholar Siddiq Hasan Khan authored an abridgment of the work entitled Fath al-Allam . The text has been published in multiple verified editions, including those edited by Muhammad Subhi ibn Hasan Hallaq and Tariq ibn Awad Allah .
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