Tahqiq Riyad al-Salihin lil-Albani
- Author died
- 676 AH
- Editions
- Al-Maktab al-Islāmī
Tahqiq Riyad al-Salihin lil-Albani is a critical edition and hadith verification of al-Nawawi's (631–676 AH / 1233–1277 CE) renowned collection Riyad al-Salihin, prepared by the hadith scholar Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani (d. 1420 AH / 1999 CE) .
Background and Scope
The original work, compiled by al-Nawawi in the seventh century AH, was designed as an accessible manual of ethical and spiritual conduct, drawing primarily on well-known hadith collections to gather traditions on piety, asceticism, self-discipline, and internal and external manners . While al-Nawawi intended to restrict the compilation to sound narrations, later critical examination prompted scholars to re-evaluate the chains of transmission; al-Albani undertook this edition to classify each narration and explicitly distinguish authentic hadiths from weak ones .
Method and Content
In his edition, al-Albani preserves the original thematic arrangement and numbering of chapters set by al-Nawawi while appending succinct evaluative rulings directly alongside the text of each hadith, marking them as authentic (sahih) or weak (da'if) . In the footnotes, he provides concise commentary on flawed transmission chains, missing supporting narrations (shawahid), and errors in attribution, frequently referring readers to his broader biographical and critical treatises, including Irwa' al-Ghalil and Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Da'ifa, for extended chain analyses .
Publication History and Controversies
The edition was published by al-Maktab al-Islami, appearing in a first edition in 1399 AH (1979 CE), followed by a second edition in 1404 AH and a third in 1406 AH .
A controversy arose in 1412 AH when the publisher issued a revised print with modified formatting and altered the front-matter attribution from "Edited by Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani" to "Edited by a group of scholars; hadith verification by Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani" . Al-Albani publicly protested against this version, criticizing the publisher for introducing anonymous annotations, altering textual comments, and adding an antagonistic preface that misrepresented his editorial work .
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