Tanbih al-Hajid ila ma waqa min al-nazar fi Kutub al-Amajid
- Author died
- 1446 AH
- Editions
- al-Maḥajjah
Tanbih al-Hajid ila ma waqa min al-nazar fi Kutub al-Amajid (Alerting the Sleeper to Observations on the Books of Eminent Scholars) is a critical Hadith reference work by the Egyptian traditionist Abu Ishaq al-Huwayni (d. 1446 AH), dedicated to identifying oversights, rectifying transmitter assessments, and evaluating claims of unique narrations (tafarrud) across classical Hadith literature .
Background and Composition
The book originally began as an introductory tract containing 500 critical observations (ta'aqqubat) prefixed to the fourth volume of al-Huwayni's earlier work, al-Thamar al-Dani fi al-Dhabbi 'an al-Albani . Al-Huwayni sent this text to his teacher, Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani, during a visit to Kuwait in 1419 AH . Several months later, during an Islamic conference in the United States, al-Huwayni contacted al-Albani by telephone; al-Albani commended the work, stating that he had read it and found it beneficial .
Following this encouragement, al-Huwayni decided to expand the project into a comprehensive, standalone multi-volume compilation by incorporating material gathered from his unpublished writings and research notes . He integrated surviving portions of earlier treatises, including:
- Ithaf al-Naqim bi-wahm Abi 'Abd Allah al-Hakim, an examination of more than fifteen categories of errors committed by al-Hakim al-Naysaburi in al-Mustadrak, of which al-Huwayni recovered roughly a volume and a half .
- al-Jazm bi-shudhudh Ibn Hazm, an early work defending established narrators whom Ibn Hazm had declared to be unknown (majahil) .
Scope and Method
The work compiles detailed critical observations on classical Hadith compilations and narrator evaluations . A significant portion is devoted to evaluating the judgments of al-Tabarani in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, where al-Huwayni scrutinized claims of individual isolation (tafarrud) across 713 hadiths by providing corroborating chains of transmission (mutaba'at) and identifying parallel routes from other sources .
In preparing the expanded six-volume edition completed in Rabi' al-Akhir 1423 AH (June 2002 CE), al-Huwayni omitted several entries from the initial volume where he found repeated remarks or deemed his initial critique insufficient, while supplementing the remaining entries with additional source references and analytical commentary . The indices for each volume of this edition were prepared by Ahmad ibn 'Atiyya al-Wakil .
Publication History and Related Works
The work was first published in 1418 AH as a single volume by Maktabat al-Balagh in Dubai . An expanded edition was issued in six volumes in 1423 AH (2002 CE) by Maktabat al-Mahajja in the United Arab Emirates . Further drafts extending from volumes seven to twelve remained unprinted, with manuscript drafts across various projects estimated up to fifteen volumes .
The book was abridged in a one-volume work titled Qurrat 'Ayn al-Naqid bi-tahdhib Kitab Tanbih al-Hajid, which added explicit authenticity grades for every entry . The text has also been the subject of subsequent scholarly engagement and critique, notably in academic treatises evaluating al-Tabarani's terminology and criteria for tafarrud .
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