Ujalat al-Imla ala al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib
- Author died
- 900 AH
- Editions
- T al-Maarif - Naqisa
Ujalat al-Imla ala al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib (‘Ujālat al-Imlāʾ al-Mutayassara min al-Tadhnyīb ʿalā Mā Waqaʿa lil-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mundhirī min al-Wahm wa-Ghayrihi fī Kitābihi al-Targhīb wa-l-Tarhīb) is a critical hadith commentary by the Syrian Shafi'i traditionist Burhan al-Din al-Naji (810–900 AH / 1407–1495 CE) . The work consists of marginal annotations, emendations, and critical remarks on the renowned hadith collection al-Targhīb wa-l-Tarhīb compiled by Zaki al-Din al-Mundhiri (d. 656 AH / 1258 CE) .
Title and Purpose
The full title given by the author in his introduction is ‘Ujālat al-Imlāʾ al-Mutayassara min al-Tadhnyīb ʿalā Mā Waqaʿa lil-Ḥāfiẓ al-Mundhirī min al-Wahm wa-Ghayrih fī Kitābihi al-Targhīb wa-l-Tarhīb ("The Prompt Dictation Available as a Supplement Concerning the Inadvertent Errors and Other Matters that Befell al-Hafiz al-Mundhiri in His Book al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib") . At the end of the text, he phrases it as min al-wahm wa-l-īhām ("concerning errors and illusions") . Later bibliographers, including al-Sakhawi, Katip Celebi (Hajji Khalifa), and Isma'il Pasha al-Baghdadi, also cited it under shortened titles such as Ta‘līqah ‘alā al-Targhīb wa-l-Tarhīb .
Al-Naji composed the work as a set of analytical notes dictated to identify inadvertent slips, imprecise references, and omitted transmitters in al-Mundhiri's original text, framing it as an independent supplement (tadhnyīb) and refinement (tahdhīb) of the book .
Contents and Methodology
The work follows the sequence and chapter structure of al-Mundhiri's al-Targhīb wa-l-Tarhīb, quoting entries and appending critical notes . Its material spans two primary areas:
- Textual and Sourcing Critiques: Al-Naji identifies errors in hadith attribution, such as clarifying when a report attributed generally to an author appears in a peripheral monograph (e.g., al-Nasa'i's ‘Amal al-Yawm wa-l-Laylah) rather than his primary Sunan . He also corrects textual corruptions (taṣḥīf) that led al-Mundhiri to place narrations in incorrect thematic chapters, and uncovers hidden defects (‘ilal) and interruptions (inqiṭā‘) in transmission chains .
- Philological and Transmitters' Disambiguation: He provides precise vocalizations and spellings (ḍabṭ) for obscure words, geographical names, and ambiguous narrators' patronymics and kunyas, expanding on biographical details and linguistic explanations .
Modern studies of the text note that while al-Naji was exhaustive in orthographic adjustments and digressions, he rarely focused on evaluating al-Mundhiri's leniency in strengthening weak chains or the inconsistencies in applying his stated grading terminology .
Reception and Editions
Al-Sakhawi recorded in al-Ḍawʾ al-Lāmi‘ that al-Naji had written an insightful commentary on al-Mundhiri's al-Targhīb in a concise volume . In modern scholarship, Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani praised the book in the introduction to Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb wa-l-Tarhīb, describing it as an essential work demonstrating broad learning and sharp comprehension, and noted that he relied upon many of al-Naji's corrections in his own critical edition and evaluation of al-Mundhiri's collection .
The book has been printed in several modern editions:
- Published as footnotes appended to al-Targhīb wa-l-Tarhīb, edited by Ayman Ṣāliḥ (Cairo: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1415 AH / 1994 CE) .
- Edited by Ḥusayn ibn ‘Ukāshah (Sharjah: Maktabat al-Ṣaḥābah / Cairo: Maktabat al-Tābi‘īn, 1419 AH / 1998 CE) .
- Edited in multiple volumes by Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥammād al-Rayyis and Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Qannāṣ (Riyadh: Maktabat al-Ma‘ārif, 1420 AH / 1999 CE) .
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