Hadith

Hadith books in Arabic: how this section is organised

• What you will find here: hadith collections in Arabic, their digests, their commentaries and works on the sciences of hadith, in their original editions and all new.
• Four uses: source collection, thematic digest, commentary, sciences of hadith. The use is stated on every listing, since it decides who the book is for.
• Three levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced, indicated on the listing according to the length, density and vocalisation of the text.
• The editorial work: annotation, verification of the chains of transmission, gradings of authenticity, indexes. The listing states what the edition contains.
• Large and pocket formats: from multi-volume sets to collections of forty texts that fit in a pocket.
• What you will not find: translations or bilingual editions. The catalogue is entirely in Arabic.
• Information on every listing: publisher, year, number of volumes, format, binding, vocalisation, genre, level, editorial work.

Four hadith books, four different uses

This is the most useful distinction to make before buying, and the least visible on a cover.

The source collection gathers the texts with their chains of transmission, in the order its author intended. It is a reference work, consulted more often than read from end to end. The thematic digest selects texts and arranges them by subject, often without the chains: that is the one that gets read. The commentary takes a collection and explains it text by text, in language, law and transmission; it is the one that runs to the most volumes. The sciences of hadith, finally, contain almost no transmitted texts: they teach the vocabulary and the criteria that make the other three readable.

A reader starting out needs the second, and possibly a short version of the fourth. The first and the third come later, and serve for a long time. Every listing states which of these four uses the work falls under.

The six collections, and what one actually buys

The six collections are the Sahihs of al-Bukhari and Muslim, and the Sunan of Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa'i and Ibn Maja. Alongside them, Imam Malik's Muwatta and Ahmad ibn Hanbal's Musnad stand among the great early collections.

These are reference works. The Sahih of al-Bukhari holds several thousand texts across volumes, and nobody reads it as one reads a manual. In practice most readers start with a digest of that same collection, or with a thematic compilation drawn from it, before buying the complete set. Single-volume editions exist, on thin paper in small type: easy to shelve, tiring to read for long.

So the choice comes in two steps: which collection, then in what form. For each title, the listing says whether it is the complete collection, a digest, or a thematic selection.

In hadith, the edition matters more than elsewhere

Two copies of the same collection can offer very different working comfort, and the title does not show it.

An annotated edition numbers the texts, which allows a precise reference to be cited. It states the source of texts reported elsewhere, explains rare words, and gives the gradings of authenticity made by the scholars of hadith, those of Sheikh al-Albani for the Sunan, for instance. It adds indexes, which make the difference between a work one can consult and a work one merely owns.

An edition without that work is still a sound text, but harder to use. It costs less, and suits a reader who reads rather than searches. Every listing states what the edition contains, so that the choice is made knowingly rather than on price.

Where to start

Here are the works most used at the start of the curriculum, as they are taught in the institutes and mosques of the Arab world.

The Forty Hadiths

The collection of Imam al-Nawawi, forty-two short texts covering the great principles. Brief, often vocalised, abundantly commented on: it is the most common entry point.

Riyad al-Salihin

By the same author, a thematic collection of several hundred texts arranged in chapters on conduct and inner life. It is read section by section, in no imposed order.

Umdat al-Ahkam

The collection of Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi, limited to the texts on which al-Bukhari and Muslim agree, arranged by the chapters of law. It is the first collection of legal hadith in most curricula.

Bulugh al-Maram

The collection of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, broader than the previous one, giving the sources and often the grading of authenticity. It comes after Umdat al-Ahkam and underlies several commentaries.

Nukhbat al-Fikar

Ibn Hajar's treatise on the terminology of hadith, very brief, written to be memorised. The sciences of hadith begin here, before the more extensive works.

Three buying mistakes in hadith, and how to avoid them

We see them come round again, and each time they cost a book that stays on the shelf.

The first is buying a large collection as a first book. A source collection is not a book for reading through: without a digest read beforehand, it closes again after a few pages. A three-hundred-page thematic collection serves more than a nine-volume set opened twice.

The second is overlooking the edition. On a collection one will use for years, the absence of numbering, annotation and indexes is paid for at every consultation. This is the one section of the bookshop where we often recommend the more expensive edition.

The third is buying a commentary without owning the collection it comments on. A commentary follows its text chapter by chapter, and many editions do not reproduce the whole of the collection commented on. The listing says so.

Buy hadith books in Arabic from My Maktaba

Every work in this section is in Arabic, in its original edition, and every one is new. For each title, the listing states the publisher, year, number of volumes, format, type of binding, vocalisation, genre, level and editorial work. For collections meant for consultation, check that indexes are present. For commentaries, check that the text commented on is reproduced.

If you do not know where to start, write to us stating your level of Arabic, what you have already read and the use you intend, continuous reading or consultation. We will suggest two or three titles, no more, in the order in which to read them. And if the work you are looking for does not appear in the catalogue, send us the title and the publisher you want: our network of booksellers covers most of the editions in circulation.