Hadith Encyclopaedias

The problem these works solve

You have a hadith and no idea where it comes from. Searching collection by collection is impossible: the six books alone hold tens of thousands of chains. Encyclopaedias and takhrij tools exist for this: finding a text from a few words, learning who reported it, through which routes, and what the critics said about it. This is the toolkit of anyone who verifies before quoting.

The major compilations

• Jami' al-usul by Ibn al-Athir: gathers the hadiths of the six books and the Muwatta, arranged by theme, in about a dozen volumes.
• Kanz al-ummal by al-Muttaqi al-Hindi: the largest, organised by subject, gathering hadiths from very many collections, rare ones included.
• Jami' al-masanid wa al-sunan by Ibn Kathir: arranged by Companion.

Zawa'id: what is not in the six books

A distinctive and very useful genre: zawa'id collections keep only what is additional to the six books. Majma' al-zawa'id by al-Haythami thus gathers the additions of Ahmad's Musnad, al-Tabarani's three Mu'jam and others, with a judgement on each chain. If you are looking for a hadith absent from the six books, that is where to look first.

The search tools

Two instruments change the working life of anyone handling these texts. Al-Mu'jam al-mufahras li-alfaz al-hadith al-nabawi locates a hadith from any significant word, with the exact reference to collection, book and chapter. Tuhfat al-ashraf by al-Mizzi arranges the hadiths of the six books by Companion and gives all the routes of one text: the reference tool for comparing chains. The notions needed to use them are in Hadith sciences and terminology.

Are these still worth buying?

A fair question in the age of online databases. For a one-off search, a search engine often does. For sustained work, no: these books give the complete chain, the compiler's judgement and the context of the chapter, three things a search result does not. And a paper index is leafed through faster than people expect. If your use is occasional, take a well-annotated collection in Hadith collections instead.

What to check before buying

The volume count and whether the set is complete, since these collections are sometimes sold broken up. The presence and quality of the indexes, which govern the whole use. The editor, and the print quality: these works have very dense pages, and a compressed reprint becomes unreadable. These points appear on every listing, with the approximate weight of the full set.

Related sections

Once the hadith is located, the full text is in the collections and its explanation in the commentaries. The judgement passed on the chain assumes the hadith sciences and is checked name by name with the narrator dictionaries.

Ordering and shipping

Real stock shown, never a supplier lead time. Each volume is wrapped separately and packed in a rigid box. Dispatched within 24 to 48 working hours, shipped across Europe and worldwide. For a complete set, write to us before ordering: we weigh the collection and give you the exact rate to your country.