Abstract: This article examines the place of Muhammad Abid Sindi’s work “al-Mawahib-ul-latifa” in the science of hadith. In the work, the scholar provided detailed and extensive information about the sciences related to the text of the hadith, the sciences related to the chain of transmission of the hadith, the sciences related to the history of the hadith, and the sciences related to the jurisprudence of the hadith. Sindi’s contribution to the science of hadith in acquiring and imparting knowledge, his other works, the distinguishing features of his scientific activity, the scholar’s mastery of other sciences besides hadith, his perseverance in acquiring knowledge and his patience in the face of hardships, and the fact that this person was an even more mature person, are discussed.
Keywords: Muhammad Abid Sindi, “al-Mawahib-ul-latifa”, science of hadith, chain of transmission, mutawatir, narrator, jarh and tadil
Muhammad Abid Sindi’s work “Al-Mawahibu-l-Latifah” is certainly one of the important literatures in the study of Islamic hadith and jurisprudence. His lighting style is unique and rich in scientific interpretation. After quoting the hadith narrated by Abu Hanifa (may God have mercy on him), Muhammad Abid Sindi mentions the hadith in the books of the muhaddith in the following order: Imam Bukhari in “Jomeu-s-Sahih”, Imam Muslim in “Sahih”, Imam Malik in “Muwatta”, Abu Dawud, Imam Tirmidhi, Nasa’i, Ibn Majah, Darqutni and Bayhaqis in “Sunan”, Imam Shofei, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Dorimi, Bazzar, Abu Ya’la Musiliyy in their “Musnad”, Tabarani mentions them in three mojam and others. Then he mentions the differences in the wording of the narrations. Then, he cites other hadiths related to the issue stated in the content of the hadith, explains the chain of transmission and the status of the narrators of the hadith, and states the level of the hadith. Also, he cites the hadiths that are related and witnessed in order for the hadith in the Musnad of Abu Hanifa (may Allah have mercy on him) to be evidence for the fiqh issue. By doing this, he shows that the hadith narrated by Abu Hanifa (may Allah have mercy on him) is not weak. Also, after mentioning the things listed above in his commentary on the hadith, the scholar focuses on the companion who narrated the hadith and briefly presents his translation status. Then, he focuses on each narrator in the chain of transmission of the hadith one by one. Then, he explains the rare (rare) words in the hadith. Then, he moves on to explaining the fiqh issue that can be derived from the hadith.
Many scholars have praised this book. For example, Muhammad ibn Yahya Taymiyyah, the author of the book “al-Yani’ al-Janiyyah”, said: “The book “al-Mawahib al-Latifa” is a wonderful book, which is very beneficial for both the jurist and the hadith scholar.” Therefore, the hadith scholar Sheikh Muhammad Rashid al-Nu’maniyyah, who read this work, said: “I read the work “al-Mawahib al-Latifa”. I can say without hesitation that there is no other book like it in terms of hadith commentary after Ibn Hajar’s book “Fath.” When it comes to the method of hadith commentary, sometimes a scholar will comment on a hadith at such length that it would be possible to write a separate small treatise on its commentary. For example, the commentary on hadith 255 in the book “Hajj” started on page 278 and continued until page 366. If the commentary on this hadith were published separately, it would be a small booklet of 90-100 pages. Sometimes, when commenting on a hadith, after giving the meaning of a word in the hadith, one derives a new meaning from the content of the hadith based on the rules of grammar. For example, the following hadith in the chapter on prayer in the book “al-Mawahib al-Latifa” can be cited:
“The words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) “Because the reward of (praying the dawn) is greater” indicate that there are two kinds of reward at the time set aside for praying the dawn. This is because the verb “أفعل” whose name is tafseel indicates that two things compete with each other in one quality, and one prevails over the other.”
Here, the author, based on the definition of tafseel in Arabic grammar, says a new meaning not mentioned in the hadith, namely: The reward for praying the dawn prayer at the time set aside for it can be two kinds.
In his commentary on the hadith, Sindhi sometimes dwells extensively on issues of belief. For example, in the book “Iman” of the work, he explains the disagreement among scholars regarding the definition of faith, saying:
Imam An-Nasa’i also narrated this hadith in both a marfu’ and a mawquf form. In the hadith he narrated in a marfu’ form, it is said: “Allah the Almighty says: ‘Fasting is for Me and I will reward it.’” In the hadith he narrated in a mawquf form, Abdullah ibn Mas’ud said: “Allah the Almighty says: ‘Fasting is for Me and I will reward it.’”
Al-Tabarani also narrated this hadith in his book Mu’jam al-Kabir, and Ahmad and Bazzar in their Musnad, in a marfu’ form from Abdullah ibn Mas’ud. Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated another marfu’ hadith from Jabir with a hasan chain of transmission: “Fasting is a shield. With it, a servant protects himself from the Fire. It is for Me and I will give the reward.”
Based on scientific research, Sindi, after correcting the narrator of this hadith in Abu Hanifa’s Musnad, mentioned the followers and witnesses of the hadith, making it even stronger in terms of evidence and documentation.
Sindi analyzes the opinions expressed by great hadith scholars about the narrators in some places, and explains with courtesy and respect the error of what the great hadith scholar said about the narrator. For example, he quotes Imam Tirmidhi’s words about the narrators who narrated Hadith 108 in the Book of Prayer, and then explains that Tirmidhi’s information about the narrator is incorrect. The following is a review of the scholar’s words:
“Imam Tirmidhi said: “Yazid ibn Harun said: ‘Sharik narrated only this hadith from ‘Asim ibn Kulaib.'”
It is surprising that Tirmidhi confirmed Yazid ibn Harun’s statement by narrating: ‘Sharik narrated only this hadith from ‘Asim.'” Because Sharik narrated several hadiths from ‘Asim.
For example: The hadith of raising the hand to the level of the ears, or the hadith narrated by Abu Dawud and Tabarani: When a narrator came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in the winter, he saw him and his companions raising their hands between their clothes in prayer, or the hadith narrated by Tabarani: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said ‘Amin’ out loud.”
Here, as is evident, scholar Sindi explains with beautiful manners the error made by a great scholar of hadith like Imam Tirmidhi.
Here, Sindi presents the views of two groups of scholars on a matter related to the science of mustalah, and on this basis explains that the hadith narrated by Abu Hanifa is included in the golden chain of narration.
May Allah make this book one of the acceptable deeds in His sight! For He is the Owner of great bounty!”
Sindi wrote the following in the introduction to his book “al-Mawahib al-Latifa”:
“After narrating the Musnads of Imam Abu Hanifa (may Allah have mercy on him) and the books “Masanidu Imam Azam” by Mahmud Al-Khwarizmi with permission from my maulani, my teacher, scholar, teacher of researchers, and the one relied on by hadith scholars, Sheikh Salih Fullani, I did not find a good copy of these two books that I could satisfy my heart with. Most of the copies contained many changes and errors.
Among the copies I found was a commentary written by Mulla Ali Qari on the Musnad narrated through Haskafi. This copy also had many errors. Perhaps Mulla Ali Qari had a copy of the Musnad that was full of errors. Because Mulla Ali Qari commented on those phrases as they were, without correcting them. That is probably why he explained some phrases with incorrect interpretations. I will refer to them in this commentary when the time comes. God willing!
Muhammad Obid Sindi, may God have mercy on him, completed writing this book before 1235/1819 AD. Because, when writing an ijaza to his student named Sheikh Arif Hikmat in 1235/1819 AD, he wrote the following words:
“… Arif Hikmat was blessed to hear my first commentary on the book “Sahih Muslim” from the beginning to the book of Namaz and the book “Musnad Abu Hanifa”.”
The special attention of this work in the science of hadith is that the scholar spoke and extensively covered five areas related to the science of writing the work:
1) Classification of topics:
It is known that this work of Abu Hanifa (may Allah have mercy on him) was written in the Musnad style. The difference between works written in the Musnad style and other hadith books is that the author does not present the hadiths in order based on certain topics. If he has heard a number of hadiths from one teacher, he mentions all of them, then moves on to another teacher and presents the hadiths he has heard from each teacher in this order. Therefore, it is impossible to find hadiths under a specific topic in a Musnad work.
Muhammad Abid Sindi reorganized this Musnad work of Abu Hanifa, divided the hadiths into topics, and arranged each hadith under that topic. Sindi commented on the 526 hadiths in the Musnad under 33 books. The work began with the book “Iman” and ended with the book “Qiyamat va Jannah Wasfi”.
2) Talking about the chain of transmission: One of the unique aspects of Muhammad Abid Sindi is that he always discusses the chain of transmission of each hadith. He discusses the narrators in the chain of transmission, whether the chain of transmission is included in the golden chain or not, whether the hadith narrated by that chain of transmission is single or multiple, whether there is a break from the beginning to the end of the chain of transmission, which other hadith scholars narrated the hadith with that chain of transmission, the reason for the chain of transmission, whether the chain of transmission meets the condition of two narrators, the sheikh, i.e.
3) Declaring the hadith sahih (i.e. by citing the sources and evidence mentioned above):
It is known that when classifying a hadith as sahih or da’eef, hadith scholars study two aspects in detail. They are: the chain of transmission of the hadith and the text of the hadith. A lot is required of a scholar to certify a hadith as sahih. He must have mastered all the knowledge related to the science of jarh and tadil regarding the chain of transmission.
4) Showing the authenticity of the hadith:
If the hadith is divided into sahih, hasan, and daif according to its chain of transmission, then it is divided into turuk, i.e., the number of channels through which the hadith was transmitted, into mutawatir, musullah, and ahad. In order to make a hadith mutawatir, i.e., popular, the hadith scholar must have read all the collections of hadith. From this point of view, in order to raise a hadith to the level of popularity, a person must have read all the collections of hadith. Sindi explained the disagreement among the jurists in the Madhhab regarding the issue of whether even a small amount of intoxicants is haram, and in order to support the statement of Imam Muhammad, “Even a small amount of intoxicants is haram,” he narrated twenty-six hadiths and presented them with their authenticity. In this way, Sindi proved that the hadith that was transmitted on that issue was mutawatir.
5) Enumerate other channels of the hadith.
Of the 526 hadiths in Imam Azzam’s Musnad, more than two hundred were narrated by Sindi through other chains of transmission. As he himself said, he raised the hadith to a level that was suitable for evidence. Sometimes, in order to support a single hadith, he mentioned thirteen other hadiths (for example, the one about saying Bismillah during ablution). In fact, Sindi explained his purpose in writing the book by saying: “I spent all my effort on mentioning the witnesses and followers of the hadiths in the Musnad.” It is clear from this that the scholar cited the chain of transmission of the hadiths in other ways under almost all the hadiths.
6) Jarh and Tadil
This science is a great science related to the science of hadith, and the hadith scholar spent his entire life in searching for this science. In this work, the scholar has compiled more than three hundred and twenty narrators through jarh and tadil. He also showed great expertise in this regard. He quotes the opinions of several hadith scholars regarding a narrator. For example, in the sixth part of the work, while commenting on a hadith, he writes about its narrator as follows:
“Ibn Hanbal called Abu Awana weak. Ibn Ma’in called him a reliable narrator. Abu Hatam said: “His narrations are not bad.” Hafiz in his work “Taqrib” approved the opinion of those who called this narrator reliable.”
7) Identifying the names of the narrators:
Muhammad Abid Sindi mentions the name, patronymic, kunya (if any) and other known names of the narrators of the hadith under almost every hadith. Sometimes he dwells at length on the name of the narrator and explains his real name. By doing this, he makes it easier for those who criticize and modify the narrators of the hadith. Because when the real name of the narrator is clear, it is easy to classify him as authentic or weak narrators. For example, the scholar’s statement regarding the real name of the great companion Abu Hurayrah can be cited:
8) Determining the kunya of the narrators:
The most common mistake that occurs in hadith scholars is the mistake in the kunya of the narrators. If the narrator who narrated the hadith has a kunya, he will definitely mention it. The kunya of the narrator even states his middle name, where he is from, and sometimes his religious orientation. For example, he writes about one of the narrators of Hadith 435 in the chapter “Hajj”:
“(Yahya ibn Abdullah Kindi) this narrator was a Shia from Kufa. His kunya was Abu Hujiyah. He was known as Ajlah.”
9) Explaining the continuity of narration:
Some scholars of hadith claimed that most of the hadiths in Abu Hanifa’s Musnad were not continuous. However, Muhammad Abid Sindi proved the incorrectness of these claims in his work. On the contrary, he showed that most of the hadiths narrated by the head of the madhhab were continuous. For example, he explains a hadith in the book of fasting as follows:
“Some people criticized this hadith as munqatī. However, the reality refutes their claim. This is because Alqama narrated this hadith from an old, elderly sheikh. The one who criticized the chain of transmission thought that Alqama had not seen that narrator and declared the hadith munqatī because there was a break in the chain of transmission.”
10) Showing the incompleteness of the narration:
Al-‘Ulama Sindi also explained the break in the chain of transmission in this work. After mentioning the incompleteness of some hadiths in the Musnad and the fact that the break occurred in the chain of transmission, he reinforced that hadith with marfu’ and mawsul hadiths.
11) Explaining the hadiths that have been acted upon:
Another commendable feature of Sindi is that after citing several hadiths in a chapter, he explains and explains which of them have been acted upon.
For example, after citing various narrations on the same topic, he emphasizes that “this hadith is acted upon.” The following statement of the scholar in his work can be cited in this regard:
“Most of the scholars have acted upon this hadith.”
By knowing whether a hadith has been acted upon or not, a person acts upon the authentic Sunnah.
12) Explaining the hadiths whose practice has been abandoned
Sindi’s practice also lists the hadiths that have been abandoned. He called such hadiths abrogated. For example, in his commentary on one hadith, he writes:
13) Narration from the Companion:
Although such a case is rare, it has happened in history. Allama, quoting such a narration, writes:
“This hadith was narrated by one of the Companions of the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, from one of his followers. That companion was Sahl ibn Sa’d Ansari. The follower was Marwan ibn Hakam. Marwan the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not hear a hadith because he was a follower.”
14) Explaining the narrations of the elders from the younger ones.
In the science of hadith, we can cite the narrations of the four senior companions from Abdullah, namely Abdullah ibn Umar, Abdullah ibn Abbas, Abdullah ibn Amr, and Abdullah ibn Zubayr. It should also be mentioned that Khatib Baghdadi wrote a book on this subject and called it “Riwayatul-Akabir an a-s-Sagha’ir.” Allama Sindi, in his work, speaks of the narrations of the senior companions from the younger ones and writes:
“The senior companions narrated hadiths from Ibn Abbas. For example, Umar. Also, senior companions like Abu Hurayrah narrated from Ibn Umar. Some of the companions also narrated from their children.”
15) Explaining the history of the narrators:
Knowing the date of birth and place of birth of the narrators is the most important information that is very necessary for those who are engaged in the science of hadith. As a hadith scholar and historian, Sindi also had good knowledge in this regard. By explaining the century in which the narrators lived, he stated that some hadiths were mursal, mawquf or munqatī. The twelfth hadith that came in the century can be taken as an example. Sindi writes about the narrators of hadith as follows:
In conclusion, in this work, the scholar has provided detailed and extensive information on the sciences related to the text of the hadith, the sciences related to the chain of transmission of the hadith, the sciences related to the history of the hadith, and the sciences related to the jurisprudence of the hadith.
Elyorbek Anvarov
Tashkent Islamic institute
Teacher of the Department of Languages
basic doctoral student of International Islamic Academy of Uzbekistan
tel. (+998)909854309anvarovelyorbek1996@gmail.com,
List of used literature
- Muhammad Salihi. Uqud al-juman fi manaqib al-Imam al-A’zam. – Mecca. Umm al-Qura University, 1980. – 204 p
- Muhammad Abdurrashid al-Nomani. Makanatu al-Imam Abi Hanifa fi al-hadith. Beirut, 1996. – 285 p
- Abu Hanifa al-Noman Imam al-aimmati al-fuqaha. – Beirut: Dor al-kalam, 1993. – 400 p
- Habib Ahmad Kiiranawi. Abu Hanifa (r.a.) and his companions. – Beirut: Dor al-fikr al-arabiya, 1989. – 589 p
- Muhammad Kasim Abduh. Makanatu al-imam Abi Hanifa bayna al-muhaddisiyn. – Makkah: Dor al-kalam, 1993. – 469 p
- Sayyid Afifi. Hayat al-Imam Abi Hanifa. – Cairo: Dor al-maarif, 1934. – 600 p
- Zafar Ahmed Usmani. E’lous sunan. – Beirut: Dorus Salam, 1997. – 400 p
- Ashraf Ali Tahanawi. Imam Azam. – Cairo: Darul ilm, 1988. – 268 p
- Knowledge of hadith and the status of Imam Abu Hanifa (r.a.). – Delhi, 1997. – 598 p
- Muhammad Obid Sindi. Al-Mawahib al-Latifa. – Beirut: Dorun Navadir, 2013. – 184 p
- Muhammad Ali Mubhi. Davlatu Osmaniyin. – Beirut: Doru ihyo turos, 1998. – 207 p
- Sheikh Abdussalam Isavi. The history of Ottoman rule. – Cairo: Darul Ma’rifa, 2003. – 360 p
- Sheikh Mukhtar Dira. History of Haza. – Dimashq: Doru Salam, 2011. – 184b
- Sheikh Mahmoud Abu Ros. The history of Majdina. – Beirut: Darul Irfan, 1987. – 378 p
