Using Albani Editions Of Hadith Works To Memorize Hadiths

September 4, 2010

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Question

I recently obtained a copy of Sahih ul Jaami` waz-Ziyaadah printed by the salafis. They have split it into two sets, one they have called weak and the other sahih. However, I know that they are wrong in this and I memorise from them.

But what I wanted to know is, is there a Sahih ul Jaami`a of his, in its original form that hasn’t been tampered with, in print by any publishing house where I could purchase it from? If not, should I continue memorizing from this or stop due to the fact of the Salafi tampering?

If there is a publishing house that has it in print, could you provide the address as well as the name of company so that I could write them and purchase it right away.

Answered by: Mufti Abdurrahman ibn Yusuf

Assalamu alaykum

In the name of Allah the Inspirer of truth

It seems like the book you have purchased is the Sahih al-Jami’ wa Ziyadatihi and the Da’if al-Jami’ wa Ziyadatihi by Nasir al-Din al-Albani. Great scholars of hadith like Shaykh al-Muhaddith Habibullah al-A’zami and Shaykh ‘Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghudda have pointed out many discrepancies in his works. He has republished a number of the classical source reference hadith works under new titles such as Sahih Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Sahih Sunan Ibn Maja, Da’if Sunan Ibn Maja, etc. in which he judges each of the hadiths according to his own criteria, so much so that he has even judged some of the hadiths of Sahih Muslim to be weak. Certainly this is a great injustice to the original authors and to the heritage of all the Muslims in general.

It is the al-Jami’ al-Saghir of ‘Allama Suyuti that Albani has split up in this way. ‘Allama Suyuti has another more voluminous work called the al-Jami’ al-Kabir (this is also known as al-Jam’ al-Jawami’). Both of these works have been published, I believe, by Dar al-Fikr. Even the Commentary of Munawi on Suyuti’s work called Fayd al-Qadir has been published.

For the sake of memorization, you may want to begin with something smaller like Imam Nawawi’s Arba’in, or his Riyad al-Salihin. Otherwise, Imam Bukhari’s al-Adab al Mufrad, or even the abridged version of his Sahih by al-Zabidi.

And Allah knows best.

Wassalam
Mufti Abdurrahman ibn Yusuf

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Dr. Mufti Abdur-Rahman ibn Yusuf

Dr. Shaykh Abdur-Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera is a British Muslim scholar educated in both the Islamic and Western traditions. He memorised the Qur’an by heart and graduated from the Darul Uloom seminary Bury, UK, and later earned a specialised licence to issue fatwa (legal responses) at Mazahir ‘Ulum Saharanpur, India. He earned his BA from the University of Johannesburg and completed his MA and PhD in Islamic Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He holds an honorary fellowship at The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Amman, Jordan. Shaykh Abdur-Rahman has the unique experience of serving as an imam in Muslim communities on both sides of the Atlantic, eight years in Southern California and over five in the great city of London—and his continued work as an international speaker and lecturer enables him to address and offer pertinent advice on current challenges that face Muslims in the West. He is the founder of Whitethread Institute, a post-graduate insititute for Islamic scholars. He is an avid traveller and continues to teach hadith and work on scholarly publications through White Thread Press (www.whitethreadpress.com). Many of his lectures are available on www.zamzamacademy.com and his courses through Rayyan Institute (www.rayyaninstitute.com).