MISHKAT AL-MASAABIH

As discussed in the previous chapter, Masabih al-Sunnah was an important contribution to the Hadith literature and its value was acknowledged by prominent scholars of Hadith of the time when it made its appearance. However, the later scholars felt that this work should be revised and modified in order to increase its utility and to make it accessible to the common man who does not possess a sound knowledge of the science of Hadith.

One such scholar who held this view was 'Allamah Husayn ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Tibi who lived in the eight century Hijri. He therefore advised one of his students, Wali al-Din ibn 'Abd Allah al-Tabrizi (d. 749/1348) to write a commentary on Masabih al-Sunnah, and to ameliorate all its shortcomings. Al-Tabrizi responded to the call of his teacher and his efforts bore fruit and the improved version of Masabih al-Sunnah came to be known as Mishkat al-Masabih.

Al-Tabrizi was a renown muhaddith (scholar of Hadith) of his time. He was well-versed in the intricacies of the Arabic language and rhetorics. It is unfortunate, however, that not much is known about his life. Al-Tabrizi is to be commanded for successfully improving upon Masabih al-Sunnah.

Improvements upon Masabih al-Sunnah
Al-Tabrizi added 1 511 Hadith to the original number of Hadith in Masabih al-Sunnah, thus raising the total from 4 434 to 5945. He does not give any particular reason as to why he chose to increase the number of Ahadith. He only mentions that he was motivated to do so for an important reason, but fails to explain. A plausible explanation may be that he felt that these additions would further his interpretation and were pertinent to the topics discussed in the Mishkat al-Masabih.

Al-Baghawi was somewhat hesitant in passing his own judgment on the quality of the Ahadith which he included in his work. At times, however, he would declare certain Ahadith to be sahih (sound) although such Ahadith were not found in the compilations of al-Bukhari and Muslim. Likewise, he remained absolutely silent and gave no explanation as to why he had classified them as such. Al-Tabrizi, on the other hand, corrected the discrepancy by re-classifying these Ahadith and gave reasons for the same.

It is interesting to note that al-Tabrizi devoted more attention to giving his views on the quality of the Ahadith which have been taken from the compilation of al-Tirmidhi. He did not explain as to why this was done.

It may be inferred that he chose to do that primarily because al-Tirmidhi had commented more, in comparison to the other compilers, on the quality of the Ahadith that are to be found in his compilation.

Al-Baghawi had divided his work into two sections. The first included only those Ahadith taken from al-Bukhari and Muslim and the second from other sources. Al-Tabrizi has added a third section (al-Fasl al-Thalith) to most of the chapters in Masabih al-Sunnah. In these sections he recorded additional Ahadith from the works of al-Bukhari, Muslim and other sources which he deemed relevant to the topics covered in the respective chapters. However, the sequence of the Masabih chapters remains unchanged.

Some Ahadith which appear in the second section of Masabih al-Sunnah have been moved to the third section of Mishkat al-Masabih. Likewise, certain Ahadith which had appeared in the first section of Masabih al-Sunnah have been moved to the second section of mishkat al-Masabih. The reason that is cited for this change from the first section to the second is related to the untraceability of these particular Ahadith in their original sources.

Al-Tabrizi has identified at the end of every Hadith the source or sources from where the particular Hadith was taken. Thus, by doing so, he managed to overcome al-Baghawi's shortcoming of not mentioning the isnad (chain of authorities of the Hadith).

Thus, al-Tabrizi succeeded admirably well in accomplishing the task assigned to him by his teacher. The additions and technical improvements which he incorporated in his revised version were indeed significant and made his Mishkat al-Masabih an academically popular work.

Mishkat al-Masabih
Mishkat al-Masabih is divided into twenty-nine books (kutub) and each book is divided into several chapters (abwab). Thereafter each chapter is further divided into three sections (fasl). It has in all a total number of three hundred and twenty-seven chapters.

The first book is entitled Kitaab al-Imaan (The Book of Faith). This Book of Faith is divided into five chapters dealing with sins (dhunub), signs of a hypocrite ('alamat al-munafiq), Satan (al-shaytan), the belief in predestination (al-qadr), the proof of punishment in the grave (ithbat al-'adhab fi al-qabr), and steadfastness to the teachings of the Qur'an and the Sunnah.

Next come the books dealing with taharah (cleanliness), salah (the five daily prayers), zakah (compulsory charity), sawm (Fasting during the holy month of Ramadhan) and hajj (annual Pilgrimage). These are then followed by other books which deal with business transactions, trusteeship and with the conditions of employment and other related legal matters in general.

The books dealing with marriage, divorce, and family maintenance come thereafter and are followed by the remaining books which deal with a variety of subjects, such as food, drinks, clothing, behaviour, jihaad, etc.

Each book has been given a particular title which indicates the nature of its contents. The chapters also have titles which indicate the aspects of the subjects being covered in the books. However, there are only a few chapters which do not have titles.

Chapter 3 ... cont'd

Mishkat al-Masabih

cont'd ... Chapter 5