The Scholar's Grant: Explanation of Reaching the Goal

Author's name: Sheikh Abdullah Saleh Al-Fawzan

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, seek His aid, and ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own souls and the wickedness of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whomsoever He misguides, none can guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, without partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, his family, his companions, and those who follow them in righteousness until the Day of Judgment.

Now then:

Knowledge is the most noble of aspirations and the most sublime of desires. Through it, the servant attains the ranks of the good and the pious, and the highest degrees in this world and the hereafter. Among the most noble of sciences and the highest in status - after the Book of God - is knowledge of the Sunnah of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, in terms of narration and understanding, and they are the basis for deducing evidence for the legal rulings.

The predecessors were concerned with this type of evidence, and they followed various methods in composing it. Among these methods is limiting themselves to the hadiths of the legal rulings, and stripping them of the hadiths of beliefs, battles, virtues, etiquette, and others, to make them easier for students to memorize, and to make them accessible when using evidence. Among those who composed according to this method is the hafiz Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (1), may God have mercy on him, who died in the year (852 AH). He collected in his book “Bulugh al-Maram min Adillah al-Ahkam” (2) the origins of the hadiths of the legal rulings, and arranged them according to the famous fiqh chapters, to make it easy for the reader to review them. He did not limit himself to the authentic hadiths, but rather cited some weak hadiths so that the student of knowledge would know what weak hadiths were mentioned in the issue, for knowing the authentic is knowledge, and knowing the weak is also knowledge. In order for the student to strive to study them, if there are other evidences or methods for them, he should research them, and it would become clear to him whether some of them can strengthen others, or not.

Al-Hafiz was satisfied with the general books and chapters without giving each hadith a title - as al-Majd Ibn Taymiyyah did in “al-Muntaqa” - and he mentioned at the end of it the book “al-Jami’” for manners, as if he wanted to provide the student of knowledge after memorizing the hadiths of rulings with these hadiths to memorize them, as he is in dire need of them. The hadiths in the book amount to (1568) hadiths, and this number may increase or decrease, depending on the difference in editions of the book, or the difference in viewpoints regarding the narrations and traces.

This book has many advantages that a careful reader can deduce, the most prominent of which are:

1 - He arranged his books, chapters and hadiths according to the chapters of jurisprudence - as mentioned above - so he mentions the name of the book, then the chapter, then he lists the hadiths related to it. He may also mention the name of the book, then list the hadiths without mentioning the chapter, as he did in the book “Funerals” and the beginnings of the book “Zakat,” “Fasting,” “Marriage,” and others.

2 - He limited himself to the hadiths attributed to the Prophet, and only mentioned a few of the hadiths attributed to the Prophet, such as in the Book of Marriage, the Chapter on Ila’, the Chapter on ‘Iddah, and others.

3 - He beautifully abbreviated the long hadiths, without changing the expression or presenting a late reference, and limiting himself to the point of evidence.

4 - He omitted the chains of transmission and limited himself to the highest narrator only. He may mention someone before him for a purpose, but this is very rare.

5 - It shows the degree of the hadith in terms of authenticity, goodness, or weakness in most cases. It is either transmitted from someone else, or it makes its own judgment, and this is one of the most important advantages, even though it does not show the reason for the weakness, except rarely, and perhaps he intended to be brief. These advantages were missed by Al-Majd Ibn Taymiyyah in “Al-Muntaqa,” so he was satisfied with the context of the hadiths and explaining their sources, without showing their degree.

6 - He sometimes mentions what is in the chains of transmission of mursal, interruption, or pause, and he may prefer if the hadith has more than one chain of transmission, all of that in a brief phrase.

7 - He sometimes mentions narrations and hadiths that are related to the hadith that he made the source of, and he does so only for a benefit, such as an absolute restriction, a general detail, a closed clarification, or to remove a contradiction or something similar. I have given this aspect a lot of attention, as I mention Al-Hafiz’s purpose in citing the narrations after his context of the source of the hadith, and this is something that the commentators have overlooked, as far as I know.

God Almighty has made this book acceptable to scholars, both ancient and modern. Scholars have praised it, students have circulated it, and they have eagerly memorized it. It has been included in some school curricula, and scholars have explained and clarified it. It has also served the hadith sciences by authenticating its hadiths and attributing them to their sources, among other things.

My way of explaining the book is as follows:

First: I divided the discussion into aspects in each hadith, after giving a title to the hadith, defining its topic and explaining what is meant. The aspects are:

* The first aspect: in the biography of the narrator, in order to introduce him briefly.

* The second aspect: In grading the hadith of the chapter, I am satisfied with the sources mentioned by Al-Hafiz, and I arrange them as he mentioned them, unless there is something that calls for an increase, by stating its location in the volume or page, or I limit myself to the number if it achieves the purpose. I may mention with the number the name of the book and the chapter, so that the subject of the hadith and its location are clear to the reader, especially in things like “Sahih Al-Bukhari,” “Sahih Muslim,” and the Sunan, knowing that the chapters in “Sahih Muslim” are not part of it. Then I cite the chain of transmission of the hadith, sufficing with what is needed. I may mention the wording of the hadith from its source if Al-Hafiz did not mention it in full, or if there is some difference in it. Then I explain the ruling on the hadith, as Al-Hafiz mentioned, with the addition of what supports it from the words of the people of knowledge. Then I mention what is related to the narrations that Al-Hafiz cites - sometimes - after the original hadith, and I explain its purpose from their context. If the hadith has narrations from which one can benefit in deriving rulings, I usually mention them.

* The third aspect: and what follows: in the issues related to the hadith, and the first of these aspects is an explanation of the words of the hadith, including the biographies of those mentioned in the text of the hadith.

Second: I will suffice with the jurisprudential issues that are derived from the hadith, without digressing into other issues, because the intention is to explain the jurisprudence of the hadith, not to mention jurisprudential issues in general. This belongs in books of jurisprudence, as I did not want to be too long, lest the book become too large. I have mentioned the references for the jurisprudential issues - mostly - and what I have quoted from Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Baz, may God have mercy on him, is attributed to its source; otherwise, it is from the tapes explaining “Al-Bulugh.” At the end of the book, God willing, there will be comprehensive indexes.

Third: I will not address controversial issues and discussions of evidence. Rather, I will suffice with the chosen opinion that is supported by evidence, and I will ignore that which is not supported by evidence, unless the disagreement is strong, or if Al-Hafiz has mentioned within his book the evidence of both groups - for example - then I will mention the disagreement and clarify the more correct opinion, in order to avoid the contradiction that may be understood from the evidence of one group or that.

In conclusion, I hope that if the honorable reader sees in what I have written a slip of the pen or a lapse of understanding, he will write to me, and I will be rewarded and thanked for correcting that in the future. The ear is attentive, the chest is open, and what a person writes is subject to error. Shortcomings are possible and deficiencies exist. I have named this commentary: “The Scholar’s ​​Gift in Explaining Bulugh al-Maram.”

I ask God Almighty to make my work righteous, sincere for His sake, and beneficial to His servants. May God’s prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, his companions, and those who follow them in righteousness until the Day of Judgment.

And his books

Abdullah bin Saleh Al-Fawzan

Qassim - Buraidah