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Al-Sunan al-Wusta

Author	Al-Bayhaqi
Original title	السنن الوسطى
Language	Arabic
Subject	Shafi'i jurisprudence
Genre	Hadith collection
Published	Dar al-Kotob al-'Ilmiyya
Publication date	2010
Publication place	Lebanon
Pages	4000
ISBN	2745114522

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Al-Sunan al-Wusta, (Arabic: السنن الوسطى), or Marifat al-Sunan wa-al-Athar (Arabic: معرفة السنن والآثار) is a hadith work compiled by Imam al-Bayhaqi (384 AH – 458 AH). It is multi-volume book which provides a compilation of textual evidences for Shafi'i jurisprudence.

Description

This book is considered to be one of the most important Shafi’i books, as it collected the hadith evidence of the school of thought, a way out for it from the Sahih and Sunnah, showing its methods, the reason for what was faltered from it, and the reason for Al-Shafi’i inferring it if it was faltered. Al-Bayhaqi also explained the doctrines of the followers and those after them, such as Abu Thawr, Al-Hasan al-Basri and Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, and he arranged it according to the arrangement of Al-Muzani. The old sayings of Al-Shafi’i are sometimes cited, and the book has some comments from the transcription of a hadith, the translation of a scholar, and attribution to a reference.

Reception

Ibn al-Subki said: "No Shafi'i jurist can do without it," while his father, Taqi al-Din al-Subki said: "He meant by the title: Al-Shafi'i's Knowledge of the Sunnahs and Reports (Athar)."

A dream of al-Shafi'i carrying sections of this book in his hand occurred to one of the right-acting men when al-Bayhaqi was writing Ma'rifat as-Sunan wal-Athar. He was stating, "I have read them," or, alternatively, "I have written seven sections of the Book of the jurist Ahmad (al-Bayhaqi)."

See also

• List of Sunni books
• Sunan al-Kubra
• Shu'ab al-Iman
• Nihayat al-Matlab fi Dirayat al-Madhhab

References

1. Thomas Henry Robert Munt (31 July 2014). The Holy City of Medina - Sacred Space in Early Islamic Arabia. Cambridge University Press. p. 192. ISBN 9781107042131.
2. ^ Al-Bayhaqi (1999). Allah's Names and Attributes. Vol. 4 of Islamic Doctrines & Beliefs. Translated by Gibril Fouad Haddad. Islamic Supreme Council of America. p. 5. ISBN 9781930409033.
3. "Marifat al-Sunan wa-al-Athar (7 vol) معرفة السنن والآثار". jarirbooksusa.com.
4. "مقدمة كتاب معرفة السنن والاثار ابي بكر احمد بن الحسين البيهقي". safinatulnajat.com.
5. Shah Abdul Aziz Dehlavi (2007). The Garden of the Hadith Scholars Bustan al-Muhaddithin: Clarification of the books of Hadith and their splendid authors. Translated by Aisha Abdurrahman Bewley, Mohammad Akram Nadwi. Turath Publishing. ISBN 9781915265043.

• 9th-century Arabic-language books
• 10th-century Arabic-language books
• Sunni literature
• Sunni hadith collections
• Shafi'i