Translation to the introduction to Jami al-Kamil (2nd edition)
The Complete Collection of Sahih Hadith by Zia-ur-Rahman al-Azami
Introduction of the second edition
الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين، وإمام المتقين، وخاتم النبيين، وعلى آله وأصحابه، وعلى متبعي سنته إلى يوم الدين.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of all worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the Sayyid of all messengers, the leader of the righteous, the seal of the prophets, his family, his companions, and those who follow his Sunnah until the Day of Judgment.
To proceed:
Indeed, pursuing knowledge is among the best forms of drawing near to Allah and the most noble acts of obedience. Among the most important types of expertise is verifying the authenticity of the Hadith — distinguishing between its authentic and weak narrations.
I have presented at the beginning of the book a detailed introduction in which I mentioned my chain of transmission to the books of Hadith, my scholarly authorizations from the scholars of Hadith, and the history of Hadith documentation and its authentication.
I have also presented what a student of Hadith needs to know, such as tadlees and mudallis, consideration of supporting evidence or narrations, connected and broken chains, mawquf and marfu, mursal and muadal, irregular and rejected narrations, the reliability of a narrator, the narrator’s attributes in transmission, reconciliation between apparently contradicting Hadiths, knowledge of narrators about whom Hadith scholars differed regarding their reliability or unreliability, and other matters.1
I have presented the Hadith with its chain of transmission from the author to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Then, I discussed the chains that have been criticized. I avoided including biographies of reliable narrators to prevent the book from becoming too lengthy. I interpret the meaning and fiqh of the Hadith according to my book Al-Minnah Al-Kubra, which is an explanation and authentication of Al-Bayhaqi's Al-Sunan Al-Sughra. Sometimes I mention Hadith-related and useful points for fiqh briefly.
Allah has granted acceptance to Jami al-Kamil, as the first edition was sold out in record time. Here is the second edition of the book.
It is distinguished by several features, most importantly:
Numbering of hadiths and adding tashkeel where needed.2
Rearranging some chapters to better suit the fiqh of each chapter.
Adding hadith fiqh commentary in certain topics where I deemed necessary.
Adding some new hadith-related discussions in the "Introduction" that I found beneficial for students of knowledge, some of which I was asked about while teaching Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim in the Prophet's Masjid.
Revising previous grading where I had ruled some hadiths as weak.
Identifying critical defects in some hadiths that I had previously graded sahih.
Adding several authentic hadiths that I discovered after submitting the first edition for publication.
The 2nd edition is considered my "official version". May Allah forgive me. If I find any authentic hadith after this, I will mention it in a separate supplementary volume, inshaAllah.
I ask Allah عزَّ وجلَّ for more beneficial knowledge and righteous deeds. He is the One who grants success and guides to the straight path.
Madinah al-Munawwarah
1440 AH - 2019 CE
The Author, may Allah forgive him
Translator’s note. Tadlees refers to concealment in chain of narration, and mudallis are those deficient narrators who practice tadlees. A mawquf chain transmits from a Companion and doesn’t reach the Prophet ﷺ. A marfu chain is attributed directly to the Prophet ﷺ, whether the chain is continuous or not. A mursal chain is when a tabi'i quotes directly from the Prophet ﷺ, without mentioning the Companion who transmitted it. A muadal chain is when two or more consecutive narrators are missing from the chain of transmission.
Translator’s note. Tashkeel refers to the small marks placed above or below letters to indicate vowels and pronunciation. These marks include: fatha, kasra, damma, sukoon, and shadda.