A Commentary on the Poem Al-Bayquniyyah

Shaikh Muhammad Ibn Saalih Al-Uthaimeen

The importance of this subject: The knowledge of usul al-hadith is a science that serves the radiant Prophetic traditions; with it one can distinguish the Prophetic narrations in terms of authenticity and fabrication, soundness and weakness.

Al-Imãm ‘Abdullah ibn al-Mubãrak said, “The quality of the hadith is not in the conciseness of the isnãd, rather its quality lies in the soundness of its narrators.”

Al-Imãm Yahyã ibn Said al-Qattän said, “Do not look at the hadith but rather look at its chain. If the chain is sound Lthen the narration is sound]. If not, then do not be deceived by the narration with a chain that is not Sound.”

Al-Hafiz ibn Qutaybah al-Daynüri said, “There is no nation amongst the nations with the isnãd like their chains (i.e. this nation); narrator from narrator, the trustworthy from the trustworthy in such a way until it reaches the Prophet and his Companions, so that the sound can be differentiated from the weak, the connected from the disconnected and the fabricated from the genuine.”

The Merits of the Poem of al-Bayqūnī

Shihab al-Din al-Dimyãthi said, “The poem of the knowledgeable imãm of understanding and perception, al-shaykh uni is one of the most interesting summaries of the science of hadith and the most eloquent of the writings upon which one takes the rigorous course upon, for it is comprised of clear yet fine expressions that overwhelms its counterparts with a grim face.”