IBN MAJAH

Ibn Maja, full name Abu `Abdallah Muhammad ibn Yazid Ibn Majah al-Rab`i al-Qazwini, was a medeval scholar of hadith (the sayings of Muhammad). He compiled the last of Sunni Islam's six canonical hadith collections, Sunan Ibu Majah.
Ibn Maja was born in Qawazin in modern-day Iranian province of Qazvin in 824 to a Perasoan family, clients (malwa) of the Arab tribe of Rabi`a ibn Nizar. His patronymic "Mâjah" means "month" in ancient person (corresponding to modern mâh), and may have been his father's title, or his mother's or grandmother's name. At the age of 22, he left his hometown to travel the Islamic World; among the areas he visited were Kufa, Basra, Egypt, Sham(Syria), Bagdad, Rayy, Mecca, Median, and Khorasan. He died in 887
After his travels, he wrote the Sunan Ibn Majah, recording 4,341 hadiths, of which 3,002 are recorded by the other five canonical hadith collectors; of the 1,339 hadith unique to him, 428 are graded sahih (authentic), while the remainder are considered less certain. According to Ibn Khathir, he also wrote a tafsir (commentary on Qur'an) and a book on history, but neither survive. Other authors began to add him to the canonical five hadith collectors beginning in the 13th century, but his position remained controversial as late as the 18th century

Features of His Collection

1. It is regarded as the sixth-ranked book of hadith by the majority of scholars For over 200 years after his collection was prepared, the Sunan was not given much recognition. In 507 H, Ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi referred to Sunan in his work: Syurut al-A'immah as-Sittah (Conditions of the Six Leaders) Although Ibn Hajar suggested that the sixth book should be Sunan ad-Daarimi, due to the smaller number of weak reporters and strange and very dubious narrations, the majority of scholars value it for the additional hadith not related by the other 5 hadith compilers. These types of hadith are classified as zawaid (additional hadith)

2. The inclusion of the weak hadith has made Ibn Majah the subject of criticism by people such as Ibn Jauzi in his Mauduuaat and ad-Dhahabi in Mizan al-I'tidal (cited by Dr Lutfi Sabbagh in al-Hadith an-Nabawi pg 325)

Benefits of its Study

1. It is a comprehensive book covering the whole gamut of subjects
2. It is well arranged with chapters entitled with such brevity as to show the understanding and erudition of Ibn Majah and facilitates searching with relative ease.
3. The chapters are arranged according to a legal classification
3. Its zawaid (additional hadith not found in the other five collections)

Editions

The edition of Muhammad Fuad Abdul Baqi, first published in 1373H is the most common in circulation and is in 2 volumes. All the hadith here have been indexed alphabetically. He wrote a valuable section at the end of the collection explaining the value of the Sunan, the status of Ibn Majah among scholars and the editions he (Fuad Abdul Baqi) depended on for his edition.
In 1403H, Shaikh Dr Muhammad Mustapha al-A'zumi produced an edition in 2 volumes which contained 10 indices produced by the computer! Perhaps the most meticulous edition is that of Dr Basshar Awwad Maaruf first published in 1998

Number and Status of Hadith

4341 (according to Fuad)
4397 (according to A'zumi)

Status

According to Fuad Abdul Baqi:
3002 hadith are also recorded by the other 5 compilers and of the remaining 1339 ahadith:
428 hadith are sahih
199 hadith are hasan
613 hadith are weak
99 hadith are munkar or makdhub

Commentaries

Most of these commentaries are difficult to find.
1. Kamaluddin Muhammad Musa ad-Dumairi as-Shaafi
2. Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Halabi (d 841 H)
3. Imam al-Hafiz Jalaluddin as-Suyuthi (d 911H) called“Misbah az-Zujajah”
4. Muhammad ibn Haadi as-Sindi (1138H) 5. Sirajudin Umar ibn Mulaqqan. This was the commentary of Ibn Majah's zawaid, called "Ma Tammusu ilahi Hajah ala Sunan Ibn Majah" (What is Needed direly of Sunan Ibn Majah) and is in 8 volumes
6. Marginal Notes written by Shaikh Abdul Ghani
ad-Dahlawi and printed with the Sunan together with the commentary of
as-Suyuti and Fahrul Hasan al-Kankuhi. This edition is considered a poor
edition in need of critical review
7. Ihdaa ad-Dibaajah by Safaa ad-Dawi Ahmad al-Adawi This work is valuable as it a modern work which contains the opinions of other scholars and is concise but precise. Adawi has called upon hundreds of sources and reproduced faithfully the statements of relevance. An interesting comment he makes is that he has not overlooked the state of the ummah while preparing this commentary rather he as brought attention to those hadith which refer to the current situation. Adawi has depended on the evaluation of the hadiths by Shaikh Albani

Other Works on the Sunan of Ibn Majah

1. Zawaid Ibn Majah alal Kutub al-Khamsah by Al-Busairi
2. Sahih and Daif Ubn majah of Shaikh Albani
3. Criticism of hadith among Muslims with reference to Sunan Ibn Majah by Shaikh Suhaib Abdul Ghafar Hassan