''Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān'' (صحيح ابن حبان) is a collection of

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

scholar Ibn Hibban. It has the distinction of being one of small number of collections intended by the respective authors to contain only authentic

. The author of this

Sahih Hadith terminology () is the body of terminology in Islam which specifies the acceptability of the sayings (''hadith'') attributed to the Prophets in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad by other early Islamic figures of significance such as the compa ...

is , from Bust in Khorasan in present-day southern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

(former name of

Helmand Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering area. The province contains 18 ...

province capital was bost or bust , its new name is

Lashkargah Lashkargāh (; ), historically called Bost or Boost (), is a city in southwestern Afghanistan and the capital of Helmand Province. It is located in Lashkargah District, where the Arghandab River merges into the Helmand River. The city has a po ...

). He was a prominent

Shafi'i The Shafi'i school or Shafi'i Madhhab () or Shafi'i is one of the four major schools of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It was founded by the Muslim scholar, jurist, and traditionis ...

specialist and prolific author who died in 965 CE., by al-Kattani, pg. 20-1, ''Dar al-Basha'ir al-Islamiyyah'', seventh edition, 2007.

Overview

The actual name of this collection is ''al Musnad al Sahih al-Taqasim wa al-Anwa`'', however, it is commonly referred to as ''Sahih ibn Hibban''. The author utilized an innovative method in the arrangement of this work as it is not arranged in topical chapters nor is it based upon a ''musnad'' arrangement and is therefore difficult to navigate. Instead, it was arranged first by ''bab'', or chapter, and then under each chapter, by ''naw`'', or type. The book opens with a lengthy introduction. The ''Sahih'' remains in its entirety as of the late Nineteenth Century or early Twentieth Century, according to al-Kattani, who died in 1926.

Description

The book contains almost seven and a half thousand (7500)

s according to Al-Maktaba Al-Shamela.

Authenticity

According to al-Kattani, "it has been said that Ibn Hibban, after ibn Khuzaymah, authored the most authentic hadith collection, after ''

Sahih Bukhari () is the first hadith collection of the Six Books of Sunni Islam. Compiled by Islamic scholar al-Bukhari () in the format, the work is valued by Sunni Muslims, alongside , as the most authentic after the Qur'an. Al-Bukhari organized the bo ...

'' and ''

Sahih Muslim () is the second hadith collection of the Six Books of Sunni Islam. Compiled by Islamic scholar Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj () in the format, the work is valued by Sunnis, alongside , as the most important source for Islamic religion after the Q ...

''". However,

al-Suyuti Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (; 1445–1505), or al-Suyuti, was an Egyptians, Egyptian Sunni Muslims, Muslim polymath of Persians, Persian descent. Considered the mujtahid and mujaddid of the Islamic 10th century, he was a leading Hadith studies, muh ...

spoke more definitively when saying that '' Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah'' was the most authentic collection after ''

'' and ''

'', followed by ''Sahih Ibn Hibban'' which, in turn, was more authentic than '' Al-Mustadrak alaa al-Sahihain'', making ''Sahih Ibn Hibban'' the fourth most authentic hadith collection in Suyuti's view.

Derivative Works

''Al-Ihsan'': Ali ibn Balban (d. 739/1339) rearranged the hadith chapters of ''Sahih Ibn Hibban'' according to the topics of

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

and published them as ''al-Ihsan fi Taqrib Sahih Ibn Hibban''. ''Mawarid al-Zam'an'' : The unique hadith it contains, those not found in either ''

'' or ''

'', are arranged in the order of

headings in the book ''Mawarid al-Zam'an ila Zawa'id Ibn Hibban'' by

Ali ibn Abu Bakr al-Haythami Nur al-Din `Ali ibn Abi Bakr ibn Sulayman, Abu al-Hasan al-Haythami (, commonly known as Nur al-Din al-Haythami was a famous Sunni Egyptian scholar and an eminent Hadith expert who wrote lengthy works on hadith sciences. Biography He was born ...

(d. 807/1405).

Publications

The book has been published by various publishers around the globe: * '' Sahih ibn HIbban (صحيح ابن حبان)'' : Published:Dare ibn Hizm (دار ابن حزم) * '' Sahih Ibn Hibban (8 vol) صحيح ابن حبان'': Published: Dar Ibn Hazm, Beirut, 2012 *'' Sahih Ibn Hibban By Abu Hatim Muhammad Ibn Hibban'' (Arabic): Published: Dar Ibn Hazm

References

{{Authority control Sunni literature Sunni hadith collections Shafi'i