. J i ? . .r--J i ? (cont.)

In fact, al-Diqr says, had al-Nawawi been able to complete the work in the pattern that he had begun it, it would be the greatest fiqh work of all, save for what the founders of the schools themselves wrote.1 After offering a description of the book, ibn Katheer concluded, "In general, it is a book the likes of which I have never seen from what has been passed on from the earlier scholars and none of the later scholars have come up with anything comparable to it."2 His Commentary to Sahih Muslim In the same way that al-Nawawi has one of the classic works on.fiqh, he also has one of the two most respected and popular commentaries on a collection of hadith. It could be argued, again, that there are two works of hadith commentaries that stand out among the rest. These are ibn Hajr's Fath al-Baari, which is a commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari, and al-Nawawi's commentary on Sahih Muslim, sometimes entitled al-Minhaaj fl Sharh sahih Muslim ibn al-Hajaaj. Once again, it is both al-Nawawi's detail, when needed, and excellent pithy expressions that give this commentary a distinctive flavor. Al-Diqr states that there is no question that will come to the mind of the reader of Sahih Muslim except that he will find the answer to it in al-Nawawi's commentary.3 Al-Nawawi was an expert in hadith, Arabic language and fiqh. He combined all of these together in this work. This led to a commentary that remains today as the main reference on Sahih Muslim. Al-Nawawi wrote his commentary on Sahih Muslim towards the end of his life. It was one of the last works that he wrote. He completed the entire work in two years. Most likely, he completed it at the same time he was working on other books.4 1 Al-Diqr, p. 97. In fact, some later scholars have tried to complete it on the pattern of al-Nawawi but, unfortunately, there is a noticeable difference between the completions and the work by al­ Nawawi. 2 Quoted in al-Diqr, p. 98. 3 Al-Diqr, p. 75. 4 al-Diqr, p. 77. The Life of Imam al-Nawawi Al-Nawawi also worked on a commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari. Unfortunately, he did not complete much of it. It has been recently published and is now available to the public, by the grace and blessings of Allah. Riyaadh al-Saaliheen ("Gardens of the Righteous") One of the works that al-Nawawi is most famous for is a collection of Quranic verses and hadith arranged according to topic, entitled Riyaadh al­ Saaliheen. 1 Others have compiled similar works but none have been so popular and widely accepted as al-Nawawi's. One of the aspects that sets this work apart from many other similar works is the rarity of weak hadith it contains. Of the over 1900 hadith it contains, approximately only forty hadith are weak. Those weak hadith are not greatly weak and they concern matters for which there is other support, such as Quranic verses or authentic hadith. This overall characteristic of the work is not surprising given al-Nawawi's strong standing as a scholar of hadith. As is clear from his introduction, his purpose in compiling this work was to encourage others to do good, as Muslims are supposed to work with one another in piety and righteousness. Although the work was very popular, it was not until Muhammad ibn 'Allan al-Sidiqi (d. 1057 AH) that someone wrote a commentary on the work. After him, very few if anyone wrote another commentary on it until modem times. Recently, two quality commentaries on the work have been published. One is Saleem al-Hilaali's Bahjat al-Naadhireen Sharh Riyaadh al-Saaliheen and the other is Muhammad ibn Uthaimeen's Sharh Riyaadh al-Saaliheen.2 Raudhat al-Taalibeen wa Umdat al-Mufteen One of the most important works in the Shafi'ee school of fiqh is al­ Nawawi's Raudhat al-Taalibeen. This work is basically an abridgment of al­ Rafi'ee's Fath al-Azeez fl Sharh al-Wajeez. However, al-Nawawi did more than simply abridge that work. On occasion he would differ with the conclusions of al-Rafi'ee and he also discussed some issues which al-Rafi'ee 1 There are at least four translations of this work currently available in English. These are Muhammad Amin bin Razduq, Riyad-us-Saliheen (Riyadh: Darussalam, 1998); Abdur Rahman Shad, trans., Riyad as-Salihin (Lahore: Kazi Publications, 1985); S. M. Madni Abbas, trans., Riyadh-us-Saliheen (Karachi: International Islamic Publishers, Ltd., 1983); and Zafrulla Khan (the Qadiani), trans., Gardens of the Righteous: Riyadh as-Salihin (London: Curzon Press, 1975). 2 lbn Uthaimeen's commentary on Riyaadh al-Saaliheen is currently being translated into English: Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen, An Explanation of Riyaadh al-Saliheen from the words of the Master of the Messengers (Sajad ibn Abdul Rahman, trans., The Quran and Sunnah Society, 1998). Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi did not.1 Interesting aspects of this work include al-Nawawi distinguishing al­ Shafi'ee's old views in Iraq from his new views in Egypt, his pointing out the cases concerning which there is a strong difference of opinion and his pointing out of the cases where the difference of opinion is very weak.