Shuayb al-Arnaut

Shu'ayb ibn Muharram al-Arna'ut (1928-2016 CE / 1346-1438 AH) was an Albanian-origin hadith scholar who settled in Damascus, Syria, and became one of the most important hadith authenticators and manuscript editors of the modern era. Born in Albania, his family moved to Damascus when he was a child. He studied under Syrian scholars and devoted his life to hadith authentication and critical editing.

Al-Arnaut's most monumental achievement is his critical edition of Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, a project that took over two decades and resulted in a fifty-volume edition with detailed authentication of every hadith. He also produced definitive editions of Sahih Ibn Hibban, Siyar A'lam an-Nubala of adh-Dhahabi, Sharh Mushkil al-Athar of at-Tahawi, Zad al-Ma'ad of Ibn al-Qayyim, Sharh as-Sunnah of al-Baghawi, and dozens of other classical works. His team-based approach to hadith verification set a new standard in the field.

Al-Arnaut's hadith gradings are widely respected and frequently cited alongside those of al-Albani, and where the two scholars differ, their respective analyses are carefully weighed by later researchers. His emphasis on rigorous methodology, combined with a balanced approach that respected the positions of all the major hadith scholars, earned him widespread trust. He was awarded the King Faisal International Prize for Islamic Studies in 2014 in recognition of his lifetime of service to hadith scholarship. He passed away in Amman, Jordan.