Sunan Ibn Majah

Overview

Sunan Ibn Majah is one of the six canonical hadith collections (al-Kutub al-Sittah), compiled by Imam Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Majah al-Qazwini (824-887 CE). While it is generally considered the weakest of the six in terms of overall hadith quality, it contains unique hadiths not found in the other five collections that are valuable for jurisprudence.

Content

The collection contains approximately 4,341 hadiths organized into 37 books. Of these, about 1,339 are unique to Ibn Majah (not found in the other five canonical collections). Scholars have evaluated these unique hadiths: some are sahih or hasan, but a notable portion are weak (da'if). The collection covers all major areas of Islamic law, worship, ethics, and end-times prophecies.

Inclusion in the Six

Whether Sunan Ibn Majah should be the sixth canonical collection was debated. Some scholars preferred the Muwatta of Imam Malik or the Sunan of al-Darimi in its place. The scholar Ibn al-Qaysarani (d. 1113 CE) standardized the inclusion of Ibn Majah as the sixth, and this became the prevailing view.

Notable Chapters

Ibn Majah's chapters on business transactions (Kitab al-Tijarah), asceticism (Kitab al-Zuhd), and the tribulations (Kitab al-Fitan) are particularly valued. His chapter on zuhd contains many moving narrations about the impermanence of worldly life and the importance of preparing for the hereafter.