Shaykh al Albani - The Incident of the Missing Folio

Taken from www.ahlalhdeeth.com

Shaykh Muhammad Nasir al Din al Albani's index of hadith manuscripts located at the Zahiriyah Library,
Damascus, Fihris Makhtutat Dar al Kutub al Zahiriyah: al Muntakhab min Makhtutat al Hadith, was printed
afresh as a 652 page edition by Maktab al Ma'arif, Riyadh, in 2001/1422H. It had also previously been
published in Damascus in 1970.

On pp.8-12, Shaykh al Albani (writing in 1970/1389H) describes the events that led to him compiling the
index which I thought might be useful to summarise below. This narrative can also be found in 'Asim Musa
Hadi's Hayat Allamah al Albani (al Maktab al Islamiyya: 1422H) pp.34-37 and a more or less full English
translation is available in Darussalam's short biography of Shaykh al Albani, published in 2007, but without
mention of the various individual hadith manuscripts that I have appended here at the end.

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THE MISSING FOLIO

Whilst suffering from a minor eye ailment, a specialist doctor advised Shaykh al Albani to take a six month
rest from reading and writing, and from watch repair which was then his means of livelihood.

Some two weeks into his recuperation, the Shaykh pondered how best he might make use of this time. He
remembered an unpublished manuscript at the library on the subject of musical instruments, Dhamm al
Malahi by Hafiz Ibn Abi Dunya, and decided there was nothing preventing him asking someone to
transcribe the work on his behalf which he could then later verify by comparison with the original and also
reference its hadith.

When the transcriber reached half way through the work he announced to the Shaykh that there was a
defect in the manuscript which, on assessment, turned out to be four pages on a single missing folio - but
how to find it?

Dhamm al Malahi had been filed within the library's compendiums (majami') section. In many of the
compendiums one would often see pages that obviously belonged to other works. Perhaps, thought
Shaykh al Albani, the missing folio he required had been erroneously included within one of the other
manuscripts? He therefore began a painstaking effort, resulting in reading all the manuscripts in the
section – some 152 volumes! – in the hope the missing folio would be found among one of their pages. It
wasn't.

But what the Shaykh did find, stored amongst the compendiums, was volume after volume of hadith works
by many renowned scholars. Some of these manuscripts suffered their own defects with missing chapters
and pages and it would so happen that whilst perusing each compendium the Shaykh would come across
the misfiled chapters and pages from these hadith works of which he duly made a note.

Not finding the missing folio with the compendiums, the Shaykh began to search for it in the library's
hadith section. And not finding it there he went through the rest of the library, section by section, including
what could best be termed the 'scraps' section, until he had gone through all 10,000 or so manuscripts
preserved there. The page couldn't be found.

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However, the Shaykh's monumental effort was not without its reward. He discovered for himself just what
a treasure trove of literary works, encompassing varied branches of knowledge, the Zahiriyah library was,
with its array of manuscripts not found at other libraries and certainly many as yet unpublished.

Spurred on by this realisation, the Shaykh began to study each manuscript once again, from beginning to
end, this time with the specific purpose of noting down anything and everything related to hadith that
might benefit him in his field of specialisation.

Once finished, the Shaykh went through them a third and final time, on this occasion referencing the
various Prophetic hadith he came across, along with their isnads and different routes of transmission, as
well as following up on the written observations he had made during the second round of his search.

This lengthy, meticulous study culminated in some 40 volumes of personal notes, each volume comprising
some 400 pages. On each page Shaykh al Albani wrote a single hadith and then referenced that hadith to
all the various sources in which he had found it along with its chains of transmission. These notes, where
the hadith are arranged alphabetically, have never been published but they are the wellspring from which
Shaykh al Albani nourished all his subsequent publications and hadith verifications. And all praise and
thanks are to Allah.

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THE MANUSCRIPTS

The Fihris Makhtutat Dar al Kutub al Zahiriyah is arranged according to each author's name, a one line
biography, a list of that author's works and, in many places, some brief comment from Shaykh al Albani on
the state of each manuscript.

Here below are some examples from the many manuscripts (whether complete, partial, fragments and
pamphlets) that Shaykh al Albani catalogued. They are summarised here chronologically according to
author, earliest to latest, with some explanatory comments from myself.

Many of these works have been printed, but of course not necessarily or solely as a result of these
manuscripts. Since this edition of the Fihris was printed in 2001, some of the works mentioned below as
unpublished have also since seen publication, al Hamdulillah. The page numbers are those of the Fihris.

1. Imam Malik (d.179H) – 4 manuscripts for al Muwatta, published, one of which Shaykh al Albani
describes as being in "beautiful handwriting". (pp. 517-519)

2. Ibn al Mubarak (d.181H) – 5 manuscripts, comprising 4 works, 3 of which are published, including Kitab
al Zuhd. (pp. 148-149)

3. Imam al Shafi'i (d.204H) – 3 manuscripts, comprising 2 published works, namely his Sunan and Musnad.
(pp. 429-430)

4. Yahya ibn Ma'in (d.233H) – 6 manuscripts, comprising 3 works, 2 of which are published, including al
Tarikh wa al Ilal. (pp. 161-162)

5. Abu Haythama (d.234H) – 2 manuscripts of his Kitab al Ilm, published by al Maktab al Islami in
1983/1403H with the tahqiq of Shaykh al Albani. (pp.222-223)

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6. Ibn Abi Shayba (d.235H) – 7 manuscripts, comprising 3 works, 2 of which are published, including 5
partial manuscripts for his Musannaf hadith collection. (pp. 32-34)

7. Imam Ahmed b. Hanbal (d.241H) – 11 manuscripts, comprising 6 published works, including Kitab Risala
fi al Salah which has been translated into English but its ascription to Imam Ahmed questioned by some. Its
manuscript contains the marginalia of Yusuf b. Abdul Hadi (see no.38 below) affirming the correctness of
its attribution to the Imam whilst pointing out that it includes additions from someone else. The
manuscript also contains a note by Hafiz Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al Muhhib quoting Hafiz al Dhahabi:
"This epistle, in its isnad back to Imam Ahmed, contains unknown persons and hadith that are rejected and
I fear that it is fabricated." Similarly, after mentioning Ibn al Jawzi's ascription of the work to Imam Ahmed,
Hafiz al Dhahabi writes in Siyar A'lam al Nubula: "I say: It is fabricated on the Imam." And Allah knows best.
(pp. 298-300)

8. Imam al Bukhari (d.256H) – 7 manuscripts, comprising 5 works, 2 of which are published, including a
partial manuscript for Tarikh al Kabir. (pp. 310-312)

9. Imam Muslim (d.261H) – 6 manuscripts, comprising 4 published works, including 3 partial manuscripts
for his Sahih. (pp. 546-548)

10. Abu Dawud (d.275H) – 7 manuscripts, comprising 4 published works, including 4 partial manuscripts for
his Sunan. (pp. 223-224)

11. Al Tirmidhi (d.279H) – 23 manuscripts, comprising 18 manuscripts for his Sunan and 5 manuscripts for
al Shama’il, both published. (pp. 325-329)

12. Ibn Abi Dunya (d.281H) – 39 manuscripts, comprising 31 works, 21 of which have been published,
including Dhamm al Malahi. (pp. 25-31)

13. Al Nasa'i (d.303H) – 8 manuscripts, comprising 8 published works, including al Sunan al Sughra. (pp.
559-564)

14. Al Siraj (d.313H) – 5 manuscripts, comprising 5 unpublished hadith works, including his Musnad to
which manuscript Shaykh al Albani references various hadith in his The Prophet's sallallahu 'alayhi wa
sallam Prayer Described, e.g. pp. 2, 34, 51, 59, 68 of the 1st ed., 1993, English translation. (pp. 399-401)

15. Ibn al Sammak (d.344H) – 10 unpublished manuscripts for 5 works, including 5 manuscripts for his
Hadith to which Shaykh al Albani references a hadith in The Prophet's sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam Prayer
Described, p.5. (pp. 84-85)

16. Ibn Hibban (d.354H) – 3 manuscripts, comprising 2 works, both of which are published, namely Sahih
Ibn Hibban and Kitab al Thiqat. (pp. 62-63)

17. Al Tabarani (d.360H) – 14 manuscripts, comprising 10 works, 4 of which are published, including 4
manuscripts for Mu'jam al Kabir. (pp. 459-462)

18. Al Daraqutni (d.385H) – 13 manuscripts, comprising 12 works, at least 6 of which are published,
including al Du'afa wa al Matrukin. (pp. 371-374)

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19. Tammam al Razi (d.414H) – 16 manuscripts, comprising 6 works, 4 of which are published, including 2
complete and various partial manuscripts for al Fawa'id which is listed as a reference work in the
bibliography of The Prophet's sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam Prayer Described. (pp. 330-333)

20. Ibn Bushran (d.430H) – 14 manuscripts, comprising 4 works, 1 of which is published, including several
partial manuscripts for al Amali, listed as a reference work in The Prophet's sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam
Prayer Described. (pp. 46-48)

21. Abu Nu'aym al Asbahani (d.430H) – 41 manuscripts, comprising 23 works, at least 8 of which are
published, including 9 manuscripts for his Hilya al Awliya. (pp. 282-292)

22. Khatib al Baghdadi (d.463H) – 33 manuscripts, comprising 26 works, at least 15 of which have been
published, including Sharf Ashab al Hadith and Iqtida al 'Ilm al ‘Aml, the latter published by al Maktab al
Islami in 1386H on the basis of two of these manuscripts with the tahqiq of Shaykh al Albani. (pp. 361-366)

23. Ibn Abi 'Imran (d.471H) – An unpublished manuscript of his Thulathiyat al Bukhari, the term thulathiyat
here referring to the twenty or so hadith in the Sahih where there are only three narrators between al
Bukhari and the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam. For an example of one such hadith, see the very last
hadith in al Bukhari's Book of Fasting (vol.3/p.125/no.225 in Dr Muhammad Muhsin Khan's English
translation): "The Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam ordered a man from the tribe of Bani Aslam to
announce amongst the people that whoever had eaten should fast the rest of the day, and whoever had
not eaten should continue his fast, as that day was the day of 'Ashura."

24. Ibn Asakir (d.571H) – 53 manuscripts, comprising 27 works, at least 10 of which are published, including
19 manuscripts for his Tarikh Dimashq. (pp. 112-121)

25. Ibn al Jawzi (d.597H) – 19 manuscripts, comprising 16 works, at least 9 of which are published,
including a partial manuscript of al Mawdu'at. (pp. 57-61)

26. Ibn Qudama al Maqdisi (d.620H) – 6 manuscripts for 6 works, 3 of which are published, including Ithbat
al Uluww Lillahi Ta'ala. Shaykh al Albani writes that there was no direct mention on the manuscript of its
name or author but he deduced its correct ascription based on the narrators listed in it and that al Dhahabi
in his own work al Uluww cites hadith on this topic by way of Ibn Qudama and they appear in Ithbat al
Uluww in the same manner.

27. Diya al Din al Maqdisi (d.643H) – 86 manuscripts, comprising 66 works, at least 6 of which are
published, including partial publication of Al Ahadith al Mukhtara and the manuscripts for al Muntaqa min
al Ahadith al Sihah wa Hisan and Juz Saghir fi Fadl al Hadith wa Ahlihi, all three of which Shaykh al Albani
references in the bibliography to The Prophet's sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam Prayer Described. (pp. 440-456)

28. Al Mundhiri (d.656) – 5 manuscripts for 5 works, 2 of which are published, including al Targhib wa al
Tarhib. (pp. 552-553)

29. Al Nawawi (d.676H) – 5 manuscripts for 5 works, 3 of which are published, including Riyadh al Salihin.
(pp. 568-569)

30. Ibn Daqiq al 'Id (d.702H) – 3 manuscripts for his al Ilmam fi Ahadith al Ahkam, published. (pp. 74-75)

31. Ibn Taymiyyah (d.728H) – 4 manuscripts, comprising 4 works, 3 of which are published, including Sharh
Hadith al Nuzul. (pp. 53-54)

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32. Al Mizzi (d.742H) – 3 manuscripts for 3 works, one of which, Tahdib al Kamal, is published. (p. 544).

33. Al Dhahabi (d.748H) – 27 manuscripts, comprising 26 works, at least 13 of which are published,
including al Uluww, al Arba'in fi Sifat Rabb al 'Alamin and al Muqiza fi 'Ilm Mustala al Hadith. One of the
unpublished manuscripts is titled Mawdu'at min Mustadrak al Hakim. (pp. 381-387)

34. Ibn al Qayyim (d.751H) – 2 manuscripts for 2 published works, including an epistle giving the names of
works authored by Ibn Taymiyya. (p.143)

35. Ibn Rajab (d.795H) – 6 manuscripts, comprising 3 works, 2 of which are published, including Sharh Ilal
al Tirmidhi. (pp. 78-79)

36. Al Haythami (d.807H) – 4 manuscripts, comprising 2 published works, including Majma al Zawa'id. (pp.
574-576)

37. Ibn Hajr al Asqalani (d.852H) – 12 manuscripts, comprising 10 works, 7 of which are published,
including Mukhtasar Takhrij Ahadith al Kashaf. (pp. 63-66)

38. Ibn Abdul Hadi (d.909H) – 43 manuscripts, comprising 42 works of which at least 2 are published,
including manuscripts on forty selected hadith from Imam Abu Hanifa, on hadith in Bukhari and Muslim on
the authority of Imam Ahmed, and a refutation of Ibn Asakir's Tabyin Kadhib al Muftari. (pp.103-110)

39. Al Suyuti (d.911H) – 81 manuscripts, comprising 62 works, at least 39 of which are published, including
al Jami al Kabir and Tuhfa al Abrar bi Nukat al Adhkar li al Nawawi. (pp. 415-427)

In all, the Fihris catalogues 1602 works by over 700 authors made up of 2167 individual manuscripts in
various states of completion and preservation.