Shaykh Akram’s work had fulfilled a great debt owed to the world, and we were all the richer for it.

Shaykh Akram’s work had fulfilled a great debt owed to the world, and we were all the richer for it.

This research was invaluable in developing his taste and critical eye in ḥadīth science. He admits in chapter 28:
For my work on female ḥadīth narrators, al-Wafāʾ bi asmāʾ al-nisāʾ, I had to consult countless biographical and historical works, works on ḥadīth and isnād, unpublished manuscripts, and registers of attendance and audition (samāʿ). I wound up spending a good portion of my life buried in these works, which increased my connection with ḥadīth.

The second manifestation of Shaykh Akram’s brilliant ḥadīth scholarship appears in his intensive engagement with the Ṣaḥīḥ of Imām Bukhārī, which he has taught for years to advanced students in the UK. I spent some time in my ʿālimīyyah program studying chapters with him in exhaustive detail and by far, these were some of the most valuable lessons I ever attended in my entire life. His deep insights into rijāl (transmitter-criticism), the deeper meanings of the ḥadīth (fiqh al-ḥadīth), the subtle defects of reports hidden to most (ʿilal), and his ability to draw on Bukhārī’s own understandings revealed his true position as an erudite master of ḥadīth.

This work leads us to a third expression: al-Madkhal ilā Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī (forthcoming), which summarizes the insights from these classes in order to produce a specific introductory work for those interested in studying Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ. I have already been tasked by my teacher to translate this next, and I look forward to that project, inshāʾAllāh.

The fourth expression of Shaykh Akram’s ḥadīth scholarship will be expressed in his current major research project: producing a critical commentary on Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. In my view, this work has the potential of overtaking al-Wafāʾ bi Asmāʾ al-Nisāʾ to become his most valuable contribution to Islamic scholarship. The following are five major distinctions of this work, much of which has already been completed:
1. The division of the Ṣaḥīḥ with new chapter headings that are consistent with Imām Muslim’s original intent and that reflect the beauty of the original work as a masterpiece of ḥadīth craftsmanship
2. A deep analysis of those narrations that Muslim included which Bukhārī had rejected
3. An analysis of those narrations exclusive to Bukhārī which Muslim had rejected
4. A brief and original commentary of the ḥadīth contents
5. A critical analysis and arrangement of Muslim’s Muqaddimah (introduction), which is an important independent reference in ḥadīth methodology

The fifth manifestation is al-Madkhal ilā Sunan al-Tirmidhī (also forthcoming), a primer on introducing students to a deeper appreciation of Tirmidhī’s classical Sunan work. The Sunan features prominently in Shaykh Akram’s teaching, and he is keen to point out the need to understand the unique aims and methods of each work. As a student of Bukhārī, Tirmidhī shared his commitment and approach to ḥadīth authenticity, and yet he authored a work with different aims. Shaykh Akram reminded us once in class, ‘the greatness of Tirmidhī is that he knew Bukhārī, Muslim and Abū Dāwūd very well, and yet he felt the need to compile a fourth work and was not afraid to make an additional contribution.’ The Sunan is designed to reproduce all ḥadīth reports used by jurists, demonstrate their practical application across juristic schools, and provide valuable post-ḥadīth comments on the gradings of these reports.

The final manifestation of Shaykh Akram’s ḥadīth expertise lies in two introductory works designed to serve as a preamble to the above mentioned five scholarly projects. The first is Introduction to the Methodology of Ḥadīth Evaluation (Mabādiʾ fī Uṣūl al-Ḥadīth wa al-Isnād), published in 2019 by Al-Salam Institute Press under their Islamic Sciences Text Series. It is the more basic of the two works and focuses primarily on ḥadīth terminology (muṣṭalaḥ).