General works on ʻUlūm al-Ḥadīth

Early works that laid the foundations of a methodology of ḥadīth evaluation:

• Kitāb al-Ḍuʻafāʼ by Imām al-Bukhārī: discussed weak transmitters
• Kitāb al-Ḍuʻafāʼ by Imām al-Nasāʼī: discussed weak transmitters
• Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā by Ibn Saʻd (d 230H): detailed biographical work on transmitters
• Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt by Abū Ḥātim Muḥammad b. Ḥibbān al-Bustī (d 354H/965CE): a more specialized work in which he only mentioned the reliable transmitters

Later works that consolidated earlier ones:

• Al-Muḥdith al-Fāṣil Bayn al-Rāwī waʼl-Wāʻī by al-Qāḍī Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan al-Rāmhurmuzī (d 360H): landmark work that combined and consolidated all aspects of ḥadīth studies for the first time, but still fell short of being a fully comprehensive work
• Maʻrifat ʻUlūm al- Ḥadīth by al-Ḥākim Abū ʻAbd Allāh al-Nīsābūrī(d 450H): another landmark consolidating work that discusses fifty branches of ḥadīth sciences, but remained poorly consolidated and less-than-comprehensive according to Ibn Ḥajar
• Al-Kifāyah fī Maʻrifat Uṣūl ʻIlm al-Riwāyah and al-Jāmiʻ li Ādāb al-Shaykh waʼl-Sāmiʻ by al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī (d 463H)
• ʻUlūm al-Ḥadīth by Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ (d 643H): widely acclaimed reference work in the field of ḥadīth studies
• Al-Bāʻith al-Ḥathīth ilā Maʻrifat ʻUlūm al-Ḥadīth by Ibn Kathīr (d 774H): another major reference that built upon the work of Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ Continue reading →