Sahih Muslim

The ‘Preface’ (pp. xi–xii) by ICMG’s Director of Education Halim Erbasi, is on the abundance of modern misinformation and the need to seek knowledge from ‘the people of knowledge’. He asks, ‘Why do we risk our eternity by following those who are not qualified?’ (p. xi). ICMG realised that ‘Al-Minhaj by Al-Nawawi is ‘one of the greatest and most respected commentaries on Sahih Muslim’ (p. xii). Dr Adil Salahi was chosen to translate it due to the consistency of his English translation of Sayyid Qutb’s Fi Zilal al-Qur’an with the Turkish translation (p. xii). ‘Before You Read’, by Adil Salahi (pp. xiii–xxii) contains important information on numbering and references, the chain of transmission, word usage, arrangement, quotations and references, notes and editorial liberty. No one has ever been able to check al-Nawawi’s many references to other scholars, due to the age (750+ years – p. xxii) and scarcity of manuscripts, as well as their length. However, one who is named and quoted frequently and at length in the commentary is Qadi [Iyad, author of al-Shifa (The Healing Through Making Known the Rights of the Chosen One). A consensus of ‘the Sunni scholars’ is sometimes claimed although what is said seems to contradict the wording of the hadith (e.g. p. 407), and exceptions sometimes follow such claims (see below). Salahi notes (p. xxii) that ‘in a few cases a sentence is started by mentioning the author’s name before mentioning what he says, such as ‘al-Nawawi considers …’. He says that in a very few cases, a short comment by the author is not included in the translation where it might be irrelevant, confusing or require a long footnote to explain it. However, he does not attempt to explain who added these comments, naming al-Nawawi, to what is supposed to be al-Nawawi’s own text.