The Mustakhraj of Imām Abū ʿAwānah on the Sahīh of Imām Muslim

Al-Musnad aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ al-Mukharraj ʿala 'ṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim is a mustakhraj work based on the Ṣaḥīḥ of Imām Muslim. A mustakhraj work is when an author narrates the narrations of another author using his own asānīd (chains of transmission), and thus links with the author at his shaykh or those above him. In this case, Imām Abū ʿAwānah narrated the aḥādīth of Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim in his mustakhraj using his own asānīd, along with a number of aḥādīth that Imām Muslim himself had not narrated. 

Although there are indications that he had other books, many authors of biographical works only mention his mustakhraj among his contributions. The title of the mustakhraj, mentioned in the beginning, has been stated as such by many scholars including Ibn Khallikān in his Wafayāt al-Aʿyān, as-Samʿānī in his al-Ansāb and others, though Imān Ibn aṣ-Ṣalāḥ called it: Mukhtaṣar al-Musnad aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ al-Muʾallaf ʿala Kitāb Muslim, and Imām Nawawī and Ḥājī Khalīfah followed him in their works.

The benefit of a mustakhraj is that the strength of a ḥadīth is increased by the greater number of its paths of transmission and additional useful sound words. This work is known as ‘Ṣaḥīḥ’ because it includes routes of transmission in addition to those of Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim and occasionally, with additional texts. It includes aḥādīth of various degrees of authenticity including ṣaḥīḥ, ḥasan, and ḍaʿīf - although the vast majority are ṣaḥīḥ. Therefore, many scholars mentioned this compilation as one of the sources (maẓānn) of ṣaḥīḥ aḥādīth. Imām Dhahabī compiled selections of the Ṣaḥīḥ of Imām Abū ʿAwānah into a book known as the ‘al-Muntaqā’ of Imām Dhahabī, in which he compiled 230 aḥādīth. The Mustakhraj has been published by ʿAmādah al-Baḥth al-ʿIlmī Madinah in 21 volumes, and comes with an excellent taḥqīq and takhrīj. 

The author is Imām Abū ʿAwānah Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq al-Asfarāyīnī then an-Naysabūrī. Imām Dhahabī states that he was born after the year 230 AH. He was one of those who traveled extensively in pursuit of knowledge and hence Imām al-Ḥākim an-Naysabūrī described him as being 'from among the extensive travellers [ar-raḥḥālah]'. Many others use the phrase: min al-jawwālīn.

He travelled to Shām, Miṣr (Egypt), Baṣrah, Kūfah, Wāsiṭ (in Iraq), Ḥijāz (Western Saudi Arabia), Syria, Yemen, Iṣfahān (Iran), Rayy (Iran), Persia, among other places and heard ḥadīth from the scholars there. He heard from Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj, Abū Dāwūd as-Sijistānī, Abū ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān an-Nasāʾī, Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā adh-Dhuhlī, both ar-Rāzis, ʿAbdullāh the son of Imām Aḥmad, and others. He was Shāfiʿī in his school of fiqh. Along with being a muḥaddith, he was at the forefront in fiqh and was the first to bring the books of Imām Shāfiʿī and his school to Asfarāyīn (Northern Khorasan). He passed away in Dhul Ḥijjah in year 316 AH in Salkh.