Al Sanan Nasa'i

Books of Hadith Kutub Al-Sittah

 ("The Six Books")

• Sahih Bukhari              صحيح البخاري
• Sahih Muslim               صحيح مسلم

• Al-Sunan Al-Sughra  السنن الصغرى
• Sunan Abu Dawood  سنن أبي داود
• Sunan al-Tirmidhi    جامع الترمذي
• Sunan ibn Maja        سُنن ابن ماجه

Others with    Period (CE)

• Muwatta Imam Malik    8th–9th cent.
• Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal  780–855
• Sunan Al-Darimi  868
• Shama'il Muhammadiyah (Shamaail Tirmidhi) 9th century
• Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah  923
• Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān   965
• Al-Mustadrak a. Al-Ṣaḥīḥaīn  11th century
• Al-Mawdū'āt Al-Kubrā  1128–1217
• Rīaḍ As-Ṣāliḥīn  1233–1278
• Mishkat Al-Masabih 1340
• Talkhis Al-Mustadrak 1274–1348
• Majma Al-Zawa'id  1335–1405
• Bulugh Al-Maram  1372–1449
• Kanz al-Ummal  16th century
• Zujajat al-Masabih  19th century
• Muntakhab Ahadith 20th century

Al-Sunan al-Sughra

·      Author                    Al-Nasa'i

·      Original title    السنن الصغرى

·      Language                Arabic

·      Series                            Kutub al-Sittah 

·    Genre                  Hadith collection

·

Sunan an-Nasa'i ( سنن النسائي‎), also known as As-Sunan as-Sughra (السنن الصغرى‎), is one of the Kutub al-Sittah (six major hadiths), and was collected by Al-Nasa'i. It is regard as the third most important of their six major Hadith collections. Al-Mujtaba (English: the selected) has about 5,270 hadiths, including repeated narrations, which the author selected from his larger work, As-Sunan al-Kubra.

About the Author Al-Nasā'ī (214 – 303 AH; c. 829 – 915 CE),

Abu Abdurrahman Ahmed ibn Shuaib ibn Ali ibn Sinan ibn Bahr ibn Dinar Al-Khurusani Al-Nasa'i was born in the year 215 A.H as the Imam clearly states himself (although some say 255 A.H or 214 A.H) in the city of Nasa (in present-day Nisa, Turkmenistan), situated in Western Asia known at that time as Khurusan which was a centre for Islamic Knowledge where millions of Ulama'a were situated and Hadeeth and Fiqh was at its peak. Thus he primarily attended the gatherings and circles of knowledge (known as halqas') in his town. When he was 20 years old, he started traveling and made his first journey to Qutaibah. He covered the whole Arabian Peninsula seeking knowledge from the Ulama and Muhadditheen of Iraq, Kufa, Hijaz, Syria and Egypt. Finally he decided to stay in Egypt.

Teachers and students

Hafiz Ibn Hajr (RA) says that it is impossible to name and gather all his teachers but some are:

• Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh
• Imam Abu Daud Al-Sijistani (author of Sunan Abu Dawood)
• Qutaibah ibn Saeed

Although some scholars like Hafiz ibn Hajr (RA) also named Imam Bukhari as his teacher but this is incorrect, according to Al-Mizzee, because Imam Bukhari never met him. Others, however, refuted this, like As-Sakhaawee who went into great details showing that the reasons for Al-Mizzee claiming they never met were not used similarly for his claim that An-Nasa'i heard from Abu Dawud. Moreover, Ibn Mundah narrates the following: We were informed by Hamzah, That An-Nasa'i, Abu Abd-ur-Rahman informed us saying, 'I heard Muhammad Ibn Isma'eel Al-Bukharee.. ' Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub al-Juzajani was also an influence.

After the Imam had decided to stay in Egypt he started to lecture, mostly narrating Ahadeeth to the extent that he became known by the title Hafizul Hadeeth.

Many people would attend his gatherings and many scholars became his students, including:

• Imam Abul Qasim Tabrani
• Imam Abubakr Ahmed ibn Muhammad also known as Allamah ibn Sunni
• Sheikh Ali, the son of the Muhaddith, Imam Tahawi.

School Of Thought

Imam al-Nasai was a follower of the Shafi Fiqh according to Allamah as-Subki, Shah Waliullah, Shah Abdulaziz and many other scholars. The leader of the Ulama'a Allamah Anwar Shah Kashmiri is to the opinion that he was a Hanbali and this has also been stated by ibn Taymiyyah but the truth is that he was a Mujtahid more inclined towards the Hanbali Fiqh but many a time would differ from the Hanbali scholars.

Children

As mentioned before that the Imam had four wives but the historians only mention one son whose name is Abdul Kareem, one of the narrators of the Sunan of his father.

Books

These are a few of his works:

• Sunan Al-Kubra
• Sunan Al-Sugra/Al-Mujtana/Al-Mujtaba
• Amul Yawmi Wallaylah
• Kitaby Dufai wal Matrookeen
• Khasais Ali
• Al-Jurhu wa Ta'adeel
• Sunan Al-Nisai

Death

Al-Nasa'i compiled a large number of Ahadeeth in favor of Ali Ibn Abi Talib and shaped them into a book known as "Khasais Ali" or "Khasais Kubra". When Nawāsib came to know about this, they asked Al-Nasa'i to also compile the Ahadeeth in favor of Muawiyah I. Al-Nasa'i rejected their will by saying that there is no Ahadeeth or saying of Prophet Muhammad in favor of Muawiyah I. The Nawāsib then beat Al-Nasa'i till he died. A well-known Sunni scholar of Pakistan, Allamah Ghulam Rasool Saeedi also recorded this event in his famous book of Tazkiratul Mohadiseen.