The Compendium of Knowledge and Wisdom: Commentary of Imam Nawawi's Forty Hadith

The Compendium of Knowledge and Wisdom is the translation by Abdassamd Clarke of the masterwork of Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali. It is a comprehensive collection of sciences and wisdom in commentary of fifty hadith (Including the ‘Forty’ of Imam An Nawwawi) from the concise comprehensive speech (Jawami’ al-Kalim) of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

The author adds another eight hadith to the famous ‘Forty’ Hadith of Imam an-Nawawi and gives a much more elaborate commentary on their chains of transmission, on the rulings that they entail and on the spiritual dimensions of the hadith, their explanations with respect to the verses of the Qur’an and other hadith, and what the great pious predecessors of Islam have said about them. Every hadith is considered by the ‘ulama (scholars) essential for knowledge of the deen. The topics range from the most exacting treatments of the affairs of the shari’ah (Islamic Law) to luminous expositions of the spiritual sciences of Islam.

Best known as Ibn Rajab, his full name and titles are: al-Imam al-Hafiz Abu al-Faraj Zayn al-Din `Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Rahman (known as Rajab) ibn al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Abi al-Barakat Mas`ud al-Baghdadi al-Dimashqi al-Hanbali (736-795 AH). Rajab was the nickname of his grandfather Abd al-Rahman, perhaps because he was born in that month.

Born in Baghdad, Ibn Rajab learned much from his father, who himself was a great scholar, then studied in Egypt and Damascus where he settled down until he died. Among his eminent teachers were: Abu al-Fath Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Maydumi, Muhammad ibn Isma`il al-Khabbaz, Ibrahim ibn Dawud al-`Attar, Abu al-Haram al-Qalanisi, and Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah.

He was a colleague of the famous hadith expert al-Hafiz Abu al-Fadl al-`Iraqi. He devoted himself to the subject until he became an expert in all the sciences related to hadith. He then taught hadith, and fiqh according to Hanbali school, in the Jami` Bani