Sunan al-Bayhaqi
# Sunan al-Bayhaqi

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$Sunni^1Kutub$ Al-Sittah ("The Six Books") Sahih al-Bukhari صحيح البخاري Sahih Muslim صحيح مسلم Jami' al-Tirmidhi جامع الترمذي Sunan Abu Dawood سنن أبي داود Sunan al-Nasa'i سنن النسائي Sunan Ibn Majah سنن ابن ماجه

Others Al-Adab al-Mufrad Kitab al-Athar Mu'jam al-Kabeer Mu'jam al-Awsat Mu'jam al-Saghir Mustadrak ala al-Sahihayn Musnad Abu Hanifa Musnad_al-Bazzar Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal Musnad al-Shafi'i Musnad al-Siraj Musnad al-Firdous Musnad Abu Ya'la Musnad al-Tayalisi Musnad Abu Awanah Musannaf of Abd al-Razzaq Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah Muwatta Imam Malik Sahih Ibn Hibban Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah Sahifah Hammam ibn Munabbih Shama'il al-Muhammadiyya Sunan al-Bayhaqi Sunan al-Daraqutni Sunan al-Darimi Sunan Nasa'i al-Kubra Sunan Sa'id ibn Mansur Shu'ab al-Iman Tahdhib al-Athar

ShiaAl-Kutub Al-Arb'ah ("The Four Books") Kitab al-Kafi الكتاب الكافي Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih من لا يحضره الفقيه Tahdhib al-Ahkam تهذیب الاحکام Al-Istibsar الاستبصار

Others Nahj al-Balagha The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays Al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya Risalah al-Huquq Sahifah of al-Ridha Al-Risalah al-Dhahabiah Da'a'im al-Islam Uyoun Akhbar Al-Ridha Bihar al-Anwar Wasā'il al-Shīʿa Haqq al-Yaqeen Ain Al-Hayat Al-Ghadir

Ibadi

Jami Sahih

Tartib al-Musnad

$^1$ - Books also revered by Zaidi Shi'a :

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Sunan al-Kubra lil Bayhaqi, (Arabic: ٱلسُّنَن ٱلْكُبْرَىٰ لِلْبَيْهَقِيّ), or Al-Sunan al-Kabir (Arabic: ٱلسُّنَن ٱلْكَبِير) is a prominent Hadith book compiled by Imam Al-Bayhaqi (384 AH – 458 AH).

## Description

It is the largest Sunan Book available in history of Hadith collection, containing almost twenty two thousand (22,000) Hadiths according to Maktaba Shamila. A book with similar name (Sunan al-Kubra) is also written by Imam al-Nasa'i having almost twelve thousand (12,000) hadiths.

It is one of the major hadith compilations by one of the last great hadith memorisers of the 4th century Hijri, of such importance that nothing of its like has been penned down. It is compiled in order of issue relating to fiqh. The author takes quite an effort in providing narrations in each chapter thereby giving the rulings of such transmissions and how certain scholars have understood it. He also expounds the problematic phrases and or terminologies that might cause misinterpretation as well as those that might seemingly portray contradictions. Many scholars have said that no such work has been penned down like the Sunan al-Kabir.

## View of other scholars regarding the book

It is one of the most famous collection of Hadith as Imam Al-Dhahabi ranks it among those 3 books that have most impressed him (with Muhalla of ibn Hazm and Tamhid of ibn Abd al-Barr).

Al-Nawawi said in al-Taqrib that one should be devoted to it, as nothing has been written like it, and Al-Suyuti, commenting on this statement in Tadrib al-Rawi, agreed. Al-Sakhawi said in Fath al-Mughith that one must not limit oneself from it (by sufficing with the other sunan works of Abu Dawud, al-Nasa’i, and al-Tirmidhi) due to its comprehensiveness in most of the ahadith al-ahkam. Al-Sakhawi further added that its true rank is only after the Sahihayn of al-Bukhari and Muslim, coming before the sunan of Abu Dawud, al-Nasa'i, and al-Tirmidhi, which take precedence only by merit of being earlier and thus with shorter chains.

Al-Dhahabi said there is nothing like it and considered it to be one of the four masterpieces a scholar cannot do without, alongside al-Muhalla by Ibn Hazm, al-Mughni by Ibn Qudamah, and al-Tamhid by Ibn Abd al-Barr. Taj al-Din al-Subki said no other book had been written with such classification, arrangement, and elegance.

## Commentaries

Among those who have written commentaries on this hadith collection are:

* Al-Sunan al-Kabir 24 VOLUMES (السنن الكبير) Commentary by Shaykh al-Turki: Published: Dar 'Aalim al-Kutub | Riyad, Sa'udi in 2013
