The Best Books After the Qurʾān – Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar Bāzmūl

Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar Bāzmūl gives the following recommendations:

Recommended Works

• The best book on the subject of tafsīr for the beginner student of knowledge is: Tafsīr al-Baghawī.
• The best book on matters of ʿaqīdah which the Muslim needs is: Kitāb al-Tawḥīd by Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb (d. 1206 AH / 1792 CE)
• The best explanation of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī is: Fatḥ al-Bārī by Ibn Ḥajar (d. 852 AH / 1449 CE)
• The best book on the methodology of calling to Islam is: Manhaj al-Anbiyāʾ fī ad-Daʿwah ilā Allah by Shaykh Rabīʿ ibn Hādī al-Madkhalī ؒ (d. 1447 AH / 2025 CE)
• The best book on aḥādīth pertaining to conduct and mannerism is: Riyāḍ aṣ-Ṣāliḥīn by an-Nawawī (d. 676 AH / 1277 CE)
• The best book on the sciences of ḥadīth is: Maʿrifat Anwāʿ ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth by Ibn Ṣalāḥ (d. 643 AH)
• The best book on Arabic terminologies and expressions is: Muʿjam Maqāyīs al-Lughah by Aḥmad Ibn Fāris al-Qazwīnī (d. 395 AH).
• The best book on the methodology of verifying manuscripts is: the book by ʿAbd al-Salām Hārūn, Taḥqīq an-Nuṣūṣ.
• The best book on the methodology of authoring knowledge-based research is: Kayfa Taktub Baḥthan aw Risālatan by Aḥmad Shalabī.
• The best book in refutation of the Shīʿāh is: Minhāj as-Sunnah an-Nabawiyyah by Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH / 1328 CE)
• The best book on illustrating the guidance of the Messenger is: Zād al-Maʿād fī Hady Khayr al-ʿIbād by Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH / 1350 CE)
• The best book on the laws of Islamic governance is: Al-Aḥkām as-Sulṭāniyyah by al-Māwardī (d. 450 AH)
• The best book on comparative fiqh is: Al-Awsaṭ by Ibn al-Mundhir & al-Mughnī by Ibn Qudāmah.
• The best book on apparently conflicting and problematic ḥadīths is a book entitled: Mushkil al-Āthār by aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī.
• The best book on information regarding the companions is: Al-Iṣābah by Ibn Ḥajar.
• The best explanation of Al-Muwaṭṭaʾ by Imām Mālik is a book entitled: al-Tamhīd & Al-Istidhkār both authored by Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr an-Namarī.
• The best book that focuses on the Prophetic biography is: al-Sīrah by Ibn Hishām (d. 218 AH) which he summarised from ibn Isḥāq’s (d. 151 AH) Al-Maghāzī wa-s-Siyar (may Allah have mercy on them both).
• The best book on the concepts of syntax (and functions of the particles, conjunctions and prepositions) is Mughnī al-Labīb ʿan Kutub al-Aʿārīb by Ibn Hishām an-Nahwī. He was ʿAbdullāh ibn Yūsuf ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn Yūsuf, Abū Muḥammad, Jamāl al-Dīn (d. 761 AH).
• The best explanation of an-Nawawī’s Forty Ḥadīth is: Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm wa-l-Ḥikam by Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī.
• The best book explaining al-ʿIlal (defects of ḥadīth) is: Sharḥ al-ʿIlal aṣ-Ṣaghīr of at-Tirmidhī by Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī.
• The best book on the narrations of the Companions is: al-Muṣannaf by ʿAbd ar-Razzāq aṣ-Ṣanʿānī and al-Muṣannaf by Ibn Abī Shaybah.
• The best book in refutation of al-Kawtharī is: At-Tankīl bi-mā fī Taʾnīb al-Kawtharī min Abāṭīl by al-Muʿallimī.
• The best book on the abrogating and abrogated verses of the Qurʾān is: the book of Ibn al-ʿArabī al-Mālikī and Ibn al-Jawzī al-Ḥanbalī.
• The best book on the abrogating and abrogated ḥadīths is: Iʿlām al-ʿĀlim baʿda Rusūkhihi bi-Nāsikh al-Ḥadīth wa-Mansūkhihi by Ibn al-Jawzī.
• The best encyclopaedic book on the subject of fiqh is: Al-Mawsūʿah al-Fiqhiyyah al-Kuwaytiyyah, which is unparalleled.
• The best books on matūn al-ḥadīth are the six books of the Sunnah: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Sunan an-Nasāʾī, Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Sunan at-Tirmidhī and Sunan ibn Mājah.
• The best musnad is: Al-Musnad by Aḥmad Ibn Ḥanbal
• The best book which combines the six ḥadīth books is: Jāmiʿ al-Uṣūl with the checking of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Arnaʾūṭ.
• The best book on the laws of funerals is: Aḥkām al-Janāʾiz by al-Albānī.
• The best book in explaining the difficult (words of) ḥadīth is: An-Nihāyah fī Gharīb al-Ḥadīth wa-l-Athar by Ibn al-Athīr.
• The best explanation of Sunan Abī Dāwūd is: ʿAwn al-Maʿbūd by Shams al-Ḥaqq al-ʿAẓīmābādī.
• The best explanation of Sunan at-Tirmidhī is: ʿĀriḍat al-Aḥwadhī by Ibn al-ʿArabī and Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī by al-Mubārakfūrī.
• The best book on ḥadīths pertaining to Islamic rulings is: Al-Muntaqā min al-Aḥkām by Majd al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Taymiyyah and Bulūgh al-Marām by Ibn Ḥajar al-Asqalānī.
• The best books on the exegesis of ḥadīths pertaining to Islamic legal rulings are al-Badr al-Tamām by Sharaf al-Dīn al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad al-Maghribī al-Yamanī (d. 1119 AH / 1707 CE). This work was summarised by Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl aṣ-Ṣanʿānī (d. 1182 AH / 1768 CE) in Subul al-Salām, which also serves as an explanation of Bulūgh al-Marām. Another outstanding work in this field is Nayl al-Awṭār by Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ash-Shawkānī (d. 1250 AH / 1834 CE).
• The best explanations of Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ are those authored by Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī (d. 1014 AH / 1606 CE) and Marʿāt al-Mafātīḥ by Abū al-Ḥasan ʿUbayd Allah ibn Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Salām al-Mubārakfūrī (d. 1414 AH / 1994 CE).
• The best books on Ḥanafī jurisprudence are Badāʾiʿ aṣ-Ṣanāʾiʿ fī Tartīb ash-Sharāʾiʿ by ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Abū Bakr ibn Masʿūd al-Kāsānī (d. 587 AH / 1191 CE), and al-Hidāyah by Burhān al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Abī Bakr al-Marghīnānī (d. 593 AH / 1197 CE), together with its commentary Fatḥ al-Qadīr (also known as Sharḥ al-ʿĀjiz al-Faqīr) by Kamāl al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Ibn al-Humām (d. 861 AH / 1457 CE). He reached the chapter on agency (wakālah) before his death and was unable to complete the work, which was later finished by others, who did not reach his standard. The commentary al-Bināyah ʿalā al-Hidāyah by Badr al-Dīn al-ʿAynī (d. 855 AH / 1451 CE) is also highly regarded.
• The best books on Mālikī jurisprudence are those authored by al-Qāḍī Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAlī ibn Naṣr at-Taghlibī al-Mālikī ؒ (d. 422 AH / 1031 CE), particularly al-Maʿūnah fī al-Fiqh and al-Talqīn fī al-Fiqh al-Mālikī, as well as al-Kāfī by Yūsuf ibn ʿAbd Allah Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr an-Namarī (d. 463 AH / 1071 CE).
• The best book on Shāfiʿī fiqh is: al-Umm by ash-Shāfiʿī (d. 204 AH) and its abridgement [al-Mukhtaṣar] by his student al-Muzanī. And its explanation Nihāyat al-Maṭlab fī Dirāyat al-Madhhab by al-Juwaynī (d. 478 AH)] which [al-Ghazālī (d. 505 AH)] the author of Al-Basīṭ relied on and abridged in Al-Wasīṭ. He then abridged Al-Wasīṭ in Al-Wajīz [both by the same author of Al-Basīṭ, al-Ghazālī (d. 505 AH)]. Then ar-Rāfiʿī (d. 623 AH) summarised al-Wajīz with Al-Muḥarrar with two explanations [Fatḥ al-ʿAzīz Sharḥ al-Wajīz and Ash-Sharḥ aṣ-Ṣaghīr] which were abridged thereafter. One of them was abridged by an-Nawawī in Rawḍat aṭ-Ṭālibīn. After them, Nihāyat al-Muḥtāj by ar-Ramlī and Tuḥfat al-Muḥtāj by Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī.
• The best books on Ḥanbalī fiqh are: al-Muqniʿ and al-Kāfī both authored by Ibn Qudāmah (d. 620 AH / 1223 CE). The most important explanations of al-Muqniʿ are: al-Mubdiʿ fī Sharḥ al-Muqniʿ by Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Mufliḥ al-Ḥanbalī, Abū Isḥāq (d. 884 AH) and Al-Inṣāf fī Maʿrifat ar-Rājiḥ min al-Khilāf ʿalā Madhhab al-Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal by ʿAlī ibn Sulaymān al-Mardāwī, Abūl Ḥasan (d. 885 AH). And from the best books of the madhhab are: Kashshāf al-Qināʿ and Daqāʾiq Ulī an-Nuhā li-Sharḥ al-Muntahā commonly known as Sharḥ Muntahā al-Irādāt by Manṣūr ibn Yūnus ibn Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn ibn Ḥasan ibn Idrīs al-Bahūtī al- Ḥanbalī (d. 1051 AH).
• The best book on Uṣūl al-Fiqh is: al-Risālah of ash-Shāfiʿī (d. 204 AH) for the non-beginner student. And the best books for a beginner student of knowledge are those authored by Abū Isḥāq ash-Shīrāzī (d. 476 AH), specifically al-Lumʿa [fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh] upon which Abū al-Walīd al-Bājī based his book, Iḥkām al-Fuṣūl fī al-Uṣūl; and the book Rawḍat an-Nāẓir by Ibn Qudāmah which has been summarised from [al-Ghazālī’s] al-Mustaṣfa and Mudhakkirah ʿalā Rawḍat an-Nāẓir fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh by al-ʿAllāmah Muḥammad al-Amīn al-Mukhtār al-Jaknī, ash-Shinqīṭī, the author of Aḍwāʾ al-Bayān. It contains precious edits and audits. May Allah reward him with good.
• The best book on Takhrīj al-Furūʿ ʿAlā al-Uṣūl is: Takhrīj al-Furūʿ ʿalā al-Uṣūl by Shihāb ad-Dīn Maḥmūd az-Zanjānī; and the book Miftāḥ al-Wuṣūl ilā Binā al-Furūʿ ʿAlā al-Uṣūl by at-Tilimsānī; and Iḥkām al-Aḥkām Sharḥ ʿUmdat al-Aḥkām by Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd. And ash-Shinqīṭī placed great concern on this subject in Aḍwāʾ al-Bayān. May Allah have mercy upon them all.

I will end with the following conclusions:

1. I have mentioned these books based upon my own knowledge and study of them. However, with regard to some of these works, I have relied upon the statements and evaluations of the people of knowledge.
2. Describing a particular work as “the best” in its field is similar to the terminology used by the muḥaddithūn when they say, “The most authentic report in this subject is such and such.” by this, I do not mean that everything contained within that work is necessarily correct. Indeed, Allah has reserved perfection exclusively for His Book. A person is judged upright when their good outweighs their evil.
3. If any of the authors of the aforementioned books fell into error, then the correct position towards them is to recognise that they are people of knowledge. We accept that in which they were correct and leave that in which they erred. We presume that they receive two rewards for what they were correct in, and one reward for their mistaken judgements.
4. Some of the books mentioned are suitable for both beginners and advanced students of knowledge, while others are appropriate only for advanced learners. If a student reads a book and does not understand it, he should seek a qualified shaykh to explain it to him. If he is unable to find such a teacher, then he should look for another book on the subject that is more accessible to him.
5. Furthermore, there is no harm in studying under a firmly grounded shaykh from the people of the Sunnah, whether in these works or in others. The foundation of learning lies in studying at the hands of scholars, not merely in reading books.
6. Finally, the best books after the Book of Allah and the books of the authentic Prophetic Sunnah are those that are founded upon the Qurʾān and the Sunnah. They do not oppose Islamic legislation, nor do they support innovations. Rather, they follow sound evidence and adhere to the methodology of the Salaf.
7. With regard to books related to instrumental sciences, it is sufficient to become acquainted with their fundamental principles, without excessive immersion. This includes the sciences of language, uṣūl, rhetoric, grammar (naḥw), technical terminology (muṣṭalaḥ), and similar disciplines.
8. The primary objective of seeking knowledge is to understand the explanation of the Qurʾān and the meanings of the noble aḥādīth, and to implement them in practice, thereby attaining success and happiness in this world and in the Hereafter.

References

Al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd al-Lāʿī al-Maghribī, Al-Badr at-Tamām Sharḥ Bulūgh al-Marām, edited by ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allah az-Zabn, Dār Hajr, first edition.

Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar Bāzmūl, Al-Ājurrī compilation, with additions, 8 April 2014.

Shams ad-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad adh-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām an-Nubalāʾ, 17:429–432, biography of Al-Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, and 22:165–173, biography of Ibn Qudāmah, for the corrected death years.

Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar Bāzmūl, Afḍal Kitāb baʿda Kitāb Allah, compiled and arranged by Abū Ismāʿīl Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad Ibn Kashīdān, 1436 AH, author’s two-page leaflet, panels 2–8.

ʿUbayd Allah ibn Muḥammad ʿAbd as-Salām al-Mubārakfūrī, Marʿāt al-Mafātīḥ Sharḥ Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ, library catalogue record, which identifies his death as 1414 AH.

Writer / translator

Ṣalaḥ al-Irānī

is in need of his Lords mercy.

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