Composed by

Imam Umar ibn Muhammad al-Bayquniyy al-Shafi iyy (d.1080 AH)

Rendered into English: A gift for Muslims all over,

By Al-Huda courses in mid-October.
1436 AH

2

1.

To start with praise of He while prayers I send

Upon Ahmad; the best of prophets ever sent.

2.

Hadith are many types upon enumeration;

Each one coming with its own definition.

Thus firstly comes Sa : Its chain is connected,

Without incongruity or being defected.

3.

4.

Narrated by upright, accurate persons,

Trusted in precision and transmissions.

5.

asan is sound in transmission too,

But its men are unlike Sa in virtue.

6.

a'f is what falls in rank below these two,

Its types number more than a few.

7.

Marf is anything to the Prophet attributed,

Maqt is anything of a Follower related.

8. Musnad has a chain which we take,

To the Fount of Mustafa without any break.

9.

If each narrator relates from the one before,

Till Mustafa, then its chain is Muttail for sure.

10. Musalsal bears a trait with the words stated,

Performed by each speaker when he narrated.

11. Like "He spoke to me while standing straight,"

Or "he said with a smile on his face."

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11

12

12. adith with two or three chains is Azz,

Mash-hr may have more but three at least.

13. Mu an an is like this: "Sa d relates from Karam."

Unnamed narrator: The hadith is Mubham.

14. li describes a chain with few narrators,

Its opposite is Nzil which has many relaters.

15. Words of a companion or his action:

Mawqf is the name of that classification.

16. Mursal chains omit a companion for sure.

While Gharb has one chain and no more.

17. If a report is not all the way connected,

Its chain is Munqai' or disconnected.

18. Mu'al breaks at two consecutive places.

While Mudallas reports have two cases:

19. a. Omitting the teacher from the chain on purpose,

Then relating from someone higher with words ambiguous.

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20. b. Not omitting the teacher - but it's the same:

Calling him by an unfamiliar trait or name.

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21. Shdh: A sound narrator contravenes a group.

As you read, there are two types of Maqlb:

22. Switching names of narrators is one category,

Swapping chains of texts is another variety.

23. Fard is the unique report of a person trustworthy,

Or that of a particular group, town or city.

24. Whatever contains a defect hidden or masked,

By them as Mu'allal such a report is classed.

25. Texts or chains with unsettled difference,

Are termed Muarib by the people of this science.

26. Mudraj is when the Hadith is related,

With some words of the narrator inserted.

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27. Whatever is reported from someone of similar generation,

It is Mudabbaj; take pride in this realisation.

28. Same sound and orthography, this is Muttafiq.

In contrast to this there is Muftariq.

29. Same orthography only, it is called Mu'talif,

While its opposite is termed Mukhtalif.

30. Munkar: The peculiar report of someone weak,

Not worthy of relaying reports unique.

31. Matrk: an isolated report of a liar accused,

Unanimously weak; his words are disused.

32. The concocted lie with attribution,

To the Prophet, is Maw, a fabrication.

33. Coming forth like pearls of the sea,

I have named this poem: the Ode of Al-Bayqn.

34. Complete with thirty four verses, no less,

Each type explained, finished with goodness.

***

Notes
1

Some versions lack the basmalah, but most include it. A few commentators considered it to be an addition
made by later copiers and scribes but this is unsubstantiated.
2

It was originally the superlative noun

meaning

the est, but the first letter (hamza) was omitted as is

common in Arabic.
3
Each verse (bayt) consists of a first half (sadr) and a second half ( ajuz). The poet chose to rhyme the first half
of a verse with the second half instead of rhyming an entire verse with the next. This is called tasri.
4

The suk of the n is replaced with a fatha because the letter after it has sukun.

This can be read in the active form yashudh-dha (

) or in the passive form yushadh-dha () .

This verse as slightly ha ged y Shaykh A d al-Sattar Abu Ghudda to convey a more accurate definition of
Hasan:

Hasan is lesser in accuracy [than Sahih]

So, its men are unlike Sahih in virtue
7

Plural of arq (

) the

o el of the

iddle radi al has ee

ha ged to suk to fit the

eter.

This verse suggests that a Muttasil chain must have a connected chain which reaches the Prophet (peace be
upon him), although, chains which lead back to other sources (companions and followers), are also be labelled
as Muttasil, as long as they are unbroken. An alteration to reflect a more accurate definition was suggested:

If each narrator relates from the one before,

Till the source, then it s Muttail for sure.
The word was a ba i but the second glottal stop (hamza ) was changed into a long vowel (alif) to fit the
meter, resulting in a b i.

10

This can be read in two ways: i) As

arw (

) while maintaining the long vowel (y) or; ii) as marwin

) by omitting the long vowel and adding nunation (ta

11

w ) to the end.

The nunantion is dropped to make the word fit the meter.

12

This definition, that an Aziz hadith may have two or three narrators is the earlier position adopted by Ibn
Mandah, Ibn Al-Salah, Al-Nawawi and others. The famous and accepted definition forwarded by later scholars
is that Aziz is a hadith with two narrators only, while a hadith with three narrators is Mash-hur. Considering the
later definition, the following alteration was suggested:

Aziz is arrated y t o not three

13

is a colloquialism and not found in standard Arabic.

14

Originally this word ends with a glottal stop (hamza):

, which was changed to a long vowel (alif): to

maintain the poetic meter and rhyme scheme.

15
A rare variation of the word
hi h o its the lo g o el (y).