Subul al-Salam al-Musila ila Bulugh al-Maram

Subul al-Salam al-Musila ila Bulugh al-Maram min Jam' Adillat al-Ahkam ("Paths of Peace leading to Bulugh al-Maram") is Muhammad b. Isma'il al-Amir al-San'ani's commentary on Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani's Bulugh al-Maram. ² Its editor Muhammad Subhi Hasan Hallaq calls it one of the best middle-length commentaries on legal hadiths. ²

Al-San'ani abridged his commentary from al-Badr al-Tamam Sharh Bulugh al-Maram by the judge al-Husayn b. Muhammad al-Maghribi, which the editor says is still in manuscript in the library of the Great Mosque of San'a. ² The editor notes that al-Maghribi relied on Ibn Hajar's al-Talkhis al-Habir for documenting the hadiths, drew on Fath al-Bari, al-Nawawi's commentary on Muslim and Ibn Raslan's commentary on the Sunan for the texts, and on Ibn Rushd's Bidayat al-Mujtahid and Ahmad b. Yahya b. al-Murtada's al-Bahr al-Zakhkhar for juristic disagreement — but did not concern himself with deciding between views. ³

The editor quotes al-San'ani's preface: a concise commentary abridged from al-Maghribi's, limited to explaining the words of Bulugh al-Maram and their meanings, leaving aside disagreements and opinions except where the evidence is bound up with them, avoiding both deficient brevity and tiresome length, with many added benefits. ³

The editor gives two examples of what he sees as al-San'ani's independent reasoning:

• On saying "if God wills" in an oath, al-San'ani reports the Hadawi view that treats it as a condition — the oath binds if what is sworn is something God wills, otherwise not — and comments that the hadith does not fit these views. ⁴
• On taking back a gift, he notes that the majority forbid it except for gifts to one's child and the like, that the Hadawis and Abu Hanifa allowed it for gifts but not for alms, rejects al-Tahawi's reading of the image of the dog returning to its vomit, and holds that such wording in the Law signals stern prohibition. ⁵

The Dar Ibn al-Jawzi edition by Muhammad Subhi Hasan Hallaq, 3rd issue, 3rd printing 1433 AH; volume 1 holds hadiths 1–332, and the editor's introduction, dated San'a 5 Sha'ban 1410 AH/2 March 1990, includes lives of al-San'ani and Ibn Hajar. ^{6 7}