Tadrib al-Rawi fi Sharh Taqrib al-Nawawi

Tadrib al-Rawi fi Sharh Taqrib al-Nawawi is a commentary by the hafiz Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (849–911 AH) on al-Nawawi's al-Taqrib wa-l-Taysir, itself an abridgement of Ibn al-Salah's book. It follows the sixty-five types in order and blends al-Nawawi's wording with the commentary. ^{1 2}

Al-Suyuti opens each type with Ibn al-Salah's words and then those of later scholars. The thirtieth type shows the pattern:

• he quotes Ibn al-Salah's remark that the meaning of "well-known" is self-evident, so he gave no definition;
• then the definition of al-Bulqini and of the legal theorists, a report whose transmitters number more than three;
• then Ibn Hajar's definition. ²

On disputed questions he gathers the positions, their holders and where they are found. On who first accepted Islam he sets out about ten views before reporting the reconciliation chosen by Ibn al-Salah and al-Nawawi. ^{3 4}

He marks what al-Nawawi added to Ibn al-Salah. An example is al-Nawawi's remark on Khadija: "this is correct according to a group of verifiers". ⁵ He also passes judgement on views, as when he says that the views dissenting from the uprightness of the Companions are all incorrect. ⁶

The thirty-ninth type, the knowledge of the Companions, fills about ninety pages of volume 5 in Awwama's edition. Al-Nawawi calls it a great and very useful science, by which the connected chain is told apart from the hurried (mursal) one. Among its books al-Suyuti names those of Ibn Hibban and Ibn Manda. ^{7 8}

Its points include:

• the uprightness of the Companions (see the uprightness of the Companions);
• which of them was most excellent;
• who first accepted Islam;
• who was the last of them to die: Abu al-Tufayl. ^{9 10 11}

The edition used is Muhammad Awwama's (Dar al-Minhaj, Jeddah, first edition, 1437 AH / 2016), with the gloss of Ahmad ibn Ahmad ibn al-Ajami (1014–1086 AH). Each page separates four layers:

• al-Nawawi's base text;
• al-Suyuti's commentary;
• Ibn al-Ajami's gloss;
• the editor's extensive notes.

In those notes the editor sometimes answers the commentator. For example, he finds al-Suyuti's description of the dissenting views on the Companions' uprightness as merely "incorrect" too soft. ^{1 12 6}