Title	Language	Publisher	Category	File
Sunan Ibn Majah Vol. 1	English & Arabic	Darussalam	Hadith	PDF × Sunan Ibn Majah Vol. 1   PDF
Sunan Ibn Majah Vol. 2	English & Arabic	Darussalam	Hadith	PDF × Sunan Ibn Majah Vol. 2   PDF
Sunan Ibn Majah Vol. 3	English & Arabic	Darussalam	Hadith	PDF × Sunan Ibn Majah Vol. 3   PDF
Sunan Ibn Majah Vol. 4	English & Arabic	Darussalam	Hadith	PDF × Sunan Ibn Majah Vol. 4   PDF
Sunan Ibn Majah Vol. 5	English & Arabic	Darussalam	Hadith	PDF × Sunan Ibn Majah Vol. 5   PDF

Sunan Ibn Majah is one of the six most authentic collections of Ahadith (Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Sunan Ibn Majah, Sunan Abu Dawud, and Sunan an-Nasa'i).

It consists of thirty-two (32) books on knowledge and Fiqh, and of one thousand five hundred and fifteen (1515) chapters. According to Muhammad Fuwad 'Abdul-Baqi's edition, it consists of four thousand three hundred and forty-one Ahadith; and according to A'zami's it consists of four thousand three hundred and ninety-seven Ahadith.

Works Concerning Narrators of Sunan Ibn Majah

1. Imam Dhahabi wrote biographies for narrators of Sunan Ibn Majah whose narrations were not collected by Bukhari and Muslim. He named this work, Al-Mujarrad fi Rijal Sunan Ibn Majah. The work has been published twice.
2. Dr. Abdullah Murad 'Ali's thesis, Al-Matrukunal-ladhina fee Ikhraji lahum Ibn Majah; this is a contemporary work.
3. There is also another work in this regard by Dr. Sa'di bin Mahdi al-Hashimi. It is published by Islamic University of al-Madinah in 1402 AH.

Distinguishing Qualities of Sunan Ibn Majah

The Sunan of Ibn Majah possesses some distinguishing qualities that kept it apart from other books of Ahadith, made it outstanding and popular and called the attention of scholars in all ages. Here are those distinguishing qualities:

• The style is excellent. The titles of chapters are in harmony with the Ahadith listed under them. There is no confusion or meshing or disorder. The chapters follow each other in the same order as in the books of Islamic jurisprudence, and the Ahadith, too, are well-ordered- a quality that poses no difficulty in deriving legal rulings.
• The chapters are well-ordered and well-arranged. There is no repetition, a quality lacking in other basic Hadith books.
• The book, though brief, is comprehensive with respect to legal rulings. It is for this quality of comprehensiveness that Ibn Hajar, in Taqribut-Tahdhib, called it a 'good Jami".
• On several occasions he identified those Ahadith that are Gharib (Unfamiliar). Of course, Tirmidhi is famed for having already done so, yet Ibn Majah's work in this field, namely, identifying Ahadith in some special chapters and ruling them as Gharib is unique. We do not find it in other books.
• There were some Ahadith specific to some particular town, there being no narrator of those Ahadith in other towns. But Ibn Majah, while recording gives the name of the town the narrator of a particular Hadith belongs.
• Ibn Majah added 482 Sahih Ahadith to his Sunan that do not exist in the other five books of Hadith.
• There are 3002 common Ahadith existing in both Sunan Ibn Majah and the other five books but Ibn Majah recorded them with quite different channels of narration. This multiplicity of channels of narration has further strengthened Ahadith, a distinguishing quality of Sunan ibn Majah, a quality that is not found in other books.
• There are 1339 Ahadith in Sunan Ibn Majah that do not exist in the other Five books. Hadith scholars have also recorded them as Zawa'id (additions or supplements). It is owing to those Zawa'id that the Sunan of Ibn Majah has been elevated to the position of 'the sixth of the Six'.

 

Commentaries

Like the other Five Books, in view of the usefulness, importance and fame of Sunan Ibn Majah, many notable commentaries and marginal notes have been written on it. Some of them are:

1. The first known commentary on Sunan Ibn Majah is the one done by the Egyptian Hafidh Abu 'Abdullah 'Ala'uddin Mughalta'i bin Qalij bin 'Abdullah Bakjari al-Misri (d. 762 AH). He named his work Al-l'lam bi Sunnatihi 'Alaihis-Salam. The author died before he could complete it. It still remains in manuscript and unedited, and it is in four volumes.
2. Ma Tamussu minhul-Hajah min Sunan Ibn Majah: An eight-volume commentary, written by Shaikh Sirajuddin 'Umar bin 'Ali bin al-Mulaqqin in 801 AH, on Zawa'id of Ibn Majah. The book explains the odd words and describes difficult names and surnames with accuracy.
3. Some authors mention a book called Ma Tamass ilayh Hajah liman Yutalih Sunan Ibn Majah. This book was written by one of the Indian scholars, Muhammad Abdur-Rashid Nu'mani. The impression the title of the book gives is that it is about Ibn Majah's methodology and other necessary things a readers should know about Sunan ibn Majah. But, sadly, the book is mostly devoid of that. It was only written in response to an issue that affects the Hanafites only. The only important thing the book has is that it made a mention of spurious Ahadith.
4. Ad-Dibajah fee Sharh Sunan Ibn Majah is a five-volume work by Kamaluddin Muhammad bim Musa Ad-Damiri; the author of the famous Hayatul-Haiwan AI-Kubra; he died in the year 808 AH.
5. Allamah Jalaluddin Suyuti also had a commentary on Sunan Ibn Majah. It was printed along with a very old edition of Sunan Ibn Majah in New Delhi. Suyuti's commentary is called: Misbah Az-Zujajah. However, I do not know whether or not this name is authentic.
6. Sharh Sunan Ibn Majah by Ibn Rajab Hanbali (d. 795 AH); we know nothing about this commentary except that Sindi quoted from it in his own commentary on Sunan Ibn Majah.
7. Sharh Ibn Majah: The work of Shaykh Burhanuddin Halabi. According to him Imam Shawkani, it is a very delicate and refined commentary.
8. Misbah Az-Zujajah fi Zawa'id ibn Majah by Busayri (d. 840 AH). The unique feature of this work is that Busairi edited those narrations that Ibn Majah exclusively recorded. He then classified each of these narrations in terms of its authenticity or otherwise. It should be pointed out that this Busayri is different from the one who wrote a poetry in which the Prophet (ﷺ) was excessively praised and which is recited all over the Muslim world. We ask Allah for guidance.
9. Kifayatul-Hajah fi Sharh Ibn Majah: Marginal notes by Shaykh Abul- Hasan Muhammad bin 'Abdul-Hadi Sindi, a twelfth century AH scholar (d. 1138 AH). In his marginal notes, 'AIlamah Sindi explains odd words, gives correct spellings of words and, in particular, writes on declension inflections of words. It is a bit more comprehensive than 'Allamah Suyuti's marginal notes.
10. Raf'ul-Hajah 'an Sunan Ibn Majah: A translation and commentary by Maulana Wahiduz-Zaman.
11. Injahul-Hajah: Marginal notes by Shaikh 'Abdul-Ghani al-Mujaddadi Dehlavi.
12. Ta'liq Sabt Ibnul-'Ajami: A nice commentary on Sunan Ibn Majah by Hafidh Sabt Ibnul-'Ajami.
13. Injazul-Hajah bi Sharh Sunan Ibn Majah: A very useful and comprehensive commentary written in Arabic by famous Pakistani scholar, Shaykh Muhammad 'Ali Janbaz. He documented and referenced each Hadith, gave his ruling on its soundness or weakness, wrote a brief biographical note on the narrators of each Hadith, gave accurate names of narrators and places, and quoted Ahadith similar inmeaning to the respective Hadith. Moreover, while writing his commentary, he mentioned the Madhhab of each school of Islamic jurisprudence, quoting from their authentic books and, after an objective analysis of the arguments of each jurist in the light of Qur'an and Sunnah, mentioned the preferred opinion. At the end of each volume, there is also a list of famous biographies. The foregoing qualities make this commentary very useful, excellent and comprehensive. But it is still incomplete. The commentary on about half the book running into six volumes has already been published. May Allah help the author complete his work and reward him for his labor. Ameen.