Mishkat al-Masabih (Arabic: مشكاة المصابيح, romanized: Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ, lit. 'Niche of Lanterns') by Walī ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Khaṭīb at-Tibrīzī (d.1248) is an expanded and revised version of al-Baghawī's Maṣābīḥ as-Sunnah.[3] Khaṭīb at-Tibrīzī rendered this version of the original text more accessible to those not having an advanced knowledge of the science of hadith.
Description
It contains 5945 aḥādīth divided into 29 chapters[3] and is considered to be an important collection of aḥādīth by Sunni Islamic scholars. An example of a hadith from Mishkat al-Masabih is as follows: "He is not a perfect believer, who goes to bed full and knows that his neighbour is hungry."[4]
Differences from al-Baghawī's Maṣābīḥ as-Sunnah
Imām at-Tibrīzī added 1511 aḥādīth to the total of 4434 aḥādīth already in Maṣābīḥ as-Sunnah. Al-Baghawī classified many aḥādīth as authentic to which other scholars did not agree at times. At-Tibrīzī expounded on the classifications that al-Baghawī placed on the aḥādīth and re-classified many of them. He also added a third section to Masabih al-Sunnah, which was already divided in two parts by al-Baghawī. This section consisted of narrations that he felt fit into the chapter and provided further clarification. Al-Baghawī did not mention the isnad of the aḥādīth he collected whereas at-Tibrīzī mentions the source from which the aḥādīth can originally be found - making the text more reliable. [3]
Commentaries
Many commentaries on the book have been written and published worldwide.