# Sunan al-Kubra (al-Bayhaqi)

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Sunni$^1$Kutub Al-Sittah ("The Six Books") Sahih al-Bukhari صحيح البخاري Sahih Muslim صحيح مسلم Sunan Abi Dawud سنن أبي داود Sunan al-Tirmidhi سنن الترمذي Sunan al-Nasa'i سنن النسائي Sunan ibn Majah سنن ابن ماجه
Others Al-Adab al-Mufrad Al-Jami al-Kamil Kanz al-Ummal Kitab al-Athar Majma al-Zawa'id Mu'jam al-Awsat Mu'jam al-Kabeer Mu'jam al-Saghir Musannaf Abd al-Razzaq Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah Musnad Abu Awanah Musnad Abu Hanifa Musnad Abu Ya'la Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal Musnad_al-Bazzar Musnad al-Shafi'i Musnad al-Siraj Musnad al-Firdous Musnad al-Tayalisi Musnad Humaidi Musnad Ishaq ibn Rahwayh Mustadrak ala al-Sahihayn Muwatta Imam Malik Sahih Ibn Hibban Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah Sahifah Hammam ibn Munabbih Shama'il al-Muhammadiyya Sunan al-Kubra Bayhaqi Sunan al-Wusta Bayhaqi Sunan al-Daraqutni Sunan al-Darimi Sunan Nasa'i al-Kubra Sunan Sa'id ibn Mansur Shu'ab al-Iman Tahdhib al-Athar Targhib wal Tarhib
ShiaAl-Kutub Al-Arb'ah ("The Four Books") Kitab al-Kafi الكتاب الكافي Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih من لا يحضره الفقيه Tahdhib al-Ahkam تهذیب الاحکام Al-Istibsar الاستبصار
Others Al-Wafi Wasa'il al-Shia Mustadrak al-wasa'il Bihar al-Anwar Nahj al-Balagha The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays Al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya Risalah al-Huquq Sahifah of al-Ridha Al-Risalah al-Dhahabiah Da'a'im al-Islam Uyoun Akhbar Al-Ridha Haqq al-Yaqeen Ain Al-Hayat Al-Ghadir
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$^1$ - Books also revered by Ahmadiyya :
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Sunan al-Kubra lil Bayhaqi, (Arabic: ٱلسُّنَن ٱلْكُبْرَىٰ لِلْبَيْهَقِيّ), or Al-Sunan al-Kabir (Arabic: ٱلسُّنَن ٱلْكَبِير) is a prominent and massive multi-volume Hadith book compiled, edited and catalogued by Imam Al-Bayhaqi (384 AH – 458 AH).

## Description

It is the largest Sunan Book available in history of Hadith collection, containing almost twenty two thousand (22,000) Hadiths according to Al-Maktaba Al-Shamela. A book with similar name (Sunan al-Kubra) is also written by Imam al-Nasa'i having almost twelve thousand (12,000) hadiths.
It is one of the major hadith compilations by one of the last great hadith memorisers of the 4th century Hijri, of such importance that nothing of its like has been penned down. It is compiled in order of issue relating to fiqh. The author takes quite an effort in providing narrations in each chapter thereby giving the rulings of such transmissions and how certain scholars have understood it. He also expounds the problematic phrases and or terminologies that might cause misinterpretation as well as those that might seemingly portray contradictions. Many scholars have said that no such work has been penned down like the Sunan al-Kabir.

## View of other scholars regarding the book

Ibn al-Salah said in his Muqaddimah: "We know not its like in its field." In other words, it is the best of the Sunan works. Al-Nawawi said in al-Taqrib that one should be devoted to it, as nothing has been written like it, and Al-Suyuti, commenting on this statement in Tadrib al-Rawi, agreed. Al-Sakhawi said in Fath al-Mughith that one must not limit oneself from it (by sufficing with the other sunan works of Abu Dawud, al-Nasa’i, and al-Tirmidhi) due to its comprehensiveness in most of the ahadith al-ahkam. Al-Sakhawi further added that its true rank is only after the Sahihayn of al-Bukhari and Muslim, coming before the sunan of Abu Dawud, al-Nasa'i, and al-Tirmidhi, which take precedence only by merit of being earlier and thus with shorter chains.
Al-Dhahabi said there is nothing like it and considered it to be one of the four masterpieces a scholar cannot do without, alongside al-Muhalla by Ibn Hazm, al-Mughni by Ibn Qudamah, and al-Tamhid by Ibn Abd al-Barr. Taj al-Din al-Subki said no other book had been written with such classification, arrangement, and elegance.

## Commentaries

Among those who have written commentaries on this hadith collection are:
* Al-Sunan al-Kabir 24 VOLUMES (السنن الكبير) Commentary by Shaykh al-Turki: Published: Dar 'Aalim al-Kutub | Riyad, Sa'udi in 2013