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Sunan an-Nasa'i سنن النسائي

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One of the six canonical Sunni hadith collections, compiled by Imam an-Nasa'i (d. 915 CE).

Overview

Sunan an-Nasa'i (سنن النسائي) is one of the six canonical collections of hadith — the Kutub al-Sittah — compiled by Imam Ahmad ibn Shu'ayb an-Nasa'i (d. 303 AH / 915 CE). Renowned for its rigorous standards, the work is especially valued by jurists for chapters dealing with salah, wudu, zakat, and the conditions of ritual purity, transmitted with chains second in stringency only to Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.

Etymology

The term سنن (sunan) is the plural of سُنّة, meaning "a trodden path" or "established practice" — referring to the practical example of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. The nisbah an-Nasa'i refers to the town of Nasa in Khurasan, the compiler's birthplace. The collection circulates in two recensions: the larger al-Sunan al-Kubra and the abridged al-Mujtaba, also called al-Sunan al-Sughra, which is what scholars now intend when they cite "Sunan an-Nasa'i."

Quranic references

An-Nasa'i devoted entire books to exegetical narrations clarifying verses on worship and law. Among the verses most cited in his chapters are:

  • Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:6 — 'O you who have believed, when you rise to perform prayer, wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows...'
  • Surah Al-Baqarah 2:43 — 'And establish prayer and give zakah and bow with those who bow.'
  • Surah An-Nisa 4:103 — 'Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times.'
  • Surah Al-Hajj 22:27 — 'And proclaim to the people the Hajj; they will come to you on foot and on every lean camel...'
إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ كَانَتْ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كِتَابًا مَّوْقُوتًا

Hadith and tradition

An-Nasa'i was a student of Abu Dawud, compiler of Sunan Abi Dawud, and a contemporary of the compiler of Jami at-Tirmidhi. He is reported to have said that he included only the strongest narrations he knew. A representative narration:

The Prophet ﷺ said: "The key to prayer is purification, its opening is the takbir, and its closing is the taslim." — Sunan an-Nasa'i 140 (Sahih, graded by al-Albani)

Another foundational report on intention:

Umar ibn al-Khattab reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: "Actions are but by intentions, and every person shall have only what he intended..." — Sahih al-Bukhari 1, also in Sunan an-Nasa'i 75

Significance

Scholars such as Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and al-Dhahabi rated an-Nasa'i's criteria for accepting narrators as exceptionally strict — at times stricter than Muslim's. The work covers ritual law in granular detail and is a cornerstone for any student of fiqh studying alongside the Quran and the broader Sunnah. Its careful arrangement makes it a frequent reference in works on tafseer and applied jurisprudence.

See also

References

  1. Ahmad ibn Shu'ayb an-Nasa'i, al-Mujtaba min al-Sunan (al-Sunan al-Sughra).
  2. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib.
  3. al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala.
  4. al-Nawawi, Tahdhib al-Asma wa al-Lughat.
  5. Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani, Sahih wa Da'if Sunan an-Nasa'i.