Muqaddima of Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ and the Revival of Hadith Studies in the Mamluk Era

In hadith historiography, the Muqaddima (Introduction) of Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ (d. 643/1245) marked the beginning of a new era in the preservation of hadith sciences. It determined the direction of the discourse of hadith for centuries and inaugurated a cultural revolution in the Mamluk era. This article aims at explaining why and how the phenomenon occurred. Furthermore, associating the publication of the Muqaddima with the state of hadith scholarship in the 7/13 century exposes the primary factors and key people behind the spread of Muqaddima and the changes that followed. The study is qualitative in nature and used both inductive and deductive methods to analyse data acquired from various biographical dictionaries and isnād collections. It discovers that the publication of the Muqaddima has rejuvenated the study of hadith in the Mamluk era after centuries of irreversible decline through the formation of a scholarly network across the Islamic countries which sought to simplify the content of the Muqaddima for hadith students. Their works have indirectly opened the opportunity for more people to discuss hadith criticism, which was originally limited to elite scholars. Damascus and Egypt played a key role in this movement due to their strategic position as the primary center of hadith studies after the destruction of Khurasan and Baghdad by the Mongols. This finding will, to some extent, complete our understanding of the history of pre-modern hadith scholarship that is less highlighted today.