INTRODUCTION TO THE INDEX OF HADITH

Some time ago I began to read through the collections of Hadith. I began to make an index of the Hadith that pertained to a topic of interest to me. This index is not comprehensive. You will find more entries say on Aisha, than you will on wudu. Again, it is an index I started to enable me to quickly find Hadith related to a topic of interest.

It probably has some mistakes in it. As I have learned about Islam through the years, my understanding of various topics has changed. Accordingly, my initial thoughts on various phrases or topics in the Hadith may have been off. I would encourage anyone using the index to double check the hadith instead of taking my phrase verbatim. However, I think that it is accurate for the most part.

The structure of the index is as follows. It is in a spreadsheet format. The first column "TOPIC" is the topic of interest. The second column "WHO", defines which collection the hadith is from. "B" stands for Bukhari, and "M" stands for Muslim. Hopefully, eventually, "D" will stand for Abu Dawud's Sunan. And, more to follow after that. The third column, "VOL", stands for which volume the hadith is found in. The fourth column, "#", is the number of the hadith. Here you will often find several numbers, separated by a comma, or a range of numbers joined by a dash. The fifth column is the "DESCRIPTION". This is my point of interest, or my comment. Consequently, the Hadith may have been recorded to address a specific point, say prayer, but I will find a comment or reference in the Hadith that is of interest to me. For example, there are sets of hadith that address prayer times, but I will reference a hadith from that set that states that the heat of a hot day is from the fires of hell. Additionally, sometimes in the "DESCRIPTION" section, I will include references from other Hadith. This is because I couldn't fit it all in the # column, and I wanted to compress the file.

It is probably in the "DESCRIPTION" section of mine that one will find some controversy.

Additionally, I use many abbreviations. Just as I sometimes use "GABE" for the angel Gabriel, and "ABE" for Abraham, so for Muhammad, I use "Mo". This is not meant to be offensive to Muslims, nor anyone else. Originally this index was only for my own use, not intended for publication. But others have found it useful, so I want to make it available to a wider audience. These abbreviations allow me to type quicker, and to fit the text into a smaller area.

This is not a major project of mine. I have worked on this for a couple of years, and I am proceeding at a slow pace. However, I think there is enough there for people to use. I have read all 9 volumes of Bukhari, and am now through 2 of the 4 volumes of Muslim.

I am open to correction of my mistakes. I know I've made them, and I've corrected several already. If you find any, please let me know.

I encourage everyone to scan through the hadith to find info on many Islamic topics, some of them quite strange.

In Christ,
Silas,     4/4/02

Download the

Index to Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 1-9, and Sahih Muslim, Vol. 1-4    (Excel file format)

Also in Excel file format, Sirhan, another author, provided these:

Index to the Muwatta of Imam Malik
Index to the Risala of Imam Shafi'i
Combined Index to the Muwatta and the Risala

(If you do not have Excel installed on your computer, you can download the free Excel Viewer at this page.)


About Hadiths
Answering Islam Home Page