Al-‘Irāqī’s Alfiyyah

He was born Abū Al-Fadl Zaynuddīn ‘Abdurrahīm Ibn Al-Husain Ibn ‘Abdurrahmān Al-‘Irāqī in the year 725 years after the Hijrah. His father passed away while he was just three years, but he would attend the attention of Imām Taqiyuddīn who was his father’s Shaykh before his passing. He thereby memorized the Qur’ān at 8 and proceeded to widen his scope and was known for his mastery of the Luggah at his young age and was widening his depth in the Sciences of the Qirā’āt.

It was said that he was advised by Imām ‘Izuddīn Ibn Jamā’ah  Rahimahumullāh  to focus his penetrating insight and strong memory on Hadīth instead of Qirā’āt. He took the advice strongly and dedicated his life to the Hadīth, its Riwāyah and its Dirāyah, seeking Hadīth from the Ulamā of the Subject, travelling from land to land and country to country. Allāh blessed thereby his memory and his intellect for he excelled and surpassed all his peers and was referred as the Imām and Hāfidh of Hadīth in his time.

The great Stallions of Hadīth in his era witnessed to the fact that he surpassed them and to him they referred matters of intricacy. From his most significant works is the Alfiyyah: the ‘Urjūzah of Hadīth Science and Terminology (Mustalih).
The Alfiyyah contains 1003 lines of ‘Urjūzah Poetry in which he represented the Muqaddimah of his Shaykh Ibn As-Salāh on _Mustalihu Al-Hadīth_.

About this, he said in the Muqaddimah of the Alfiyyah:

نظمتها تبصرة للمبتدي؛
تذكرة للمنتهي والمسند

لخصت فيها ابن الصلاح أجمعه؛
وزدتها علماً تراه موضعه

“I have written it to enlighten the beginner;
And to remind the Advanced learner and Master

I summarized in it Ibn As-Salāh all of it;
And I add to it of knowledge that you will see

The Ulama accepted the Alfiyyah in its entirety and they encouraged its study and memorization for the Student of Knowledge. And they would say that a person has not learnt Mustalih until he has studied the Alfiyyah.

We ask Allah to ease its study, āmīn.

Bārakallāhu fīkum
Jazākumullāhu Khayran