What references and sources do you use for your publications?
Authenticty and reliability of the content in general
With regards to the content of the textbooks, we try our best to check and verify the suitability of the content, not least from the perspective of authenticity and acceptance among experts in Islamic scholarship. As such, as a rule, we avoid including material that has no attributable source or has had its authenticity severely doubted across the board and ages. We also opt for contents that have the least or no major contentions within Sunni scholarship.
Ḥadith material
In terms of the ḥadīth material, we generally opt for judgements that are balanced and from authorities that are known to have a high bar of acceptability in grading. These include, but are not restricted to classical authorities (e.g., Imam Dhahabī), the authors of the major collections themselves, as well as major classical commentators (e.g., Imām Ibn Ḥajr, Imām Nawawī), may peace and blessings of Allāh be on all of them. Additionally, where there is a choice of narrations between the six books, we tend to prefer using versions from the collections of Imām Bukhārī and Muslim (ra).
Fiqh
As for fiqh, the rulings contained in the books are all from the Ḥanafī school of law. Where formatting allowed us, we have included the source guidance from the Qurʾān and Sunnah. Where source material and arguments entail detail and are of a complex legal nature (or generally, very well known), we have left out citing the source guidance for a ruling. If users of our books consult classical manuals of the school, we are confident they’ll find that the rulings contained in the textbooks are precise and accurately translated.
Also, in terms of evidences for Ḥanafī opinions, we rely on the works of classical and contemporary Ḥanafī authorities, such as the writings of Imam Kāsānī, Shaybāni, Taḥāwī, Margħināni, Ibn ʿĀbidīn and Muftī Taqi ʿUthmani (May Allāh reward them all) to name a few. Again, users can refer to these texts for details when considering the fiqh content of our books. We will in future, provide a full bibliography and citations to access online as part of our teacher resources.
Stories of the Prophets and history
For the stories of the Prophets and historical material, weuse some of the best resources available and avoid anything that is unattributable or sourceless. We have used as much material from ḥadīth literature we could find as well as considering carefully, stories and discussions collected by Imam Ibn Kathīr (ra) in his Stories of the Prophets as well as Tafsir.
Your help
No human work or effort is perfect (and perfection is for Allāh alone). As such, we welcome all editing requests or questions. Where our honourable readers and users point out issues, errors or suggest alternative material, we consider these seriously, and take as much of it as we can on board. Usually, necessary changes are implemented at the next available and convinient opportunity.
If you do have any questions with regards to the content, or notice errors or even have ideas or want us to consider for material we may not have included, do email as on: info@safarpublications.org.