of the Quran appear in boldface.

The words between square brackets are usually additions added by the translator/editor to make the translation of the traditions more expressive. Sometimes, square brackets have been used for the purpose of showing differences in different manuscripts.

Some small sections from the original book have been omitted in the translation. These were mostly explanations by the author about not-so-common Arabic words used in the traditions. The results of these explanations have been incorporated in the translated text and have been used to select suitable equivalent English words. Other sections that have been omitted were mostly minor variations in the wordings of the traditions that the author had pointed to in the footnotes. Since these variations usually had the same meaning in English they have not been mentioned. Occasionally, the authors explanations have been slightly altered or shortened to make them more fluent in English.

Verses of the Quran have mostly been translated by the editor (unless otherwise mentioned).

All instances of ‘ibn’ (meaning son of) have been written as ‘b.’ except in places where ‘ibn’ is not preceded by a proper noun, e.g. ibn Qutayba.

For the sake of conciseness and simplicity, the connection between two narrators in a chain is simply shown using the word ‘from.’ For instance, if the chain is ‘X narrated to me that Y heard Z say’ it has been written as ‘From X, from Y, from Z.’

Phrases like: ‘Allah’s blessings be on him and his family’ and ‘peace be on him/her’ have not

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