All praise is exclusively for Allah; we all praise Him and seek help from Him, and seek forgiveness from Him, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from our bad deeds. Whomever Allah guides, there is none to misguide him, and whomever Allah lets go astray, there is none to guide him. And I bear witness that there is no deity except Allah, a testimony that is a means of salvation and a guarantee for the elevation of ranks. And I bear witness that indeed Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is Allah’s servant and His Messenger, whom He sent to the world at a time when the signs of the paths of faith had been erased, the lights of the ways of faith had been extinguished, its pillars had become weak and feeble, and its place and status had become unknown. So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) raised and strengthened the erased signs of faith, and in support of the word of monotheism, he healed the one who had reached the brink of death (due to the misguidance of disbelief and polytheism), and he opened the path of guidance for the one who wished to walk upon it, and he revealed the treasures of goodness for the one who wished to possess them.

After praise and blessings, it should be known that following the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and adhering to his path cannot be complete until there is full obedience to that which issued and appeared from his blessed chest. Only when his hadiths are fully obeyed can the claim of following be correct, and complete reliance and trust upon Allah’s Book cannot be achieved except with your explanation, interpretation, and commentary—that is, the Qur’an can only be acted upon when the authentic hadiths are also acted upon. Among all the books written about hadith, *al-Masabih* was a comprehensive book on its subject, in which various hadiths were collected together. The author of this book, *al-Masabih*, was the reviver of the Sunnah and the eradicator of innovation, Imam Abu Muhammad Husayn ibn Mas‘ud al-Farra’ al-Baghawi—may Allah elevate his rank. Since the author, may Allah have mercy on him, adopted the path of brevity in this *Misbah* and omitted the chains of narration, some of those who scrutinize and examine hadith objected that by omitting the names of the Companions and the references to the books, the authenticity or weakness of the hadith cannot be known, nor can it be determined in which book the hadith is found. And without the chain of narration and the reference to the book, people generally do not accept the hadith. (Although we admit that the author, may Allah have mercy on him, is among the trustworthy and truthful scholars, and his narration without a chain is as if it is narrated with a chain, but a thing with a sign and address is not like a thing without a sign and address, and the two are not equal.) Therefore, the objection of the critics was correct. Keeping in view the objection of these critics, I decided to rearrange this book, *al-Masabih*, and for this task, I sought guidance from Allah and asked Him for success. (So Allah granted success, and with His help and assistance) I turned the unsourced hadiths into sourced ones, made clear the names of the Companions and the books that were omitted, and placed each hadith in its proper place as narrated by those Imams of hadith who were extremely reliable and trustworthy, honest and trustworthy, such as Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Isma‘il al-Bukhari, Abu al-Husayn Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj al-Qushayri, Abu ‘Abdullah Imam Malik ibn Anas, Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi‘i, Abu ‘Abdullah Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Shaybani, Abu ‘Isa Muhammad ibn ‘Isa al-Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud Sulayman ibn al-Ash‘ath al-Sijistani, Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman Ahmad ibn Shu‘ayb al-Nasa’i, Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Majah al-Qazwini, Abu Muhammad ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Darimi, Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn ‘Umar al-Daraqutni, Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Husayn al-Bayhaqi, Abu al-Hasan Razin ibn Mu‘awiyah al-‘Abdari, and others. I have written their names at the end of the hadith and also provided the reference to the book. And when I attribute a hadith to these Imams and say, for example, that Imam Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on him, narrated this hadith, it is as if I have attributed this hadith to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) (i.e., mentioning the name of these Imams with a hadith is clear proof that the chain of narration of this hadith definitely reaches the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and this hadith is connected and authentic, because these great scholars have already dealt with the chain, and have made us needless of it, so we have omitted the full chain, mentioned the name of the Companion at the beginning of the hadith from whom it is narrated, and at the end, mentioned the names of those great scholars (who have narrated this hadith in their books). Just as the author of *al-Masabih*, may Allah have mercy on him, divided his book into chapters and books, I have also done the same, following in his footsteps, i.e., I have also arranged *Mishkat* into chapters and books and sections. First, I have established a chapter, and each chapter is mostly divided into three sections. In the first section are those hadiths which both Shaykhs, Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim, or either of them, have narrated, and in this first section, I have sufficed with the hadiths of these two Imams, even if others have also narrated the hadith, because the status of these two great scholars in hadith is higher than all other hadith scholars. In the second section, those hadiths are collected which have been narrated by other mentioned hadith scholars besides these two, Imam Bukhari and Muslim. In the third section, those hadiths are mentioned which are relevant and appropriate to the chapter, whether they are transmitted from the predecessors (Companions) or narrated from the successors (Tabi‘in), but the conditions of hadith will also be observed in them. Then, if you do not find a hadith from *al-Masabih* in my book *Mishkat*, the reason is that I have omitted it due to its repetition, and did not consider it necessary to mention it again. And if you find some hadiths whose parts are not included in my book *Mishkat*, but have been omitted for brevity, or that part is not present in *al-Masabih* but is included in full here in *Mishkat*, then this omission, addition, or inclusion is due to some specific need, i.e., at that place, some matter necessitated omission or inclusion. The reason for brevity is that a particular part of a lengthy hadith is relevant to the chapter, and the rest is not, or a part of the hadith is relevant to one chapter and not to another, so wherever either of these two situations occurs, the hadith will be mentioned briefly, and where neither occurs, the full hadith will be mentioned. And if you see a difference in the two sections, that in the first section, a hadith from other hadith scholars besides the two Shaykhs is found (even though the first section is reserved for the two Shaykhs), and in the second section, a hadith from the two Shaykhs is found (which is against the rule, as the second section should not contain their hadith), then know (that this difference is not due to error or forgetfulness), but after searching for the hadiths of the two Shaykhs in the book *Jam‘ Bayn al-Sahihayn* by Humaydi and *Jami‘ al-Usul* and in the Sahihs of the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim), I have relied on the Sahihs of the two Shaykhs and their texts. And if you see a difference in the text of the hadith (that in *Mishkat* the wording is different from *al-Masabih*), this difference is due to the different chains of narration (the author of *al-Masabih* narrated the hadith with the wording he received, and the author of *Mishkat* received it with different wording, so he narrated it accordingly), and it is possible that I am unaware of the method used by the author of *al-Masabih* (so due to this unawareness, I have mentioned it in another way). And in my book *Mishkat*, you will find many such words that the narration recorded by the author of *al-Masabih* I do not find, or I find it differently, and if you become aware of this difference, attribute this shortcoming and deficiency to me, due to my lack of ability and weakness, i.e., this oversight should be attributed to me, not to the author of *al-Masabih*. May Allah elevate his rank in both worlds. Purity belongs to Allah alone, and whoever becomes aware of my mistake (during my lifetime), let him alert and inform me, and show me the right path, and after my death, write it in the book *Mishkat* or in its margin. May Allah shower His mercy upon them. And in research and investigation, I have not fallen short to the best of my ability and strength. I have reported the difference as I found it. Where the author of *al-Masabih* has indicated that a hadith is rare or weak, I have mostly mentioned the reason for its weakness, etc., in my book *Mishkat*, and where he has not indicated anything according to the principles of hadith, I have also followed the author of *al-Masabih* in not mentioning it and have omitted its mention. But in some places, due to a specific benefit or purpose, I have mentioned some aspect of the hadith, and in some places, you will not find a reference to any book at the end of the hadith; the reason is that I could not find the narrator of that hadith, so I left a blank space (i.e., left a white space there and wrote nothing). If you find out its reference, then write it in the blank space; may Allah reward you well. And I have named the book *Mishkat al-Masabih*, and I ask Allah to grant me the ability to complete this book, to assist me, to guide me correctly, to protect me from mistakes, and to make my intentions easy for me. And I ask Allah that He benefit me through this compilation during my life and after my death, and grant benefit to all Muslim men and women through this book. Allah alone is sufficient for me, and He is the best disposer of affairs, and there is no power to abstain from sins and no strength to do good except with the help and success of Allah, the Most Mighty, the Most Wise. «حسبى الله ونعم الوكيل لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله العزيز الحكيم»

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Actions are judged by intentions, and every person will have only what he intended. So whoever's migration was for Allah and His Messenger, then his migration is for Allah and His Messenger. And whoever's migration was for some worldly gain or to marry a woman, then his migration is for that for which he migrated. This hadith is narrated by Bukhari and Muslim.