Description of the Manuscript Sources

In editing "Sunan Ibn Majah," we have relied on three photographed copies taken from meticulous manuscript sources, namely:

First: The copy designated by the symbol (S), which we have adopted as our primary source in the vast majority of cases:

It is a photographed copy of the manuscript original preserved in the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul under number (37). It is complete, meticulous, with clear handwriting and precise vocalization; errors are rarely found in it. It consists of a single volume, containing (327) folios, with (25) lines per page, and approximately (15) words per line.

Its copyist—ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Shāmī—completed copying it on Tuesday, the ninth of Shawwāl, in the year (861 AH). Its owner was the judge Saʿd al-Dīn, as the copyist mentioned at its end.

It was collated with great precision against a copy bearing the handwriting of the eminent scholar, the ḥāfiẓ Burhān al-Dīn Sibt Ibn al-ʿAjamī (1), the eminent scholar Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Nāṣir al-Dīn, the ḥāfiẓ of Damascus (2), and the eminent scholar Shihāb al-Dīn Abī--------------------------------------------
(1) He is Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad, who died in the year 841 AH; see his biography in "al-Ḍawʾ al-Lāmiʿ" 1/138–145.
(2) He is Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who died in the year 842 AH; see his biography in "al-Ḍawʾ al-Lāmiʿ" 8/103–106, and "Shadharāt al-Dhahab" 7/243–245.