The hadith methodology of Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqi in the light of his work "al-Madkhal ila Kitab al-Sunan"

Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī of Nīshāpūr (d. 458/1066), one of the most important ḥadīth scholars of the Islamic world in the 5th/11th century, made valuable contributions to the fields of ḥadīth and jurisprudence, as well as al-ʿaqāid, sīra and Islamic ethics through his students and writings. Because he devoted most of his scholarly work on establishing the narrative foundations of Shāfiʿī's legal thought and did not write separate works on the technical fields and subjects of ḥadīth, unlike his contemporary al-Khatīb al-Baghdādī, he did not receive significant recognition in the literature of hadīth methodology. His work al-Madkhal ilā Kitāb al-sunan, which contains valuable discussions on the methodology of ḥadīth, was written as an introductory book to his own al-Sunan al-kabīr, contained chapters on the Islamic jurisprudence and the etiquette of teaching and learning, and did not encompass all the topics of ḥadīth methodology, causing it to be remained outside canon of ḥadīth methodology. Despite continuous circulation and following from the 5th/11th century to the early 10th/16th century, al-Madkhal seemed to remain hidden from the scholarly world for approximately five centuries, especially after the Mamluk period. A previously published edition of al-Madkhal, about 40 years ago, did not include most of the chapters on ḥadīth methodology due to the incompleteness of the manuscript on which it is based. Consequently, contemporary studies have mostly tried to establish al-Bayhaqī's ḥadīth scholarship through his method in his various books. With the publication of the new edition of the book in 2016, the chapters on the ḥadīth methodology became available to the scholars for the first time in its entirety, enabling the academic study of al-Bayhaqī's scholarship in the area of ḥadīth methodology. In this study, al-Bayhaqī's understanding of ḥadīth methodology is presented for the first time in as complete and comprehensive a manner as possible, the place of al-Madkhal in ḥadīth literature is determined, and thus the gap in contemporary studies in this field is tried to be filled.