The attention of scholars towards the protection of the Sunna, as a second primary source in Islamic law, started from the early centuries. Among those scholars was Abu
Dawud, who was concerned in collecting the hidiths that discussed the Prophet's Sunan,in a book which he named Sunan Abi Dawud. The value of this book among
Hadith books led scholars such as Alc-Ayni to write commentaries on it, to create a body of in-depth organised discussions of Fiqh rules.
This thesis discusses part of Al-Aynis Sharh on Sunan Abi Dawud regarding the rules on specific kinds of voluntary prayers, namely, voluntary prayers after obligatory
prayer, Duha prayer, Tasbih prayer,and night prayer. A detailed discussion of the different opinions of the scholars, especially the four main Islamic schools of law, is presented, with each school's evidences, and the scholars' attempts to reconcile conflicting Hadiths are also considered.
Explanatory notes are given on the scholars and places mentioned in the manuscript, as well as difficult vocabulary. A full account is given of the documentation of each hadith in the manuscript. Al-Aynis manuscript is set in its historical and cultural context in an introductory section on the author's life and the era in which he lives, the Mamlukiepoch.
Al-'Ayni' lived at the time of the Mamluki rule over Egypt, in which scholars were respected and honoured. The Mamluki
facilitated scholarship by offering endowments, and building institutes of learning, so that cultural life flourished. Set against this, however, was a political background of widespread corruption, in which bribery was
commonplace. Al-Ayni's life and the effect of the characteristics of his epoch on his writings are discussed with an analysis of the style he adopted in writing his
commentary, and the academic value of his manuscript.
Devotion to a single school of law was common in the Mamluki epoch. Al-Ayni followed the Hanafi school of law and in his Sharh his fanatical adherence to the opinions of his school are evident. Nevertheless, his thorough, systematic approach to his commentary,and comprehensive
coverage of historical, biographical,linguistic and
juristic matters, make this work an important contribution to the Fiqh literature, which had a profound effect on subsequent scholarship.