XI
In the vocalization of words I have invariably followed the tradition of the commentators on the Ṣaḥīḥ.
The Notes are given with the sole purpose of helping students to understand the text. With their aid, and that of any small hand-lexicon, the student who has already made a beginning in Arabic should be able to make his way through the book with comparative ease. Unusual words, not found in the smaller dictionaries, I have translated. Limitations of space have rendered impossible any comment on the isnāds, important as that is. This lack, however, will presumably be supplied by the teacher. The student himself, moreover, will soon become acquainted, in his own reading, with the most common names and the order in which they stand. In this way, as well as through his reading of the literature cited above, he will gain some knowledge of the characteristics of the "Companions" who are most often cited, learning which ones are the most trustworthy, and why any tradition is to be suspected in advance which bears such names as those of Ibn ʿAbbās and Abū Huraira. The numerous references to the grammars of Wright-de Goeje and Caspari-Müller will probably not be unwelcome.
New Haven, Conn.
April, 1906
Charles C. Torrey
