Al-Adab Al-Mufrad: The Encyclopedia of Islamic Manners
Al-Adab Al-Mufrad (Arabic: الأدب المفرد), meaning The Singular Book on Manners, is a dedicated hadith collection compiled by Imam Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari (810–870 CE) — the same scholar behind Sahih al-Bukhari. Unlike his Sahih, which focuses on legal and theological matters, this work is entirely devoted to Islamic character, social etiquette, and daily conduct.
1. Scope and Structure
The book contains approximately 1,322 hadiths divided into 644 sub-sections (Abwab), each dedicated to a single aspect of moral and social behavior:
- Family relations: duties to parents, treatment of children and relatives
- Social conduct: greeting, visiting the sick, consoling the bereaved
- Speech and character: truthfulness, avoiding backbiting and mockery
- Worship-adjacent etiquette: entering the mosque, eating and drinking, travel
2. Hadith Grading
Al-Bukhari did not restrict this collection to sahih narrations (as he did in his Sahih). It includes sahih, hasan, and some da'if reports. Later scholars — notably Shaykh al-Albani — graded each hadith individually in Sahih al-Adab al-Mufrad (the authenticated subset).
3. Scholarly Status
The work is regarded as the most comprehensive collection on Islamic manners in the entire hadith corpus and is studied globally in Islamic seminaries. Imam Nawawi, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, and Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali all praised it highly.