Al-Ḥusaynī states in Dhayl Tadhkirat al-Ḥuffāẓ (p. 572): “The book al-Hady wa-l-Sunan—better known as Jāmiʿ al-Masānīd—which he arranged by topical chapters (1) is one of his most beneficial works.”

Al-Shawkānī remarks in al-Badr al-Ṭāliʿ (1/153): “Al-Hady wa-l-Sunan fī Aḥādīth al-Masānīd wa-l-Sunan combines the Musnad of Imām Aḥmad, those of al-Bazzār, Abū Yaʿlā, and Ibn Abī Shaybah, together with the Six Books.”

Ḥājjī Khalīfah writes in Kashf al-Ẓunūn (1/573): “Jāmiʿ al-Masānīd wa-l-Sunan is a monumental work that gathers the ḥadiths of the ten foundational collections of Islam.”

Aḥmad Shākir notes in the introduction to ʿUmdat al-Tafsīr (p. 36) that seven volumes of Jāmiʿ al-Masānīd are preserved in the Egyptian National Library, comprising 2,280 folios, while additional portions are held in the Institute of Manuscripts of the Arab League.

The book was later published in Beirut by Dār al-Fikr in 1999 in thirty-six fascicles bound in eighteen volumes, together with an introduction. Its sources were authenticated, its ḥadiths verified and documented, and explanatory notes supplied by Dr. ʿAbd al-Muʿṭī Amīn Qalʿajī.

The Introduction (2) relates:

How did the idea for “Jāmiʿ al-Masānīd wa-l-Sunan” arise?

Ibn Kathīr acknowledges that he owes the conception of this work to his teacher, the ḥadith master Jamāl al-Dīn al-Mizzī. There is no doubt that the development of ḥadith indexing through the “companion-indicator” method reached maturity at al-Mizzī’s hands with his priceless work Tuḥfat al-Ashrāf bi-Maʿrifat al-Aṭrāf, which he compiled for the Six Books and their supplements (3).

The project that al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr undertook was vast, sprawling, and formidable, embarked upon in the twilight of his life; it was the last book he authored, and it cost him tremendous effort.

But how did the seed of this comprehensive compilation first sprout?

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr had mastered Tuḥfat al-Ashrāf completely. He kept a personal copy of it, on which he penned marginal notes, corrections, and additions.