Section:
Once he is qualified, he should busy himself with takhrīj (tracing the sources of a ḥadīth) and with authoring works. He must give special care to composing commentaries that explain difficult passages with precision and clarity, for seldom does anyone master the science of ḥadīth without doing so.

The scholars have followed two principal paths in compiling ḥadīth. The better of the two is to arrange the material by topical chapters, listing under each heading the reports he possesses on that subject. The second is to arrange it by musnads, gathering in the entry for each Companion everything he has—whether sound or weak—from that Companion. In this method he may order the entries alphabetically, by tribal affiliation—beginning with Banū Hāshim and then those progressively closer in lineage to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him—or by precedence in merit: first the Ten promised Paradise, then the people of Badr, then those of Ḥudaybiyyah, then the Emigrants between that event and the Conquest, next the younger Companions, and finally the women, starting with the Mothers of the Believers.

One of the finest approaches is to compile the material together with its ʿilal (subtle defects), bringing together for every ḥadīth or chapter all its chains of transmission and the variations among its narrators. Scholars also assemble the narrations of each individual shaykh on his own—such as Mālik, Sufyān, and others; they author works of tarājim—for example “Mālik → Nāfiʿ → Ibn ʿUmar”; works of musāwāt, such as “from his father → ʿĀʾishah”; and thematic monographs on issues like the Beatific Vision of Allah Most High or the raising of the hands in prayer.

He must not release his compilation until he has refined, edited, and reviewed it repeatedly, and he should beware of writing on matters for which he lacks qualification. Clear phrasing and established technical terminology are indispensable. And Allah knows best.