Imam al-Maqdisi compiled this work with the purpose of collecting the most relevant hadiths related to legal rulings and organizing them by topic (such as purity, prayer, transactions, marriage, etc.) so that jurists and students could easily access authoritative narrations for fiqh reasoning. His arrangement makes this work a trusted reference in Hanbali circles, and influential beyond that tradition due to the authenticity and juristic relevance of the narrations selected.