Hadith books for us common Muslims

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العلمين

وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم

The other day, I was asked to say something general about usul al-fiqh and the Maliki madhhab. One off the points I always emphasis in such talks it this: We common Muslims should be careful when reading in the large hadith compilations, like the Sahihain. Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, and the other great sahih books are reference works for experts. You can read it for the baraka, that's good, but you and I cannot and must not draw our own conclusions form those works. That will lead us astray and we may lead others astray.
After the dars, I was asked what kind of hadith books should we read then, when we want to read ahadith from our Master Muhammad ? al-Hamdu liLah, the muhadithun – the hadith expert – did not forget us, the lay people, who want to read and study the sayings of our Beloved (may the choicest blessings of Allah be upon him). They compiled works containing with no controversial hadith and hadith that are difficult to misinterpret.
Here is a list of beneficial books in hadith – compiled by me (who is NOT expert, just a student) together with eventual commentaries. The list is my personal priority. Commentaries and other auxiliary information will be labelled Comments.
Feel free to contact me for corrections of mistakes, comments and further suggested readings, in sha Allah.



Recommended books:
The complete forty ahadith by Imam al-Nawawi translated by skaykh Abdusamad Clarke (Norwich, UK).
Comments: The book contains the most important ahadith in inderstandign the basic principe of Religion; Iman, Islam and Ihsan. The book can be studied in its entirety at www.islamakademiet.dk.
Shaykh Abdussamad has also translated the magnificent work of Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali The compndium of Knowledge and Wisdom, if you have the himma to immerse yourself in the details of these hadith. The original translation The Ahadith complete Forty by Imam al-Nawawi also contain the imams minimum essential commentaries.
al-Shama'il al,Muhammadiyyah – Compiled by Imam al-Thirmidhi. This collection describes the outer and inner qulality of our Beloved Profhet Muhammad.
A more general book – which can easly be memorized and aid in studies of the arabic language, is Provision of the seeker – A manual of Prophetic Hadith with commentaries.



I think that's a enough for readings for quite some time! May Allah increase you and me in our effort to promote His din. Amin.



Book stores:
http://kitaabun.com/shopping3/
http://www.fonsvitae.com/ (US based, but they label the parcel as "gift", so no mess with the customs.)http://www.rootsdistribution.co.uk/
http://www.simplyislam.com/