The Muqaddima of Ibn al-Salah (d. 643/1245), a treatise on the hadith science, owes much of its “canonical” status to its reception history and the high number of commentaries that have been devoted to it. With 43 texts written by 34 authors that show a direct reference to the Muqaddima or are said to be commentaries, abridgements and versifications of the original, this treatise received apparently high scholarly attention. Moreover, the fact that most of the commentarial literature was produced during the Mamluk period (1250–1517) in either Damascus or Cairo emphasizes the regional concentration of its reception. By analyzing the scholarly networks in which the Muqaddima was read, taught, and commented on, the paper will argue that its reception in Damascus, though, was limited to a group of traditionalist Shafi‘i scholars. The text, therefore, represented a specific intellectual orientation and was bound to a certain social group. At the same time, an analysis of the appointment strategy of the Damascene schools and Dur al-Hadith show that there was a political support of those traditionalist Shafi‘i s. As a result, many Damascene schools and Dur al-Hadith were dominated by the traditionalist Shafi‘i s for a period of about 70 years. This dramatically changed during the 740s, when Mamluk officials dismissed many of the traditionalist Shafi‘i scholars and replaced them with rationalist ones. As a result, the Muqaddima of Ibn al-Salah lost its significance among the Damascene scholarly elite and the production of commentaries as well as, assumingly, the reception of the text decreased. The paper will give an insight in how the reception of and the production of commentaries on the Muqaddima increased and decreased with the rise and fall of the traditionalist Shafi‘i scene in Damascus and show the close connection between intellectual networks and political interests and patronage.