fhe Isnad System 8i
the chronological method, assembling biographies of the transmitters, and
l5y establishing various canons for determining the value of its different
classes. The ancient Indians, so far as is known, never made any attempt at a
rigorous and consistent treatment of the isnddy nor are they known to have
developed the chronological method. Neither does the early literature of the
Jews reveal any use of the chronological method, something which renders
their 'isndds* valueless. 'In the Talmudic literature*, says Professor Horovitz,
'there is no idea oi chronological method, and the oldest extant work
attempting such an arrangement was composed after 885AD — more than a
century later than the earliest Islamic work on tsna<i-critique.' Trom this
fact,' he goes on, *and from the fact that the important Jewish works [of this
period] had been composed in the Islamic dominions, it may be inferred that
this historical interest was due to the Islamic influence.'^*
The Muslims not only gave a scientific form and basis to the system of
isnad^ but also tried to make a comparative study oi the various isndds
deployed in the literature, with a view to establishing their relative value. It is
said that Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ibn Ma'in, and Ibn al-Madlnl once gathered
together with some other traditionists and debated which was the most
authentic of all isndds. One said that it was the isndd ShuT^a-
Qatada-Sa'id-'Amir-Umm Salama. Ibn al-Madlnl held that it was Ibn ^Awn-
Muhammad-TJbayda-'AlI. Ibn Hanbal declared that it was al-Zuhri-Salim-
Ibn 'Umar.^^ Al-Bukhari, however, was of the opinion that the best isndd
was Malik-Nafi'-lbn TJmar. This isndd later prolonged itself through the
names of al-Shafi'T and Ibn Hanbal, making it one long chain extending from
Imam Ahmad up to Ibn TJmar. This isndd v/2is dubbed the 'Golden Chain'.^°
Ibn Ma'In, however, considered XJbayd Allah-Ibn TJmar-Qasim-*^A*isha
to be the best isndd, and called this a 'chain of pure gold'.^' Many other
traditionists preferred other chains. The consensus among later traditionists,
however, was that it is impossible to qualify any isndd as the best of all. The
judgement of the various authorities must refer to the traditions accepted on
the authority of a particular Companion or Follower, or to the traditionists
of a particular place. ^ ^
Once it had been introduced into the literature, the isndd system was not
only continued for four centuries or more,^^ but was also applied to the
hadlth coUeaions themselves and on works on the other Islamic disciplines.
Partly in order to reduce the risk of forgery and interpolation, every teacher
of every book on hadJth or a related subjea at every period of the history of
the literature, gave his students the names of the teachers via whom he had
deceived it from its original author, each of them stating that he read the
^hole, or a part of it (which had to be specified), with his own teacher. The
8x SOME SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE LITERATURE
certificates of competency of students to teach from a book of hadtth granted
them by their teachers contain not only the statement of the fact that they
read it with them, but also the name of their own teachers of the book, and
other teachers of their teachers up to its author. Such certificates, called ijdza
are the essential qualification of an authentic Muslim scholar.
The practice of retaining the isnads of important books must have been
introduced at the time the books themselves were compiled. Dr. Salah al-Dln
al-Munajjid, the world's leading authority on the ijaza institution, has traced
it back to the fourth century, giving an interesting example.^"* Here are a few
other instances of books with their own isnads^ belonging to an even earlier
period.
(i) A copy of a collection of hadtths (said to be Sahih Muslim^ part xui)
dated 368AH, and preserved in the Municipal Library, Alexandria
(no.836B).
(ii) A copy of the Kitdb Ghartb al-hadtth by Abu TJbayd al-Qasim ibn
Sallam (i 54— 223/770-837), copied at Damascus in 3 19AH, and the reading
of which has been traced back to the author in whose presence the original
manuscript was read — a fact recorded on the authority of Abu Sulayman
Muhammad ibn Mansur al-Balkhl.^'
(iii) The most important of all such manuscripts is the fragment of a book
on maghdzt by Wahb ibn Munabbih. It is preserved among the Schott-
Reinhardt Papyri, and has been described by C. H. Becker.'^ It is dated
Dhu'l-Qa'da 229 (July 844), and bears on its top the isndd up to its author.
The practice of specifying the isndd was of immense value in preserving
the integrity of books in an age in which printing was unknown, and the
creation of spurious and distorted works was a relatively straightforward
task. In modem times, however, with the arrival of the printing press and the
consequent proliferation of identical copies, it has perhaps been rendered
less necessary. Human nature, however, is conservative, and the old ortho-
dox norms still survive. No scholar, however competent, is supposed to have
the right to teach a hadtth work for which he has not received the necessary
permission from a competent teacher, who must, moreover, himself have
been authorised by his own teacher. But this institution, while academically
less indispensable than it used to be, still has the merit of maintaining the
Islamic disciplines as organic and continuing traditions which represent a
living link to the past.
According to the classical traditionists, the isndds of books had to be
recorded on their manuscripts also. They held that it was advisable for
f
ffjelsnad System 83
students to write on their copies of a book, after the Name of God (the
hasntala), the names of their teachers together with their kunya and their
nisba, and the names of the teachers of their teachers right back to the author
of the book. Above the basmala^ or on the first page of the manuscript, or at
any other prominent place in it, such as the margin, should be inscribed the
names of the other students who read the book in the same class together
w^jth the owner of the manuscript, and the places and dates at which the
' various parts of it were read.^ -^
These notes are found on the generality of the manuscripts which are still
preserved in the world's great libraries. The manuscripts of the Musnad of
al-Tayalisi,^^ of the Sunan of al-Darimi,^^ of al-Mashlkha ma'' al'Takhrtj^^°
of the Kitdb al-Kifaya,"*^ of the four volumes of the Tdrtkh Dimashq^^^ and
of many other hadith works, in the O. P. Library of Bankipore; and the
manuscripts of the Sunan of Abu Daud'*^ in the State Library at Berlin, are
only a few instances of this; an enormous number of other manuscripts of
this type may be seen in the other libraries containing Islamic material
scattered around the globe. Of course, there are also manuscripts which
contained only a few or even none of the detailed notes mentioned above.
These tend to be defective manuscripts from which the parts, usually at the
beginning, which contain these notes have been lost; alternatively, they are
low-grade manuscripts copied by common scribes for the use of laymen,
rather than being destined for specialists in the subject.
This praaice appears t6 have been current among the traditionists since
the second century of the hijra, Hafs ibn Ghiyath (d. 194/809), the
well-known judge, is said to have decided a case on the basis of this usage.
Al-Fudayl ibn lyad (d.i 87/802), the well-known traditionist and Sufi, is said
to have forbidden the traditionists from refusing to issue students with their
certificates when they deserved them. Al-Zuhrl (d. 124/741) is also credited
with this view.'*^
This scholarly practice, which has proved of immense value in enabling us
to construa an image of the early hadtth science and the milieu in which it
flourished, seems to be unique in the world's literary history, just as the
Islamic hadtths themselves are unique in employing a thorough and
systematic method of source identification. Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Syriac
Manuscripts rarely if ever supply us with such a wealth of information about
3 book's provenance and use.
The isndd system, while originating in connection with the hadtth
"terature, was in due course extended by the Arab authors to many other
S^nres, including geography, history, and prose fiction.'*^ 'There are works',
^ys Margoliouth,
i
84 SOME SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE LITERATURg
of whidi the subjea-matter is so frivolous that one marvels at the
trouble taken by the author to record the name of each transmit-
ter and the date and place at which he heard the narrative; an
example is the Masdrf al-^Ushshdq of al-Sarraj, a collection of
cases wherein men and women are supposed to have died of love,
where the author records with minute accuracy the date at which
he heard the story and gives similar details of the transmitters.'*^
5.2 ACADEMIC PROCEDURES
The imperative of preserving the legacy of the Prophet, whose teachings and
example underpinned the Islamic way of life, obliged the hadith scholars to
be almost obsessively accurate. There were certainly numerous forgers of
hadtth; but these remained marginal and despised, and had little to do with
the literature as such. Those who were mainly responsible for its develop-
ment strove to be as exaa as possible. While some remained faithful only to
the message presented in a hadtth^ without attaching the highest importance
to the exaa words used, others tried to be faithful to the words as well as the
ideas. They reproduced each word and letter, energetically avoiding the least
deviation from what they themselves had recieved. Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi,
in several chapters of his Kitdb al-Kifdya^ shows how exaa some tradi-
tionists had been with regard to every word and letter in a hadtth^'^ Ibn
*Umar, for instance, did not like to change the order of words in a phrase
even when it did not affea the meaning in the slightest. Malik ibn Anas tried
to be exaa about each and every letter, while Ibn Slrln did not approve of
making correaions to a hadtth even in cases where it was certain that a
reporter had made an error.^*
The care and exactitude of the leading traditionists is further illustrated by
the principles which they established for the method of acquiring know-
ledge, and the associated duties of teachers and students. These principles
had been discussed in detail since the second Islamic century, and are
explained in the various works on the hadtth sciences {"ulum al-hadtth).
The first problem in the theory of hadtth instruction is that of the age at
which it may be commenced. The traditionists of Kufa fixed this at the age of
twenty; those of Basra, the age of ten; and those of Syria, the age of thirty.
According to a majority of the later traditionists, however, the study of
hadtth may be commenced at the age of five."*^
In any case, the study of hadtth should be preceded by that of Arabic
grammar and language, so that mistakes arising from pure linguistic ignor-
ance could be deteaed or avoided. 5° 'Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak, the famous
/Academic Procedures 85
^aditionist of Merv, spent more money on learning the Arabic language
fhan on traditions, attaching more importance to the former than the latter,
and asking the students of hadith to spend twice as long on Arabic studies
than on hadith, Hammad ibn Salama is said to have remarked that he who
takes to hadith without knowing grammar is like an ass which carries a sack
vvithout com. Al-Asma*"! held that someone who studied hadith without
learning grammar was to be categorised with the forgers of hadith;^^ and
similar remarks are credited to Shut a and al-' Abbas ibn al-Mughlra.^^
Sibawayh, the great grammarian, took to the study of grammar only because
Hammad ibn Salama had pointed out that he had made a mistake over the
icxtoisi hadith J^
Having learnt these preliminary subjects, the student should purge his
mind of all worldly considerations. He should nurture good character, seek
the help of God in all his efforts, and strain every nerve towards the
acquisition of knowledge, not for his own aggrandisement, but in order to
benefit the community. He should begin his study with the best teachers of
his town, and carry it on by making journeys to other centres of academic
excellence, and by acquiring the knowledge of the greatest exponents of the
field. He should not, however, concern himself with gathering the greatest
possible number of hadiths^ but should instead hear and write them down,
understand them fully, be aware of their strength or weakness, their
theological importance and implications, the proper significance of the
words used in them, and the charaaer of those through whom they have
been handed down.
The following account, by Qadi lyad of Ceuta (d.544/1149), gives an
interesting portrait of the decorum and sobriety which characterised the
traditional hadith lesson:
One of the rights of the scholar is that you should not be
persistent when questioning him, nor gruff when answering him.
Neither be importune if he is tired, nor catch hold of his robe
when he rises to depart. Do not point to him, or spread abroad
some private information about him, or speak ill of anyone in his
presence. Do not seek out his failings; when he slips, wait for him
to recover and accept his apology. You must revere and esteem
him, for the sake of God. Do not walk in front of him. If he needs
anything, you should make haste to serve him before the others.
You should not find his long company tedious, for he is like a
date-palm that you are sitting beneath, waiting for a windfall.
When you arrive, greet him in particular, and all who are present.
86 SOME SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE LITERATURE
All this should be for the sake of God; for a learned man receives
nore reward from God than someone who fasts, prays, and
fights in God's path, and when he dies, a hole appears in Islam
which remains until the Day of Judgement, unless it be filled by a
successor who is his like. The seeker of knowledge, moreover, is
accompanied by the Angels of Heaven/^
Of the technical aspeas of learning hadtth^ the traditionists have men-
tioned the following eight forms of instruction:
I Sam^, Under this procedure, the student attends the lectures of a
traditionist, which may take the form of a simple narration of the traditions,
or be accompanied by their dictation (imld'), either from memory or from a
book.55
II Qira'a. Here the student reads to the traditionist the traditions which
have been narrated or compiled by the latter. Alternatively, one may hear the
traditions while they are recited by another student to a traditionist — on
condition that he is attentive to what is recited, or compares his own copy to
what is being recited.^^
in Ijdza, This is to obtain the permission of a scholar to narrate to others
the traditions compiled by him. This may be granted in different ways, some
of which are recognised by the majority as valid, while others are rejeaed.^^
IV Munawala, This is to obtain the compilation of a tradition together with
his permission to narrate its contents to others; a procedure recognised as
valid by most authorities. If it takes place without his permission, most
scholars regard it as unsound.^^
V Mukdtaba. This is to receive certain written traditions from a scholar,
either in person or by correspondence, with or without his permission to
narrate them to others.^^
VI ridm al'Rdwi. The declaration of a traditionist to a student that the
former received certain specified traditions or books from a specified
authority, without giving the student permission to narrate the materia)
concerned/^
VII Wastya, To obtain the works of a traditionist by his will at the time of
hisdeath.^'
VIII Wijdda. To find certain traditions in a book, perhaps after a tradi-
tionist's death, without receiving them with any recognised authority.**
i
fiicademic Procedures 87
Tlie first two of these methods are recognised by the traditionists as the
preferable techniques for the transmission of knowledge. The rest are
dismissed as invalid by some, and accepted on various conditions b> others.
None the less, the student who gains his knowledge of hadtth by any one
or more of the above methods will not be recognised as a traditionist unless
he also acquires the necessary information about the life and character of the
narrators, and the degrees of the reliability of the various traditions, and
other connected matters. Such of them as combine all these and other
qualities are known as muhaddith^ or ^^?, according to the degree of
perfection they have obtained.^^
Students of hadtth who have mastered the above conditions and infor-
mation, as well as ancillary subjeas, may deliver lectures on the subject,
once, twice, or three times a week, if their intention is exclusively the
propagation of knowledge. Before going to their lectures, they should bathe,
perform their ablutions, and put on clean, pure garments. They should locate
themselves in a prominent and elevated place, and deliver lectures while
standing. They should keep perfea order during their leaures, and appoint
assistants to repeat their words to students sitting at a distance.
Lectures should be preceded by recitations from the Qur'an, praises of
God, and prayers for His Prophet, the fountainhead of knowledge. After
this, the lecturer should recite and dictate traditions, narrating one tradition
from each of his teachers, giving preference to the short ones which have
theological or legal importance, specifying all their narrators and the method
by which he received them, introducing them with expressions particularly
suited to the traditions received by the different methods. If his teacher had
read out the traditions to him, he should begin with the word haddathand
(*he related to us'), or akhbarand (*he informed us'), and so on, according to
the standard convention. If he or any of his fellow-students read out the
traditions to his teacher who heard it, he should begin with the words qaratu
^ald ('I read out to'), or quri'a 'alayhi wa-andasma" (*it was read out to him,
while I heard'). In the case of the ijdza, he should begin by saying, 'I found it
in the handwriting of such-and-such a person', or i found it in his book' or
*in his own handwriting', and so on.
Lectures may be delivered either from memory — ^which is preferable — or
from books, on condition that these be written either by the lecturer himself,
or any other person of reliable character; and provided further that the
reliability of the manuscripts is absolutely proved to the lecturer. In case the
lecturer finds any discrepancy between the contents of the manuscript and
what he remembers, or between his own version of a tradition and that of
88 SOME SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE LITERATURE
Other traditionists, he should point this out to his students. In case the
lecturer narrates certain traditions in a non-verbatim form, he must be
well-versed in the subjea, so that he may be certain that the change in
expression would cause no change in his meaning. He should also add at the
end of every hadtth such words as might show that the words used in it were
his own. In case he finds any mistake in the text of a hadtth, he should narrate
it first in its corrected form, and then specify the form in which it was related
to him. If he has received a tradition from more than one narrator, in
different words conveying the same idea, he should narrate it, giving the
name of every narrator and pointing out that the expressions used were by
certain narrators, whom he should also name. In case he has received a part
of a tradition from one narrator, and another part from another, he should
point this out to his students. If there had been any negligence on the part of
the lecturer when he received a tradition, which might have affected his
knowledge, he should not fail to bring such negligence to the attention of his
audience. In short, it is a duty of the hadtth lecturer to convey the material to
his students exaaly as he himself received it, and to add his own comments
on it, in such words as could not be mistaken for a part of the tradition. He is
not permitted to make the least alteration, even, for instance, by changing
the phrase Rasiil Allah (*the Messenger of God') into Nabt Allah (*the
Prophet of God'). He should finish his discourse by relating instructive and
attractive, historical and humorous stories which encourage his hearers
towards faith, rigliteousness, kindness, and good manners.^'*
Although the emphasis in Islamic culture has always been on carefully
memorised information, for *he who has not memorised a fact, does not
know it', the traditionists have also tried to maintain a comparable level of
care and exactitude in writing their material down. For this they established
a range of principles and conditions, to eliminate as far as possible the
possibility of mistaken information being transmitted by the writers and
readers of hadtth.
Students of hadtth who choose to record them in writing must use clear,
distinct and bold letters, each letter being so written as not to be liable to
confusion vvith any other letter. Dots of pointed letters are to be correctly
placed, and those without them are to be made distinct with additional signs
(which are thoroughly discussed in the works of ""uliim al-hadtth). Special
attention is to be paid to rare and archaic words and proper names, which in
addition to the text are to be noted on the margin in distina separate letters.
Such expressions as 'Abd Allah should be completely written on one and the
same line. The various ttaditions are to be separated from one another by
small circles in which dots may be put after the manuscript has been
0olars and the State 89
^j^pared with its original copy. The soundness of sound traditions, and the
defects of defective ones, are to be indicated by special signs. If, for instance,
the chain of authority of a tradition is broken, or if any part of it contains any
obvious or hidden defea, these points should be clearly marked.
Once the manuscript is completed, it should be carefully compared with the
Qxxpmh and all mistakes of commission and omission rectified. AJl omissions
should be put down on the right hand margin, to which a line should be drawn
from the word in the text after which the missing part should fall. The mistakes
of commission should be either struck out or erased. It is, however, preferable
to pen through them in such a way as to keep them legible, while showing that
they are deleted.
In the text of his manuscript, the writer should always follow a particular
version of a book or individual tradition. Differences in other versions and
associated criticism may be noted clearly in the margin.
Students who write down traditions at the dictation of their teachers are
required to be extremely vigilant and precise in their writing, and in putting
dots wherever they might be necessary. They are also obliged to put down in a
prominent part of the manuscript the names of their teachers together with
other particulars about them, the names of all the fellow-students who
attended these lectures, and the time and place when and where the discourses
were delivered. ^5
The above are only the more important of the detailed requirements for the
learning, teaching and recording ol tradirions, which have been discussed by
the specialists since the second century of the hijra^ with the most exhaustive,
minute details, which remind us yet again of the care and precision which they
soughttomaintain atevery stage of theprocessof the transmission of A^(i/7/;.
5,3 SCHOLARS AND THE STATE
While almost all of Arabic literature developed under the encouraging
patronage of the caliphs and their courtiers, so that almost every literary
figure *basked in the sunshine of their generosity', the scholars of hadtth were
generally either ill-treated by those who reigned in the name of the Islamic
religion, or, in their pious stoicism, were given to rejecting and refusing
• favours if these were ever offered to them. None of the compilers of the
important and authoritative collections of hadtth received any post, purse or
privilege from the caliphs or their officials. Almost the whole of the orthodox
mainstream of this literature evolved as a result of the spontaneous religious
enthusiasm of the Mushms, and paid litde attention to the caliphs and their
f^resentatives.
i ilfi
90 SOME SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE LITERATUr^
Throughout the reign of the Umayyads (with the exception of the devout
rule of TJmar ibn ^'Abd al-^'AzTz, who did assist in the hadtth compilation
process), the stria traditionists had been either hostile or neutral towards the
state. Ibn TJmar, ^'Abd Allah ibn ""Amr, Ibn 'Abbas, Ibn Slrln, Ibn al-
Musayyib, al-Hasan al-Basri, Sufyan al-Thawri, and other pivotal tradi-
tionists, had all adopted this attitude. 'Since the death of Sa'id', says
Goldziher, 'the pious traditionists disliked the state of affairs under this rule.
They became indifferent to the tyrannical government, and passively resisted
• it.' 'in return*, he adds, 'they were hated and despised by the ruling circles.'^*
These austere and devout men and women believed and declared that
association with the rulers was a source of sin.^"^
There were other early traditionists, however, who did enjoy some degree of
patronage from the Umayyad regime, and often refused to consider it as sinful
to help the rulers of the day. iMost of them did not, however, overstep certain
limits, nor did they forge traditions in their favour. Among this type may be
included traditionists such as TJrwa ibn al-Zubayr, Raja' ibn Hayawayh, and
Muhammad ibn Muslim al-Zuhrl, all of whom enjoyed limited patronage
from the caliphs, but at the same time retained their academic independance.^^
Some traditionists criticised them for this co-operation, but their veracity and
reliability have never been seriously questioned by any of them. For instance,
while Goldziher claimed that al-Zuhri was a forger of traditions in favour of
the Umayyads,^^ Horovitz has shown that this claim is false and tenden-
tious.^° In fact, al-Zuhrl at times enraged some of the caliphs by quoting
traditions against their interests, and sticking to these traditions in spite of the
fury of his patrons.^' It is none the less true, however, that some supporters of
the Umayyads did overstep the limits of proper co-operation: ""Awana ibn
al-Hakam, for instance, forged and tried to propagate traditions in their
favour. Such activities, however, were easily deteaed by their more pious
contemporaries.
During the reign of the Abbasid caliphs, who tried to win over the pious
Muslims by adhering to an outward show of religious commitment, the
attitude of the various classes of traditionists towards the state continued to
be largely unchanged, despite the fact that this period witnessed the evolu-
tion of the great achievements of the science of hadtth. Some traditionists,
such as Malik ibn Anas and Ahmad ibn Hanbal suffered considerably under
the Abbasid order.^^ Others, such as al-Bukhari, were annoyed by offic-
ials.^^ Imam Muslim was wholly indifferent to their blandishments. In fact,
none of the compilers of the important hadtth anthologies received or
expected any help or encouragement from these cahphs.
6
THE BIOGRAPHICAL
DICTIONARIES
WE have seen that every hadtth consists of two parts: the
isnad (the chain of its transmitters), and the main (text).
Each of these two parts is of equal importance to the
traditionist. The latter, as the report of an act or statement
of the Prophet, helps to build up a picture of his teachings and thus forms
a basis for Muslim beliefs and rites; while the former represents the
'credentials' of the latter. The traditionists, therefore, treat and consider
traditions with one and the same isnad and different texts, as well as
traditions with identical texts and differing isnads, as entirely indepen-
dent traditions.
To check the isnad it is essential to know the life and career as well as
the character and scholarship of all the individuals named. And in order
to understand the exact significance of the matn, and to test its soundness,
it is necessary to know the meaning of the various expressions it contains,
especially those which appear rare or obsolete, and also to learn its
relation to the matn of other traditions, some of which may be either
corroborated or contradicted by it.
The Muslim community has thus developed several ancillary branches
of literature, which are summarised in famous works such as those of Abii
Muhammad al-Ramhurmuzi (d.3 60/970), Abu Nu'aym al-lsfahani
(d.430/1038), al-Khatlb al-BaghdadI (d.403/1012), al-Hakim al-
Nlsaburi (d.405/1014), Ibn al-Salah (d.643/1245), and many others. The
number of such ancillary sciences is conventionally put at a hundred, and
each of them is said to be important enough to warrant treatment as an
independant branch of knowledge.^ Some are concerned only with the
isnad of the traditions; others relate to the matn, while still others deal
with both together. We propose here to deal with only two of these
9^ THE BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARIES
disciplines, and briefly discuss their evolution and influence on the
literature.
6.1 ASMA* AL-RIJAL
(Biography and Criticism of liadith Narrators.)
One of the richest and most important branches of the literature deals with
the biography of hadtth narrators. Under the rubric of this science are
included all the works which deal with (a) the chronology; (b) the biography;
(c) the criticism of the narrators of traditions or of any class of narrators, or
with any such aspea of their hfe as may help to determine their identity and
reliability.
A. Chronology.
The consideration of chronology commenced and developed at a compara-
tively early date; although opinions differ as to the exaa time when Muslims
first began to employ it. According to some authorities, dates were intro-
duced into official correspondance by the Prophet himself in the fifth year of
the htjra, when a treaty was concluded between him and the people of
Najran.^ But it is more generally held that this was done by TJmar ibn
al-Khattab, aaing on the unanimous advice of a congregation of important
Muslims, in the sixteenth or seventeenth year of the hijra,^ The same
farsighted caliph followed a chronological principle in the award of military
pensions (dtwdrt) to the various groups of Muslims according to their
priority in accepting the faith, a principle which was already accepted by the
Community as a basis of great distinction. Its use assumed greater impor-
tance on account of the need to interpret the historical verses of the Qur'an,
and of the determination of the dates of revelation of the legal verses, in order
to determine which had been abrogated and which remained m force.
The Muslims followed the lunar calendar, which had been adopted by the
Arabs long before the advent of Islam. Originally, however, the Meccans
had followed a solar calendar, as is evident from their division of the year
according to seasons, and from the names of some of the months.'*
In hadtth science, chronology was an important expedient. 'Whenever
you have a doubt about the veracity of a narrator,' remarks Hafs ibn
Ghiyath (d. 1 60/776), 'test him by means of the years' (i.e. his birth and death
dates). Sufyan al-Thawrl is said to have declared: *When the narrators
forged traditions, we used the tartkh (chronology) against them'.^ Hassan
ibn Ziyad observed, *We never used against the forgers any device more
effective than the tarikh.'^
i
Asma*al-Rijal 93
It is clear, then, that chronology had been used as early as the second
century in order to test the statements made by narrators. Some examples of
this are cited by Imam Muslim in the introduction to his Sahtfp; others are
plentifully found in the works of astna* al-rijai
B, Biography,
The composition of biographical works properly equipped with chronologi-
cal information began before the end of the first century of the hijra,
Horovitz has shown that Aban (d. between S6 and 105 ah), the son of the
caliph TJthman; TJrwa ibn al-Zubayr (26— 94/646— 71 z); and Shurayh (who
is said to have been born in 20AH, and lived more than 100 years) had
collected a good deal of material relating to the biography of the Prophet.
Soon after them, Wahb ibn Munabbih wrote a book on Maghdzt^ a fragment
of which is preserved at Heidelberg.^ Wahb was followed by numerous
biographers of the Prophet during the second and third centuries. The
fragment, and the texts of extant biographies, reveal a thorough use of the
chronological system by their authors.
C. Criticism of Narrators,
A general critical appraisal of the reliability of the narrators, based on
knowledge of their life and character, as an aid to determining the veracity of
hadith reports, seems to have been customary before the period when the
isnad became long enough to admit the application of the chronological
method. Ibn 'Adi (d.365/975), in the introduaion to his book al-Kdmil ft
du^afd' al-rijdl^ gives a general survey of the development of narrator
criticism from its beginnings down to his own time. According to him,
narrators were criticised and assessed by Ibn 'Abbas, TJbada ibn al-Samit,
and Anas (all Companions); and by al-ShaT)i, Ibn Slrin and Ibn al-Musayyib
(who were Successors). It did not, however, become common until the next
generation, for the simple reason that the events narrated were recent, and
the narrators were for the most part reliable. In the next generation, when
the narrators of doubtful veracity grew in number, narrator criticism grew in
importance. About the middle of the second century, therefore, we find
al-A'mash, ShuT?a and Malik criticising a large number of narrators,
declaring some to be weak or unreliable. At around the same time flourished
two of the greatest critics in this field: Yahya ibn Sa'Td ai-Qattan (d. 1 98/8 1 3 )
and 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdl (d. 198/8 13), whose verdict on the
narrators' reliability or otherwise was widely accepted as final. Where they
differed in their opinion about a narrator, the traditionists used their own
knowledge and discretion. They were followed by another generation of
critics, such as the great Yazld ibn Harun.^
94 THE BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARIES
Chronology, biography and crincism, then, were applied together in
assessing the worth oi isndds. Having realised their importance, the tradi-
tionists compiled, before the end of the second century, independent works
dealing with the i narrators in chronological order. *Such registers of the
narrators of tradition',' says Otto Loth, 'as had been chronologically
arranged and in which every Muslim traditionist in general received a
definite place, had been already in common use among the traditionists as
indispensable handbooks in the second century.'^
Nevertheless, it is not easy to determine the precise period at which the
works of asmd' began to be compiled. Ibn al-NadIm mentions two books
called Kitab al-Tdrtkh in his section dealing with works about jurists and
traditionists. One of these is by the great Ibn al-Mubarak, while the other is
by al-Layth ibn Sa'd (d.165-75/781-91), a senior disciple of Imam Malik.'°
These authors had little interest in history as such; and their works are not
included in the seaion of the Fihrist devoted to historical works; and it
would seem probable, therefore, that they are early works of asmd\
Horovitz is correct in his opinion that the earliest work on the subject was
composed about the middle of the second century." Also important was the
Tdrtkh al-Ruwdt of Yahya ibn Ma'In ( 1 5 8/774-23 3/847). ' ^ Other products
of the second century include such works as the Kitdb al-Tabaqdt, Kitdb
Tdrikh al'Fuqahd\ Kitdb Tabaqdt al-Fuqahd' wa'l-Mufpaddithm, Kitdb
Tasmiyat al-Fuqahd* wa'l-Mufpaddithmy^^ Kitdb Tabaqdt man Rawd "an
al-Nabt^ by al-WaqidI and Haytham ibn 'Adi, both of whom died at the
beginning of the third century, and whose works served as important sources
for the later writers on the subjea, such as Ibn Sa'd (d.230/844), Ibn
al-Khayyat(d.24o/854),'^ and others.' 5
As all the early works on badtth have been lost, it is impossible to
determine their general plan and the nature of their contents. But from the
later works which were based on them, and which still exist, and also from
the general tendencies discernable among the traditionists of that time, it
may be inferred that their contents consisted mainly of: (a) short descriptions
of the genealogies and dates of birth and death; (b) some biographical
matters; and (c) a brief critique of their reliability, backed up with the
opinions of important authorities and contemporaries. These are the main
features of the contents of the Tabaqdt of Ibn Sa'd, an immensely important
work which will be described later in this chapter; and these matters, as we
have seen, had received serious attention from the hadtth experts before the
end of the second Islamic century.
The compilation of the hadtth narrators' biographies, thus begun in the
second century, was continued with great enthusiasm in the centuries that
y^sma' al-Rijal 95
r^llowed. In the third century, not only various specialists in the subject, such
3S Ibn Sa'd, Ibn al-Khayyaj, and Ibn Abl Khaythama (d.zj^/S^z)^ but also
almost every traditionist of repute compiled simultaneously with his coUec-
fion oi traditions, rome biographical material relating to his authorities. All
the compilers of the six standard hadith colleaions w^rote one or more
important books on the biography of the narrators of traditions/^ Other
traditionists also, such as Ibn Abi Shayba (d.2.3 5/849) and 'All ibn al-
Madlnl, wrote books of this type.
During the fourth and succeeding centuries, such compilations continued
to be produced in bulk throughout the Islamic world. TTie Hijaz, Syria, Iraq,
Iran, Egypt, North Africa, Spain and India all produced numerous bio-
graphers of the traditionists.
This genre naturally helped the growth of more general biographical
literature in the Arabic language. During this same period, works were
compiled which presented biographies of poets, grammarians, physicians,
saints, jurists, judges, calligraphers, lovers, misers, idiots, and almost every
other human type. 'The glory of the Muhammadan literature', says
Sprengcr, 'is its literary biographies. There is no nation, nor has there been
any, which, like them, narrated the life of every man of letters.'*^ And
according to Margoliouth: 'The biographical literature of the Arabs was
exceedingly rich; indeed it would appear that in Baghdad when an eminent
man died, there was a market for biographies of him, as is the case in the
capitals of Europe in our time . . ..The literature which consists in collected
biographies is abnormally large, and it is in consequence easier for the
student of the history of the caliphate, to find out something about the
persons mentioned in the chronicles than in any analogous case."^
The enormous scale of these biographical dictionaries may be suggested
by the large number of people whose biographies they contain. Ibn Sa*^d*s
Tabaqdt gives us the biographies of more than four thousand traditionists.
Al-Bukharl's Tarikh deals with more than 42,000, while al-Khatlb al-
Baghdadi, in his History of Baghdad^ offers short but carefully honed
biographies of 7,831 persons. Ibn "Asakir, in his eighty-volume History of
Damascus, colleas a far larger number, while Ibn Hajar, in his Tahdhtb
al'Tahdhib^ and al-Dhahabl, in his Mtzdn al-Ptiddl, summarise the biogra-
phical notices on 12,415 and 14,343 narrators of tradition respeaively.
These figures, which may be easily augmented from other works, are
sufficient to show the magnitude of biographical literature in Arabic, a
resource which offers a detailed portrait of a remarkably literate society.
The works on asmd' differ greatly in their scope, plan, and detailed
contents, according to the main objea of their compilers. Some contain
96 THE BIOGRAPHICAL DICTlONARi^^
extremely short notices on a particular class of narrators; such is the Tabaqat
al'Huffdz of al-Dhahabi/' and various other works on weak or unreliably
narrarors. Others record only names, kunyas^ and nisbas; to this class belong
the various works on ai-Asmd' wa'l-Kund^^'^ and the well-known Kital
al-Ansdb of al-Sam'ani.^' Still others contain biographical details of all
narrators who lived in or visited any particular town: examples include the
Tdrtkh Baghdad of al-Khatib al-Baghdadl, the Tdrtkh Dimashq of Ibn
'Asakir, and others.^^ Some deal exclusively with reliable or unreliable
narrators: the Kitdb aUKdmil ft Duafd' al-Rijdl of Ibn ''AdT^^ and Nasa*I's
Kitdb al-Du'afd' wa'l-Matrukm^^ are examples/^ Some restria themselves
to offering biographies of narrators used in particular collections of tradi-
tions, or in a group of colleaions. To this class belong a large number of
works which deal with the lives of the narrators on whom al-Bukharl or
Muslim, or the authors of all the six standard works, have relied.
Works on asmd' may therefore be divided into two broad groups: general
and specific.
6.ia GENERAL WORKS
These are works which contain biographies of all narrators, or at least of all
the important ones among them who were known to the author. Most early
books on the subject belong to this category: for instance, the Tabaqdt of
Muhammad ibn Sa'd, the three Histories (Tdrtkh) of al-BukharT, the Tdrtkh
of Ahmad ibn Abl Khaythama, and many other works on the asmd* al-rijdl^
which were compiled during the third century of the hijra^ and which try to
include all the well-known narrators.
6. lb THE TABAQAT OF IBN SA*=D
The earliest of all these is the Kitdb al-Tabaqdt al-Kabtr [Great Book of
Classes) by Ibn Sa'd. The life of its author has been well summarised by two
distinguished German orientalists, Loth^* and Sachau;^^ whose account is
briefly summarised in the following paragraphs.
Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Sa'd ibn Manl" al-Zuhrl belonged to a
family of Babylonian slaves of the family of the great traditionist 'Abd Allah
ibn 'Abbas, who had granted them their freedom. Bom at Ba§ra, then a great
centre of hadith learning, Ibn Sa'd was attracted by the charms of Tradition,
in the pursuit of which he himself travelled to Kufa, Mecca and Medina,
where he must have stayed for a considerable period. At last, he came to
Baghdad, the greatest centre of intellectual activity in his time. Here
Asma' al-Rijal 97
he came into close contact with al-Waqidl, one of the early Arab historians,
f^e worked as al-Waqidfs literary assistant for some time, thereby acquiring
his soubriquet Kdtib al-W dqidi {'WaqidVs Scribe'). Gaining a reputation at
Baghdad as a traditionist and historian in his own right, Ibn Sa'd soon
attracted a band of students, who sat at his feet and studied these subjects
with him. One of the most prominent of them was the great historian
al-Baladhurl, who in his later career borrowed a great deal from Ibn Sa'd in
his important work Futuh al-Buldan. Ibn Sa^ died in Z30/844.
Ibn Sa'd, who possessed immense erudition coupled with an enthusiasm
for his subject, was also a great bibliophile, at a time when the possession and
collection of books had become something of a fashion among the Muslims.
Al-Khatlb al-Baghdadi says: 'He possessed vast learning, knew a great
number of traditions — for which he had a great thirst — narrated a good
many of them, and collected a large number of books, particularly rare ones,
and texts on hadith and fiqh.'^^ *Of the collections of the works of
al-Waqidr, he adds, 'which were in the possession of four persons during the
time of Ibn Sa'd, his was the largest.'
Ibn Sa^d made good use of his literary resources in compiling his own
works. Two of these, the Tabaqdt and the Kitdb Akhbdr al-Nabt, are
mentioned by Ibn al-Nadlm,^^ while a third, a smaller edition of the
Tabaqdt, is mentioned by al-NawawT^° and others, but is not known to exist
today.
Ibn Sa'd's Kitdb Akhbdr al-Nabt constitutes only one part of the Tabaqdt.
': was compiled and completed by the author, but was handed down to
[>osterity by his student, al-Harith ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Usama (186-
282/802-896).
The Tabaqdt was completely planned and compiled by Ibn Sa^, but was
not completed by him. He appears, however, to have read whatever he had
written of this book to his student Husayn ibn Fahm (211— 289/826— 901),
who is reported to have been a keen student of traditions and of the
biographies of the narrators.^ ^ Ibn Fahm completed the book according to
the plan of its author, added to it his short biographical notice as well as
notices of certain other narrators whose names had already been included by
the author in the general plan of his work, and read it to his owm students.
Both of these two books of Ibn Sa^'d were received from his two students
by some of their common disciples. One of these, Ahmad ibn Ma*^ruf
al-Khashshab (d.322/933) combined them into one book of enormous
dimensions,^^ and read it out to his students. One of these students, Abu
TJmar Ahmad ibn 'Abbas (generally known as Ibn Hayawayh, 295-3827
907-992.) who is celebrated for his interest in the works on the early history
IAJ-81
98 THE BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARi^
of Islam and for the preservation of the early historical and biographical
works of the Arabs, edited the whole work without making any change in i^
text.^5 His student, al-Jawharl (363-454/973-1062), handed it down to
posterity. Through him are traced back to the author all the extant
manuscripts of this great work. All these manuscripts preserve the author's
original arrangement of the contents. On the basis of all the various known
manuscripts of Ibn Hayawayh's edition, the great Book of Classes was
edited by an enthusiastic band of German scholars, and was published by the
Prussian Academy of Sciences. ^^
In this printed edition, despite various lacunae, we find a detailed biog.
raphy of the Prophet, and biographical notices for about 4,300 narrators of
the various generations down to 23 8/8 5 2, as follows:
Vol I part i (ed. E. Mittwoch). Genealogy of the Prophet, and his biography
down to his migration to Medina.
Vol I part ii (ed. E. Mittwoch and E. Sachau, 1917). Biography of the
Prophet after the hijra^ and various related topics.
Vol II part i (J. Horovitz, 1 909). The Prophet's campaigns.
Vol II part ii (J. Schwally, 191 2). Sickness and death of the Prophet. Elegies
written on his death by various poets. Biographies of the jurists and Qur'an
readers who lived in Medina during the Prophetic period, and just after his
death.
Vol III part i (ed. E. Sachau, 1904). Biographies of the Muhajirun who took
part in the Battle of Badr.
Vol III part ii (ed. J. Horovitz, 1904). As Ill/i above.
Vol rV part i (ed. J. Lippert, 1 906). Biographies of early converts who did not
take part at Badr, but had migrated to Abyssinia, and later took part in the
Battle of Uhud.
Vol IV part ii (ed. J. Lippert, 1908). Biographies of other Companions who
converted to Islam before the conquest of Mecca.
Vol V (Ed. K.V. Zettersteen, 1905). Biographies of the Tdbfiin (Successors)
who lived at Medina. ^5
Vol VI (Ed. K.V. 2^ttersteen, 1909). Biographies of the Companions, and
other jurists and traditionists, who settled and lived at Kufa.
y^snia'al-Rijal 99
Vol VII part i (ed. B. Meissner, 191 8). Biographies of the Companions and
other jurists and traditionists who lived at Basra,
Vol VII part ii (ed. E. Sachau, 191 8). Biographies of the Companions and
other jurists and traditionists of Basra, Baghdad, Syria, Egypt, North Africa,
etc.
Vol Vin (ed. C. Brockelmann, 1904). Biographies of the women narrators,
including the Companions and the Successors.
Vol IX/i (E. Sachau, 192.1). Index of personal names which are the subject of
notices.
Vol IX/ii (E. Sachau, 1928). Index of places, tribes, Qur'anic verses, hadith,
and poetry.
Vol IX/iii (E. Sachau, 1940), Index of all personal names.
No precise plan has been followed within all the articles of the work.
However, those on the Companions are long, and generally contain their
genealogy both on the paternal and maternal side, the names of their
wives/husbands and children, the time of their conversion to Islam, the part
taken by them in the important events of the Prophet's career, the dates of
their death, and other matters conneaed with their habits and lives which
the traditionists considered to be of importance. Of course, the reader is very
often disappointed with regard to important biographical details which he
may naturally expect. But at the same time, he often comes across important
historical insights which he may not have anticipated. All these details,
however, are entirely wanting in the articles on the later narrators, which do
not exceed one or two sentences. Many of them are completely blank, from
which fact it has righriy been inferred that these parts were meant by Ibn Sa'd
to serve as notes to be developed at some later date, although he died before
completing the work.
As Sachau remarks, Ibn Sa'd shows impartiality and honesty, thorough-
ness, minuteness, objectivity and originality.'* Just as despite his status as a
mawld of the Hashimites he took no part in their political activism, so in his
articles on the various figures of Islam he gave no expression to his personal
relation to or prejudice for or against anyone, and merely recorded in a
simple style all he knew and considered important about them. His thor-
oughness is abundantly shown by his constant reference to the various
versions of an event as well as to the differences among his authorities. His
objectivity is illustrated by the absence of irrelevant material, while his
lOO THEBlOGRAPHICALDiCTlONARij^
originality is displayed in hi^ ijl* classitication of the narrators according to
the various provinces in which they dwelt, and the general citing of the isnad^
of the various versions of an event before describing them, and their entu,
omission in cm:*- rla^cs/ ' Sa»:hau compares him to Plutarch — the uiain
difference (other than length) being Jiir to the fact that Plutarch formed the
last link in a long chain of bio^;rnphers \\ Ik,»sc contributions to the art he had
inherited, whereas 1^". Sad had been one of xhc pioneers in the field.
Be this as it may, the Tabaqdtoi Ibn Sa'd is om of the earliest extant works
of asma al-rijdl^ containing biographical data on most of the injponant
narrators of the most important period in hadtth history. As a rich mmc of
many-sided information about early Islamic history, it may be considered
not only one of the most important works of its type, but also one of the most
significant works in Arabic literature as a whole. Since the beginning of the
fourth Muslim century, it has been used as a source by a large number of
authors, including al-Baladhurr,^^ al-Tabarl,^^ al-KhatIb al-Baghdi ii, Ibn
al-Athir, al-Nawawr,'*^ and Ibn Hajar,'*' while the prolific Egyptian scholar
al-SuyiJti prepared an epitome of it. As a general biographical dictionary of
narrators is appears always to have occupied a unique position among
works on asmd' al-rijaL Other works of Tabaqdt dealt only with par icular
classes of narrators.
6.IC THE KITAB AL-TARiKH OF AL-BUKHARI
Ibn Sa'd's Tabaqdt was soon followed by works by al-Bukhari, who claimed
to possess at least some biographical information about every narrator of
tradidons. He compiled three books on the history of narrators. The largest
of these, al-Tdrikh al-Kabir (The Great History)^ is said to have contained
the biographical notices of more than forty thousand narrators. No com-
plete manuscript, however, is known to exist. Only various parts of it are
preserved in certain libraries, and on the basis of these the Da'irat al-Ma'arif
press at Hyderabad prepared and published the standard text of the book
(i36i-^z)/^
6. id AL-JARH WA'L-TA'diL OF IBN ABI HATIM AL-RAZI
This author (d. 3 27/939) followed the example of BukharFs al-Tdrtkh
al-KabJr in including all the narrators known to him, together with such
significant information as he could acquire concerning their capacities in
hadtth^ followed by his own verdict on each individual. Although ordered
nicdoruiries of Particular Classes loi
^phabet cally (by first Luci only), Companions are found first under each
letter. For each figure the author provides the father's name, the kunya^ and
jiis tribal or locationaJ name (rthba), his best-known teachers and pupils, the
cities? vvht re he lived, some of his written works, and, where possible, the date
q{ his death. The work has been printed in eight volumes in Hyderabad
(136 >- 73) 5 to:;ether with iti> important methodological introduction,
Jcnown as Taqdimat al-Ma'rifa^^
6.2 BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARIES OF PARTICULAR
CLASSES OF NARRATORS
Almost simultaneously with the general biographical dictionaries of narra-
tors, there began the compilation of those of particular categories of them.
The most important of these are: (a) those containing the biographies of the
Companions; (b) those containing the biographies of the narrators who lived
in or visited any particular town or province; and (c) those containing the
biographies of the narrators who belonged to individual schools of law.
6.2a BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARIES OF COMPANIONS
These constitute the vital core of the asmd* literature. It appears however,
that no independent book of this type was written before the third century,
when al-Bukharl compiled a work'*'* which must for the most part have been
based on the Srr^/M^^^/7azz literature, the numerous monographs relating to
important events in early Muslim history, traditions containing information
about Companions, and the earlier, more geiteral works on asmd\
Bukhari was followed by a great number of authors. These included Abii
Yala Ahmad ibn 'All (201/81^307/919), Abu'l-Qasim 'Abd Allah al-
BaghawT (213/828—317/929), Abu Hafs TJmar ibn Ahmad (known as Ibn
Shahin, 297/909-385/995),^' Abu ''Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn
Manda (d.30i/9i3),'**' Abu N; 'aym Ahmad ibn 'Abd Allah (336/947-403/
1012),^^ Ibn 'Abd al-Barr (368/978-463/1070) (of Cordoba and Lisbon, the
greatest traditionist of his time in the We t),^^ Abu Musa Muhammad ibn
AbiBakr(5oi/i 107-5 81/1 1 85), and many others. '^
On the basis of the works of Ibn Manda, Abu Nu'aym, Abu Miisa and Ibn
'Abd al-Barr, the historian and traditionist 'Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (555/
1 1 60-630/12/40), compiled his Vsd al-Ghdba^ a dictionary of Companions
in which the sources are compared and used with discrimination.^^ In his
introduction, (bn al-Athfr defines the term sahdbT^ provides a short sketch of
the life of the Prophet, and then sets out in alphabetical order the biographies
I02 THE BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARIES
of 7,554 Companions. In each article, he tries to give the Companion's
name, kunya, genealogy, and certain biographical facts. When he differs
from his predecessors, he discusses the matter at length, gives reasons for his
position, and explains the reasons for his predecessors' mistakes. Despite its
many repetitions, the Usd is widely appreciated as a solid authority on the
subjea, and has been summarised by several ^ulama\ including al-Nawawi,
al-DhahabI, and al-Suyutl.^*^
Ibn al-Athlr's work was followed in the ninth century of the hijra by a
more comprehensive work, al~Jsaba ft tamytz al-Sahdba^ by Shihab al-Din
Abu'1-Fadl ibn 'All ibn Hajar al-^Asqalani (773/1371-85271448). 5' Born in
Old Cairo, he lost both parents when still an infant, and was brought up by
one of his relatives, who worked as a merchant. Despite great disadvantages,
the orphan excelled in his studies, and soon acquired a knowledge of history,
Sufism, doarine, and tafsir^ devoting particular attention to hadtth. For ten
years he sat at the feet of the great traditionist Zayn al-Din al-iraqi
(725/1 3 51-806/1404), who had reintroduced the old system of imla
(diaation) of hadtthsJ^ Ibn Hajar in time served as professor at a number of
educational institutions, and worked as a judge — a post he accepted after
refusing it several times.
He left behind him some 150 books, some of which are incomplete. The
Path al'Barij a great commentary on Sahih al-Bukhart^ is sometimes
described as the work by which the Muslims scholars repaid the accumu-
lated debt they owed to Imam BukharT. In his hdba, Ibn Hajar assembles the
results of the labours of all his distinguished predecessors in the field of
biographies of the Companions, criticising them in certain cases, and adding
to them the results of his own research. He divides his book into four parts,
including 1 2,267 people, of whom 1,522 were women: 5?
Part I. Persons directly or indirectly cited as Companions in any tradition,
sound, good or weak.
Part II. Persons still young when the Prophet died, but who were bom
during his lifetime in the family of a Companion, who may hence be
considered Companions themselves.
Part III. Persons known to have lived both before and after the advent of
Islam, but who are not known ever to have met the Prophet. These are not
classified as Companions, but are included because they were their
contemporaries.
Part rV. Persons wrongly cited as Companions in other dictionaries.
Dictionaries of Particular Classes 103
^.zb BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARIES OF THE NARRATORS
OF A TOWN OR PROVINCE
Another sizeable genre of biographical dictionaries of hadith narrators
consists of works written according to places or provinces where they lived
or which they visited. ^^ Not only almost all the provinces, but almost every
important town, had several biographers who collected the lives of every
important traditionist or literary figure who was associated with it. Mecca,
Medina, Basra, Kufa, Wasit, Damascus, Antioch, Alexandria, Qayrawan,
Cordoba, Mawsil, Aleppo, Baghdad, Isfahan, Jurjan, Bukhara, Merv, and
other places: all had their local historians and biographers of their men of
letters."
Many of these provincial historians dealt with the political history of their
regions. Many others treated the lives of their literary figures. Still others
wrote supplements to earlier regional works, bringing them up to date; some
works of this type extend into modem times.
6.2c the history of baghdad by al-khatib
al-baghdadT
One of the most important works in this class is al-Khatib al-Baghdadfs
Tdrtkh Baghdad^ which is also the earliest biographical diaionary of literary
figures, mainly traditionists, who either belonged to, or delivered lectures in,
the great capital.5^
Al-Khatib al-BaghdadI (392/1002-463/1071), whose full name was Abu
Bakr Ahmad ibn 'All, was the son of a preacher in a village near Baghdad. He
began the study of hadith at the age of eleven, and in due course travelled to
acquire it in Syria, the Hijaz, and Iran, soon becoming an authority on both
asma' and hadith. He lectured on these fields in Damascus, Baghdad and
elsewhere, until some of his own teachers, recognising his merit, became his
pupils. Finally he settled and taught in Baghdad, where his authority on
hadtth was recognised by the caliph al-Qa'im, and his minister Ibn Maslama,
who ordered that no preacher should include in his sermon any hadith that
Was not approved by al-KhatIb al-Baghdadl.
His life in the metropolis was not uneventful. During the revolt of
al-BasasTrl (450/1 058), when Ibn Maslama was killed, he was forced to leave
the city and wander in Syria for several months; and when after the
execution of the rebel he returned to Baghdad in 451, he found himself
persecuted by the Hanbalites on account of his having deserted their
i
I04 THE BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARIES
teachings and joining die Shafi^ites, which led him to more Hberal views
towards the Ash'arites and the scholastic theologians. Many treatises against
him by Hanbalites are mentioned by Haji Khalifa. Al-Khatib, however, had
been fortunate in having attained all his great hopes, namely, to read out his
great History of Baghdad to his students in that city, and to be buried by the
side of the great Sufi, Bishr al-Hafi,^^
Al-Khatib compiled fifty-six books and treatises, a list of which is
provided by Yaqut.^^ The Tdrtkh Baghdad is without question the most
important of these. In this monumental work, which he read out to his
students in 461/1068, he gives the topography of Baghdad, al-Rusafa and
al-Mada'in (Ctesiphon), and then provides biographies for 7,831 eminent
men and women, mostly hadith specialists, who were either born in the city,
or came there from elsewhere and taught. He gives names, kunyas^ death
dates, and some other biographical details, together with opinions of other
important traditionists about their reliability. The book begins with the
Companions, followed by those individuals who bore the auspicious name
of Muhammad, with the remaining articles being arranged alphabetically. ^^
Al-Khatib always tries to give the source of his information, and often adds
notes in which he disciisses the reliability of the traditions quoted, and of the
reports received by him, attempting to discern the facts without partiality.^°
He is regarded as the greatest traditionist of his time in the East, rivalled in
the West only by Ibn ^Abd al-Barr.
Al-Khatib brought his dictionary down to the year 450AH. A number of
successors continued the work after him, and their contributions are also of
value. Al-Sam'ani (506/1113-56271x67), al-Dubaythi (558/1163-637/
1239), Ibn al-Najjar (578/1183— 643/1245) and others wrote supplements
(sing, dhayt) to his book, including the eminent men and women who had
lived in the city until their own times.^*
6. 2d THE HISTORY OF DAMASCUS BY IBN '^ASAKIR
The plan of al-Khatib's work was followed by Ibn "Asakir in his huge
biographical dictionary of the eminent persons of Damascus, in eighty
volumes, which continues to earn the admiration of scholars.
Ibn 'Asakir, whose full name was Abu'l-Qasim 'All ibn al-Hasan, was
born to a respeaable and literary family of Damascus in 499/1105. His
father, and other members of his family, are all described by al-Subkl as
traditionists of some eminence. Some of his predecessors seern to have taken
part in the campaign against the Crusaders, and from this it appears that his
tide Ibn "Asakir (*son of soldiers') is drawn.
nictionaries of Particular Classes 105
leaving studied as a child under his father and other scholars of Damascus,
Ibn 'Asakir travelled widely and visited all the important centres of hadith
learning, a long list of which is given by al-Subkl in his Tabaqdt, He sat at the
feet of more than 1,300 teachers of hadith (of whom over eighty were
^-omen). At last he returned to settle in Damascus, where he devoted himself
to the service of hadith and related fields, compiling books, and delivering
lectures in a college founded for him by the great general and jurist Nur
al-Din Muhammad al-Zanji. He died in 571/1175.
His keen intellea, sharp and retentive memory, vast knowledge of tra-
ditions, sincerity and abstemiousness, and his devotion to the science of tra-
dition, were acknowledged by all his contemporaries. A long list of his works is
given by Yaqut;^''many of these are still preserved in the world's libraries.
The most important of these is the TdrJkh Dimashq. Begun relatively early
in his career at the urging of a friend, it languished for many years, until Nur
al-Din al-ZanjI encouraged the author to complete it during his old age.^^ In
this book, after offering a brief history of Syria in general, and Damascus in
particular, and describing the prophets who lie buried there,^"* and its
famous monasteries, Ibn 'Asakir presents the biographies of the eminent
men and women of various categories (mostly hadith experts), who lived in
or visited Damascus. The biographical section commences with those whose
names are Ahmad, which are introduced by a short biography of the Prophet
of Islam. In the arrangement of the remaining articles, alphabetical order is
observed. Finally we are given articles on men whose names are not
conventionally known according to the alphabetic order of the kuftyas,
followed by alphabetically-arranged notices on distinguished women.
No complete edition of the History yet exists. It is usually consulted in the
abbreviated version of 'Abd al-Qadir Badran, Tahdhtb TdrJkh Dimashq
(Damascus, 1 3 zp), which omits isndds and repetitions.
6,2e OTHER LOCAL COLLECTIONS
Like al-KhatIb and Ibn 'Asakir, many other traditionists and historians
collected together biographies of men of letters who dwelt in specific towns.
The best-known of these dictionaries include:
(i) Tdrtkh Wdsit^ by Abu'l-Hasan Aslam ibn Sahl Bahshal al-Wasitl
(d.288/901).^^
(ii) Mukhtasar Tabaqdt ^Ulamd* Ifrjqiya wa-Tiims^ by Abu '1 -'Arab
Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Qayrawani (d. 3 3 3/944).^^
(iii) Tdrtkh al-Raqqa, by Muhammad ibn Sa'Id al-Qushayrl {d.334/
945).'^
I06 THE BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARIES
(iv) Akhbdr Isfahan^ by Abu Nu'aym Ahmad ibn 'Abd Allah al-Isfahanl
(d.430/1039).^^
(v) TdrTkh Jurjdn, by Abu*l-Qasim Hamza ibn Yusuf al-Sahmi {d.^zyj
1036).^^
Ibn Manda (d.301/91 1) of Isfahan likewise collected material on his fellow-
citizens,^^ Al-^akim (321/933— 405/1014) compiled a highly- regarded list
of narrators of Nisabur/' Abu'l-Qasim '^Umar ibn Ahmad al-^UqaylT,
generally known as Ibn al-'AdIm (588/1 191— 660/1262) colleaed the bio-
graphies of eminent persons of Aleppo, in thirty volumes, which was later
added to by his successorsJ^ Abu Sa^Id al-Sam'arii (506/11 13— 562/1167)
compiled a twenty-volume biographical dictionary mainly dealing with the
traditionists of Merv/^ The traditionists of Wasit, of Kufa, of Basra, of
Herat, of Qazwin, and many other towns, found able biographers in Ibn
al-Dubaythr^ (d. 5 58/1 1 62-63 7/ j ^39\ ^bn al-Najjar,^*^ Ibn Shabba,^^ (173/
789-263/876), Ibn al-Bazzaz,^^ and al-Rafi'F** respeaively.
Provinces as well as towns were treated in this way. Ibn al-Fardl, Ibn
Bashkuwal, al-^umaydi, and others, are among the more outstanding
exponents of this genre.
7
THE DISCIPLINES OF
FORMAL CRITICISM
A N integral component of the hadith literature is the genre which
/% describes and develops the techniques oi hadith cnuc'ism. This
/ % traditionally roots itself in the Qur'an itself, which contains clear
A^ JLevidence that information is not to be accepted unless its
reporters are demonstrably reliable and its likelihood evident. In verse
XLix, 6, it states: *0 you who believe! If an unrighteous person comes to
you with a report, ascertain it carefully!' Similarly, the accusation direc-
ted against 'A'isha is denounced by the Qur'an as an evident falsehood^
because her character was above all suspicion. The Qur'an similarly
rejects as both unreasonable and unfounded the theory of the divine
begetting of Jesus/
After the Prophet's death, when people began to try and recall his
words, several Companions were critical of some of the reporters, and
rejected some of their reports. 'AlT thus refused to accept a hadith told by
Ma^^qil ibn Sinan.' '^Ammar ibn Yasir once reported a hadith of the
Prophet with regard to the tayammum ablution, in a gathering of the
Companions, and *^Umar ibn al-Khattab spoke up and said: Tear
God!""* — thereby indicating his disagreement with what "Ammar had
reported. The Sahth of Muslim contains a report in which Ibn 'Abbas
criticises several judgements of "All ibn Abl Talib.^ When Mahmud ibn
al-Rabf reported in an assembly of the Companions that the Prophet had
said that no-one who professed that there was no god but God would be
sent to hellfire, Abu Ayyub al-Ansarl remarked that he did not think that
the Prophet had ever said such a thing.^ Many other instances oi the
criticism of Companion-Narrators by their contemporaries (particularly
A*isha, ""Umar, and Ibn ^'Aboas), may be easily discovered in works on
kctdith and asmd\ These criticisms show that the Companions themselves
li^ ^tMM^^?K^^'^;@^^^;l;Tft;^^^ ^'o^^^^>^-^?f i^'^^^^;: ■ ■
io8
THE DISCIPLINES OF FORMAL CRITl
CISM
were not above criricism. In fact, according to the principles accepted by
most of the Sunn! Muslim scholars, no one except a Prophet is infallible
(ma^sum)\ and even Prophets may commit errors in matters which do not
concern religion.
The Companions' practice of hadtth criticism was emulated by people
such as Shu'ba ibn al-Hajjaj, Yahya ibn Sa'Id al-Qattan, 'All ibn al-Madlnl
and Ahmad ibn Hanbal, who laid the groundwork for the science of the
principles of hadtth criticism. Thus developed two major branches of
literature: 7/w riwdyat al-hadith^ also called mustalah al-hadith (the science
of hadtth narration, or technical hadtth vocabulary), and V/m aUjarh
wa*l~ta'dJl (the science of criticism of the reporters). In the present chapter,
we will deal with each of these in turn.
7.1 'ILM RIWAYAT AL-HADlTH
The earliest written work conneaed with this is the Risdla (Treatise) of
Imam al-Shafi'T (150/767—204/820), later regarded as the tounder of the
Shafi'i madhhab. It was followed by the works of Abu Muhammad
al-Ramhurmuzi (d. ca. 350/961), al-Hakim (d. 403/1 011),'^ Abu Nu'^aym
(d.430/1038), andal-Khatib al-Baghdadl (463-1071), who systematised the
material outlined by his predecessor in his Kitdb al-Kifdya} He was followed
by al-Qadl 'lyad (d. 5 44/1 149), author of al-Ilmd'.^ After them, Ibn al-Salah
(d.643/1245) compiled his Kitdb ^JJliim al-Hadith, in which he added his
own observations to the material gathered by earlier authors. '° Other
scholars to have written on the field include Ibn Kathlr (d.774-i37z), Zayn
al-Din al-'Iraql, and others." ('Iraqfs thousand-line poem, al-Alfiya^ which
deals with mustalah al-hadlth, is often memorised today, and studied with
the commentary of al-SakhawT, the Path al-Mughtth)^^ There is also
Suyutfs Tadrib al-RdK/t^^^ an exhaustive commentary on the Taqrib of
al-NawawI, and the commentary of al-Zurqanl (d. 112271710) on al-
Bayqunl's didactic poem on hadtth criticism.
Al-Shafi% followed by others, defined the qualifications necessary for a
transmitter of A^a^Ff^ as follows:
The transmitter must be of firm faith, and well-known for his
truthfulness in what he reports. He should understand its con-
tent, and should know well how the change in expression affects
the ideas expressed therein. He should report verbatim what he
learnt from his teachers, and not narrate in his own words the
sense of what he had learnt. He must possess a retentive memory,
and should remember his book well, if he reports from it. He
f
llm al-Jarh wa'1-Ta'dil 1 09
should be free of making a report on the authority of those whom
he met of something he did not learn from them. His report must
stand in agreement with what has been reported by those who are
recognised to have memories of quality, if they also have
transmitted these reports.'"*
Shafi'i is here articulating the view of all the main hadtth authorities,
jurists as well as traditionists, to the effect that a transmitter, in order to be
acceptable, must be of firm faith, mature age and proven integrity, and
possess a good memory. He must be well-versed in the method of learning,
preserving and transmitting the traditions. He must also be thoroughly
conversant with the names, careers and characters of the earlier reporters of
traditions, as well as with their various classes, and their weaknesses and
special charaaerisrics. According to most writers, traditions are to be
divided into three main classes, on the basis of their reliability on account of
the quality of isndd^ the nature of the matn^ and their acceptance or rejection
by the Companions, the Followers and the Successors.
These three classes are: (i) Sahth^ or 'sound*; (ii) Hasan^ or 'fair'; and (iii)
Ddif^ or 'weak'.* 5 The latter class is further subdivided according to the
extent of the deficiency of its reporters, or in the texts of the reports
themselves. Subcategories include: the muallaq ('suspended'), the maqtu
('interrupted'), the munqatf ('broken'), the mursal ('incomplete'),'^ the
ww5a^^a/' (containing a mistake either in the isnddox the matn), the shddhdh
('rare': a tradition with a reliable isndd but whose main is contrary to
another similarly attested tradition), the mawdu ('forged'), and so on. These
and other categories of hadtth are explained in great detail in the works on
Ms«/ al-hadtth. But the authorities on the subjea differ from one another in
their interpretation of some of these technical terms. Such differences are
analysed in the abovementioned works of Sakhawl and Suyuti.
The writers on ""ulum al-hadtth also describe the methods of learning,
preserving, teaching, and writing down the traditions in book form. They
have also described methods of collating manuscripts with their original
copies, as well as other philological and technical issues.
7.2 MLM AL-JARH WA'l-TA^DIl
This, the 'science of criticising the reporters of hadtth\ forms an important
sub-discipline of the field of asmd\ which has been more generally dealt with
on pp.9i-io6 above. A short but complete description of its origins and
evolution may be found in the work of al-Jaza'iri.*^
l!PS^i$lx^?I^?^^f^S!?H^^'^^^^
nl
no THE DISCIPLINES OF FORMAL CRITICls^
A further categorisation of hadtths distinguishes (i) those that have been
narrated by all their transmitters verbatim, and (ii) those traditions the
contents of which have been reported by their transmitters in their own
words.
Another, and important, subdivision of traditions relates to the parallel
authentication of isndds during the first three generations. Three such types
are identified: mutawdtir, mashhur, and dhdd.
A Mutawdtir tradition is one which has been transmitted throughout the
first three generations of Muslims by such a large number of narrators that
the possibility of fabrication must be entirely discarded.' ^ Opinions differ on
the number of transmitters necessary for tawdtur to be attained during each
of the three generations: some authorities fix it at seven, some at forty, some
at seventy, ^^ and others at still higher numbers/^ Very few of the traditions
received by us belong to this category. They have been collected by several
scholars, including al-Suyutl, in his al-Azhdr al-Mutandthira fil-Akhbdr
al-Mtitawdtira,^^ and al-Zabidi, in his al-Durar al-Mutandthira fi*l-Ahddtth
aUMutawdtira,^^
A Mashhur hadJth is one w^hich, although transmitted originally in the
first generation by two, three or four transmitters, was later transmitted, on
their authority, by a large number in the subsequent two generations.^^ To
this class, sometimes also known as al-mustaftd^ belong a large number of
traditions which are included in all the colleaions of hadtths and constitute
the main foundations of Islamic law.
The Ahdd are traditions which were transmitted during the first three
generations of Muslims by one (or two, three or four) narrators only.^^
7.3 THE LEGAL SIGNIFICANCE OF TRADITIONS
The legal importance of these three degrees of hadtths are abundantly
discussed in the works of Islamic jurisprudence {usul al-fiqh). The first two
classes are recognised by all the important Sunn! jurists as the second source
of Islamic law, after the Qur'an. The ahdd (also known as khabar al-wdhid)
are accepted as taking precedence over qiyds (analogical induction) by all
Sunn! schools with the exception of that of Imam Malik, who gives priority
to qiyds.
Acceptance of hadJth as a source of Islamic law is advocated in the
Qur'an: 'Whatever the Messenger gives you, take; and whatever he forbids,
abstain from.'^^ fhe Prophet also emphasised the authoritative status of the
hadtth^^^ and his policy of using knowledge of hadith as a criterion when
appointing government officers was followed by his immediate successors.
ffje Legal Significance of Traditions 1 1 1
According to al-Darimi, whenever any legal case came before Abu Bakr, he
looked into the Qur'an, and decided the case on its basis. If he found no
applicable judgement in the Qur'an he referred to the usage of the Prophet. If
he failed to find it there, he asked the other Companions, and if they
informed him of any decision of the Prophet in the matter, he thanked God
and decided the case accordingly. But if the Companions were unable to cite
any Prophetic precedent, he gathered the leaders of the people; and after they
arrived at an agreed decision, he judged accordingly/^
This was also the practice of TJmar, Confronted with a legal case in which
a woman had miscarried following an attack from another woman, he asked
an assembly of the Companions to relate to him any hadith which might
furnish guidance on the subjea. Al-Mughlra ibn Shu'ba was able to do this;
but TJmar asked him to produce a witness to support his narration.
Muhammad ibn Maslama stepped forwards and concurred that the hadtth
was genuine; and 'Umar thus accepted the hadtth^ and gave his judgement on
the case.^^ A large number of similar cases are mentioned in the hadith
works, which relate to controversies as diverse as the fixing of the number of
takbns in the jandza prayer, the levying, of the jizya tax on Zoroastrians,^^
and the use of tayammum in cases of night pollution. ^° In all these cases,
hadiths were sought and laws were established on their authority.
Cases also arose which were decided by the Companions according to
their own opinion {ra'y), on account of the absence of any hadiths on the
subject.^' They did, of course, amend their decisions whenever a hadith
came to light. There are cases reported in which Companions such as
Abu'l-Darda' and Abu Sa'Id al-Khudri migrated from a place because some
of the people living there preferred their own opinions to the traditions
which were related to them.^^
There were, however, cases in which TJmar and some other Companions,
on being told of a hadith on any given subjea, did not follow it, and gave
their judgement against its obvious sense and according to their own views
{ra'y). During the caliphate of TJmar, for instance, there arose the important
problem of the right to the fifth-part of booty for the relatives of the Prophet.
The Prophet's practice was in favour of this. It was discussed for several days
in an assembly of the Companions, and after a long discussion ^'Umar
decided against the recorded practice of the Prophet.^^ Several other cases of
this type are recorded in the hadtth works. A close scrutiny, however, of all
these cases shows that the hadtth of the Prophet was not rejected tout court\
it was either differently interpreted in the light of circumstances and other
hadiths^ or the memory and understanding of those who reported it were the
subject of doubt among those present.
^?;^t^^l^;;^iJ^?^^it^-'^^"-'''^^^^:':^''S-^^^
112
THE DISCIPLINES OF FORMAL CRlTlClSu
A related issue, that of the basic nature and charaaer of the Propheti
words and example, is also investigated by the scholars, many of whom hold
that every one of his actions and words is of a religiously significant
character, and must be literally followed by every Muslim. Others draw a
distinaion between what he said or did as a Prophet, and what he said and
did as an 'ordinary mortal', the latter having, according to them, no sacred
character and hence no consequent duty of obedience. The Prophet himself
had said: '1 am a human being. When I command you to do anything
concerning your religion, then accept it; while when 1 command you to do
anything on account of my personal opinion, then you should know that 1
am also a human being;''*'' i.e., that the latter recommendation may or may
not be regarded as a model. These personal actions and preferences of the
Prophet are also divided into two classes: firstly, matters restriaed to him
alone on account of his position as a prophet (such as certain additional
prayers at night); and secondly, those which are applicable to the Muslim
community as a whole.
All the orthodox jurists, however, hold that every tradition of the Prophet
which is proved to be reliable according to their canons, and is of a religious
charaaer, is of a legislative weight second only to the Qur'an itself.^ ^ On this
point there is no dispute between the rraditionists and those early jurists,
particularly of Iraq, who were known as ahlal-ray (the scholars who placed
some reliance on independant judgement). All important jurists of the first
three generations preferred traditions to qiyas; there were even some who
refused to express their own opinion on legal matters in cases in which no
tradition was known to them.^^ The practices followed by the Companions
were also accepted as a legal authority by the MusHms of the following two
generations because they reasonably presumed that they must have been
based on the traditions and praaices of the Prophet, which had informed the
lives of those who were by his side. This view diaated the legal position of
Imam Malik, who accepted the practices of the Companions, and by
extension the inhabitants of the Prophetic city, as a pre-eminent legal
authority.
The jurists did, however, differ among themselves ©ver the legal signifi-
cance of those traditions on the reliability of which they were uncertain,
particularly the dhdd. Imam Abu ^anlfa and Imam Malik did not consider
all hadiths of this dzss as superior to q'tyds. Im^m Malik preferred qiyds to
all dhdd traditions which were not backed by the practices of the Compan-
ions and the Followers. Imam Abu Hanlfa accepted some of them, and
rejected others, on the basis of his own criteria; foUov^ng in this the practice
of TJmar ibn al-Khattab.^^ He accepted them in connection with ordinary
Techniques oflAzxn Analysis and Criticism 113
jxiatters, if he was satisfied about the legal acumen and instinct of the
reporter; while in cases of intricate leg^l problems he rejeaed them unless
^ey were supported by circumstantial evidence and fundamental Islamic
principles. Imam al-Shafi% however, preferred the ahad traditions over
aiyas in every case. He endeavours to justify this in his works by citing a large
number of hadtths in which the reports of single individuals were accepted
by the Prophet himself, and^ after him, by many of the Companions. It is thus
evident that the difference of opinion between the various orthodox schools
of Islamic law does not relate to the acceptance of hadtth in general, but to a
particular class of it.^^
7.4 TECHNIQUES OF MATN ANALYSIS AND CRITICISM
Much of the attention of the traditional hadtth scholar focuses on the chain
of authorities (isndd) by which it is attested. He or she will also, however, pay
attention to the transmitted text [matn) itself, ^^ The mere formal soundness
of an isndd is not considered definitive proof of the actual genuineness of the
text of the traditions to which they are attached. According to the tradi-
tionists, even if the isndd is completely without fault, the text should still be
analysed before the genuiness oi its attribution can be established. According
to a well-known principle: *If you encounter a hadtth contrary to reason, or
to what has been established as correaly reported, or against the accepted
principles, then you should know that it is forged.'^° Abu Bakr ibn al-Tayyib
is reported to have remarked that it is a proof of the forged character of a
tradition that it be against reason or common experience; or that it conflict
with the explicit text of the Qur'an and the Mutawdtir tradition, or the
consensus [ijma'); or that it contains the report of an important event taking
place in the presence of a large number of people (when it is related by a
single individual); or that it lays down severe punishment for minor faults, or
promises high rewards for insignificant good deeds.^^ Al-Hakim gives
several examples of forged and weak fpadtths having sound isndds^^
Al-SuyutT remarks that such hadtths are encountered frequendy.'*^ In faa,
the only sure guidance in the determination of the genuineness of a tradition
is, as remarked by Ibn al-Mahdl and Abu Zar'a, a faculty that a traditionist
develops through a long, continuous study of the hadtths^ and as a result of
continuous discussion oi them with other scholars.^^ All such research, of
course, must be reconciled with a historical awareness of the circumstances
[<^bdb aUwurud) in which a given Tradition was generated, for many
hadtths were relevant only to the early period of the Prophef s ministry, and
^ere later abrogated by other teachings.^^
I AJ-9 [
|^^-jit^ft^^g|.^j^i;^^^:^^^|ifg^^
THE DISCIPLINES OF FORMAL CRITlClSjvt
On the basis of the above mentioned understanding, the following general
principles for the criticism of the texts of the traditions have been laid down;
a) A tradition must nut be contrary to the other traditions which have
already been accepted by the authorities on the subjea as authentic and
reliable/^ Nor should it contradia the text of the Qur'an,^^ a Mutawdtir
hadith^ the absolute consensus of the community {ijma' qafi)^ or the
accepted basic principles of Islam/*
(b) A tradition should not be against the dictates of reason, the laws of
nature, or common experience/^
(c) Traditions establishing a disproportionately high reward for insignifi-
cant good deeds, or disproportionately severe punishments for ordinary sins,
must be rejeaed.^^
(d) Traditions describing the excellent properties of certain sections of the
Qur'an may not be authentic.
(e) Traditions mentioning the superior virtue of persons, tribes, and
particular places should be generally rejeaed.^^
(f) Traditions which contain detailed prophecies of future events, equipped
with dates, should be rejeaed/^
(g) Traditions containing such remarks of the Prophet as may not be a part
of his prophetic vocation, or such expressions as are clearly unsuitable for
him, should be rejected. ^^
(h) A matn should not violate the basic rules of Arabic grammar and
style/'*
It is on account of these principles that a large number of traditions which are
included in some *sound' hadith collections have been rejected by the
compilers of the standard collections of Tradition. Much material of this
type has been identified and included in special anthologies of weak or
forged traditions, like those of Ibn al-Jav^r,^^ Mulla "^Ali al-Qari,^^
al-Shawkani,57 and others.^* Shawkanl's collection is perhaps the most
judicious, drawing on the researches of earlier writers, and giving the names
of the hadith works in which the hadiths in question are to be found.
Moreover, in many CBseSy he has identified the narrators who were
responsible for the forgeries.
Even in the standard collections of hadtth, despite the great care of their
compilers, a few weak or forged traditions may still be encountered. These
are discussed by the commentators on these works. Some examples of this
follow:
fechniques of Matn Analysis and Criticism 115
(a) ^^ fpadtthy reported by al-Bukhari, to the effect that Adam's height
vi^as sixty cubits, has been criticised by Ibn Hajar on the basis of archaeologi-
cal measurements of the homesteads of some ancient peoples, which show
that their inhabitants were not of an abnormal height. ^^
(b) The hadtthy also reported by al-Bukharl that the verse of the Qur'an
(xux, 9) which runs: 'And if two parties of the believers fall to fighting, then
make peace between them' refers to the conflict between the sincere
Companions and the followers of 'Abd Allah ibn Ubayy, has been criticised
by Ibn Battal, who points out that the verse refers to a quarrel between two
groups of Muslims, whereas Ibn Ubayy had not accepted Islam even
outwardly at the time the verse was revealed/^
(c) The hadith that if the Prophet's son Ibrahim had lived, he would have
been a prophet, has been severely criticised by al-Nawawi, Ibn 'Abd al-Barr
and Ibn al-Athlr; while al-Shawkani has included it on his list of forged
traditions.^*
(d) The hadtths reported by Ibn Maja on the excellence of his home city
Qazwin have been declared forged by the traditionists.
(e) The traditions narrated by some traditionists to the effea that 'he who
loves, keeps chaste, and dies, dies as a martyr', is declared by Ibn al-Qayyim
as forged and baseless. He comments that even if the isnad of this hadith
were as bright as the sun, it would not cease to be wrong and fictitious.^^
(f) The hadith reported by a!-BukharI that Abraham will pray to God on
Doomsday, saying 'O ILord, Thou hast promised me that Thou wilt not
humiliate me on the Day of Judgement' is criticised and rejected by
al-lsma'ill, whose judgement is reported by Ibn Hajar.^^
(g) Most of the traditions concerning the advent of the Dajjal and the
Mahdl towards the end of time, are declared by the traditionists to be
spurious, and are included in the mawdu^dt works.
Such, then, are the broad outlines of the Muslim science of hadith criticism.
Without question one of the most sophisticated scholarly enterprises ever
undertaken, it remains today an essential underpinning for the religion of
Islam, and the Uves of those who try to live by it. Taught in the ancient
universities of the Muslim world, such as al-Azhar in Cairo, al-Qarawiyyln
in Fez, and Deoband in India, it continues tp be a lively and popular
academic field. And with the arrival of the contemporary Islamic awakening,
which has been accompanied by a sizeable increase in the number of texts
made available, both ancient and modem, it seems likely to play a central
ii*s^^§^ss?«^si'^'iSim^Mi
Il6 THE DISCIPLINES OF FORMAL CRITICISM
role in the elaboration of the legal codes of the modem Islamic world, as the
Muslims move away from the European legal systems bequeathed by the
former colonial powers, and seek. to develop a code which allows them to
live in the modem world while remaining faithful to their ov^ distinctive
and sacred identity.
APPENDIX I
WOMEN SCHOLARS OF HADITH
History records few scholarly enterprises, at least before modem times,
in which women have played an important and active role side by side with
men. The science of hadJth forms an outstanding exception in this respea.
Islam, a religion which (unlike Christianity) refused to attribute gender to the
Godhead,' and never appointed a male priestly elite to serve as an interme-
diary between creature and Creator, started life with the assurance that
while men and women are equipped by nature for complementary rather
than identical roles, no spiritual superiority inheres in the masculine prin-
ciple.^ As a result, the Muslim community was happy to entrust matters of
the greatest religious responsibility to women, who, as 'sisters to men', were
of equal worth in God's sight. Only this can explain why, uniquely among
the classical Western religions, Islam produced a large number of outstand-
ing female scholars, on whose testimony and sound judgement much of the
edifice of Islam depends.
Since Islam's earliest days, women had been taking a prominent part in the
preservation and cultivation of hadtth^ and this function continued down the
centuries. At every period in Muslim history, there lived numerous eminent
women-traditionists, treated by their brethren with reverence and respect.
Biographical notices on very large numbers of them are to be found in the
biographical dictionaries. -^
During the lifetime of the Prophet, many women had been not only the
instance for the evolution of many traditions, but had also been their
transmitters to their sisters and brethren in faith. ^ After the Prophet's death,
many women Companions, particularly his wives, were looked upon as vital
custodians of knowledge, and were approached for instruction by the other
Companions, to whom they readily dispensed the rich store which they had
gathered in the Prophet's company. The names of Hafsa, Umm Habfba,
Maymuna, Umm Salama, and 'A'isha, are familiar to every student of hadith
as being among its earliest and most distinguished transniitters.'* In particu-
lar, 'A'isha is one of the most important figures in the whole history of hadith
ii8
APPENDIX I
literature — not only as one of the earliest reporters of the largest number of
hadtthy but also as one of their most careful interpreters.
In the period of the Successors, too, women held important positions as
traditionists. Haf§a, the daughter of Ibn Slrln,^ Umm al-Darda' the Younger
(d.8 1/700), and 'Amra bint 'Abd al-Rahman, are only a few of the key
women traditionists of this period. Umm al-Darda' was held by lyas ibn
Mu'^awiya, an important traditionist of the time and a judge of undisputed
ability and merit, to be superior to all the other traditionists of the period,
including the celebrated masters of hadtth like al-Hasan aI-Ba§rI and Ibn
Sirin.* ''Amra was considered a great authority on traditions related by
*^A'isha. Among her students, Abu Bakr ibn Hazm, the celebrated judge of
Medina, was ordered by the caliph TJmar ibn ""Abd al-'AzIz to write down all
the traditions known on her authority^
After them, ""Abida al-Madaniyya, ''Abda bint Bishr, Umm IJmar al-
Thaqafiyya, Zaynab the granddaughter of ''All ibn ""Abd Allah ibn 'Abbas,
Nafisa bint al-Hasan ibn Ziyad, KhadTja Umm Muhammad, ''Abda bint
''Abd al-Rahman, and many other members of the fair sex excelled in
delivering public lectures on hadtth. These devout women came from the
most diverse backgrounds, indicating that neither class nor gender were
obstacles to rising through the ranks of Islamic scholarship. For example,
''Abida, who started life as a slave owned by Muhammad ibn YazTd, learnt a
large number of hadtths with the teachers in Medina. She was given by her
master to Hablb Dahhiin, the great traditionist of Spain, when he visited the
holy city on his way to the Hajj. Dahhun was so impressed by her learning
that he freed her, married her, and brought her to Andalusia. It is said that
she related ten thousand traditions on the authority of her Medinan
teachers.^
Zaynab bint Sulayman (d. 1427759), by contrast, was a princess by birth.
Her father was a cousin of al-Saffah, the founder of the Abbasid dynasty,
and had been a governor of Basra, Oman and Bahrayn during the caliphate
of al-Mansur.^ Zaynab, who received a fine education, acquired a mastery of
hadtth, gained a reputation as one of the most distinguished women-
traditionists of the time, and counted many important men among her
pupils.'°
This parmership of women with men in the cultivation of the Prophetic
Tradition continued in the period when the great anthologies of hadtth were
compiled. A survey of the texts reveals that all the important compilers of
traditions from the earliest period received many of them from women
shuyukh: every major hadtth collection gives the names of many women as
the immediate authorities of the author. And when these works had been
yeomen Scholars o/^Hadith 119
compiled^ the women traditionists themselves mastered them, and delivered
lecuires to large classes of pupils, to whom they would issue their own ijdzas.
In the fourth century, we find Fatima bint 'Abd al-Rahman (d.3 127924),
known as al-Sufiyya on account of her great piety; Fatima (granddaughter of
Abu Daud of Sunan fame); Amat al-Wahid (d.377/987), the daughter of the
distinguished jurist al-Muhamill; Umm al-Fath Amat al-Salam (d.3 90/999),
the daughter of the judge Abu Bakr Ahmad (d.3 50/961); Jumu'a bint
Ahmad, and many other women, whose classes were always well-attended
by reverential audiences.* ^
The Islamic tradition of female hadith scholarship continued in the fifth
and sixth centuries of the hijra. Fatima bint al-Hasan ibn 'All ibn al-Daqqaq
(d.480/1087), who married the famous mystic and traditionist Abu'l-Qasim
al-QushayrI, was celebrated not only for her piety and her mastery of
calligraphy, but also for her knowledge of hadith and the quality of the
ismds she knew.'^ Even more distinguished was Karlma al-Marwaziyya
(d.463/1070), who was considered the best authority on the Sahth of
al-Bukhari in her time. Abu Dharr of Herat, one of the leading scholars of
the period, attached such great importance to her authority that he advised
his students to study the Sahih under no one else, because of the quality of
her scholarship. She thus figures as a central point in the transmission of this
seminal text of Islam. *^ *As a matter of fact,* writes Goldziher, 'her name
occurs with extraordinary frequency in the ijazas for narrating the text of
this book.'^"* Among her students were al-Khatib al-Baghdadr^ and
al-Humaydi (42.8/1036-488/1095),'^
Aside from Karima, a number of other women traditionists 'occupy an
eminent place in the history of the transmission of the text of the Sahth J^'^
Among these, one might mention in particular Fatima bint Muhammad
(d.539/1144); Shuhda *the Writer' (d.574/n78), and Sitt al-Wuzara* bint
TJmar (d.716/1316).*^ Fatima narrated the book on the authority of the
great traditionist Sa'Id al-*^Ayyar; and she received from the hadith specialists
the proud title of Musnida Isfahan (the great hadith authority of Isfahan),
Shuhda was a famous calligrapher and a traditionist of great repute; the
biographers describe her as 'the calligrapher, the great authority on hadith,
and the pride of womanhood*. Her great-grandfather had been a dealer in
needles, and thus acquired the soubriquet *al-Ibrr. But her father, Abu Na§r
(d.5o6/iii2) had acquired a passion for hadith^ and managed to study it
with several masters of the subject.*^ In obedience to the sunna^ he gave his
daughter a sound academic education, ensuring that she studied under many
traditionists of accepted reputation.
She married 'All ibn Muhammad, an important figure with some literary
msm
IZO
APPENDIX
interests, who later became a boon companion of the caliph al-Muqtafi, and
founded a college and a Sufi lodge, which he endowed most generously. His
wife, however, was better-known; she gained her reputation in the field of
hadtth scholarship, and was noted for the quality of her isndds^° Her lectures
on Sahth al-Bukhdrt and other hadtth collections were attended by large
crowds of students; and on account of her great reputation, some people even
falsely claimed to ha ve been her disciples/ '
Also known as an authority on Bukharl was Sitt al-Wuzara', who, besides
her acclaimed mastery of Islamic law, was known as *the musnida of her time\
and delivered lectures on the Sahih and other works in Damascus and Egypt/ ^
Classes on the Sahth were hkewise given by Umm al-Khayr Amat al-Khaliq
(8 1 i/i 408-9 1 i/i 505), who is regarded as the last great AratirrA; scholar of the
Hijaz.^' Still anotherauthorityonj^ukharlwas'A'isha bint 'Abdal-Hadi/^
Apart from these women, who seem to have specialised in the great 5^3^^^ of
Imam al-Bukhari, there were others, whose expertise was centred on other
texts. Umm al-Khayr Fatima bint ^Ali (d. 5 32/1 13 7), and Fatima al-
Shahrazuriyya, delivered lectures on the Sahth of Muslim/^ Fatima al-
Jawzdaniyya (d. 5 24/1 129) narrated to her students the three Mujams of
al-Tabarani/^ Zaynab of Harran (d. 688/1 289), whose lectures attracted a
large crowd of students, taught them the Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the
largest known collection of hadtths,^'^ Juwayriya bint TJmar (d. 783/1381),
and Zaynab bint Ahmad ibn TJmar (d,722/i 3 22), who had travelled widely in
pursuit of hadtth and delivered lectures in Egypt as well as Medina, narrated to
her students the collections of al-Dariml and 'Abd ibn Humayd; and we are
told that students travelled from far and wide to attend her discourses/^
Zaynab bint Ahmad (d.740/1 339), usually known as Bint al-Kamal, acquired
*a camel-load' of diplomas; she delivered lectures on the Musnad of Abu
Hanlfa, the Shamd'il of al-TirmidhI, and the Sharh Ma^dnt al-Athdr of
al-TihawT, the last of which she had read with another woman traditionist,
'Ajlba bint Abi Bakr (d.740/1 3 3 9)/^ 'On her authority is based,* says
Goldziher, *the authenticity of the Gotha codex ... in the same isndd a large
number of learned women are cited who had occupied themselves with this
work.'^° With her, and various other women, the great traveller Ibn Battuta
studied traditions during his stay at Damascus.'^ The famous historian of
Damascus, Ibn 'Asakir, who tells us that he had studied under more than
1 ,200 men and 80 women, obtained the ijdza of Zaynab bint 'Abd al-Rahman
for the Muivatta*oi Imam Malik.^^ Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti studied the Risdla of
Imam al-Shafi*"! with Hajar bint Muhammad.'^ 'Aiif al-DIn Junayd, a
traditionist of the ninth century ah, read die Sunan of al-Darimi with Fatima
bint Ahmad ibn Qasim. ^^
Sffomen Scholars o/^Hadith 121
Other important traditionists included Zaynab bint al-ShaVl (524—615/
J 1x9-1 21 8). She studied hadtth under several important traditionists, and
in turn lectured to many students — some of who gained great repute —
including Ibn KhaUikan, author of the well-known biographical dictionary
Wafaydt al-Kyan?"^ Another was Karima the Syrian (d.641/1218), de-
scribed by the biographers as the greatest authority on hadtth in Syria of her
day. She delivered lectures on many works of hadtth on the authority of
numerous teachers. ^^
In his work al-Durar al-Kamina^^'^ Ibn Ha jar gives short biographical
notices of about 1 70 prominent women of the eighth century, most of whom
are traditionists, and under many of whom the author himself had studied. ^^
Some of these women were acknowledged as the best traditionists of the
period. For instance, Juwayriya bint Ahmad, to whom we have already
referred, studied a range of works on traditions, under scholars both male
and female, who taught at the great colleges of the rime, and then proceeded
to give famous lectures on the Islamic discipUnes. 'Some of my own teachers,'
says Ibn Hajar, *and many of my contemporaries, attended her discourses.'^^
'A'isha bint 'Abd al-HadI (723—816), also menrioned above, who for a
considerable time was one of Ibn Hajar's teachers, was considered to be the
finest traditionist of her timc^ and many students undertook long journeys
in order to sit at her feet and study the truths of religion. "^^ Sitt al-'Arab
(d.760/1358) had been the teacher of the well-known tradirionist al-'lraqi
(d.742L/i34i), and of many others who derived a good proportion of their
knowledge from her."*' Daqiqa bint Murshid (d.746/1345), another celebra-
ted woman traditionist, received instruaion from a whole range of other
women.
Information on women traditionists of the ninth century is given in a work
by Muhammad ibn ^Abd al-Rahman al-SakhawI (830—897/1427-1429),
called al-Daw' al-Ldmi^, which is a biographical dictionary of eminent
persons of the ninth century."*^ A further source is the Mu'jam al-Shuyukh of
'Abd al-'Aziz ibn TJmar ibn Fahd (812-871/1409-1466), compiled in 861
AH and devoted to the biographical notices of more than 1,100 of the
author's teachers, including over 130 women scholars under whom he had
studied.'^^ Some of these women were acclaimed as among the most precise
and scholarly traditionists of their time, and trained many of the great
scholars of the following generation. Umm Hani Maryam (778-871/1376-
1466), for instance, learnt the Qur'an by heart when still a child, acquired all
the Islamic sciences then being taught, including theology, law, history, and
grammar, and then travelled to pursue hadtth with the best traditionists of
her time in Cairo and Mecca. She was also celebrated for her mastery of
122
APPENDIX I
calligraphy, her command of the Arabic language, and her natural aptitude
for poetry, as also her stria observance of the duties of religion (she
performed the hajj no fewer than thirteen times). Her son, who became a
noted scholar of the tenth century, showed the greatest veneration for her,
and constantly waited on her towards the end of her life. She pursued an
intensive programme of lecturing in the great colleges of Cairo, giving ijdzas
to many scholars. Ibn Fahd himself studied several technical works on
hadtth under her.'*'*
Her Syrian contemporary, Bal Khatun (d. 864/1 459), having studied
traditions with Abu Bakr al-Miz2l and numerous other traditionists, and
having secured the ijazas of a large number of masters of hadtth, both men
and women, delivered lectures on the subject in Syria and Cairo. We are told
that she took especial delight in teaching.'*^ 'A'isha bint Ibrahim (760/1358-
842/1438), known in academic circles as Ibnat al-Shara'ihl, also studied
traditions in Damascus and Cairo (and elsewhere), and delivered lectures
which the eminent scholars of the day spared no efforts to attend.'**' Umm
al-Khayr Sa^da of Mecca (d. 8 50/1 446) received instruction in hadtth from
numerous traditionists in different cities, gaining an equally enviable reputa-
tion as a scholar.'*''
So far as may be gathered from the sources, the involvement of women in
hadJth scholarship, and in the Islamic disciplines generally, seems to have
declined considerably from the tenth century of the hijra. Books such as
al'Niir aUSdfir of al-'Aydarus, the Khuldsat al-Akhbdr of al-Muhibbi, and
the al-Suhub al-Wdbila of Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah (which are biogra-
phical dictionaries of eminent persons of the tenth, eleventh and twelfth
centuries of the hijra respectively) contain the names of barely a dozen
eminent women traditionists. But it would be wrong to conclude from this
that after the tenth century, women lost interest in the subjea. Some women
traditionists, who gained good reputations in the ninth century, lived well
into the tenth, and continued their services to the sunna. Asma' bint Kamal
al-Din (d. 904/1498) wielded great influence with the sultans and their
officials, to whom she often made recommendations — which, we are told,
they always accepted. She lectured on hadtth^ and trained women in various
Islamic sciences.'*** 'A'isha bint Muhammad (d.906/1500), who married the
famous judge Muslih al-DIn, taught traditions to many students, and was
appointed professor at the Salihiyya College in Damascus.'^^ Fanma bint
Yijsuf of Aleppo (870/1465— 925/1519), was known as one of the excellent
scholars of her time.^° Umm al-Khayr granted an ijdza to a pilgrim at Mecca
intheyear938/i53i.^^
The last woman traditionist of the first rank who is known to us was
yj^ornen Scholars o/'Hadith 123
fatima al-Fudayliya, also known as al-Shaykha al-Fudayiiya. She was born
jjefore the end of the twelfth Islamic century, and soon excelled in the art of
calligraphy and the various Islamic sciences. She had a special interest in
hadtth^ read a good deal on the subject, received the dip\om3LS of a good
piany scholars, and acquired a reputation as an important traditionist in her
own right. Towards the end of her life, she settled at Mecca, where she
founded a rich public library. In the Holy City she was attended by many
eminent traditionists, who attended her lectures and received certificates
from her. Among them, one could mention in particular Shaykh 'Umar
al-Hanafi and Shaykh Muhammad Salih. She died in i Z47/1 83 1 J^
Throughout the history of feminine scholarship in Islam it is clear that the
women involved did not confine their study to a personal interest in
uaditions, or to the private coaching of a few individuals, but took their seats
as students as well as teachers in public educational institutions, side by side
with their brothers in faith. The colophons of many manuscripts show them
both as students attending large general classes, and also as teachers,
delivering regular courses of lectures. For instance, the certificate on folios
238-40 of the al-Mashtkhat ma'' al-Takhrfj of Ibn al-Bukharl, shows that
numerous women attended a regular course of eleven lectures which was
delivered before a class consisting of more than five hundred students in the
TJmar Mosque at Damascus in the year 687/1188. Another certificate, on
folio 40 of the same manuscript, shows that many female students, whose
names are specified, attended another course of six lectures on the book,
which was delivered by Ibn al-SayrafI to a class of more than two hundred
students at Aleppo in the year 736/1336. And on folio 250, we discover that
a famous woman traditionist, Umm 'Abd Allah, delivered a course of five
lectures on the book to a mixed class of more than fifty students, at
Damascusintheyear 837/1433.55
Various notes on the manuscript of the Kitdb al-Kifdya of al-Khatib
al-BaghdadI, and of a collection of various treatises on hadtth^ show Ni'ma
bint 'All, Umm Ahmad Zaynab bint al-Makki, and other women tradi-
tionists delivering lectures on these two books, sometimes independently,
and sometimes joindy with male traditionists, in major colleges such as the
'AzTziyya Madrasa, and the Diya^iyya Madrasa, to regular classes of
students. Some of these lectures were attended by Ahmad, son of the famous
general Salah al-Dln.^'*
APPENDIX II
THE HADiTHS AND
ORIENTALISM
We STERN scholars have taken an interest in the hadtth material for almost
two centuries, making a welcome contribution by editing and sometimes
translating many of the original Arabic works, and by the diligent prepara-
tion oi concordances and indices.* But while some have accepted the
traditional canons of hadtth criticism as developed by the Muslim scholars
themselves, others have offered alternative accounts of the subjea.^ Orien-
talists of this school have raised some fundamental issues with regard to the
literature, and attempted to address them according to modern Western
canons of literary and historical criticism.
The first scholar to make this attempt was Aloys Sprenger (according to
his own claim), who summarised the results of his research into hadtth in the
introduction to his Das Leben und die Lehre des Muhammad (1869CE).
Another nineteenth-century scholar, William Muir, also touched on the
subjea in his rather hostile and now outclassed biography of the Prophet.
IGNAZ GOLDZIHER
But such attempts were far surpassed in their treatment and criticism by
Ignaz Goldziher, an Orientalist who was secretary at the Hebrew Congrega-
tion in the Hungarian city of Pecs. Goldziher, a brilliant but often choleric
man, who studied under the Ottomanist schohr and convert to Islam
.Arminius Vambery (1831-1913), spent the year of 1873 travelling in the
Middle East, where, sitting with the polite and literate Muslim elite, he seems
to have experienced something of a love affair with the Muslim faith.
Thanks to 'this year full of honours, full of lustre, full of lightV as he later
wrote in his diary.
I truly entered into the spirit of Islam to such an extent that
J
ffye Hadiths and Orientalism 125
ulrimately 1 became inwardly convinced that 1 myself was a
Muslim, and judiciously discovered that this was the only religion
which, even in its doctrinal and official formulation, can satisfy
philosophical minds. My ideal was to elevate Judaism to a similar
rational level/
Goldziher had seen enough of Islam be convinced of its truth. Yet so total
was his conceit, so absolute his academic obsession, that he refused to follow
his teacher Vambery into an honest and open declaration of faith; opting
instead for this private agenda of reforming the religion which he had
inherited. It is perhaps a symptom of the inner pain he experienced from
living this kind of reverse hypocrisy, whereby he privately acknowledged the
superiority of Islam and yet remained in public a busy synagogue official,
that he should have embarked on a policy of attempted demolition of the
literary sources of Islam, by borrowing those techniques of academic *higher
criticism' which had already undermined belief in the textual integrity of the
Hebrew scriptures. His thesis, that the hadiths are to a large degree the
fraudulent propaganda of rival legal theorists of the early second century,
was in many ways a characteristic product of his troubled and instinctively
polemical mind. ^
But despite the attractiveness of this thesis, which, to nineteenth century
Europeans, seemed to offer a way of pulling the carpet from beneath Islam,*
it soon became evident that his theories were at best conjectural, and were
lacking in systematic textual evidence. No serious attempt was made to
adduce the missing body of proof until the time of Joseph Schacht, half a
century later.
Goldziher's main claims, as expounded in the second volume of his
Muslim Studies, may be summarised as follows :
I . The hadtth literature is largely based on mere oral transmission, which
lasted for more than a century; and the extant hadtth collections do not refer
to any records of hadiths which may have been made at an earlier period.
z. The number of hadiths in the later collections is far larger than the
number of those contained in the earlier anthologies or the early works on
Islamic law. This, it is said, shows that many of the hadiths are of
questionable authenticity.
3. The hadiths reported by the younger Companions are far more
numerous than those related by the older Companions,
4. The isndd system was applied, arbitrarily, to hadtth not earlier than the
close of the first Islamic century, and does not furnish a proof of the
genuineness ol the tradition to which it is attached.
126 APPENDlXii
5 . Manyoi the hadJths contradict each other.
6. Definite evidence exists of the large-scale forgery of the isndd as well as
of the texts of hadtths.
7. The Muslim critics confined their criticism of the literature to the isftad
alone, and never criticised the texts transmitted.
Many of these controversies have been discussed in detail in Chapters i, 6
and 7 of this book. Here, however, it may be useful to provide a summary
point-by-point response:
I. Goldziher has himself recognised that more than a dozen sahTfas
containing Prophetic hadtths were compiled by the Companions and their
Successors. As for the lack of reference to them in the later hadtth collections,
Sprcnger has explained that this is due to the faa that the early traditionists
referred to the authors of the books from whom they received them through
their own teachers, instead of referring to the books themselves, which were
liable to suffer interpolation and forgery/ He has demonstrated this with
reference to the practice followed by WaqidI and Ibn Sa'd, and has also
colleaed a good deal of material on the writing down of hadtths^ and the
existence of Arabic books during the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods.^
The more recent publication of one such early document, the sahtfa of
Hammam ibn Munabbih by Dr. Hamidullah, and the identification of its
contents with those of part oi the Musnad of Ibn Hanbal, with very slight
variations, strongly supports the theory of Sprenger. Similarly, Abbott,
basing herself on early papyrus doaiments unknown to Goldziher, surveys
the very considerable evidence for extensive written records in the first
century, and concludes that *oral and written transmission went hand in
hand almost from the start.'^
z. The increase in the number of hadtths included in the later collections
(i.e. of the third century ce) is easily fathomed by anyone conversant with the
history of the collection of hadtth. The early compilers did not know as many
traditions as were known to their successors. For, simultaneously with the
expansion of the Islamic empire, the custodians of the hadtths travelled
widely and settled throughout the new dominions, narrating the hadtths
known to them to create a provincial corpus. It was only after students of
hadtth had travelled through all these countries and collected together the
traditions known to the specialists living there, and narrated them to their
own disciples, that larger and more complete coUeaions of hadtths could be
compiled. ^°
The Hadiths and Orientalism 1 27
3. Some European scholars have envisaged a natural course of events in
which those who associated with the Prophet for a long period would have
reported more traditions about him than those who only knew him for a
short while. This, however, was not the case. The younger generations of
Companions reported a far larger number of traditions than their older
brethren. From this, certain Orientalists have concluded, many isndds of the
younger Companions were forged. This question, however, has already been
raised by the classical hadJth scholars themselves, who point out that since
the older Companions passed away not long after the death of the Prophet,
they had less time to pass on all the traditions known to them, whereas the
younger Companions, such as ^'A'isha, Ibn ^Abbas and Abu Hurayra, lived
for a far longer period, and were able to disseminate the hadtths known to
them much more extensively. J. Fiick has pointed out that this in faa
supports the veracity of the traditionists; for if all the isndds had been forged
by them, they would have tried to produce isndds from the older Compan-
ions in larger numbers.* *
4, As the isndd, its origin, development and importance, have been
discussed in chapter 5 of this book, and Robson and Abbott have thor-
oughly dealt with the pertinent views of Muslim and non-MusHm scholars,'^
readers are referred to the observations contained in those sources.
5. There is no doubt that a large number of hadiths contradict one
another. But to conclude from this that most are therefore forged is not a
logical inference. For it is a natural thing for the leader of a fast-developing
movement to change the instructions he issues to his followers, in order to
respond to a changing situation. Hence we find that the Prophet at times
issued advice or instructions which superceded those which he had given
earlier. An instance of this is furnished by the presence of contradictory
hadtths concerning the admissihiYity of recording hadiths in writing: the
earlier hadtths prohibit it, while later hadtths regard it as permissible. In
some cases of evident contradiction, the clashes can be resolved by pointing
out the different circumstances under which the contradiaory instruaions
were given. In various other cases, contradiaions have been explained by
isolating ideas common to them which were expressed in various ways at
different times. This is not to say, of course, that no hadtths were forged, and
that forged hadiths did not conflict with sound ones; in faa, the MusUm
scholars have already recognised and analysed this point. '^ But one cannot
128 APPENDIX ij
but be surprised to find that some European scholars have cited hadith% as
evidence of contradictions in the literature, wrhen Muslim scholars have for a
thousand years dismissed those very hadfths as spurious, or as cases of
abrogation.
6. The large-scale forgery of isndds as well as the texts of traditions is a
historical fact accepted by all the Muslim scholars, and has been described at
length in chapter 3 of this book. The development of an extensive and
sophisticated literature on the mawditdt (forged narrations discarded by the
traditionists) is sure and sufficient proof of this. Here again, one is surprised
to find some European scholars citing these hadJths not only to illustrate the
vagaries of the seaarian mind in various periods — a wholly legitimate
deduction — but also to prove that the literature as a whole \s of questionable
reliability.
On other occasions, they have cxttd hadtths traditionally considered
authentic as forged. For instance:
6a. Goldziher'^ and (following him) Guillaume*^ cite the following
hadtth from TirmidhI:
Jbn TJmar related that Muhammad ordered all dogs to be killed
save sheep-dogs and hounds. Abu Hurayra added the words au
za/in (or field dogs). Whereupon Ibn TJmar makes the remark
that Abu Hurayra owned cultivated land. A better illustration of
the underlying motive of some hadtth can hardly be found.^^
Having produced this hadtth^ Goldziher says that the remark of Ibn TJmar
proves that even the earliest transmitters were not free from selfish and
dishonest motives. The Muslim traditionists, however, have explained Ibn
TJmar's remark as meaning that Abu Hurayra, being possessed of personal
experience of the subjea-matter of this hadtth^ was in a better position to
know exactly what its wording was. ^^
6b. Goldziher'^ and (following him) Guillaume^^ assert that the hadtth
reported by BukharT: *Make journey (for pilgrimage) only to three
(mosques) — the Inviolable Mosque, the Mosque of the Prophet, and the
Mosque of Jerusalem', was forged by Ibn Shihab al-Zuhrl in order to help
^Abd al-Malik against his rival 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. J. Fiick, however,
points out that this assertion is chronologically unsound. Ibn al-Zubayr was
killed in 73AH, while al-Zuhri was born in 51, or even later. He therefore
would have been too young at the time of Ibn al-Zubayr's death to have
Xhe Hadlth^ and Orientalism i Z9
become a widely-accepted authority on tradition; had the caliph really
wished to find a hadtth propagandist, he would probably have chosen
someone more venerable and established. Goldziher's theory is further
weakened by the faa that al-Zuhrfs authority for this hadith (the famous
Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, who died in 94AH) was still alive, which would have
made k hard to misuse his name: a propagandist would have chosen
someone safely defuna. Again, al-Zuhri is not the only traditionist who
reported this hadtth from Sa*^id.^*^
6c. One further example should suffice to demonstrate the purely
speculative nature of many of Goldziher's assertions. He states that once the
fabrication of hadtth had become a common and established practice among
the traditionists, they attempted to stop it by forging a hadtth which
prohibited the practice. Tlie well-known hadith (in which the Prophet is
reported to have said that whoever falsely attributed anything to him would
be preparing an abode in Hell), together with a set of similar traditions, was,
according to Goldziher, fabricated in order to stop the fabrication process.^*
The hadtth^ however, is mutawdtir^ having been reported by more than
seventy Companions and numerous independant chains of authorities. It is
found in different forms in "all the important hadith colleaions, and has been
accepted by all the traditionists as one of the most reliable and extensively-
attested of all traditions. It is hard to conceive how it could have been
concoaed verbatim and at the same time by a large number of scholars
distributed over several provinces.
Fabrications were made in the name of the prophets who came before
Muhammad, of which he was aware, and to which reference is made in the
Qur 'an; similarly, forged traditions were attributed to Muhammad himself
during his lifetime. Under such circumstances, it is hardly surprising that the
great leader should have warned his followers against this practice. Gold-
ziher was surely well-acquainted v^ith these facts; yet he persisted in asserting
that these hadtths were forged — ^without offering any proof. And Guillaume
has followed him almost verbatim.^^
7. It is true that all the mt4sannaf collecdons of hadtth are arranged into
books and chapters according to subject-matter, and contain a short
description of the isndd in technical language, without much analysis being
presented of the character of the text. Yet in the very extensive exegetic
literature, the commentators do of course subject the texts to a close critique,
following the principles which we have given in the last chapter of our book.
It appears, however, that the function of the collection and formal isndd
|AJ-10|
I30 APPENDIX ii
criticism of the hadiths was reserved for the collectors, while the function of
their material criticism was left for the jurists and the commentators on the
various anthologies.
According to the Muslim critics, the isnad provides good evidence, but not
an absolute guarantee of the soundness of a hadsth text. If such a text is
contrary to reason and common experience, or to the explicit text of the
Qur'an, or to the text oi a mutawatir tradition, or the ?;wi?, it is considered
to have been forged. Goldziher appears to be unaware of the extensive
literature on matn criticism.^^
For more on Goldziher's understanding of hadtth^ reference should be
made to the studies of al-Siba'P"* and al-Khatlb^^^ the more recent criticisms
directed at Schacht are also relevant.
ALFRED GVJILLAUME
The Traditions of hlam^ published in 1924 by Alfred Guillaume, formerly
professor of Arabic at London University, gained some currency for a while
as the only English-language critique of traditional Muslim hadtth scholar-
ship. It represents, however, little more than a reiteration of Goldziher's
work; indeed, accusations of plagiarism dogged the latter years of this
author's career.
JOSEPH SCHACHT
Our comments on Goldziher serve also to interpret much of the later work of
Joseph Schacht. Schacht*s conviaion, in some ways even more radical than
his predecessor' Sj was that for the Prophet, law as such fell outside the
sphere of religion', and that 'the technical aspects of law were a matter of
indifference to the [early] Muslims'. ^^ The hadJth literature which elaborates
it, then, despite the efforts of the Muslim scholars to ensure its authenticity,
can be dismissed as a monumental fraud.
Partly because of Schacht's habit of making 'all too readily formulated and
at the same time sweeping theories,'^^ many subsequent Western scholars
have expressed grave doubts about his work. Quite apart from the fact that
its 'supercilious' approach *makes heavy readings and its style seems to rub
many readers. Western and Muslim, up the wrong way,' its central thesis,
that the Prophet, despite the Qur'an's concern with law, and the example oi
the Hebraic prophetic tradition in which the Qur'an places him, was not
interested in legislation, has seemed improbable. Fifteen years after Schacht's
The Hadlths and Orientalism 131
Origins was published, Samuel Goitein was writing that for the Prophet,
'even strictly legal matters were not irrelevant to religion, but were part and
parcel of the divine revelation,'^® and that *the idea of the Sharfa was not the
result of post-Quranic developments, but was formulated by Muhammad
himself.'^^ Similar objections to Schacht's opinions are aired by N.J,
Coulson, who finds them *too rigid', and *not wholly convincing' ;5° while J.
Robson^' and N. Abbott^ ^ are even more critical. However, the most
rigorous articulation of this scepticism comes from M. M. Azami, whose
Studies in Early Hadlth Literature^ and, more recently, On Schacht's Origins
of Muhammadan Jurisprudence^ can be considered the definitive rebuttal of
Schacht's thesis. Readers interested in pursuing the debate further are
referred to these texts.
NABIA ABBOTT
This American scholar has given us what is in many ways the most
well-written and coherent account of the literature. It has the advantage of
being rooted in a series of very early texts whose authenticity is beyond
question, taking the form of collections of Arabic papyrus documents, some
little more than fragments, acquired by Chicago's Oriental Institute between
1929 and 1947. Abbott set herself the laborious task of identifying, trans-
cribing and translating these; a work which bore fruit first in a brief
preliminary article,^^ and then in her monumental Studies in Arabic Literary
Papyri, Volume I of this, published in 1957, dealt with historical texts;
Volume II (1967) concerned Qur'anic commentary and Tradition; while
Volume III (197Z) included documents on language and literature. Acade-
mic recognition for this achievement culminated in an invitation to contri-
bute the key article on hadith for the Cambridge History of Arabic
Literatures^
In Volume II of her Studies, Abbott presents thirteen very early hadith
papyri, and discovers that when set beside the maner included in the
canonical collections, they 'contain very little, beyond some rather minor
textual variants, that was not already available to us in the rich heritage of
tafstr and hadith literature'. '^ ^ study of the isndds, moreover, reveals a
distinaion between the often poor isndds attached to material concerning
Companions and Successors, which was, according to orthodoxy, of less
legal and doctrinal significance, and the good isndds used for the Prophetic
hadith. This confirms the verdia that 'the special attention to and extra care
with Muhammad's hadith and sunnah were stressed from the very begin-
ning of the caliphate.'^^
n;^-^-^^ ^'S^^^^w^:^: s^^i^fc^iv'^ '^^^^r^^^ '^v.^^' ;^W
132
APPENDIX U
Although she rarely mentions Schacht or Goldziher, Abbott is clearly
targeting their theories when she emphasizes the importance attached to
religious law from the earliest days of Islam; the Companions were
enthusiastic emulators of the Prophet's example,^ ^ while even relatively
profane Umayyad rulers like ^Abd al-Malik, who, according to Schacht, had
set little or no store by the hadith of the Prophet, actually took the trouble to
memorise a number of hadith^^ She similarly adduces detailed evidence for
the view, held by Sprenger and Robson as well as the Muslim authorities,
that the importance attached to the prophetic hadith was so great that TJmar
II appointed a commission to record it, and ensure its authenticity,^^ As we
have seen on p. 2.4 above, Abbott also presents reasons to believe that the
early written records of hadith were very substantial. And again, she is
clearly targeting Goldziher when she concludes that
Oral and written transmission went hand in hand almost from
the start; the traditions of Muhammad as transmitted by his
Companions and their Successors were, as a rule, scrupulously
scrurinized at each step of the transmission, and that the so-called
phenomenal growth of Tradition in the second and third
centuries of Islam was not primarily growth of content, so far as
the hadith of Muhammad and the hadtth of the Companions are
concerned, but represents largely the progressive increase of
parallel and multiple chains of transmission.^^
JAMES ROBSON
This Scottish clergyman, who became Professor of Arabic at Manchester
University, dedicated the later years of his career to an extensive programme
of reading in the hadith literature, which culminated most visibly in his
translation of al-Tabrizfs Mishkdt aUMasdbih^ a work which can be
considered the most competent English rendition of a large hadith collec-
tion/' Robson also gave us the first and so far the only translation of a
classical manual on hadith criticism: the Madkhal of al-Hakim al-
Nlsaburi.^^
In the introduction to his Mishkaty and also in a series of articles,"*^
Robson voices a growing dissatisfaction with the Schachtian thesis, which by
the early 1960's had become a kind of Orientalist orthodoxy. Analysing
some of Schacht's more sweeping judgements, he became convinced that the
traditional Muslim account of hadith genesis had much to commend it, and
had in some ways been misrepresented — or at least misunderstood — by
Goldziher and Schacht/^
The Hadidi5 and Orientalism 1 3 3
G.H.A. JUYNBOLL
This author, in his article 'On the Origins of Arabic Prose'/^ and especially
in his recent monograph Mtdslim Tradition: Studies in Chronology, Prov-
enance, and Authorship of Early Hadtth,^^ expresses regret that Schacht's
work has passed almost unnoticed by Muslims, and condescendingly
decides that this is perhaps because of its difficult and objectionable lan-
guage. Juynboll, who announces quite expliciriy that he is Vriting for
Muslims','*^ articulates his disquiet that the traditional view of hadtth should
still be maintained among Muslims, and his hopes that his book will serve to
call this view into question. None the less, while accepting the main thrust of
some of Schacht*s theories, he adopts a somewhat more moderate position,
in holding that *a judiciously and cautiously formulated overall view of what
all those early reports [. . ,\ collectively point to, may in all likelihood be
taken to be not very far from the truth of "what really happened".'^^
A noticeable fault in JuynboU's work is his explicit and frequent reliance
on his own 'intuition*. At times, readers equipped with the kind of Muslim
background which Juynboll lacks find this damagingly misguided. An
example of this is his dismissal of Abbott's proof of the rapid growth of
hadithSy a proof which cites reports of — in JuynboU's description — ^'mass
meetings during which certain famous muhaddithun were alleged to have
transmitted traditions to crowds totalling 10,000!' He goes on to remark,
'Visualising sessions such as this with many dozens of mustamtis moving
about, shouting the traditions down to the last rows of eager hadtth students
may lift the reader into the realm of 1,001-night fantasies, but in whatever
way you look at it, it is difficult to take accounts like that seriously.'^^ The
exotic stereotyping here merely serves to confirm the Muslim reader's
suspicion of an impairing cultural distance. Hadtth classes involving com-
parable numbers of students are regular events even today in the Muslim
world. In 1405/1984, the Meccan muhaddith Muhammad Yasin al-Fadani
(d.1411/1991) visited Indonesia, where he gave open-air classes to crowds
well outnumbering the ten thousand which arouses JuynboU's incredulity. 5°
It is only in the West that Islamic studies are a small, almost imperceptible
activity.
Students of the book likewise complain of apparent contradictions. For
instance, Juynboll tells us that before the time of "Umar 11, 'the Umayyad
rulers may have only been vaguely interested in the political possibilities
present in the faddHllmathdlib genres.'^* Only a few pages on, however, the
reader discovers that 'it is most probable that another important genre of
hadtths originated in those early days immediately following the prophet's
mi
134
APPENDIX n
demise: the fa4a'il genre,^^^ and is presented with an early text to support
this: *Mu''awiya wrote one and the same letter to his tax colleaors after the
year of the Jama^a in which he said: *Let the conquered people refrain from
mentioning any merit of Abu Turab ['All] or his kinsmen [. . .] Make a
search for those you can find who were partisans of TJthman and those who
supported his rule and those who uphold his merits and qualities. Seek their
company, gain access to them and honour them. Write down for me
everything which everyone of them relates [. . .]*. In exchange, Mu'^awiya sent
them presents.'^ ^ The resultant picture of Umayyad policy towards hadithy
which is pivotal to any discussion on the subject, is thus acutely confused.
Another area of the debate, that of the reliability of the asma* al-rijdl
literature, is explored in a separate chapter of JuynbolKs work.'^ Here, too,
die Muslim student of hadith confesses to a certain puzzlement. Juynboll
focusses on fbn Hajar*s biographical dictionary, the Tahdhtb al-Tahdhtb^
and offers some general and dismissive comments about it, but without
exploring or even showing an awareness of Ibn Ha jar's sources. As the title
of his book indicates, the Tahdhtb al-Tahdhtb — 'that splendid work', as
Arberry describes it^^ — represents one of several condensed versions of the
Tahdhtb al-Kamal ol Jamal al-DIn al-MizzI (d.742/1341), a well-known
biographical dictionary which is now in the process of publication. ^^
Unaware of the work's origin and hence its nature, Juynboll merely remarks
that *Ibn Hajar must have had sources from which he worked,'^^ thereby
leaving the reader with the impression that Ibn Hajar's material comes from
unknown and hence dubious sources.
Finally, acceptance of the book has been handicapped by his uneven prose
style, whidi at times renders the meaning difficult to unravel. Many
undergraduates have wrestled unsuccessfully with solecisms such as: *Now,
it must be conceded, first of all that, in my opinion, the common-link theory
is a brilliant one.'^^ Similar offenses against the rules of grammar, style and
logic are scattered thickly throughout the book.
One final remark. The above notes on the most outspoken Western com-
mentators on the hadtth literature can also, and rewardingly, be read as a
commentary on evolving Western instincts towards Islam in general. We do
not need Foucault to remind us that academic discourse is a product of
power relationships: Goldziher's diary gives us very adequate proof that
scholarly theories, especially those which involve the assessment of one
culture by a historic rival, can easily be deconstructed into their psychological,
n
The Hadiths and Orientalism 135
historical and political constituents. The point is often noted, too, that
American scholars, whose government has had no direct colonial involve-
ment in Muslim countries, have in the past been somewhat more sympath-
etic to Islamic culture and its scholarship than their European colleagues^'
(the cases of Abbott and Powers are suggestive in this regard), and it will be
interesting to see whether this transatlantic disparity endures. But it is, in any
case, not unreasonable to hope that traditional engage scholarship, newly
self-conscious following the efforts of Edward Said and others to lay bare its
inner metabolism, wall, and despite the West's continuing fear of the Islamic
world-community, slowly wither away.
APPENDIX III
THE LEIDEN EDITION
OF IBN SA^D
IbnHayawayh's recension of the Tabaqdt of Ibn Sa'd was the ob jea of
intense study by a host of students of the asmd' for more than three centuries,
as is demonstrated by the ijdza and isndd annotations found in the various
manuscripts which have come down to us. But from the end of the eighth
century ah, on account of its great bulk and the appearance of many handier
books on the various branches of asmd\ interest in it began to decline, and
copies became increasingly scarce. No complete manuscript of the book is
now known to exist.'
Among Western orientalists, Sprenger and Wiistenfeld were the first to
realise the great importance of Ibn Sa'd's work. They published articles
describing its manuscripts, and drawing the orientalists* attention to its value
as a source for early Islamic history, also using it as an important source for
their own work. Other Orientalists such as Muir and Noldeke also made
extensive use of it. But a thorough and minute study of Ibn Sa^ had to wait
for another German scholar. Otto Loth, who in 1869CE published his
treatise Das Classenbuch des Ibn Sa'd^^ together with an article on the origin
and meaning of Tabaqdt^y describing the Gotha and Berlin manuscripts of
the book, the nature of their contents, the origins and history of the tabaqdt
typt of biographical dictipnaries, and the place of Ibn Sa^' s work among
them. It was Loth who paved the way for the edition of the book.
Its great size, however, stood in the way of its publication. For eighteen
years after the publication of Loth's works, no-one appears to have con-
sidered seriously the possibility of preparing a critical edition. It was only in
June 1887 that the Prussian Academy of Sciences resolved to publish the
book, placing E. Sachau in charge of the undertaking. Within a year, Sachau
had discovered five more manuscripts of the book which had escaped Loth's
attention. All were coUeaed togedier with the help of scholars, librarians,
The Leiden Edition oflbn Sd^d 137
and government officials, and in 1898 their collation and editing were
begun. In 1904 the eighth and third volumes were published; the others
followed, and the text was completed in 191 8 with the publication of
Volume VII. Three indices followed.^
This edition was reprinted in Beirut in 1376-77/1957-58.
■M'M
NOTES
NOTES TO CHAPTER ONE
I al-Bukharl, al-}atnt^ al-Sahih (Cairo, 1309),
.20.
z al-Darimi, al-Sunan (Kanpur, 1 291-3 ), 46.
3 al-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-Huffdz (Hyder-
abad, 1 3 30), I, ^7.
4 al-Qastallani, al-Mawdhib al-Ladunniyyay
with commentary of al-Zurqani (Cairo, 1 291), V,
454.
5 al'Mufaddaliyyat, cd. Lyall, C.J., (Oxford,
i9i8-2iCE),LXVi.5;cxxiii.i6.Cf.Kamali,M. H.
Principles of Islamic jurisprudence (Cambridge,
1 99 ice), 44-5; Azami, M. M. On Schacht's Ori-
gins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence (Riyadh,
New York and Chichester, 1 98 5 ce), 29-30.
6 AzsLtnii Schacht's Origins, ^o.
7 al-Khatib, Muhammad, Al-Sunna qabl al-
Tadwm (Cairo, 1383), 14-22; Azami, Schacht's
Origins^ 29-54. Arami (op. cif., 23), quotes a
statement of the second Caliph, *^Umar, to demon-
strate that although the term sunna was not
restriaed to the Prophet in early Islam, his sunna
had priority: *Whosc sunruz deserves more to be
observed by you, the sunna of the Prophet or the
sunrui of ^Umar?* For an extensive summary of the
concept of Sunna^ see Kamali, Principles, 44-8 5 .
8 Goldziher, I. Muslim Studies, tr. S. Stem
(London, 1967CE), II. 24-5; Kamali, Principles,
47.
9 Biographies of the Prophet include: Lings,
M., Muhammad: His Life based on the Earliest
Sources (Cambridge, 199 ice); Montgomery
Watt, Muhammad at Mecca (Oxford, 1953CE),
and Muhammad at Medina (Oxford, 195 6ce).
10 Ibn SaM, al'Tabaqdt al-Kabtr, ed. Sachau,
E., et. ai (Leiden, 1 3 22-5 9/1 904-40), I/i, 1 4 5 •
II Ibid., I/i, 136.
12 Ibid., 1/1,136.
13 Very numerous examples of this are given
in Khatib, Sunna, 29-74; Azami, Schacht's Ori-
gins, 10-18.
14 Eukhari, ^ahih, Ttisam, bab ol-iqtida'
bi-afalal-NabI(IV,*i66).
1 5 Ibid., Tahajjud, bab salat al-layl (1, 1 36).
16 Ibid.
1 7 Ibid., Ttisam, bab al-ta*^ammuq (IV, 1 66).
18 Muslim, al-Sahih (Delhi, 1309), Birr, bab
tafsiral-birr(ll, 314).
19 Abu Daud, al-Sunan, ed. ^Abd al-Ahad
(Delhi, 1 346), Istighfar (1, 1 1 9).
20 Ibid., Takhfif al-ukhrayayn (1, 1 14).
21 For the various definitions and classes of
tdbt^Hn see Khatib, Sunna, 1 24—26.
22 Khatib, Sunna, 155, 176-84; al-Khatib al-
Baghdadl, al-Kihla ft Talab al-Hadith, ed. Nur
al-DIn '^hr (Damascus, 1 395); cf. above, 40-2.
23 Bukhari,Sa^«^,IV.62.
24 IbnSa'd,Vlil,234.
25 Ibid., VIII, 73.
26 Ibid.,IV/ii,56.
27 Darimi, SM«a«, 45.
28 IbnSa'd,II/ii,i25.
29 Ibid.,lV/ii,8o.
30 Bukhari, "^Ilm, bab al-tanawub (1, 1 9).
31 ZDMG,X,2.
32 Ibid.
3 3 al-Tabrizi, Mishkdt al-Masdbih (Lucknow,
i326),'Ilm(32).
34 Ibid., 35.
35 -Hammam ibn Munabbih, Sahifa, cd.
Hamidullah, M. (Paris, 1 380), 9.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibn Sa'^d, H/ii, 107. C(. Kamali, Principles,
45-
38 Von Kremcr, The Orient under the Caliphs
(Calcutta, 1920CE), 260.
39 For the dissemination of hadtth, see Azami,
Schacht's Origins, 109-1 r.
40 Khatib, Sunna, 1 64-76.
41 A Companion known as al-Munaydhir is
said to have visited Spain. See al-Maqqari, Nafh
al-Tib (Cairo, 1 302), 1, 1 30.
42 See M, Ishaque, India's Contribution to the
Study of Hadtth Literature (Dacca, 195 5CE),
chap. I .
43 For the letters of the Prophet, see Serjeant,
140
HADITH LITERATURE
R.B., in Cambridge History of Arabic Literature^ I
(Cambridge, i983CE)» 139-42; for his treaties,
see ibid., 134-39.
44 *^Abd al-Khaliq, al-Imdm al-Bukhdri
wa-Sahihuh (Jedda, 1405), 45— 51.
45 Ibn Sa'd, Ill/i, 206; N. Abbott, 'Hadith
Literature — II: CoUection and Transmission of
Hadith\ (in Cambridge History of Arabic Litera-
ture, I, 289-98), 289; 'Abd ai-Khaliq, 90-1;
Khatlb, Sunna, 99- 105; Abbott, Studies in Arabic
Literary Papyri Vol. I, Historical Texts (Chicago,
1957CE); Vol.11, Qur'anic Commentary and Tra-
dition (Chicago, 1967CE); Vol. Ill, Language and
Literature (Chicago, 1972CE), I, 7, 10. "^Umardid,
none the less, effectively disseminate hadtth in
other ways.
46 See Sezgin, F. Geschichte des arabischen
Schrifttums, I (Leiden, 1967CE), 56-7; Abdul-
Rauf, M. 'Hadlth Literature — I: The Develop-
ment of the Science of Hadtth\ {Cambridge His-
tory of Arabic Literature, I, 271-88), 272;
Abbott, 'Hadith Literature', 293-94; Goldziher,
Muslim Studies, II, 4 3 .
47 Maqqari, Nafh, 1, 1 30.
48 Ibn Sa'd, Il/ii, 134; Bukhari, 'Ilm, bab al-
kitaba. For the involvement of women in hadtth
scholarship see Appendix I.
49 Ibn *^Abd al-Barr, jamf Bayan at-'^llm
wa-Fadlih (Cairo, n.d.), 1, 76.
50 al-Sakhawi, Path al-Mughtth (Lucknow,
n.d.), 239.
51 As cited in Ibn Hajar al-'^Asqalanl, Path
j/-Birr(Cairo, 1320), 1, 174.
5 2 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1, 8 2.
53 Ibid., 1, 95.
54 Ibn al-NadJm, al-Fihrist (Leipzig, 1871-72
CE), 225-27.
55 IbnSaM,II/ii, 136.
56 Fihrist,zz$—Z7.
57 FortheM«ff<2ttj'seeabove,7.
SS Fihrist, 225.
59 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 197-204.
The Muwatta' has recendy been translated into
English by the American Muslim scholar Aisha
Bewley: Al-Muwatta' of Imam Malik ibn Anas:
the first formulation of Islamic law (London,
1989CE). For the background to the Muwatta\
see Abdul Rauf, 272-73; Azami, Schacht's Ori-
gins, 79-^ S-
60 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 202. Ijma^ is
a term denoting the authoritative consensus of
scholars.
61 For the primacy of Medina, see Abbott,
Studies,ll, Si-z.
62 Ibid., II, 202. For these terms see above,
109.
63 DihlawT, Bustdn al-Muhaddithtn (Delhi,
i898cE),25.
64 Namely, Yahya al-Tamlml, Abu Hudhayfa
and Suwayd ibn Sa'^id.
65 Zurqani, Sharh Muwatta' Malik (Cairo,
i3io),I,8.
66 Ibn Sa'd, 111/1,164.
67 Bukhari, Sahth, Jihad, bab man haddatha
bi-mashahidihi (II, 97).
68 Ibn'Abdal-Barr,yimf',II,27.
69 Haji Khalifa, Kashf al-zunun (Leipzig,
i835-42Ce),I,i74-75.
70 Ibid.,IV,254ff.
71 Ibid., II, 68.
72 Ibid., VI, 1 67. This number is based on my
own calculation.
73 AbdulRauf,'Ha<irf^ Literature', 271-72.
74 Goldziher, MMs/iw5fM^i>s, II, 22-4.
75 Sahtfa Hammdm ibn Munabbih; sec Bib-
liography.
76 Ibn Sa'^d, IV/i, 262; Sezgin, 1, 84; Goldziher,
Muslim Studies, II, 23.
77 Abbott, Studies, II, 5 8.
78 Ibid., 1, 22; cf. also II, 58-9.
79 Dihlawi, Risdla dar Fann-i Vsul-i Hadtth
(Delhi, 1255), 22.
80 Ibid., 19-20, 22— 3.
81 Abdur Rauf, 272-73.
82 For the debate over the definition of the
term see al-Jaza'iri, Tatvjih al-Nazar ild Usui
al-Athar (Cairo, 1 3 28), 66.
83 For a list of Musrmd works see Haji
Khalifa, /C^/r/;V, 532-43.
8 4 Goldziher, Mtdslim Studies, II, 2 1 o.
85 Dihlawi, RisJi^, 21.
86 Dihlawi, Bttstaw, 37.
87 Haji Khalifa, /Cas/7/;V, 534.
8 8 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 212.
89 al-Subki, Tabaqdt al-Shafi'iyya al-Kubrd
(Cairo, 1324),!, 202.
90 Haji Khalifa, Kashf, V, 5 3 4.
91 Similar texts arranged in chronological
order are termed mashJkha. See Catalogue of the
Arabic and Persian Manuscripts in the Oriental
Public Library at Bankipore (Patna, 1925), V/ii,
4in.
92 Dihlawi, Bms/^wi, 56,95.
93 Tabaranfs al-Mu^jam al-Katnr has been
edited by Hamdi al-Salafi (2nd. cd., Baghdad,
1984-90CE).
Notes to Chapter Two
141
94 For the structure and function of this
important work, sec Mahmud al-Tahhan, Usui
al-Takhnj wa-Dirasat al-Asdritd (Cairo, n.d.),
z 1 4-1 5 ; Abdul Rauf , 279.
9 5 Several English translations exist oi this, for
instance Izzedine Ibrahim and Denys (Abdul
Wadud) Johnson-Davies, An-NawawVs Forty
Hadith: art anthology of the sayitfgs of the
Prophet Muhammad, 14th ed. (Beirut, 1409).
The whole genre is discussed in al-Qadi 'lyad,
al-llm^ fi Ma^rifat Usui al-Riwaya wa-Taqytd
al'Sama^y ed. al-Sayyid Ahmad Saqr, md ed.
(Cairo, 1398), xz\ Abdulkader Karahan, 'Aperqu
general sur les "Quarante hadiths** dans la littera-
ture islamique*, S/, IV (1955CE), 39-55; L.
Pouzet, Une Hermeneutique de la tradition isla-
mique (Beirut, 1 9 8 ice).
96 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, 11, 214-16.
NOTES TO CHAPTER TWO
1 Khatib, Sunna, 387-94.
2 For the role of the Companions in hadith
transmission see Azami, Studies in Early Hadith
Literature (Beirut, 1968CE), 35-59; and the mat-
erial colleaed in Khatib, SM«wtf, 57—65.
3 al-NawawI, Tahdhib al-Asmd' wa'l-Lughdt
(Gottingen, 1842-7CE), 18; Sakhawl, Tath,
367-73; Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddima (Cairo^ 1 32.6),
118-19.
4 Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddima, 121.
5 Ibn Hajar al-^Asqalani, al-Isdba ft Tamyiz
al-Sahdba (Calcutta, 1 8 5 6-5 8ce), 1, 3 .
6 Haji Khalifa, Kashf, V, 5 34.
7 Ibn al-Jawzi, Talqih FuhQm Ahl al-Athdr
(Delhi, n.d.), 184-97.
8 Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, al-lstfab ft Ma^rifat al-
Ashdb (Hyderabad, 1318), 1, no.i 109.
9 Ibn Hajar al-^Asqalanl, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib
(Hyderabad, 13 26), IV, no. 5 73.
10 Ibid.,No.425.
11 Ibid., XII, no. 1 1 24.
12 Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, Isfi^afc, II,
1 3 Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, V, no.65 3,
^i 4 Ibn *^Abd al-Barr, Istfab, 11, no. 2806.
15 Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Jahdhib, VII, no.
°-
16 Ibid., Ill, no. 2 5 4.
1 7 Ibn ^Abd al-Barr, Istfab, I, no. 1 09 5 .
18 Ibid., II, no. 1 896.
19 Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, III, no.
267.
20 Ibid.,no.592.
2 1 Ibn *^Abd al-Barr, Istfab, II, no. 28 50.
22 Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, II, no.77 5 .
23 Ibid.,IV,no.428.
24 Ibn '^Abd al-Barr, Istfab, I, no. 1 08 1 .
25 Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, VI, no.74.
26 Ibn *^Abd al-Barr, Istfab, I, no. 1 08 1 .
27 \bnHzizT,Tahdhibal-Tahdhib,yi,no.';4.
28 Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, Istfab, II, no. 2844.
29 Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, VIII, no.
788.
30 Ibid.,II,no.ii5.
3 1 Ibn *^Abd al-Barr, Istfab, II, no. 24 3 4.
3 2 Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, I, no.797.
33 lbid.,Vlll,no.2i9.
34 Ibn ^Abd al-Barr, Istfab, II, no. 2799.
3 5 Ibn al-Jawzi, Talqih, 1 84—86
3 6 ZurqanI, Sharh Mutaatta * Malik, 1, 8.
37 Subki, Tabaqdt, I, zoz.
3 8 Ibn al-Jawzi, Talqih, 1 97-205 .
39 Sakhawl, Path, 379; Nawawl, Tahdhib,
35i-
40 Ibn Sa'd, FV/ii, 54ff; Khatib, Sunna,
411-68.
41 F. Wiistenfeld, Genealogische Tabellen der
Arabischen Stdmme und Familien (Gottingen,
i852-53CE),no.io.
42 IbnSa'd,IV/ii,54.
4 3 Azami, Schacht's Origins, no.
44 Ibn SaM, 60; Khatib, Sunna, 415.
45 Ibid., 56.
46 Ibid., 58.
47 Sahifa Hammdm ibn Munabbih, 3 8—9.
4 8 Sahifa Hammdm ibn Munabbih, 3 6-40.
49 Khatib, Smm^i, 446— 54.
50 Ibn Sa^d, IV/ii, 105-137; Azami, Early
Hadith Literature, 45-6.
51 Ibid., IV/i, 106-25.
52 Ibid.,IV/i,i24.
53 Nawawi, Tahdhib, 166; Khatib, Sunna,
472-74; Abbott, 'Hadith Literature', 290;
Azami, Early Hadith Literature, 49.
54 DhahabI, Tadhkira, 1, 3 8
55 Dha^SLh\,Tadhkira,\, ^^
56 NawaiWi,Tahdhib, i6y.
57 DhahabI, Tj^ikrra, 1, 24.
58 Khapb,Simwfl,474— 76.
h
142
5 9 DhahabT, Tadhkira, 1, 24 .
60 See for instance above, 1 9.
61 Bukhari, MaghazI, Badr (III, 5). Numerous
other instances of '^A'isha's careful criticism of
hadtth have been collected by the Indian scholar
Sayyid Sulayman Nadwi in his book Strat-i
'^A'isha (Lucknow, 1330).
62 Ibn Hajar, Tahdhlb al-Tahdhib, Xll,
no.2841.
63 Ibn al-AthIr, IJsd al-Ghaba ft Ma^rifat
al-Sahaba (Cairo, 1 280), III, 193.
64 Ibid, III, 195; Khatjb, Sunna^ 476-78;
Nawawi, TahdhTb^ 351-54.
65 \hn H2i)2iT, Tab dhibal-TahdhJbyW, no. 47 4.
66 Ibn Sa'd, Il/ii, 121; cf. Ibn 'Abd ai-Barr,
7aw/\I,85-6.
67 Abbott, Studies, II, 4.
68 NawavvT, Tabdbtb, 351-54; £/^, I. 41-1
(L.Veccia Vaglieri).
69 DhahabI, T£7^/7^/r(2, 1, 37.
70 Nawawi, Tabdbtb^ 185.
71 Sezgin, I, 85; Khatlb, Sunna^ 478-80;
Nawawi, Tabdbtb, 1 84-86.
72 Ibn Hajar, Tabdbib al-Tabdbtb, II, no. 67.
73 Nawawj, Tabdbtb., 723; Khapb, Sunna,
480-1.
74 Ibn *^Abd al-Barr, /sfrj/?, 11, 308-16.
75 Ibnal-Athir, UsJ, III, 233-35.
76 Ibid., cf . above, i o.
77 Sakhawi, Fath, 379.
78 Khatlb, Swn«^, 92-9.
79 Abu Daud, Sunan, Fara'id, bab al-jadda (II,
45)-
80 Dhahabi, Tadbkira., 1, 3.
8 1 Abu Daud, Sunan, Diyat al-janin (II, 280).
82 Bukhari, Sd^^il?, IV, 58.
83 Tayalisi, no.1364.
84 Ibn Sa'd,IV/i, 13-4.
8 5 Dhahabi, TadbkirUy 1, 7. For *^Umar's policy
see Khatib, Sunna, 99-1 1 1 .
86 IbnSa'd,III/i,39.
87 Abu Daud, Smw^w, 1, 220.
88 IbnSa'd,III/i,i02.
89 Ibid., 210.
90 Ibid., no.
91 Ibid., 102.
92 Ibn Abda]-Barr,yjm/^I, 78— 9.
9 3 Darimi, Sunan, 46.
94 Ibid.
95 Ibn Maja, jZ-Smw^jm (Delhi, 1333), 4.
96 IbnSaUni/i, i6i;Bukhari,5<aAiZ;,II,97.
97 Information on this extensive controversy
HADITH LITERATURE
may be found in *^Iyad, //mi*^, 146-61; Khatib
Sunna, 45-114, 295-328; Azami, Early Hadith
Literaturey 22-7.
98 IbnSa'd,IV/ii,9.
99 See above, 10.
100 Ibn Hajar, Tahdbib al-Tabdhtb, VIII,
no.8o; Khatib, 5«w«^7, 348—52.
1 01 Bukhari, Sabthy *^Ilm, bab kitabat al^lm
(1, 21 ); Azami, Early Haditb Literature, 47.
102 al-Tirmidhi, al-Jdmi^ (Delhi, 13 15), al-
Yamln ma*^ al-shahid, 1, 160.
103 Khatib, Sunna, 352; Goldziher, Mt4slim
Studies,\lyi$.
104 Ibid.
105 Ibid.; Azami, Early Haditb Literature,
42-3
106 Dhahabi, Tadbkira, I, 5; Azami, Early
Haditb Literature, 34—5.
107 Ibn Sa*^d, Il/ii, 123; Azami, Early Hadith
Literature, 40-1 .
108 TirmidhT, 238.
1 09 Ibn Sa'd, V, 2 1 6; Abbon, Studies, 1,23.
no Qastallanl, M^M^i/y/fc.
111 Ibn Hajar, fj/^, 1, 148.
1 1 2 Ibn *^Abd al-Barr,7Jm/^, 1, 74.
113 Sabifa Hammam ibn Munabbib; cf.
Swnna, 355-62.
114 TirmidhI,SMWJw, II, 91.
1 1 5 Sprenger, A. 'On the Origin and Progress
of Writing Down Historical Faas among the
Musalmans'(/ASBXXV, 303-29, 375-81), 315.
116 Bukhari, Sahtb, *^Ilm, bab al-kitaba;
Azami, Early Haditb Literature, 40
117 Ibid., 52.
1 1 8 al-Daraqutni, al-Sufian (Delhi, n.d.), 204,
209,485.
119 IbnSaM, I/ii, 19.
120 Abu Daud, Sunan, Zakat al-sa'ima (1,
226). For other such documents see above, 6.
1 2 1 Azami, Early Hadith Literature, 20-7 .
122 Ibn Hanbal, al-Musnad (Cairo, 13 13), H,
403; III, 13; V, 183; Darimi, Sunan, 64ff; Mus-
lim, Sahth, Zuhd, bab hukm kitaba . . . (II, 414);
Azami, Early Haditb Literature, 22-3, 39.
1 23 Ibn "^Abd al-harr, ]dmt^, 1, 63-8; Sprenger,
'On the Origins', 304-1 7.
1 24 Darimi, Sunan, 64; Sprenger, 'On the Ori-
gins', 306.
125 Ibn Qutayba, Ta'wtl Mukbtalifal- Hadtth.
Beirut, n.d.
126 lhnHa']ar,Fath,4ji.
127 These are: Abu ^Abs, Ubayy ibn Ka^b,
hlotes to Chapter Three
143
'Abd Allah ibn Rawaha, Aws ibn Khawli, al-
Mundhir ibn ^Amr, Usayd and his fadier
al-Hudayr, Sa'^d ibn *^Ubada, and Rafi*^ ibn Malik.
128 IbnSa'd,III/ii,9i.
129 al-Isfahani, Kitdb al-Aghdnt (Cairo,
1323), XVI, 121. The Bedouin,' says Goldziher,
'despises reading and wriring even today.' (Gold-
ziher, Muslim Studies, 1, 1 .)
1 30 Ibn al-Athir, Usd, sv. ''Abd Allah ibn Sa'id
ibn al-^AsF.
131 Ibn'^Abdal-Barr,7Jw/*,472.
132 IbnSa'd, Il/ii, 14.
133 Ibid.
134 Ibn Hanbal, Musnad^ V, 3 1 5 .
135 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, 11,22.
NOTES TO CHAPTER THREE
1 Tirmidhi, jdmt^, II, 90; cf. '^lyad, //W, 13;
Azanniy Schacht's Origins, 109.
2 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, I, 22.
3 Ibn Hanbal, M«5«a^, V, 3 28.
4 IbnSaM, Ill/ii, 23.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid. V, 21 3.
7 Ibn ^Abd al-Barr,7^m/*, 1, 45.
8 Sakhawi,fjf^, 396-97.
9 Ibid.
ID lbnSaM,V, 140.
1 1 Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-A^ydn (Got-
tingen, i835CE)no.574.
12 Ibn Abdal-Barr,yam/*, 1, 97.
1 3 Yaqut, Mujam al-Vdaba (London, 1923-
25Ce)J, 17.
1 4 Nawawi, Tahdhib, 629-30.
1 5 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, I, 290.
1 6 Nawawi, Tahdhtb, 1 74.
1 7 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1, 3 5 5 .
1 8 Yaqut, Mu^jam al- Vdaba', 1, 1 7.
19 Ibid.
20 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1, 1 72.
21 Ibid., 11, 147.
22 Ibn 'Abdal-Barr,7<iw/*', 1,98.
23 Ibn Hajar al-'^Asqalani, Muqaddima Path
a/-Barr(Delhi, 1302), 566.
24 Ibn "^ Abd al-Barr, Jdmf, 1, 97-8 .
25 Suyud, Tadrtb al-Rdwt {Cairo, 1 307), 279.
26 Nawawi, TaM/7ib, 719.
27 Ibid., 534.
28 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1, 290.
29 al-KhatIb al-BaghdadI, Tdrtkh Baghddd,
:ix,33.
30 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1, 29 1 .
31 Suyuti, Tabaqdt al-Huffdz (Gottingen,
1833CE), IX, 100; al-Khatlb al-Baghdadi, Tdrtkh
Baghddd (Cairo, 1349), VI, 122. It should be
observed here that the vast majority of these
students may have been irregular students. Regu-
lar students, particularly those entered in a formal
institution, were far fewer. For instance, the num-
ber (one thousand) of students who attended the
hadtth college founded by Abu *^Ali al-Husayni
(d. 3 93/1 003) at Nisabur is remarkably high for
an organised institution. See J. Pedersen/G. Mak-
disi, 'Madrasa' in £/* V, 1 1 26.
32 Azami, Early Hadith Literature, 188-94;
d. above, 86.
33 SuyiJti, Tabaqdt, IX, 100; al-Khatib al-
Baghdadl, Tdrtkh Baghddd, VI, 1 22.
3 4 Nawawi, Tahdhtb, 532.
3 5 Kamali, Principles, 65-8; Azami, Schacht's
Origins, 2.
36 Muir, W. Life of Mahomet (Edinburgh,
191 2Ce), xxxvi. Cf. Kamali, Principles, 65.
37 Ibn Hazm, al-lhkdm ft Usui al-Ahkdm
(Cairo, 1 345-47), II, 2-3, 83-4.
3 8 Kamali, Principles, 6 5 .
3 9 See also below, chapter 7.
40 For details on the process of falsification,
see Khatib, Sunna, 185-292; Kamali, Principles,
65-8.
41 Khatib, Sunna, 206-8; Kamali, Principles,
66-j', al-Hakim al-Nisaburi, translated by J.
Robson, An Introduction to the Science of Tradi-
tion (London, 1953CE), 27.
4 2 Suyuti, Tadrtb, 1 03 .
43 Ibid.
44 Yaqut, Mujam al- Udabd', 1, 286.
4 5 Hakim (Robson), Madkhal, 27-8. For Shf I
hadith invention, see Khatib, Sunna, 195-203;
for the Khawarij, ibid., 204-6.
46 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 52; d. Ibn
Khallikan, no. 764.
47 Yaqut, Mujam al- Vdabd', VI, 94.
48 Ibn Hajar al-^Asqalanl, Lisdn al-MJzdn
(Hyderabad, 1 3 2^3 1 ), V, no. 1 1 3 6.
49 Suyuti, Tadrtb, 103.
50 IbnHajar, L/sJw, IV,no.i296.
51 Guillaume, Tr^^/>/o«s, 73.
5 2 Ibn Hajar, Lisdn, V, 4 3 1 .
144
53 Cf. for instance Ibn al-Jawzi, Mawditat,
ed. ^Abd al-Rahman 'Uthman (Medina, 1386-
89), passim; Khatib, Sunna, 208-10; Kamali,
Principles^ 67.
54 For their influence on the generation of
hadith, see Khatib, Sunna^ 210-1 2; Kamali, Prin-
ciples, 67. For background to their activities, and
a translation of some typical Qussas tales, see
M. L. Swartz's edition and translation of Ibn
al-jawzl's Kitdb al-Qussds wa'l-Mudhakkirfn
(Beirut, 197 ice), especially the editor's introduc-
tion, pp 39-80.
5 5 Considered by al-Damiri to have been the
first storyteller in Islam. Goldziher, Muslim Stu-
dieSyUy i$i.
56 According to Ibn Sad, he, rather than
al-Dari, was Islam's first 'storyteller'. Ibn Sa*^d, V,
34-
57 al-Kindi, al-Wuldt wal-Qudat (Leiden,
191 2Ce), 303-4 fn; cf. Goldziher, Muslim Stu-
dies,]}, 151.
5 8 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, 11,151.
59 Ibid., II, 1 5 1-52; Isfahan?, Aghdnt, XII, 5.
60 Ibid.
61 al-Tha'^alibi, Yattmat al-Dahr (Cairo,
1352), III, 179.
6 2 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, 11,158.
63 al-Tabarl, Tdrikh al-Rusul wal-Mulitk
(Leiden, i888cE),III,2i3i.
64 Hakim (Robson), Madkhal, 28-9; Khatib,
5««mj, 213-15.
65 al-Dhahabi, Mizan al-f tidal ft Naqd al-
Rijdl (Cairo, 1325), III, 245; Suyuti, Tadrib, 102;
cf. Kamali, Principles, 68.
66 Dhahabi, Mtzdn, I, 7-8; cf. Kamali, Prin-
ciples, 68.
67 Dhahabi, MfzJn, 67.
68 Ibn Ha jar, Lisdn, 1, 4 1 9.
69 Ibid.,VI,no.8i9.
70 Ibid., no.480; Suyuti, Tadrib, 102.
71 Dhahabi, MfzJn, I, no.3 21.
72 Ibid., II, 13.
73 Ibid., 23.
74 Ibid., Ill, 257.
7 5 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 5 5 .
76 Suyup, Tadrib, 102.
77 Ibid., 100.
78 Dhahabi, Mfzjn,!, no. 22.
79 Ibid., no. 562.
80 Ibid., no. 5 64.
81 Ibid.,no.403.
82 Ibid., no. 2918.
HADITH LITERATURE
83 Ibid., no. 3 64 1.
84 Ibid., no. 3950.
85 lbn'Abdal-Barr,7iw/*,II,i29.
86 Khatib, Sunna, 11*^49; see above, p. 30.
87 Ibn Abd al-Barr,/iw/*^, II, 132.
88 Ibid., 1, 80.
89 Muslim, Sahth, 1, 1 1 .
90 DaTim\,Suru2n,6j.
91 Muslim,Stf^/i^,I,4.
92 Suyuti, Tadrib, 183. For some instances of
the very early use of isnad, sec Khatib, Sunna,
220-26.
93 Muslim, Sahih, 1, 1 2.
94 Darimi, Sunan, 61. Criticism of narrators
by the first two generations is described in Khatib,
S«Hn J, 232-39.
9 5 Na wawi, Tahdhib, 531-32.
96 Ibn Abd al-Barr, /im/*, II, 48; Ibn 'Asakir,
Tdrikh Dimashq (Damascus, 1332), IV, 172.
97 al-Shafi'i, al-Kisdla (Cairo, 1 3 1 2), 5 7f f .
98 Subki, Tabaqdt, 1, 10.
99 Nawawi, Tahdhib, 629; Suyuti, Tabaqdt,
VIII, 17.
100 Dhahabi, Mizdn, I, 18; SuyiJti, Tabaqdt,
VIII, 1 10.
I o I Subki, Tabaqdt, 1, 202-3 .
102 Abbott, 5/M^/es, II, 83.
1 03 See above, 132; also Loth, 'Ursprung und
Bedeutung der Tabaqat,' ZDMG XXIII, 593;
Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 56.
104 Muslim,5tf^i^,1, 15.
105 Ibid., 1, 6.
106 Ibid., 1, 13.
107 Nawawi, TjM^ii?>, 316.
108 Suy uti, Tadrib, 16 z,
109 These traditionists included al-A^mash,
Shu'ba, Malik, Ma*^mar, Hisham al-Dastuwa*i,
al-Awza% al-Thawri, Ibn al-Majishun, Hammad
ibn Salama, al-Layth ibn Sa*^d, and, somewhat
later, Hushaym, Ibn al-Mubarak, Abu Ishaq al-
Fazari, al-Mu*^afa ibn *^Imran, Bishr ibn al-
Mufaddal, Ibn *^Uyayna, Ibn *^UIayya, Ibn Wahb
and Wakf ibn al-Jarrah. (Cited by al-Jaza'iri,
Tawjih, 114.)
no IbnSa*^d,IV/ii, III.
111 Ibn al- Athir, Vsd, III, 1 94.
112 Ibid., 234.
113 IbnSa'd,IV/i,i6i.
114 Ibid., Ill/ii, 20.
115 Ibid.,V,9off.
116 Ibid.,VII/i,82.
117 Ibid., 103.
J
fslotes to Chapter Four
145
118 Ibid.,VII/i,ii9.
119 Ibid., VI, 51.
120 Ibid., V, 90, 93, 95-6.
1 1 1 Dhahabi, Tadhkira^ 1, 1 1 5 •
1 22 al-Mubarrad, al-Kdmil (Leipzig, 1 864CE),
l,z84-
123 lbnKhallikan,no.56o.
1 24 Nawawi, Tahdhib, 287.
125 IbnKhallikan, no. 304.
126 Ibid., no. 2.70.
127 Ibid., nos. 25 1, 2.78.
128 Ibid.,no.i55.
1 29 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1, 1 62-64.
130 IbnKhallikan,no.775.
1 3 1 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1, 1 83ff.
1 3 2 Subkl, Tabaqat, 1, 203-1 6.
133 Dhahabi, T^^^^7r<3, 1, 6ff.
134 Ibid., i6iff.
135 Suyut\,TabaqdtyVily6i.
136 Ibn 'Abd al-Bar^/imi', 1, 163-86,
137 Ibid., 1, 93-4.
138 Ibid.,1,35.
139 Ibid.
140 For the rihb phenomenon, see al-Khatib
al-Baghdadl, al-Kihla ft Talab al-Hadtth, ed. Nur
al-Dln *^Itr (Damascus, 1395); Khatib, Sunna^
176—84; Abbott, Studies, II, 40-3.
141 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1,95.
142 Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, IV, no.
145.
143 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1, 7 1 .
144 Ibn^Abdal-Barr,7am/^,I,95.
145 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1, 46ff.
1 46 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 1 66.
147 Nawawi, T^W/7/b, 646.
148 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, I, 25 5.
149 Nawawi, Tj/7{i/7Ji^, 353.
1 50 Suyutl, Tabaqdt, VII, 69.
151 Ibid., V, 45.
1 5 2 Yaqut, Mujam al- Vdaba, V, 1 40.
153 IbnSaM,ll/ii. 131.
154 Nawawi, Tahdhib, 218.
155 Ibid., 210.
156 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1,153.
157 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1,153.
158 Ibid, 1, 1 1 1.
NOTES TO CHAPTER FOUR
1 Cf. pp.9- 10 above. A list of some of the
earliest legal texts is given in Azami, Schacht's
Origins, Z4-$.
2 For some insights into the change in con-
sciousness, both positive and negative, brought
about by mass literacy, see A. K. Coomaraswamy,
The Bugbear of Literacy (London, 1948CE).
3 Cf. F. Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen Sch-
rifttums (Leiden, 1967CE).
4 Ibn al-Nadlm, Fihrist, 89.
5 R. Nicholson, Literary History of the Arabs
(Cambridge, 1930CE), 13. It is surprising that
Margoliouth does not even mention the name of
this author in his Lectures on Arabic Historians
(Calcutta, 1930CE).
6 Ibn al-NadIm, Fihrist, 90.
7 Ibid. For other Arabic medical works of this
period, see my Studies in Arabic and Persian
Medical Literature (Calcutta, 1959CE).
8 J. Horovitz, 'The Earliest Biographies of the
Prophet and their Authors' (i), /C, I (1927),
535-59.53^39-
9 Ibid.
10 IbnSa'd,V,i33.
11 HajlKhaIIfa,V,535-^.
12 Ibid, 540— 41.
13 A. Harley, 'The Musnad of '^Umar b.
'Abdin-'Aziz\JASB, XX, 391-488.
14 Tayalisl, MM5n^, title page.
15 Hajl Khalifa, V, 533.
16 COPL, v/i, 157-62.
17 Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, IV, no.
316; Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 1, 3 22; "^lyad, Ilma^, 61 .
18 The printed text, as well as the Patna MS,
appear to be incomplete. The traditions related by
al-'^Abbas ibn al-Muttalib, al-Fadl ibn "^Abbas,
*^Abd Allah ibn Ja'^far, Ka*^b ibn Malik, Salama ibn
al-Akwa^ Sahl ibn Sa'^d, Mu^awiya, and *^Amr ibn
al-*^As, whose hadiihs are referred to on other
pages, are entirely missing from the body of this
version. Some of the traditions narrated by *^Umar
are likewise misplaced. C{. Tayalisi, Musnad,
20-1.
1 9 Students of Tayalisi are gready assisted by
the concordance of al-Sa'^atl, Minhat al-Ma'^biid fi
tartib Musnad al-Taydlisi AbQ David (Cairo,
1372).
20 Hajl Khalifa, V, 5 3 3 ; cf. Sakha wl. Path, 34.
21 All sections of the book are transmitted on
his common authority.
|AJ>11|
146
22 Robson, J, 'Standards Applied by Muslim
Traditionists,' (Bulletin of the John Ry lands Lib-
rary XLUl {1 $6 iCE)^ ^$^j 9), 46 j .
23 Tayalisi, Musnad, nos.77, 241, 263, 387,
484, 1060, 1 1 58, 2179 ^f^-
24 Ibid., nos 1 02 1, etc.
25 Ibid,, nos. 393, 644, 837, 886, 892, 917,
938, etc.
26 Forinstance, ibid., no38i.
27 Forinstance, ibid., nos. 456, 718, 2254.
28 For instance, ibid., nos. 519, 1539.
29 Forinstance, ibid., no. 794.
30 COPL,V/i, 157-62.
3 1 Two later editions of the Musnad have been
published in Egypt: one by al-Banna, and the
other by Shakir. The latter (Cairo, vols. 1-16,
1 3 7 3 1 9 5 4 ) is extremely scholarly, and includes a
precise and illuminanng introduction to the
author and his work. Shakir numbers each hadith,
and adds to each volume several useful indices.
Unfortunately, the editor passed away before
completing the work ; a serious loss to the world of
scholarship. The former was reprinted in i 389 m
Beirut by al-Maktab al-Islami and Dar Sadir,
together with a useful index of companions.
3 2 Ibn Hazm, jamharat Ansdb al-'^Arab (ms in
library of M. Z. Siddiqi), 230.
33 Ibid.
34 Ibid., 32i;Tabari, T^n'/j^, II, 1358.
35 al-Dinawari, al-Akhbdr al-Tiwdl (Leiden,
i888cE),335.
36 Patton, W. M., Ahmad ibn Hanbal and the
Mihna (Leiden, 1 897), 10.
• 37 Ibn Hajar, TahdhJb al-Tahdhib, I, no.i 26;
Wiistenfeld, F. Der Imam el-Schafi^i: seine
SchUler und Anhdnger bis zum ]. }oo d.H. (Got-
tingen, 1 890CE), no. 1 3 .
38 Ibid.
39 Ibid.
40 Subkl, Tabaqdt, I, 203; Patton, 108, 112,
145.
41 Patton, 142.
42 Subkl, Tabaqdt, I, 203-4; Patton, 1 72,
43 Patton, 14, 141, 147.
44 Ibid., 150.
45 Ibid., 144.
46 Patton, 152.
47 Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, I, no. 1 26 1 ;
Nawawi, Tahdhib, 1 4 2—4 5 .
48 Patton, 194.
49 Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist, 229.
50 SuhkijTabaqdtjl, zoz.
HADITH LITERATURE
51 Ibid. 203.
5 2 Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 1, 308; IV, 269.
5 3 Ibn al-NadIm, Fihrist, 229.
54 Subkl, Jabaqdty I, 202: Goldziher, 'Neue
Materialen zur Lirteratur des Uberlieferungs-
wesens bei den Muhammedaner,' (ZDMG L
( 1 896CE), 465-506), 472fn.
5 5 Dihlawi, Bustdn, 3 1 .
5 6 Goldziher, 'Neue Materialen', 4 8 5—86.
57 Cf. Khoury, R. G., 'L'importance d'lbn
Lahf a ct de son papyrus conserve a Heidelberg
dans la tradition musulmane du deuxieme siecle
de I'hegire,' Arabica, XXII (1975), 6-14; Azami
Early Hadith Literature, 29.
58 IbnHanbal,MM5na^, II, 252-53.
59 Ibid., Ill, 202.
60 Ibid.,VI, loi.
61 Ibid., Ill, 20 1. For someother instances of his
exactitude,seeibid.,I,3o8;III,33;V,352,385.
62 Ibid., II, 184; VI, 420.
63 In connection with some traditions, he
states, for instance, that he read them with his
father (Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, II, 1 57). Others, he
says, he found in his father's manuscript (III, 310),
Still others he found in the manuscript and had
heard from his father, but had not made a note of
them (IV, 96).
64 Ibid., Ill, 1 82; IV, 96; V, 26.
65 Ibid., I, 252; II, 449; in, 3; IV, 225; V, 382;
VI, 73.
66 Ibid., V, 358.
67 Ibid., 336; V, 326; VI, 326.
68 Ibid., IV, 9 1 . 'Abd Allah's editing has, how-
ever, been criticised by an eminent Indian tradi-
tionist of the last century, who claims that he
committed many mistakes in the actual arrange-
ment of the work, by including, for instance, the
narrations of the Madinans in the musnad of the
Syrians, and vice versa. Dihiawi, Bustdn, 3 1 .
69 Goldziher, *Neue Materialen', 466.
70 Haji Khalifa, V, 5 3 4-3 5 .
7 1 Yaqut, Mujam al- Vdabd\ VII, 29.
72 Ibn al-AthIr, Vsd, 1, 9-1 1 .
73 Suyuti, Tabaqdt, XXIV, no. 1 2.
74 Haji Khalifa, V, 535.
75 Ibid., V, 534-35.
76 Goldziher, 'Neue Materialen', 470.
77 Dihlawi, Bustdn, 3 1-2.
78 EI, 'Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal'-
79 Goldziher, 'Neue Materialen', 467.
80 Published at Hyderabad, 1362. Sezgin, 1-
174.
Notes to Chapter Four
M7
8 1 Published at Bombay, 1386-90. Sezgin, I,
108-9.
82. Schacht, J., ibn Rahawayh,' £P, III, 902;
Abbott, Studies, II, 69.
83 Sezgin, I, joi— 2;Tahhan, Tj/^/^n;, 41-2.
84 Sezgin, 1, 170—1; ed. A. al-A'^zaml, Beirut,
1300.
85 Haji Khalifa, V, 532-43.
86 For this genre see Tahhan, Takknj,
134-35; Abdul Rauf, "Hadtth Literature',
271-73-
87 IbnHanbal, Mmsh^J, I, 308.
88 Beirut, 1390-92; in 11 volumes. Cf. Ibn
Hajar, Muqaddima Path al-Bart (Delhi, 1302),
489; Sezgin, 1,99.
89 IbnKhallikan,no.409.
90 Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist, 228.
91 Haji Khalifa, III, 629.
92 Dihlawl, Bustan^ 5 1 .
93 al-Sam'^anl, al-Ansdb (Leiden, 191 2Ce)
355b.
94 Bombay, 1 3 86-90. Cf . Sezgin, 1, 1 08-9.
95 The best-known study of his life and Sahih
is al-lmam al-Bukhdrt wa-Sahtlmh by the late
'Abd al-Ghani '^Abd al-Khaliq, known as Abu'l-
Kamal, formerly Imam of the Sayyida Nafisa
mosque complex in Cairo. TTiis book was orig-
inally an introduction to "^Abd al-Khaliq's edition
of the Sahth^ published in Mecca by the Maktabat
al-Nahda in 1 376, and was later republished as a
separate work, both in Jedda and the United
States. Here we are using the Jedda edition of
1405.
96 For detailed accounts of the life and Sahth
of Bukharl, see, in addition to the work of "^Abd
al-Khaliq: Sezgin, I, 115-34; Tahhan, Takhrij,
1 10-4; Abdul Rauf, 'Hadtth Literature,' 274—75.
97 Qastallani, /rs/75fi, 1, 36.
98 Arberry, A., 'The Teachers of Al-BukharT',
IQ XXXI (1967), 34-49; Sezgin, M. F., Buhd-
rt'nin Kaynaklari hakkinda ara^tirmalar (Istan-
bul, 1956).
99 Ibn Hajar, Muqaddima, 564.
1 00 QastallanI, Irshdd, 1, 44f.
1 o 1 Ibn Hajar, Muqaddima, 566.
102 Suhk'i, Tabaqdt^W, 4.
1 o 3 Na wa wi, Tahdhib, 90.
1 04 Subkl, Tabaqdt, II, 6.
1 05 For these see Abbott, Studies, II, 5 2-3 .
106 QastallanI, Irshddy I, 36ff; Ibn Hajar,
Muqaddima, $6Si{; Nawawl, TahdhJb, 87-91.
107 SubkJ,T-£i6^^J/,II, 5.
108 'Abd al-Khaliq, 147-54; d. Ibn al-NadIm,
Fihrist, 230; Ibn Hajar, Muqaddima, 493:
QastallanI, Irshdd, 35. BukharTs best-known
works, apart from the Sahih, are: al-Tdrikh al-
KabJr, Hyderabad, 1361, in 8 vols., cf., above
100; al-Tdrikh al-Saghir, Allahabad, 1325; and
Raf^ al-yadayn, Delhi, 1 299.
109 QastallanI, Irshdd, 1, 33ff., 46.
110 Guillaume, A. The Traditions of Islam
(Oxford, i924CE),93.
111 Nawawl, Tahdhtb, 95; Suyuti, Tadrtb,
24. For a listing and assessment of the various
printed editions, see ^ Abd al-Khaliq, 24 5-5 6.
112 Or 300,000, according to another
account. Of these, he had 100,000 by heart.
Abbott, Studies, II, 69.
1 1 3 For a detailed analysis of Bukharl's under-
standing of the term 'sound' (Sahih), see
QastallanI, Irshdd, I, 22ff ; *^Abd al-Khaliq, 200-1 .
1 14 QastallanI, Irshdd, I, 22ff.
1 1 5 Ibid.
1 1 6 SuyiJtl, Tadrtb, 30
117 Ibn Hajar, Muqaddima, 13; QastallanI,
Irshdd, I, 1 1—2.
1 1 8 Ibn Hajar, Muqaddima, 1 2f ; QastallanI,
Irshdd, I, 22f.
119 ^Abd al-Khaliq, 230-39. Twenty-eight
shorter glosses are also listed in this source
(pp. 23 9-4 2), sixteen epitomes (pp.242-43), and
sixteen works on matters relating to its indexing,
biographical information, and so forth (pp. 243-
45). Other lists of commentaries may be consulted
in QastallanI, Irshdd, I, 39-42, and Haji Khalifa,
11,521-39.
120 HajiKhalifa, II, 545.
121 Jaza'irl, Tawjih, 96-1 13.
122 Nawawl, al-Minhdj ft Sharh Sahih Mus-
lim ibn al-Hajjdj (Cairo, 1 347), 8.
1 23 A. Mingana has published a note on a ms.
of som.e old fragments of the Sahih of al-Bukharl
as 'An Important ms. of Bukharfs Sahih\ JRAS
(1936), pp.287-92. He describes the special fea-
tures of the manuscript, and promises to publish a
complete set of facsimile reproductions of it (this
was apparently never achieved). His suggestion,
however, that the book was not composed by
al-Bukharl, but by a student of the book one or
two generations after the great traditionist, on the
grounds that the word akhbarand is used for him,
and haddathand for the later narrators, is mis-
taken. For the stria use of these terms was far
from being definitely fixed at the time of al-
148
Bukhaii. In the Risdla Taqytd al-^llm of al-Khatib
al-Baghdadi, the author is introduced by the term
akhbarana, and other narrators by haddathana.
124 'al-BukhaiT, £7,1,783.
125 For his Xiit and work see Sezgin, I, i}6ii;
Abdul Rauf, 'Hadtth Literature', 275.
1 26 Ibn Hajar, Isdba, 1, 75 2.
127 IbnHazm,/am/7ar(2,fol.288.
128 Ibid.'
129 Ibid.
130 Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhtb, X,
no.226.
131 IbnKhalUkan,no.727.
132 Dihiawi, Bustdn, 117.
133 Ibn al-Nadlm, Fihrist, 23 1 . Perhaps Mus-
hm's best known work, other than the Sahth, is his
Kitab al-Tamyiz, ed. M. M. al-A*^zami, Riyadh,
1395/1975-
134 HajT Khalifa, II, 54 iff; cf. Nawawi,
Minhaj, 1, 4.
135 Nawawi, Minhaj, 1,5.
136 QastaDani, Irshddy 8-9.
1 3 7 Nawawi, Minhajy 5 .
138 Muslim,SflAi^,muqaddima, 3 ff.
139 The distinctiori is explained in greater
detail in *^Iyad, //mi*^, 1 22—34.
140 Nawawi, Mm/?^;, 5.
141 Dihlawt, Bustdn, 117.
142 Nawawi, Mm^ J/, 8.
143 Twenty-seven commentaries on the work
arc listed by Sezgin, 1, 1 36-40.
144 Edited by M. M. A*^zami, Beirut, 1 391—97
in four volumes. Cf . Tahhan, TakhrTj, 213.
145 Ibn Hibban's hadiths are most usually
consulted in the work of al-HaythamI (d.807/
1405), Mawdrid al-zam'dn ild zawd'id Ibn
Hibbdn. This includes such of Ibn Hibban's
hadiths as arc not also recorded by Bukhari and
Muslim, numbering 2,647.
146 TirmidhFs work is more properly a jdmt^
collection, including material on all the various
topics; but as it has conventionally acquired the
tide Sunan^ it has been included in this chapter for
ease of reference.
147 Nawawi, Tahdhtb, 709. Wiistenfeld,
Schdfi'i, 91, doubts the accuracy of the statement
that Abu Daud had been engaged on his book for
this period.
148 Sam^anl, Ansdby 293; Nawawi, TahdhJb,
709.
149 IbnKhaUikan,no.27i.
150 Yaqut, Mu^jam al-Bulddn, III, 44.
HADITH LITERATURE
151 Sam'^anl, Ansdby 293.
152 Subki, Jabaqdt, 11,48.
153 Yaqut, MMV^^m^Z-Bw/dlan, III, 44.
154 Nawawi, T^M/y/fc, 710.
155 An account oi many of these teachers may
be found in the works on asmd* al-rijdl.
156 Subki, Ta^o^j/, II, 49.
157 Nawawi, Ta/7c//7F?7, 710.
158 For the Sunan, see Sezgin, I, 149-52;
Abdul Rauf, "^Hadith Literature', 276.
1 59 Goldziher, Muslim Studies^ II, 230.
160 See Abu Daud's Risdla ild ahl Makka
(Beirut, n.d.).
161 AbuDaud,SMmz«, 1, 4.
162 Ibid., 1, 26.
163 Ibid., 32-3.
164 Ibid., 133— 34.
165 Ibid., 138.
166 Ibid., 162.
167 Ibid., 221.
168 Nawawi, Tfl/7^/?ifc, 711— 12.
1 6^ For this work see Sezgin, 1, 154-59; Abdul
Rauf, 'Hadith Literature', 276.
170 It is interesting to record that his tomb,
vandalised by the Soviets, was restored by the
Uzbek authorities in 14 10/1990, and is now once
again an important centre for pious visits.
1 7 1 Dihiawi, Bustdn^ 121.
172 Tirmidhi,/Jw/^I, 5.
173 Ibid., 1, 13.
174 Ibid., II, 16.
175 Other terms, which need not detain us
here, are occasionally encountered in his work.
176 Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddinuiy 1 4-5 .
1 77 Ibid., i4ff; Suyuti, TadrJby 53—4.
178 Subki, Tabaqdty II, 83-4; Ibn Khallikan,
no. 28.
1 79 Wiistenfeld, Schdfi^i, 70.
1 80 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, II, 268.
181 For the Sunan see Sezgin, 1 67-69; Abdul
Rauf, 'Hadtth Literature', 276.
182 Subki, Tabaqdt, II, 84. The original Sunan
was published in a six-volume facsimile edition in
Beirut in 141 1/1991.
183 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 23 2.
1 84 Dhahabi, Tadhkira^ II, 268.
185 Haji Khalifa, III, 626-27.
186 Cf. Sezgin, I, 1 14-15; Abdul Rauf,
'Hadtth Literature', 277. An ancient manuscript
copy was brought from Mecca, and lithographed
and published in India at the instance of Nawwab
Siddiq Hasan Khan of Bhopal, one of the nine-
V
Notes to Chapter Four
teenth century's great patrons of hadtth learning.
187 al-Diyarbakrl, Tdrtkh al-Khamis (Cairo,
; ,309l?]),ll,34i.
188 Darimi, Smhjw, editor's introduction, 6.
189 Sam'^ani, Ansdb, 218b; DhahabI, Tadh-
ib;rtz, II, 1 1 5-17.
190 Ibnal-Salah, MMfyjJJ/m^, 15.
191 Darimi, Sunan, editor's introduction, 7;
' Dihlawi, Bw^rJw, 48.
192 Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddima, 1 5.
1 9 3 Dihla wl, Muqaddima, introduction.
194 Haji Khalifa, V, 540.
195 Forthe workseeSezgin, 1, 147— 48; Abdul
Rauf, * Hadtth Literature', 276-77.
196 DhahabT, T^(i/7i^zr^, II, 209ff.
197 Dihlawi, Muqaddima^ introduction. One
I might also note the verdia of Ibn al-jawzl to the
\ effea that hadJths on the merits of individuals,
, tribes or towns are usually fraudulent. Ibn al-
Jawzi's work, however (the Mawdudt)^ is gener-
ally regarded as exaggerated in its approach; d.
al-Zurqanl, Sharh ^ald al-Manzuma al-Bayquntya
fi'l-Mustalah, ed. Nabll al-SharIf (Beirut, 1405/
\ 1 98 5), 94-5-
198 al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tdrtkh Baghdad^
XII, 34—40.
199 See above, 91.
; 200 IbnKhallikan, no.32.
201 Ibid., no. 626.
202 Ibid., p. 38.
203 Ibid.
204 Ibid., nos. 132,445.
! 205 For a list of these, see Wiistenfeld, Sc/7<2/r/,
no. 23 5.
206 FortheSM«aM,seeSezgin, 1, 206-9.
207 al-BaghawT, Masdbth al-Sunna (Cairo,
n.d.),2.
208 DihlawT,BM5tJn,48.
209 Subki, Tabaqdt, III, 4.
210 Hajl Khalifa, III, 627; Abdul Rauf,
'Hadtth Literature', 281-82. His best-known
work, al-Sunan al-Kubrd, was published in a ten
volume edition in Hyderabad, 1344.
211 Subki,T^6a^af, III, 3-5.
212 Sezgin,1, 104.
213 Dhahabi, Tadhkira, 11, 5 .
214 Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, III,
no.148.
215 DhahabI, Tadhkira, 11, 5; Dihlawi, Bt4S-
tdn^ 5 1 .
2 1 6 Sam*^ani, Ansdby sub. nom.
217 Seebelow, 31.
218 al-KhatIb al-BaghdadI, Tdrtkh Baghdad,
VI, 122.
219 DhahabI, Tadhkira, III, 1 29.
220 DhahabI, Tadhkira, III, 1 29.
221 Haji Khalifa, V, 629; Tahhan, Takhrij,
45-
222 Tahhan, T^^^n/, 45-6.
223 TabaranI, al-Mujam al-Saghtr (Cairo,
1388); for which see Tahhan, Takhrtjy 36.
Towards the end of the book, however, two or
three traditions with the same isndd are some-
times given. Hadtths included in these three
Mujatns, and in the Musnads of al-Bazzar and
Abu Ya'^la al-Mawsill, but not found in the Sound
Six collections, are gathered in the Majma^ al-
Zau/d'id tva-Manba^ al-Fau/d'id of al-Haythami,
published in ten volumes in Cairo in 1352. Cf.
Tahhan, Takhrij, 1 20.
224 Hajl Khalifa, V, 623-30. The best known
are the Mujam al-Sahdba of Ahmad ibn *^AlI ibn
Lai (d.398/1008), the Mu'jarrt al-Sahdba of Abu
Ya*^la al-Mawsill (d.307/91 9), cf Tahhan, Takhrfj,
46; and the Mujam al-Sahdba of Ibn Qani*^
(d.3 5 1/962); d. Sezgin, 1, 1 89.
225 Shah Wall Allah al-DihlawI, Hujjat Allah
al-Bdligha (Cairo, 1 3 5 2), 1, 1 3 2-4.
226 Ibid.
227 Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddima, 8.
228 Sakhawi, Path, 1 6.
229 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 240-4 1 .
230 Distinguished hadtth expert who died in
353/964 in Egypt, and whose Musannaf was
recognised a century after his death by Ibn Hazm
as one of the finest collections of hadtth.
231 Suyutiy TadribyZ^.
232 Ibid., 32.
233 Ibid., 56.
234 C(. Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II,
240-41.
235 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 24 3 .
236 Such as, for instance, Dihl%)yl, Hujja, I,
134-35-
I50
HADITH LITERATURE
NOTES TO CHAPTER FIVE
1 For the isndd sy 5>tem, see "^lyad, lima, 1 94-
98; Azami, Early Hadtth Literature, z 11-47;
idem, Schachfs Origins, 154-212; J. Rohson,
'The Isnad in Muslim Tradition', reprinted from
Transactions of the Glasgow University Oriental
Society, XV ( 1 96 5 ce), pp. 1 5-26.
2 Leone Caetani, Annali deW Islam (Milan
1905-18; Rome, 1926CE), I, 30.
3 J. Horovitz, 'Alter und Ursprung des Isnad',
Der Islam, VIII (1917CE), 39-47. Cf. Azami,
Schachfs Origins, 1 67.
4 Their conclusions are summarised m A. H,
Harley, 'The Musnad oi^X^mzv ibn 'Ahd al-'Aziz',
{JASB, New Series, XX (1924CE), 391-488),
404-5.
5 The falsity of this presupposition has been
shown by Abbott, Studies, 11, 64, and passim.
6 lectures on Arabic Historians, 20.
7 Horovitz, 'Alter'. Whether the isndd system
really goes back a long distance towards the
Mosaic period is, however, open to doubt; Horo-
vitz has not proved that these Hsndds' arc not later
interpolations.
8 Ibn Hazm, al-Fisal fiU-Milal wal-Ahwa
wa'l-nihal (Cairo, 1 347), II, 67-70.
9 As far as I am aware, no senous notice of this
faa has yet been taken. It was pointed out to me
for the first time by my late friend Dr. Prabodh-
chandra Bagchi, the Vice-Chancellor of Visva-
Bharati University (India).
10 Mahabharata, Book i, canto I; cf.
Wintemitz, History of Indian Literature (Cal-
cutta, I927CE),I,323.
1 1 Translated by A. B. Keith, The Sdnkhayana
Aranyaka, with an appendix on the Mahdirata
(Lx)ndon, 1908CE), 71— 2.
12 Sacred Books ofthe East, XV, 114-1-;.
1 3 Wintemitz, A History of Indian Literature,
Il,34,fn.3.
1 4 P. Cordier, Catalogue du fond Tihetain de
la Bibliothcque Nationale (Paris, 191 5CE), III,
163.
I 5 Caetani, Annali, I, 3 1 .
16 Horovitz, 'Alter', 43— 4.
1 7 Who, according to Caetani, never used the
isndd method.
1 8 J. Horovitz, 'The Earliest Biographies of the
Prophet and their Authors', (/C I (i927Ce),
535-59),55^5i-
19 Schacht, Joseph. The Origins of Muham-
madan Jurisprudence (Oxford, 1 9 5 9CE), 3 7, 163.
20 \h\d.,^6.
21 For this account, see Khatlb, Sunna, 220;
Nawawi, Minhdj, 1, 84.
22 Robson, 'Standards,' 460; cf. Khatlb,
Sunna, 220.
23 Robson, 164, fn.i.
24 Abbott, Studies, II, 2; d. II, 5-3 2.
25 Qastallanl, Mju'J/j/Z?, V, 454.
16 Khatih, Sunna, 111.
27 Azami, Schacht's Origins, 155.
28 Horovitz, 'Alter', 47.
29 Suyuti, Tadrib, 20—1 .
30 Sakhawi, Path, 8-10. This isndd has been
criticised by Schacht (Origins, 170, 176), on the
grounds that Malik was too young at the time of
Nafi'^s death, and therefore could not have heard
from the latter. This argument, however, assumes
that the reader will not check the faas for himself,
for Malik was almost 23 years of age when Nafi'
d\cd, and was hence in a perfealy good position to
study under him. Cf. Azami, Schacht's Origins,
171. Coulson, despite his reserxations about cer-
tain aspects of Schacht's theory, here repeats
Schacht's sweeping assertion without comment
{Cambridge History of Arabic Literature, 1,319).
3 1 Nawawi, Tahdhib, 507.
32 SuyutT, Tadrib, 22-3. Another exercise
occasionally indulged in was locating the 'weakest
isndd". Some thought that this was the tsndd
Marwan-al-Kalbl-Abu Salih-Ibn ^Abbas. Cf.
Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 247 fn.2.
3 3 There are hadtth scholars even today who
can recite their hadtths complete with isndds
stretching back from themselves to the Prophet
without interruption. Such a chain typically con-
tains between twenty and diirty narrators, and is
termed al-hadtth al-musalsai
34 al-Munajjid, 'Ijazat al-Sama*^ fl al-
Makhtutat al-Qadima', in journal of the Institute
of Arabic Manuscripts, I/ii (Cairo, 1375/195 5),
232ff.
3 5 Ate§, Corum ve Yozgat kiituphanelerinden
bazJ miihim Arapqa yazmalar (Istanbul, 1 959CF),
36 C. H. Becker, Papyri SchoU-Remhardt I
(Heidelberg, 1906CE). I am indebted to Professor
Otto Spies for a copy of page 8 of Becker's work.
For additional information see J. Horovitz,
'Wahb ibn Munabbih\ EI, IV, 1084-85.
I Sotes to Chapter Six
37 Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddinuiy 8 if; Suyuti,
I Tadrth^ 1 58; Sakhawi, Fath^ 265.
38 COPL,V/i,no.24i.
39 lbid.,no.254.
40 Ibid., ii, no. 322.
41 Ibid., no. 483.
42 Ibid., Xll, no. 800.
4 3 W. Ahlwardt, Die Handschriften- Verzeich-
nisse der Komglichen BihUothek zu Berlin (Berlin,
i895Ct), II, no.246.
44 Ibn al-Saiah, Muqaddima^ 8 2.
45 A number of Arabic Mss on subjects other
than tradition and provided with notes of this type
are described by G. Vajda in his Les certificats de
lecture et de transmission dans les manuscrits
arabes de la Bihiotheque nationale de Paris (Paris,
1 956CH). See in particular pp. 37ff.
46 Margoliouth, Lectures on Arabic His-
torians^ 1 9.
47 al-KhatIb ai-Baghdadl, al-Kifaya fi ^ilm al-
Rm'jytJ (Hyderabad, 1368/1949), 171—203.
48 Ibid.'
49 Ibn al-Sa!ah, Muqaddima, 49; "^lyad, ilma^
|20J.
50 Suyuti, TjJnl?, 164.
5 1 Yaqut, Mujam al-Vdabd\ 1, 17, 26.
52 Suyuti, TadrJb, 1 64.
5 3 Yaqut, Mujam al- Udabd\ IV, 135.
54 "^lyad, //md^,48.
55 Ibid., 69—70; Sezgin, 58-9; Robson, 'Stan-
|dards\470.
56 'lyad, llma^y 70-9; Sezgin, 59; Robson,
'Standards', 470.
57 'lyad, 7/w/, 88-107; Khatib, Sunna,
3 1 1-26; Sezgin, 59; Robson, 'Standards', 470.
58 'lyad, llma^^ 79—83; Khatib, Sunna^
330-34; Sezgin, 59; Robson, 'Standards',
472— 73; Abbon,SfM(iies, /, 25.
59 'lyad, lima, 83-7; Khatib, Sunna, 334;
Sezgin, 59; Robson, 'Standards', 473-74.
60 ^Iyad,//m/, 107-15; Sezgin, 59.
61 iyad, //mj^, 11 5-1 6; Khatib, Sunna,
3 5 2—5 3 ; Sezgin, 59; Robson, 'Standards', 474.
62 ^lyad, llmay 116-17; Sezgin, 59-60; Rob-
son, 'Standards', 474; Abbon, Studies, II, 45-6.
For more on these eight categories, see also Ibn
al-Salah, Muqaddima, 50-69; Suyijtl, Tadril),
i 29—50; Sakhawi, Path, 1 70-236.
63 S u y u tl , Tad rib, 4-8 .
64 Suyuti, Tadrtb, 1 59-70.
65 For all these points, see Ibn al-Salah,
Muqaddima, 70-82; Sakhawi, Fath, 236—68;
Suyuti, Tadrib, 1 5 1-59; Kliatib, Smww^?, 237-4 1 .
66 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 4 1 .
67 Ibn 'Abd al-Bar^,;Jm/^ 1, 1 63-86.
68 Ibid.
69 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 46-7.
70 Horovitz, j, 'The F.arlicst Biographers of
the Prophet and their Authors' (ii) (/C II ( 1 928CE),
22-50), 48.
71 Ibid., 41-2.
72 See above, 47-49.
73 See above, 54.
NOTES TO CHAPTER SIX
I Suy un,Tadrib,^.
z Ibid., 256.
3 Ibid.
4 Cf . Wellhausen, J. Reste arabischen Hetden-
tums (Berlin, 1 897CE), 94-101.
5 Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddima, 1 54.
6 Suyuti, Tiicirib, 254.
7 Horovitz, 'TTic Earliest Biographies', 550,
5 58;IbnSa'd,V, J33.
8 Ibn ' AdI, al-Kamil fi Duafa al-Rifal (Beirut,
1402). TFiis text has been quoted by Jaza'iri,
Tawjih, 114.
9 Loth, O. 'Ursprung und Bedeutung der
Tabakat', {ZDMG XXIII, 593-^14), 600.
10 Ibn al-Nadim, Fthrist, ii8, 199.
II Der/5/aw, VIII, 47.
12 Khatib, 5m««^, 265.
1 3 Ibn al-NadIm, Fihrist, 99f.
14 a. Ibn al-Khayyat, Tdrikh, and his
Tabaqdt (Sezgin, 110-11; Khatib, Sunna, 265).
1 5 Ibn al-NadIm, Fihrtst, 99f .
16 Ibid., 230, 231, 233; Haji Khalifa, II, 141.
Best-known amongst these are Bukharl, al-Tarikh
al-Kabir (Hyderabad, 1381; rf. Sezgin, I, 132-3)
and his al-Tdrikh al-Saghir (Al].»habad, 1324; cL
Sezgjn, I, 133); Mushm, Kttdt i;ii-Tatr7\>iz (Sezgin,
I, 143); N^sal,al-Di/ufa' al-St^ghtr (Hyderabad.
1325); cf. also Ibn H jnhal, al "^flal iva-Ma^rifat
al-Rijdl {td, Talat Kocyigit, Ankara, 1 9to3CE).
1 7 Ibn Hajar, Isdba, \, editor's introduction, I.
18 Margoliouth, L^cfwrt's, 7f.
1 9 Kharfb, Sunna, 274-5 •
20 The best known of which is al-Dawlabi,
al-Kund wa'l-asma' (Hyderabad, 1 3 22; ct. Sezgin,
152.
HADITH LITERATURE
1, 1 72). For others see Khatib, Sunna, 276—9.
21 Leiden, 191 2CE; cf. KhatTb, Sunna, 280.
For more in this class see ibid., 279-80.
22 See above, 103-5.
23 Beirut, 1402.
24 Ed. BQran al-Dannawi and Kamal al-Hut.
Beirut, 1405/1985.
25 For some more, see KhatTb, Surtna,
28i-87;Tahhan, Tijjljfcri;, 20off.
26 See above, 136.
27 Ibn SaM, Ill/i, editor's introduction.
28 al-KhatIb al-Baghdadl, TarTkh Baghdad, V,
3I2f.
29 Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist, 171.
30 Nawawi, Tahdhib, 7; Ibn Khaliikan,
no.656.
31 al-Khanb al-BaghdadI, Tdrfkh Baghdad,
VIII, 92ff.
32 Ibid., V, 160.
33 Ibid., Ill, 121.
34 For the history of the Sachau edition of the
Tabaqat, see Appendix 111.
3 5 For some imponant lacunae in this volume
see the references given in J. Fiick, 'Ibn Sa'^d', £/^,
111,9^3.
36 Ibn Sa*^d, Ill/i, editor's introduaion, xxx et
seq.
37 Loth, 'Ursprung', 604-5; ^t>n SaM, Ill/i,
xxxvii— xxxviii.
3 8 Hitti, P. The Origins of the Islamic State
(Columbia, 1924CE), 1, 9.
39 TabarT, TarTkh, I, 11 13-16. Cf. Ibn Sa*^d,
I/i, 28, 29.
40 NsiWdiWi, Tahdhib, -J.
4 1 Ibn Hajar, Isaba, 1, 2.
42 Cf. Khatib, Sunna, 265-66; Abdul Rauf,
'Hadith Literature,' 278-79; Tahhan, Takhrij,
175-77-
43 Tahhan, TiJiij^n;, 177-78.
44 Ibn Hajar, Isaba, I, i .
4 5 al-Khanb al-BaghdadI, Tdrfkh Baghdad, X,
111-17.
46 Tahhan, Takhrfj, 171.
47 SuyutI, T(36^^(3f, XIII, 62.
48 Ibn Khaliikan, no.847. Ibn ^Abd al-Barr's
book, al-Istfdb, contained the biographies of only
three hundred Companions; a supplement was
appended by Ibn Fathun, which contained notices
of an approximately equal number. Cf. Hajl
Khalifa, 1, 277; Tahhan, Takhrij, 170.
49 Tahhan, Toij/^rv, 170-71.
50 Suyuti, Tadriby 32; Hajl KhaUfa, 1, 278f .
51 Tahhan, T^i^/7n/, 171-73.
52 Ibid., 32n.
53 Ibid., 172.
54 Ibid., 205—6.
55 For the importance of 'theological local
historiography' note the following passage, attri-
buted to Salih ibn Ahmad, author of Tabaqdt
al-Hamadhdniyyin: 'When religious scholarship
has been cultivated in a place and scholars lived
there in ancient and modern times, the students of
traditions there and all those interested in tradi-
tions should begin with a thorough study of the
hadiths of their own home town. Once the student
knows what is sound and what is unsound in their
traditions, and is completely acquainted with the
hadtth scholars of his city and their conditions, he
may occupy himself with the traditions of other
places, and with travelling in search of traditions.'
(Al-Khatib al-Baghdadl, Tdrtkh Baghdad, I, 214,
cited in F. Rosenthal, History of Muslim Histori-
ography (Leiden, 1952CE), 144. See also Ibn
al-Salah, looff.)
56 Khatib, Sunna, 267. The only previous his-
tory of the city, by Tayfur Ahmad ibn Abl Tahir
(204-280/819-883), of which only the sixth
volume is known (lithographed and translated
into German by H. Keller (Leipzig, 1908CE)),
deals only with the history of the Caliphs.
57 al-Khatib al-Baghdadl, Kifdya, appendix,
p.5.
5 8 Yaqut, Mujam al-Vdabd', 1, 248—49.
59 Access to the hadtth content of the book is
facilitated by the separate index of Ahmad al-
Ghummari: Miftdh al-Tartib li-Ahddtth TarTkh
al-KhatTh (Cairo, 1372). Cf. Tahhan, TakhrTj,
8 1-3 for the method of using this index.
60 al-Khanb al-Baghdadi, TdrTkh Baghdad, I,
224;n,52i;IV,i76;Vl,ioi.
61 Hajl Khalifa, II, II 9f.
62 Yaqut, Mujam ^j-Udabd', V, 140-44.
Apart from the History, his best-known work is his
TabyTn Kadhib al-Muftart, in which he defends the
doctrines of Ash*^arl orthodoxy against the anthro-
pomorphism of the neo-Hanbalites.
6 3 Ibn *^Asakir, TdrTkh Dimashq, I, i of.
64 'Syria' {al-Shdm) at this rime included
present-day Palesrine.
65 Ed. Girgis^^Awad, Baghdad, 1 967CE.
66 Ed. '^All al-ShabbI and Na'lm Hasan
al- Yafi, Tunis, 1 968CE.
67 Ed. Tahir al-Na*^sani, Hama, n.d.
68 Leiden, 193 ICE,
Notes to Chapter Seven
153
69 Ed. ''Abd al-Rahman al-Mu*^allimi, Hyder-
abad, 1369.
70 IbnKhallikan, nos, 32, 631.
71 Ibid.,no.626.
72 Hajl Khalifa, II, 125 f.
73 IbnKhallikan, no.406.
74 Ibid.,no.672.
75 Yaqut, Mu^jam al-Vdaba\ I, 410; Hajl
Khalifa, II, 143.
76 IbnKhallikan,no.502.
77 Hajl Khalifa, II, 157.
78 Ibid.,II, i4of.
NOTES TO CHAPTER SEVEN
1 Qur'an,XXIV,i2.
2 Qur'an, IX, 30.
3 Mulla Jiwan, Niir al-Anwdr (Calcutta,
1359), 180; al-Mubarakfuri, Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi
(Delhi, 1 34^53), II, 197.
4 Muslim, Sahth^ bab al-tayammum (1, 6 1 ).
5 ibid., 1, 10.
6 Bukhari, Sahth^ 1, 1 4 1 •
7 Al-Hakim's work, al-Madkhal ila Marifat
al-Ikit!y is the only book of this type with an
English translation: J. Robson, Art Introduction
to the Science of Tradition (London, 1 9 5 3CE).
8 Published Hyderabad, 1357.
9 Published Cairo, 1398.
10 Published Cairo, 1326, another edition
1974CE.
1 1 For a list see Suyuti, Tadrtb^ 9.
1 2 Published Lucknow, n.d.
1 3 Published Cairo, 1 307; new edition 1 379.
14 Shafi% R/sJ/a, 99.
15 For more on this division, see Zurqani,
Sharh, zzii, 59; Kamali, PrincipleSy Si-z.
16 'A hactith which a Successor {tablet) has
directly attributed to the Prophet without men-
tioning the last link, namely the Companion who
might have narrated it from the Prophet' (Kamali,
Principles, 79).
17 Jaza'iri, Tawjih, 1 13-18; cf. Tahhan, Tak-
hrTjy J $6-66.
i& Kamali, Principles, 68-70; "^Abd al-Khaliq,
63-4.
19 Jiwan, Nwr, 176.
20 Nawawl, Taqnb, 1 90.
21 Ibid., 191.
22 Beirut, 1405.
23 Kamali, Principles, 70- 1 .
24 Ibid., 71-8; KhatTb,5Mn«^, 18-20,25.
25 Qur'an, LIX, 7; cf. Azami, Schacht's Ori-
gins, 7-1$.
26 Dirimi, Sunan,z6.
27 Ibid., 32-3.
28 Bukhari, &jA^/3^, 11, 124.
29 Ibid., 137; Shafi*!, Risdla^ 114.
30 IbnSaM, I, 52.
3 1 For ray see Kamali, Principles, 251-52.
3 2 Shafi^i, Risdla, 1 1 8—20.
33 See ^AsqalanT's commentary on Bukhari,
Sahih, kitab fard al-khumus, bab qismat al-imam.
34 Muslim, Sahih, II, 264; Dihlawi, Hujjat
Allah al-Bdligha, (Lahore edition, 1 351 ah), I,
249-50.
35 Kamali, Principles, 48; Khatib, Sunna,
^3-7-
36 Darimi, Sunan, z6(i; Shafi*^!, Risdla,
1 17-19; Ibn ^Abd al-Barr,yjw/*, II, 3 1-3.
3 7 Shibli Nu'^mani, al-Pdruq, 11,196.
3 8 Khatib, Sunna, 8-1 2. For more on the legal
force of hadtth, see Kamali, Principles, 48—50.
39 As Abbott notes {Studies, II, 75—6), Orien-
talist scholarship has generally ignored the
phenomenon of matn criricism. Even so late a
writer as Coulson ('European Criticism', 317)
believes of the hadtth scholars that 'their test for
authenticity was confined to an investigation of
the chain of transmitters (isnad). There could, by
the terms of the reUgious faith itself, be no ques-
tioning of the content of the report; for this was
the substance of divine revelation and therefore
not susceptible to any form of legal or historical
criticism.' A brief inspection of works such as Ibn
al-Jawzfs Maivdudt, together with the contents
of the present section, readily corrects this
assumption.
40 Suyuti, Tadrib, 100.
41 Ibid., 99.
4 2 al-Hakim, Ma^rifa '^ Vliirn al-Hadith (Cairo,
i937CE),58ff.
43 Suyuti, Tadrib, 4S.
44 Ibid., 89.
45 Khatib, Smww^, 243.
46 Azami, Schacht's Origins, 114; Kamali,
Principles, $9.
47 Khatib, Sunna, 244-45. For the techniques
of reconciling hadtth see Kamali, Principles,
356-65.
R^pvipn?
154
HADITH LITERATURE
48 Khatib, Sunna^ 242; Azami Schachfs Ori-
gins, 11^,
49 Ibid., 247.
50 Khatib, Simna, 208-20; Kamali, Prin-
ciples^ 66—7.
5 I Khatib, Sunna, 244.
52 Ibid., 243.
53 Ibid., 242.
54 j/.MjM^(iM^^r (Medina, 1386—89).
55 al-lM^all al-MasnQ'^a fil-Ahadith at-
Mau'dQ'^a (Beirut, 1408).
5 6 al-fawaid al-MajmQ^a fi hayan al-Ahadith
al-Mau'du'a {L3\\ovQ, 1223 (1323?]).
57 Tahhan, Takhnj, 64-71, 148-49; Khatib,
SM««a, 282-91.
58 Bukharl, Sahih, bab khaiq Adam; Ibn
Hajar, Path al-Barl, VI, 230.
5 9 Bukhan, Sahih, Kitab al-Sulh, bab i ; ci. Ibn
Hajar, Path, sid. loc.
60 [Ci. Ibrahim in] Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, Istfab;
Ibn al-AthIr, Usd al-Ghdba; ShawkanI, Pawa'id,
144.
61 Ibn al-Qayyim, Zad al-Mddd (Kanpur,
1 298), 97. Cf. Bell, Love Theory tn Pearly Hanba-
lite Islam., 26.
62 Ibn Hajar, F^//;j/- Bin, VIII, 354.
NOTES TO APPENDIX I
1 Maura O'Neill, Women Speaking, Women
Listening (Mar\knoll, 1990CE), 31: 'Muslims do
not use a masculine God as either a conscious or
unconscious tool in the construction oi gender
roles.'
2 For a general overview of the question of
women's status in Islam, see M. Boisard, UHu-
manisme de I'lslam (3rd. ed., Paris, 1985CE),
1.04-10.
3 al-Khatib, Sunna, 5 3-4, 69-70.
4 See above, 18, 21.
5 Ibn Sa'd, VIII, 355.
6 Suyiitl, Tt7tin7?, 215.
7 IbnSa'd,Vin,353.
8 Maqqari,N^/^, 11,96.
9 Wijstenfeld, Genealogische Tabellen, 4 3 o.
10 al-KhatIb al-Baghdadi, Tdrikh Baghdad,
XIV,434f.
11 Ibid., XIV, 44 1-44.
12 Ibn al-'lmad, Shadhardt al-Dhahah ft
Akhbdr man Dhahab (Cairo, 1351), V, 48; Ibn
Khallikan,no.4i3.
13 Maqqari, Nafh, I, 876; cited in Goldziher,
Muslim Studies, 11, 366.
14 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 366, 'It is in
faa very common in the ijdza of the transmission
of the Bukhari text to find as middle member of
the long chain the name of Karima al-
Marwaziyya', (ibid.).
1 5 Yaqut, Mujam al-Udabd\ I, 247.
16 COPL,V/i.98L
1 7 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 3 66.
1 8 Ibn al-'^Imad. IV, 1 23, 248. Sitt al-Wuzara'
was also an eminent jurist. She was once invited to
Cairo to give her fatwd on a subjea that had
perplexed the jurists there.
19 Ibn al-Athir, al-Kdmtl (Cairo, 1301), X,
346.
20 Ibn Khallikan, no.295.
2 ] Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 367.
22 lbnal-^lmad,Vl,40.
23 Ibid.,Vlll, 14.
24 Ibn Salim,<3/-/w^i£i (Hyderabad, 1 327), 36.
25 Ibnal-'^Imad, IV, 100.
26 IbnSaiim, 16.
27 lbid.,28f.
28 Ibnal-'lmad,VI,56.
29 ibid., 126; Ibn Salim, 14, 18; al-*^UmarI,
Qiff a/- T/wmar (Hyderabad, 1 328), 73.
30 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 407.
31 IbnBatTuta, R;/7i3, 253.
3 2 Yaqut, Mujam al-Buldan, V, 1 4of .
3 3 Yaqut, Mujam al- Vdabd \ 1 7f .
34 COPL, V/i, 1 75f.
35 Ibn Khallikan, no.250.
3 6 Ibn ai-^lmad, V, 2 1 2, 404.
37 Various manuscripts of this work have
been preserved in libraries, and it has been pub-
lished in Hyderabad in 1348—50. Volume VI of
Ibn al-'^Imad's Shadhardt al-Dhahab, a large bio-
graphical dictionary of prominent Muslim
scholars from the first to the tenth centuries of the
hijra, is largely based on this work.
38 Goldziher, accustomed to the exclusively
male environment of nineteenth-cenrur)^ Euro-
pean universities, was taken aback by the scene
depicted by Ibn Hajar. Cf. Goldziher, Muslim
Studies, II,, 367: '^lien reading the great biogra-
phical work of Ibn Hajar al-'^Asqalanl on the
scholars of the eighth century, we may marvel at
the number of women to whom the author has to
dedicate articles.'
J
Notes to Appendix II
39 Ibn Hajar, al-Durar al-Kdmina ft A^yan
al-Mi'a al-Thamina (Hyderabad, 1 348-50), I, no.
40 Ibn al-'^Imad, VII, 1 2of.
4 1 Ibid., VI, 108. We are told that a!-'lraql (the
best-known authority on the hadtths of GhazalT's
ihya ^Vlum al-Dm) ensured that his son also
studied under her.
42 A summary by 'Abd al-Salam and 'Umar
ibn al-Shamma' exists (C. Brockelmann, Ges-
chichte der arahischen Litteratur, second ed.
(l^eiden, 1943-49CE), II, 34), and a defeaive
manuscript of the work of the latter is preserved in
the O.P. Librar>- at Patna {COPL, XII, no.727).
43 Ibid.
44 Sakhawi, al-Daw' al-L^mi^ li-Ahl al-Qam
al-Tasi" (Cairo, 1 3 53-5 5), XII, no. 980.
15s
45 Ibid., no. 5 8.
46 Ibid., no. 450.
47 Ibid., no. 901.
48 al-''Aydarus, al-Nur al-Sdfir (Baghdad,
i3S3),49.
49 Ibn AblTahir, see COPL, XII, no.665ff.
50 Ibid.
5 1 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 407.
52 al-Suhuh al-Wdbila, see COPL, XII,
no. 785.
53 COPL, V/ii, 54.
54 Ibid., V/ii, I 5 5—9, 1 80-208. For some par-
ticularly instructive annotated manuscripts pre-
served at the Zahiriya Library at Damascus, see
the article of "^Abd al-*^AzIz al-Maymani in al-
Mabahith al-'^llmiyya (Hyderabad: Da'irat
al-Ma'^arif, 1358), 1-14.
NOTES TO APPENDIX II
1 Pre-cmment among such undertakings was
the preparation of the Concordance and Indices
of Muslim Tradition (Leiden, 1936-88CF.), which
utilises the six canonical colleaions, together with
the Sunan of al-Darimi, the Muwatta' of Imam
Malik and the Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
Originally planned by Wensmck, Horovitz and
certain other orientalists, it was patronised by the
Royal Academy of Amsterdam, and assisted by
more than a dozen academies of research in Hol-
land and elsewhere. The work was continued by
dc Haas, and assisted by Muhammad Fu'ad "^Abd
al-Baql and others. Preparation began in 1916,
and the first volume was published in 1936, the
eighth and final volume (pertaining to proper
names) appearing in 1988. The work lists all the
important expressions occurring in the works
mentioned above, in alphabetical order, the per-
sonal and place names being listed in the last
volume. But although this monumental work is oi
considerable value, and has underpinned much
recent research, it contains an unacceptably large
proportion of errors {ci. Tahhan, Takhrtj,
92-105). For this reason, a number of institutions
>uch as al-Azhar in Cairo are now preparing
computer-based substitutes, cross-checked by
some of the world's greatest specialists in this
field.
2 The best-known Orientalist names in this
area are; A. Sprenger, E. E. Salisbury, O. V. Hon-
das, L. Krehl, 1. Goldziher, T. W. Juynboll, j.
K^orowitz, A. J. Wensinck, and, more recently, J.
Schacht, j. Robson, N. Abbott, W. M. Watt, and
G. H. A. Juynboll. TTie British scholar J. Robson
and the American N. Abbott provide examples of
Orientalists who are inclined to accept the tradi-
tional picture of hadith genesis, while Goldziher
and Schacht represent a more sceptical approach.
For an account of the early development of hadJth
scholarship in the West, see D. G. Pfannmiiller,
Handbuch der Islam IJteratur (Berlin and Leip-
zig, 1923CE); for more recent works see von
Denffer, Ahmad, Literature on Hadith in Euro-
pean Languages (Leicester, 198 ice).
3 Cited in R. Patai, Ignaz Goldziher and his
Oriental Diary (Detroit, 1987CE), 29. TTiis book
represents the first English publication of Gold-
ziher's travel diary, and offers a fascinating insight
into the psychological makeup of a certain type of
Orientalist scholar.
4 Cited in Patai, xo.
5 Reading his bilious and xenophobic diaries
gives one a clue to understanding why this dis-
missive and contemptuous theory should have
appealed to his brain. He decides, for instance,
that Wallachia can be dismissed as 'the primal
home of all physical and moral dirt, of all bodily
and psychic imperfcaion' (cited in Patai, 87).
Istanbul is 'the great Jew-town of the Muslims'
(Patai, 96; he appears to have intended this as an
insult); while the American missionary' efforts in
Syria were 'an insolence of which only Christian-
ity, the most abominable of all religions, is cap-
able' (Patai, 21).
I
156
HADITH LITERATURE
6 Among the most enthusiastic proponents of
Goldziher's theories were Protestant missionaries
like Samuel Zwemer and Temple Gairdner.
7 Sprenger, 'Notes on Alfred von Kremer's
edition of Wakidi's Campaigns,' {JASB XXV,
53—74), 62. Proof of this contention has been
supplied more recently by Abbott, Studies, 1, 24.
8 Sprenger, 'On the Origins,' 303-29 and
375-81.
9 Abbott, 5/M^/>5, II, 2.
10 Ibid; Azami, Early Hadith Literature,
301-5.
1 1 J. Fiick, 'Die Rolle des Traditionismus im
Islam', {ZDMG XCIII ( 1 939), 1-32), 1 7; cf. Rob-
son, The Isndd in Muslim Tradition (reprinted
from Transactions of the Glasgow University
Oriental Society XV {196 s), i 5-2.6), 26.
1 2 Ibid.; Abbott, Studies, II, 5-32.
1 3 Cf. for instance, the famous Ta'u/iil Mukh-
taltfal- Hadith {Interpretation of Variant Hadiths)
by Ibn Qutayba (d.276/889). (Beirut, n.d.)
1 4 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 56.
1 5 Guillaume, Traditions, 78.
16 Tirmidhi,7jm/^, I, 281.
1 7 Tirmidhi, yim/* (with Tuhfa), II, 350.
1 8 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II, 44.
19 GuiWsiumc, Traditions, 47—8
20 Fiick, 'Rolle', 23 f. Cf. KhatTb, Sunna,
502-16, for some aspects of Goldziher's position
here.
2 1 Goldziher, Muslim Studies, II. 1 27.
22 Guillaume, Traditions, yS(.
23 See above, 113— 5.
24 Siba% al-Sunna wa-Makanatuhd, 365—
420.
25 al-KhatTb,S««nj, 249-54.
26 Sc\\2icb\., Introduction, 19.
27 JuynboU, 3—4.
28 S. D. Goitein, Studies in Islamic History
and Institutions (Leiden, 1965CE), 129—30.
29 Ibid., 133. For all this, see Azami, On
Schacht's Origins, 15-18.
30 Coulson, 'European Criticism', 319; see
also his History of Islamic Law (Edinburgh,
i964CE),64-5.
31 Robson, 'Standards Applied by Muslim
Traditionists,' 460; cf . also above, 132.
3 2 See in particular her objections to Schacht's
views on 'family isndds': Studies, II, 36—9.
33 'An Arabic Papyrus in the Oriental Insti-
tute: Stories of the Prophets,' Journal of Near
Eastern Studies V ( 1 946CE), 1 6^80.
34 'Hadith Literature — ^11: Collection and
Transmission of Hadtth\ Cambridge History of
Arabic Literature I (Cambridge, 1983CE)
289-98.
3 5 Abbott, Studies, II, i .
36 Ibid., II, 77-8.
37 Ibid., 1, 6-7; I, 26.
38 Ibid., 1, 1 6.
39 Ibid., 1, 18, 19; II, 22-32.
40 Ibid., II, 2; cf. II, 64,
41 Lahore: 1960-5.
42 Am Introduction to the Science of Tradi-
tion, being Al-Madkhal ila ma'^rifat al-Iklil by
Al-Hdkim Abu ^Abdalldh Muhammad b. Mfe-
dalldh al-NaisdbQrl (London, 1 9 5 3CE).
43 'Ibn Ishaq's Use of Isnad', Bulletin of the
John Rylands Library, XXXVIII: 2 (March 1965),
449—65; 'Muslim Traditions — the Question of
Authentiaty,' Memoirs and Proceedings, Man-
chester Literary and Philosophical Society, XClll
(1951), no.7; 'The Isnad in Muslim Tradition,'
Transactions of the Glasgow University Oriental
Society, XV (1965), pp.15— 26; 'Standards
Applied by Muslim Traditionists,' Bulletin of the
John Rylands Library XLIII: 2 ( 1 96 1 ), 4 5 9-79.
44 Cf. for instance, 'Standards Applied', 460.
45 In G. H. A. Juynboll (ed.), Papers on Isla-
mic History. Studies on the first century of Islamic
sodefy (Carbondale, 1982CE), 161-75.
46 Cambridge, 1983 CE.
47 Juynboll, 8.
48 Ibid., 7.
49 Ibid., 6; cf. Abbott, 11, 69. This scepticism is
not shared by G. Makdisi in his updated and
enlarged version of J. Pedersen's EI article
'Madrasa': he accepts the existence of classes of
this size without comment (£/% V, 1 1 3 3 ).
50 Some of Shaykh Fadanfs public sama ses-
sions, delivered complete with musalsal isndds,
were recorded on videotap)e. Copies of this are in
the possession of many of his students in Mecca.
51 Ibid. 5. Fadd'il and mathdlib are literary
accounts describing respectively the virtues or
vices of a given individual, tribe or place.
52 Ibid. 12.
53 Ibid., 13.
54 Chapter Four.
5 5 Arberry, 'Tne Teachers of AI-Bukhari,' 3 5 •
56 Tlie Tahdhtb al-Katndl is itself an epitome
of an enormous book called al-Kamdl ft Asma
al-Rijdl by 'Abd al-Ghanl ibn 'Abd al-Wahid
al-MaqdisI (d.6oo/i 204), whose sources aJ"^
Sotes to Appendix III
157
meticulously specified; Ibn Hajar, after noting this
relationship, also mentions his indebtedness to the
Ikmal Tahdhtb al-Kamal of "^Ala' al-Din Mugh-
latai (d.762/1360), who had augmented MizzT's
work with material from his own sources
{Tahdhtb al-Tahdhtb, 1, 8). For the relationship
between these and other works deriving from the
Kamaly with a detailed description of al-MizzI's
book, see Tahhan, Takhrtj, 181-98. Clearly, it is
not Ibn Hajar's abbreviation which is 'the most
complete list of hadJth transmitters' (Juynboll,
i35)> l>ut the earlier work of al-Maqdisi. Cf. also
Khatib, Swwm?, 2.70-1, 272—73.
57 Ibid., 135.
58 Ibid., 207.
59 TTie School of Oriental and African Studies,
a faculty of London University, still displays the
Baconian motto 'Knowledge is Power' on its pub-
lications — a faded imperial conceit which until
recendy would have seemed out of place at
Princeton or Chicago.
NOTES TO APPENDIX 111
1 Loth, 'Ursprung,' 611
2 Leipzig, 1 869CE.
3 Loth, 'Ursprung,* 593-614
4 See above, 99.
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Siba'I, Mu§tafa, al-. al-Sunna wa-Makdnatuhd fi'l-Tashrf aUIsldmi.
Cairo, 1381/1961.
Siddiqi, M. Z. Studies in Arabic and Persian Medical Literature, Cal-
cutta, 1959CE.
Sprenger, A. 'On the Origin and Progress of Writing Down Historical
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'Notes on Alfred von Kremer's edition of Wakidi's Campaigns.'
JASB (ist series) XXV, 53-74.
Das Leben unddie Lehre des Muhammad, Berlin, 1 869.
I
"T
l66 HADITH LITERATURE
Subki, Taj al-Din 'Abd al-Wahhab, al-. Tabaqat aUShdiftya al-Kubra,
Cairo, 1 3 24.
Suyutl, Jalal a!-Din, al-. Tadrtb al-Rdwi, (Commentary on al-NawawI's
al-Taqrtb wa'l-Taysir, Cairo, 1307.
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Tabari, Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarlr, al-. Tdrtkh al-Rusul wa'l-
Muluk. Ed. Th. Noldeke et al. Leiden, i 888ce.
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al'Masdbth. Lucknow, 1 3 26.
Tahhan, Mahmud, al-. Usulal-TakhrTj wa- Dirdsat al-Asdnid, Cairo, n.d.
Tayalisi, Abu Daud, al-. al-Musnad. Hyderabad, 1 3 2 1 .
Tha^'alibi, Abu Mansur ^Abd al-Malik, al-. Yattmat al-Dahr. Cairo, 1352.
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^Umari, Salih ibn Muhammad, al-. Qitfal-Thamar. Hyderabad, 1328.
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Watt, W. Montgomery. Muhammad at Mecca. Oxford, 195 3CE.
Muhammad at Medina. Oxford, 1956CE.
Wensinck, A. J., et al. Concordance et indices de la tradition musulmane.
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Yaqut, Abu 'Abd Allah. Mu'jam al-Udabd' Ed. D. S. Margoliouth. 2nd
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fi'l'Mustalah. Ed. Nabil al-Sharif. Beirut, 1405/1985.
Sharh Muwatta' Malik. Cairo, 1 3 10.
1
INDEX
Aban ibn Abi "^Ayyash, 35, 43
al-*^ Abbas ibn "^Abd al-Muttalib, 16, 33
al-^Abbas ibn al-Mughira, 85
Abbasid dynasty, 90, 118
Abbon, N., 80, 1 26, 1 3 1-2, 1 5 5
'Abd Allah ibn Abi Awfa, 17, 24
'Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal, 49, 50
"^Abd Allah ibn "^Amr ibn al-'^As, 4, 10, 1 8,
22-3,24,26,39,90
^Abd Allah ibn AyyiJb, 3 5
'Abd Allah ibn Bishr, 17
*^Abd Allah ibn Buhayna, 16
'Abd Allah ibn Ja'far, 16
*^Abd Allah ibn Jarrad, 1 5
■^Abd Allah ibn Maslama, 59
*^Abd Allah ibn Mas'^ud, 9, 18, 22, 23, 25
'Abd Allah ibn Mughfil, 16
^Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-BaghawI, 38,
70, lOI
'Abd Allah ibn Sa'ld, 26
'^Abd Allah ibn Salam, 16
'^Abd Allah ibn '^Umar, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25,
38,39,84,90,128
*^Abd Allah ibn Unays, 16, 40
"^Abd Allah ibn Zayd, 17
'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, 16, 128
'Abd al-Ghani 'Abd al-Khali^, 1 47
'Abd al-Ghani ibn '^Abd al-Wahid al-Maqdisi,
156
*^Abd al-GhanI, al-Hafiz, 9, 70, 74
"^Abd al-Hamid ibn Humayd, 52
'Abd al-Haqq Dihlawi, 8
*^Abd ibn Humayd, 74
*^Abd al-Karim ibn Abi'I-AwjaS 33
*^Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, 132
'Abd al-Malik ibn ^'Abd al-'AzIz ibn Jurayj, 7,
52-
*^Abd al-Rahnian ibn ^Awf, 17, 24
'Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdl, 93, 113
'^Abd al-Razzaq, 52, 74
I ^Abda bint ' Abd al-Rahman, 1 1 8
I '^Abda bint Bishr, 1 1 8
*^Abid ibn Sharya, 43
( *^Abida al-Madanlya, 25, 118
I Abraham, 115
Abrogation, 25
Abu *^Abd al-Rahman, 11,15
Abu Ahmad al-Muwaffaq, 62
Abu *^Ali al-Ghassani, 58
AbuM-'^Aliya, 37, 39
Abu *^Asim al-Nabil, 72
Abu ^Awana, 5 2, 7 1 , 72
Abu'1-Ayna' Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, 33
Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, 18, 40, 80, 107
Abu Bakr, 4, 20, 21, 23, 32, 1 1 1
Abu Bakr Ahmad, 119
Abu Bakr ibn MaHk, 52
Abu Bakr al-MizzI, 122, 157
Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn "^Abd Allah, 5 1
Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazm, 6, 1 1 8
Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, 1 7
Abu Bakra Nufay^ 17
AbuBarza, 17
Abu'l-Darda', 18, 23, 28, 40, 1 1 1
Abu Daiid al-Sijistani, 35, 38, 61-3, 64, 71, 73
Abu Dharr al-Ghifarl, 18, 39
Abu Dharr al-Harawi, 119
Abu Idris, 28
Abu Ishaq al-Sabi% 41
Abu juhayfa, 17
Abu Hanifa, 29, 36, 44, 112
Abu Hatim al-Razi, 30
Abu Hazim, 40
Abii Humayd al-Sa*^idi, 16
AbuHurayra, 1,4, 9, 18, 19-20, 24, 30, 38,
65,80,128
AbuM-Kamal, 147
Abu Khaythama, 1 1
Abu Lahab, 3
Abu Malik al-Ash*^arI, 16
Abu Mas^ud al-Ansari, 17, 23
Abu Mas'^ud al-Dimashqi, 58
Abu Mu'^awiya, 50
Abu'l-Mulayh al-HudhalT, 16
Abu Mijsa al-Ash'^arl, 18, 23, 25
Abu Musa Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, loi
Abu Muslim al-Kashshi, 71-2
Abu Nu^^aym al-Isfahanl, 6, 12, 41, 70, 91,
106, 108, J 19
AbuQatada, 18
I
i68
Index
Abu Qilaba, 7
Abu Rafi^ 17, 14, 25
Abu Sa*^id al-Khudri, 3,18, iz, 25, in
Abu Sa^id ibn Ja*^far, 36
Abu Shah, 25, 27
Abu Shurayh al-Kabi, 1 5
Abu Taiha al-Ansari, 16
Abu Tha'Iaba al-Khushani, 1 6
Abu Umama aUBahill, 1 8
Abu Usayd al-Sa'idi, 16
Abu Waqid al-Laythi, 16
Abu Ya*^la, 11,52, loi, 149
Abu Zar'^a al-Razi, 15,53, 60, 69,113
Abu Zinad, 30, 36, 37
Academic procedures, 84—9
■^Adiibn Hatim, 17
*^Afif al-Din Junayd, 1 20
Ahady no, 113
Ahddtth al-ahkdniy 9, 1 2
Ahmad ibn '^Abd Allah al-Jubari, 36
Ahmad ibn Abi Du'ad, 48
Ahmad ibn Harb, 3 5
Ahmad ibn Ma'^ruf al-Khashshab, 97
Ahmad al-Marwazi, 36
Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Bahill, 35
Ahmad ibn Qays, 39
Ahmad al-QaysI, 36
Adam, 115
'Ajiba bint Abi Bakr, 1 20
Akhbarandy 60, 67, 87, 147
*^A'isha, 6, 9, 18, 19, 20, 28, 3 3» 65,66, 107,
'AMsha bint'Abd a!-Hadi, 120, 121
'^A'isha bint Ibrahim, 122
*^A*isha bint Muhammad, 1 22
'^Ala' al-Din Mughiatai, 157
Aleppo, 106
'^All ibn Abi Talib, i, 1 8, 23, 24, 25, 26, 46, 67,
80, 107
*^A1I ibn '^Asim, 30, 31
'^AIIibnal-Madini, 45,48, 55,66,81,95, 108
*^Ali ibn Muhammad, 1 19-20
*^Alqama ibn Qays, 25
al-A*^mash, 40, 93, 144
Amat al-Wahid, 119
*^Ammar ibn Yasir, 17, 107
'^Amr ibn al-'^As, 16
'^Amribn^Abasa, 16
*^Amr ibn *^Awf , 1 7
*^Amr ibn Sa*^id, 39
*^Amr ibn Shu'^ayb, 24
"^Amr ibn Umayya ai-Damn, 1 5, 23
^AmribnZirara, 41
"^Amra bint "^Abd al-Rahman, 6, 1 1 8
Anas ibn Malik, 18, 20-1, 28, 39, 63, 71, 93
Arba'^tntyaty 1 2, 1 3
Ashdb al-Suffay 5, 22, 26
Ash^^arls, 104, 152
Asbdb al-wuriidy 113
Asma* bint Abi Bakr, 1 7
Asma' bint Kamal al-Din, 1 22
Asma' bint*^Umays, 17
Asmd' al-rijdiy 4, 29, 50, 92-106
al-Asma% 85
Atbd^ al-Tdbt^ttty 29
'Awana ibn al-Hakam, 33, 90
Awsibn Aws, 16
al-AwzaX 7, 2.5, 40, 65, 144
al-'Aydarus, 122
al-*^Ayni, 56, 58
Azami, M.M., x, 80, 131
Baccalaureate, xii
al-Baghandi, 44
Baghdad, 3 ^ 35. 47, 61-2, 70, 72, 95, 96,
103
Bahrayn, 19, 20
Ba*i Khatun, 122
al-Baladhuri, 97, 100
Balj ibn Bishr, 59
al-Bara' ibn *^Azib, 4,18
al-BarqanI, 70
al-Basasiri, 103
Ibn Bashkuwal, 106
Basra, 5, 7, 20, 54, 55, 61, 62, 84, 96, 103,
106, 118
al-Bawarti, 5 1
al-Bayhaqi, 71
al-Bayqum, 108
al-Bazzar, 149
Bayyan ibn Sampan, 33
Bewley, Aisha, 140
Bible, 78
Bilal al-Habashi, 17
Bint al-Kamal, 1 20
al-Bira, 59
Bishr al-Hafi, 104
Bishr ibn al-Mufaddal, 144
Buddhist Hterature, 79
Bukhara, 53
al-Bukhari, Sahih, 8, 1 1, 12, 18, 21, 30, 38,
53-8, 59, 60, 64, 66, 73, 90, 115,119;
Tarikh, 95, 96, 100, 1 51
Burayda tbn aI*Hasib, 1 8
Index
Caecani, L., 77, 79
Calendar, 92
Christians, 78, 1 1 7, 1 5 5
Chronological method, 81, 92-3
Companions, 3, 4, 5, 6, 14-17, in, 115,
1 17—8, 126, 131; definition, 14; number of,
14—5; narrators among, 15—23;
scrupulousnessof, 23— 4, 107
Crusaders, 104
al-Dahhak ibn Qays, %$
Da^ify 66, 109
Dajjal, 115
Damascus, 5, 28, 67, 103, 104-5, ^2.2, 123
Daqiqa bint Murshid, 121
al-Daraqutm, 58, 70-1
al-DarimI, 11, 68-9, in, 155
al-DawIabi, 151
al-Dhahabi, 46, 95, 96, 102
Dhu'I-Rumma, 26
Diwan, 92
Doctorate, xii
al-Dubathi, 104
Egypt, 6, 67, 70
Emesa, 28
Fabrication of hadiths, 20, 31-6, 38, 84, 109,
114, 126
al-Fadani^ Muhammad Yasin, 133
al-FadI ibn *^Abbas, 16
Fasting, 3
Fatima bint "^Abd al-Rahman, 119
Fatima bint Ahmad, 1 20
Fatima al-FudaylTya, 123
Fatima bint al-Hasan, 119
Fatima al-Jawzdanlya, 1 20
Fatima bint Muhammad, 119
Fatima bint Qays, 16
Fatima al-Shahrazuriya, 120
Fiqh, 9, 10, 44, 57
?itan^ 10
Fitna^ 79-80
al-Fudayl ibn "^lyad, 37, 85
Fustat, 5
Geography, 5, 103
al-Ghafiqi, 8
Gharib, 66
Ghiyath ibn Ibrahim, 33
al'Ghummari, 151
Goitein, S., 1 3 1
169
Golden Chain, 81
Goldziher, I., 7, 124-30, 132
Guillaume, A., 130
Habrb Dahhun, 118
Haddathandy 60, 67, 87, 147
Hafiz, 87
Hafs ibn Ghiyath, 83, 92
Haf sa bint Muhammad ibn Sirin, 1 1 8
Hafsa Umm al-Mu'minin, 17, 20, 26, 117
Hajar bint Muhammad, 1 20, 1 34
Hakim ibn Hizam, 16
al-Hakim al-Nisaburl, 12, 29, 61, 70, 71,91,
106, 108, 113, 132
Hamala ibn Yahya, 59
Hammad ibn Salama, 7, 37, 85, 144
Hammad ibn Zayd, 33,37,41
Hammam ibn Munabbih, 10, 24-5, 43, 1 26
Harim ibn Hayyan, 34
Harun al-Rashid, 3 3
Hasan, 66^7, 109
al-Hasan al-Basri, 10, 40, 90, 118
al-Hasan ibn Yasar, 39
Hassan ibn Ziyad, 92
Haytham ibn '^Adi, 94
al-Haythami, 51, 148, 149
Hayyan al-'^Attar, 47
al-Hazimi, 56, 73
Hijra (migration), 3
Hisham ibn ^Abd Allah, 41
Hisham ibn Isma^Il, 39
Hisham ibn *^Ubayd Allah, 30
Historiography, 5, 10
Horovitz, J., 77
al-Hudaybiya, 14
Hudhayfa, 28
hudddth, I
Humayd ibn *^Amr, 59
Humaid al-TawTl, 10
al-Humaydi, 52, 106, 119
Husayn ibn Fahm, 97
Husayn al-Shaybani, 46
Hushaym ibn Bashir, 36
Ibn ^Abbas, i, 9, 18, 21-2, 24, 25, 26, 39, 39,
90,93»96, 107
Ibn ^Abd al-Barr, 8, 9, 24, loi, 104, 1 1 5
Ibn AbiDhi*b, 30
Ibn Abi Khaythama, 95, 96
Ibn AbiLayla, 36
Ibn Abi Shayba, 11, 52, 53, 55, 74, 95
Ibn Abi Usama, 97
\<HW^ ■"
^•^nif'^P! i
lyo
Index
Ibn'^AdT, 39, 93
Ibn al-*^Adlm, io6
Ibn ^AsakJr, 41, 95, 96, 104, 120
Ibn al-A thir, 8, 5 1 , 1 00, 1 01 , 115
Ibn'^Awn, 38
Ibn Bartal, 1 1 5
Ibn Battuta, 120
Ibn al-Bazzaz, 106
Ibn al-Dubaythi, 106
Ibn Fahd, 122
Ibn al-Fardi, 106
Ibn Fathun, 152
Ibn Hajar, 10, 21, 51, 95, 100, 102, 11 5, 121,
154
Ibn Hanbal, 11, 18, 31, 34, 38, 45,46-52, 53,
55> 59> 65* 66,67, 71, 81, 108, 151
Ibn al-Haytham, 46
Ibn Hayawayh, 136
Ibn i^azm, 73, 77—8, 1 49
Ibn Hibban, 60
Ibn Hinzaba, 70
Ibn al-'^Imad, i 54
Ibn Ishaq, 44, 79
Ibn al-Jawzi, 15, 1 14, 149
Ibn al-Jazari, 74
Ibn Jurayj, 7, 4 1 , 5 2, 63
Ibn Khaidun, 74
Ibn Khallikan, 121
Ibn al-Kharrat, 73
Ibn al-Khayyat, 94, 95
Ibn Khuzayma, 60
Ibn Lai, 149
Ibn Lahf a, 50
Ibn Maja, 8, 69, 73, 74, 115
Ibn al-Majishun, 144
Ibn Manda, loi, 106
Ibn Maslama, 103
Ibn Mas^ud, 918, 22, 23, 25
Ibn al-Mubarak, 30, 37, 41, 84, 94, 144
Ibn al-Mulaqqin, 51
Ibn al-Musayyib, 39, 41, 90, 93
Ibn al-Mu'^tamir, 25
Ibn al-Nadim, 7
Ibn al-Najjar, 1 1, 74, 104, 106
Ibn Qani^ 12, 149
Ibn al-Qattan, 21, 73
Ibn al-Qayyim, 115
Ibn Qutayba, 25
Ibn Rahawayh, 52, 55, 56, 59, 65 '
Ibn Rustam, 30
Ibn Sa'd, 7, 9, 29, 94, 96-100, 134-5
Ibn al-Saiah, 56, 74, 91, 108
Ibn Sallam, 82
Ibn Sayqal, 74
Ibn al-Sayrafi, 123
IbnShabba, ro6
Ibn Sirin, 25, 30, 36, 39, 79, 80, 84, 90, 93,
118
IbnShahin, loi
IbnShihab al-Zuhri, 6, 10, 30, 37,41, 83, 128
Ibn Taymiya, Majd al-Din, 9
Ibn al-Tayyib, 113
IbnUbayy, 115
Ibn *^Ulayya, 4 1 , 47, 1 44
Ibn '^Umar, 3
Ibn *^Uyayna, 38, 144
Ibn Wahb, 24, 144
Ibnal-Zubayr, 39
Ibnat al-Shara'ihi, 122
Ibrahim ibn Isma^Tl, 1 2
Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Nabi, 115
Ibrahim al-Nakha% 25, 38
Ibrahim ibn Sa'^id, 38
Ibrahim al-Taymi, 66
Ijaza, 82, 86, 119, 136
Ijmd^, 8, 113, 114, 130
ham al-RawJ, S6
^llm Kiwayat al-Hadtth^ 108
Imams, 5
lmla\ 31, 86
*^Imran ibn al-Husayn, 18
India, 6, 78-9, 81,95
Iraq, 1 1 2
al-'^Iraqi, 56, 108, 121, 155
al-'^lrbad ibn Sariya, 16
Isfahan, 72, 103, 106
Isma'il ^AqulT, 5
isnad, xiii, 4, 8, 37, 57, 63, 65, 7^84, 91, 109,
113,115,131
itban ibn Malik al-Ansari, 25
^lyad ibn Himar/Hammid, 16
■^lyad al-Yahsubi, al-QadJ, 85, 108
lyas ibn Mu'awiya, 118
Jabir ibn *^Abd Allah, 18, 21, 24, 28, 40
Jabir ibn Samura, 17
al-]arh wa 'l-ta'^dil, 109—10
Jarir ibn "^Abd Allah, 17
Jdmfy 10, 12, 59,64
Janaza, in
al-jawhari, 98
Jerusalem, 128
Jesus, 107
Jews, 77, 81, 124-5
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