al-Khatib al-Baghdadi
(Allah be well-pleased with him)
by Dr. Gibril Fouad Haddad
"Truly, hadith pleases the virile
among men,
while the effeminate among them hate it."
Al-Zuhri.
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi,
Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn ‘Ali ibn Thabit ibn Ahmad ibn Mahdi al-Shafi‘i
(392-463), with Abu al-Ma‘ali Ibn al-Juwayni and Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri
the third most important figure in the fourth generation-layer of Abu al-Hasan
al-Ash‘ari's school, praised by al-Dhahabi as "the most peerless
imam, erudite scholar and mufti, meticulous hadith master, scholar of his time
in hadith, prolific author, and seal of the hadith masters." Al-Qinnawji
said: "He was a jurist whose preference went to hadith and history."
His father – a memorizer of Qur'an and the main preacher (khatîb)
in Darzijan Southwest of Baghdad – sat him at the age of eleven in the class
of Ibn Razquyah al-Bazzar (d. 412), after which he travelled first to Baghdad
then Naysabur around 415, back to Baghdad, then Asbahan for two years, Ray,
Hamadhan, Dinawar, back to Baghdad, then al-Sham and Mecca for pilgrimage,
then Baghdad or his nearby native Darzijan until 451, then Damascus until 459,
then Tyre (Sűr) until 462, then Baghdad again where he died.
Al-Khatib wrote abundantly on the science of
hadith and became the undisputed hadith authority in his time according to his
student, the Hanbali hadith master Ibn ‘Aqil. He heard countless hadith
masters, among them Abu Bakr al-Barqani (who also narrated from him), Abu
Nu‘aym al-Asbahani, al-‘Abdawi, and the pious centenarian virgin scholar
Karima bint Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Marwaziyya (d. 463) – one of al-Kushmihani's
students – from whom al-Khatib took al-Bukhari's Sahih in five days
during his pilgrimage trip at age fifty-two. He took Shafi‘i fiqh
from Abu al-Hasan ibn al-Mahamili and the qadi Abu al-Tayyib al-Tabari, whom
he frequented for several years. Among his famous students: al-Nasr al-Maqdisi,
Ibn Makula, al-Humaydi, Abu Mansur al-Shaybani – who transmitted his Tarikh
– and the Hanbali Abu Ya‘la.
Ibn Makula and al-Mu'taman al-Saji said
that the people of Baghdad never saw anyone such as al-Khatib after al-Daraqutni.
Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Suri ranked al-Khatib far above Abu Nasr al-Sijzi. Abu
‘Ali al-Baradani said: "It is probable al-Khatib never met his
equal." Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini said: "Al-Khatib is the Daraqutni of
our time." Ibn Makula said:
He was one of the foremost scholars whom
we witnessed in his science, precision, memorization, and accuracy in the
hadith of the Messenger of Allah e . He was an expert in its minute defects,
its chains of transmission, its narrators and transmitters, the sound and
the rare, the unique and the denounced, the defective and the discarded. The
people of Baghdad never had someone comparable to Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn
‘Umar al-Daraqutni after the latter, except al-Khatib.
Sa‘id al-Mu'addib asked al-Khatib:
"Are you the hadith master Abu Bakr?" He replied: "I am Ahmad
ibn ‘Ali; hadith mastership ended with al-Daraqutni."
About hadith mastership al-Khatib wrote:
He does not excel in hadith science nor is
able to peruse its complexities and shed light on its hidden benefits except
he who has gathered its variants, collated its loose ends, brought it all
together, and worked assiduously to compile it under its topical
subheadings, organizing its different types. This activity strengthens
competence, cements memorization, purifies the heart, hones the personality,
expands the tongue, greatly improves language, unveils ambiguities and
clarifies them. It also earns memorability and immortality, as the poet
said:
Some die then knowledge keeps alive
their memory,
While ignorance joins the dead with the
dead.
‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Ahmad al-Kattani said:
"Al-Khatib followed the [doctrinal] school of Abu al-Hasan al-Ash‘ari
– Allah have mercy on him." Al-Dhahabi reports this and comments:
"This is true. For al-Khatib explicitly stated, concerning the reports on
the Divine Attributes, that they are passed on exactly as they were received,
without interpretation." Ibn al-Subki comments: "This is al-Ash‘ari's
position, yes. But al-Dhahabi is the victim of his lack of knowledge of Shaykh
Abu al-Hasan's position just as others were also victims: for al-Ash‘ari
also has another position allowing for figurative interpretation (al-ta'wîl)."
Al-Dhahabi does go on to relate al-Khatib's precise disowning of both
nullification (ta‘tîl) and anthropomorphism (tajsîm) of the
divine Attributes:
Abu Bakr al-Khatib said: "As for what
pertains to the divine Attributes, whatever is narrated in the books of
sound reports concerning them, the position of the Salaf consists in
their affirmation and letting them pass according to their external wordings
while negating from them modality (kayfiyya) and likeness to things
created (tashbîh). <A certain people have contradicted the
Attributes and nullified what Allah I had affirmed; while another people
have declared them real then went beyond this to some kind of likening to
creation and ascription of modality. The true objective is none other than
to tread a middle path between the two matters. The Religion of Allah I lies
between the extremist and the laxist.> The principle to be followed in
this matter is that the discourse on the Attributes is a branch of the
discourse on the Essence. The path to follow in the former is the same
extreme caution as in the latter. When it is understood that the affirmation
of the Lord of the Worlds [in His Essence] is only an affirmation of
existence and not of modality, it will be similarly understood that the
affirmation of His Attributes is only an affirmation of their existence, not
an affirmation of definition (tahdîd) nor an ascription of modality.
So when we say: Allah I has a Hand, hearing, and sight, they are none other
than Attributes Allah I has affirmed for Himself. We should not say that the
meaning of ‘hand' is power (al-qudra) nor that the meaning of
‘hearing' and ‘sight' is knowledge (‘ilm), nor should we
say that they are organs (lâ naqűlu innahâ jawârih)! Nor should
we liken them to hands, hearings, and sights that are organs and implements
of acts. We should say: All that is obligatory is [1] to affirm them because
they are stated according to divine prescription (tawqîf), and [2]
to negate from them any likeness to created things according to His saying (There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him) (42:11)
(and there is none like Him) (112:4)."
Our teacher Dr. Nur al-Din ‘Itr comments
al-Khatib's position thus:
This is a vulnerable spot where feet tread
a slippery path. Many are those who fell into likening Allah to His
creatures because of it, or into something like it – our refuge is in
Allah! – while believing that this was the position of the pious Salaf
y but Allah has exonerated the latter from holding it. … Imam al-Khatib
passed the obstacle at which point pens lapsed and illusions flared, for he
refuted the Mu‘tazila and their likes who contradict the divine
Attributes, and he understood the position of the Salaf as it truly
is by affirming those Attributes with a kind of affirmation that commits to
Allah I the knowledge of their reality, not an affirmation of dimensionality
and modality (athbata tilka al-sifât ithbâtan yufawwidu ‘ilma haqîqatihâ
ilâ Allâhi ta‘âlâ lâ ithbâta tahdîd wa takyîf). He thereby
asserted the school of the Salaf as it really was, not as some
erratic people in our time understand it to be. The latter are in fact
arrogant wranglers who cannot tell the difference between the Salaf's
committal of the actual knowledge of these matters to Allah I , their
holding His Transcendence above whatever anthropomorphism the terms may
suggest, and the anthropomorphism of the ignorant Karramiyya!
Abu al-Faraj al-Isfarayini said: "Al-Khatib
was with us in Hajj, and he used to conclude an integral recitation of
Qur'an outloud every day. People would gather around him as he was mounted,
saying: ‘Narrate hadith to us,' and he would narrate to them." ‘Abd
al-Muhsin al-Shihi said: "I was al-Khatib's travelling companion from
Damascus to Baghdad, and he used to recite the entire Qur'an once every day
and night."
Ibn al-Abanusi reported that al-Khatib used
to read while walking. This is a common habit among hadith masters. Al-Khatib
himself narrated that ‘Ubayd ibn Ya‘ish said: "For thirty years I
never ate at night with my own hand. My sister would spoonfeed me while I
wrote hadith."
Al-Khatib wrote in his Tarikh Baghdad
in the entry devoted to Isma‘il ibn Ahmad al-Naysaburi al-Darir: "He
went to pilgrimage and narrated hadith, and what a wonderful shaykh he was!
When he went to Hajj he took with him a load of books, intending to
reside in Mecca or Madina for a while. Among them was al-Bukhari's Sahih
which he had heard from al-Kushmihani. I read it before him entirely in three
sittings. The third session lasted from the beginning of the day until night,
and it ended with the rising of dawn." Al-Dhahabi comments: "This
was – by Allah! – the kind of reading faster than which no-one ever
heard."
Abu al-Qasim ibn al-Muslima, al-Qa'im bi
Amrillah's vizier – nicknamed Ra'is al-ru'asa' – and a
hadith scholar, patronized al-Khatib with a small fortune which enabled the
latter to devote himself to teaching and writing. He passed an edict that no
teacher nor preacher in Baghdad narrate a hadith without authenticating it
with al-Khatib first. He once asked the latter to verify a document which some
Jews produced claiming that it was the Prophet's e exemption of the tax on
non-Muslims (jizya) for the Jews of Khaybar written, they said, in the
hand of ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib t . Al-Khatib looked at the document then
declared it a forgery on the grounds that it was witnessed by Mu‘awiya –
who entered Islam in the year of the conquest of Mecca, whereas Khaybar was
conquered in the year 7 – and Sa‘d ibn Mu‘adh who died during the battle
of Banu Qurayza two years before Khaybar.
Al-Khatib came to settle in Damascus,
fleeing Baghdad in Safar 451 in fear for his life during the Fatimi-leaning
Turk Arslan al-Basasiri's (d. Dhu al-Hijja 451) attempted coup against al-Qa'im
bi Amrillah (422-467) and the Abbasid caliphate, although Damascus itself was
under Fatimi rule. He then fled Damascus again in 459 to go to Tyre until 462,
whence he returned to Baghdad, visiting Syrian Tripoli, Aleppo, and all the
main cities on his way. Ibn Nasir narrated: "When al-Khatib read hadith
in the mosque of Damascus, his voice could be heard from one end of the mosque
to the other and he spoke in pure Arabic." He is also noted for his
accurate and elegant handwriting.
Al-Mu'taman narrated that al-Khatib said:
"Whoever authors books puts his mind on a plate for display to
people." He fled from Damascus to Tyre because of enmity from the Rafidi
governor of Damascus and accusations that he was a Nasibi or enemy of Ahl
al-Bayt on grounds of narrating Ahmad ibn Hanbal's book on the merits of
the Companions and Ibn Rizquyah's book on the merits of al-‘Abbas.
"At that time the call to prayer in Damascus included the phrase hayya
‘alâ khayri al-‘amal."
Abu Mansur ‘Ali ibn ‘Ali al-Amin
narrated that when al-Khatib returned from al-Sham he was wealthy in garments
and gold but without heir. So he wrote to al-Qa'im bi Amrillah: "My
property will go back to the public treasury (bayt al-mâl), so give me
permission to distribute it among those I choose." He then distributed it
– two hundred dinars – to the scholars of hadith.
Ibn Tahir said: "I asked [the Sufi
hadith master] Hibat Allah ibn ‘Abd al-Warith al-Shirazi: ‘Was al-Khatib
like his books in memorization?' He said: ‘No, if we asked him of
something he might take days to answer us and if we pressed him he would get
angry. He was abrupt and his memorization was not on a par with his
books.'" This assessment is belied by the scholars' comparison of al-Khatib
to al-Daraqutni and by the example of his extemporaneous response cited below.
Furthermore, al-Dhahabi relates from al-Sam‘ani that Hibat Allah (d. 486)
entered Baghdad in 457 when al-Khatib was away, and the latter did not return
until 462, one year before his death.
Al-Khatib frequented Abu Ishaq al-Isfarayini's
classes for three years at a time when Abu Ishaq was the unchallenged
headmaster of the Shafi‘i school in his time. One day he mentioned the
narrator Bahr ibn Kaniz al-Saqqa' then turned to al-Khatib and asked:
"What do you say concerning him [i.e. his reliability]?" Al-Khatib
replied: "If you give me permission then I shall mention his state."
Al-Isfarayini then sat back like a student before his master, while al-Khatib
gave a lengthy and detailed account of the narrator's grading on the spot.
Abu Ishaq was one of those who carried al-Khatib's bier to his grave.
Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik al-Hamadhani
said in his Tarikh: "The science died at the time of al-Khatib's
death."
Ibn ‘Asakir narrated: "When al-Khatib
first drank Zamzam water he asked Allah I for three petitions [according to
the Prophetic narration "Zamzam water makes good whatever [need in the
world and the hereafter] it is drunk for"]: to be able to narrate the
history of Baghdad in that city, to dictate hadith in the mosque of al-Mansur
[in Baghdad], and to be buried near Bishr al-Hafi. He obtained all
three."
Abu al-Barakat Isma‘il ibn Abi Sa‘d
al-Sufi said:
Shaykh Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn ‘Ali al-Turaythithi,
known as Ibn Zahra' al-Sufi, was in our ribât and had prepared for
himself a grave next to Bishr al-Hafi's grave. He used to go there once a
week to sleep in it, reciting the entire Qur'an at that time. When Abu
Bakr al-Khatib died after stipulating that he be buried next to Bishr al-Hafi,
the scholars of hadith came to Ibn Zahra' asking permission to bury him in
Ibn Zahra's grave and cede his place to him. He refused, saying: "How
can I allow a spot I have prepared for myself to be taken away from
me?" They came to my father [Abu Sa‘d al-Sufi] who invited Ibn Zahra'
and told him: "I do not say to you to give them your grave, but I ask
you: if Bishr al-Hafi were alive and you were at his side, then al-Khatib
came and sat farther away, would it be fit for you to sit higher than
him?" He replied: "No, I would make him sit in my place." He
said: "It is the same in this situation." Ibn Zahra's heart was
happy with this and he gave his permission.
Al-Khatib was an ascetic, industrious
scholar given to worship, a trustworthy hadith master withdrawn from the
courts of princes, generous, grave and earnest in his manners, and both
tireless and meticulous in his work. He wrote 10,000 pages totalling 104
books, many of them remaining to our time authoritative manuals in hadith
science noted for their insight and wide compass. Ibn Hajar said in his
introduction to Sharh Nukhba al-Fikar: "There is hardly a single
discipline among the sciences of hadith in which al-Khatib did not author a
monograph." Then he cited the hadith master Ibn Nuqta's praise:
"Whoever gives credit where credit is due knows that hadith scholars,
after al-Khatib, all depend on his books." Among them:
| Al-Amali ("The
Dictations") of which three volumes exist in the Zahiriyya collection.
|
| Al-Asma' al-Mubhama
("Anonymous Mentions"), identifying those mentioned anonymously in
hadiths or hadith chains. |
| Al-Bukhala' ("The
Misers") in three volumes. |
| Al-Faqih wa al-Mutafaqqih
("The Jurist and the Student of the Law"). |
| Al-Fasl li al-Wasl al-Mudraj fi al-Naql ("The
Decisive Statement On Attributions Inserted Into Transmission").
|
| Al-Fawa'id al-Muntakhaba ("The
Select Benefits"). |
| Iqtida' al-‘Ilm al-‘Amal
("Knowledge Necessitates Deeds"), a collection of narrations on
this topic, which he prefaced with the words: |
O student of knowledge, I exhort you to
purify your intention in pursuing knowledge and to strive to make your
soul act according to knowledge's dictates. For the science is a tree of
which deeds are the fruit, and he is not counted learned, who does not put
his learning into practice…. And did those of the Salaf of the
past reach whatever high levels they reached, other than by purified
beliefs, righteous deeds, and renouncing most of the refinements of the
world? And did the wise people of the past attain greater felicity except
through hard work and diligence, contentment with little, and spending of
their superfluity to meet the need of the needy and destitute? Surely, he
who gathers books of knowledge is no different than he who gathers gold
and silver. Surely, the devourer of books is no different from the greedy
miser. Surely, the bibliophile enamoured with books is no different from
the hoarder of gold and silver. Therefore, just as wealth does not benefit
except through its spending, likewise do the sciences not benefit except
those who put them into practice and observes their requirements.
1: Intention in the Pursuit of Hadith
2: The Characteristics That Must
Distinguish the Narrator and Auditor of Hadith (3 sections)
3: "High" (= short) Chains of
Transmissions (4 sections)
4: Choosing One's Shuyűkh Once
Their Attributes Are Known (9 sections)
5: The Etiquette of Study (4 sections)
6: The Etiquette of Asking Permission to
Enter the House of the Hadith Master (7 sections)
7: The Etiquette of Entering the House
of the Hadith Master (9 sections)
8: The Veneration and Honoring of the
Hadith Master (6 sections)In the section entitled "Kissing the Hand
of the Hadith Scholar, His Head, and His Right [Shoulder]" al-Khatib
narrates the following three hadiths among others:
a) From ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar: "I was in one of
the Messenger of Allah military detachments, and we came up to him until
we kissed his hand."
b) From Usama ibn Sharik: "We rose up approaching
the Prophet, and kissed his hand."
c) From ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Ka‘b al-Ansari
or ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Razin: "We came and greeted Salama ibn Akwa‘.
He brought out his hands and said: ‘I pledged loyalty with these two
hands to the Messenger of Allah e .' He brought out a hand as big as a
camel's paw. We rose up approaching him, and kissed it."
9: The Etiquette of Hadith Audition
10: The Etiquette of Interrogating the
Hadith Master (5 sections)
11: How to Memorize What Comes From the
Hadith Master (2 sections)
12: The Encouragement to Lend the Books
of Audition and the Blame of Those Who Go the Way of Avarice and Refusal
(2 sections)
13: The Recording of Hadiths in Books
and the Etiquette Pertaining Thereunto
14: Beautifying One's Calligraphy (8
sections)
15: The Obligation to Check Against the
[Hadith Master's] Book For Verification and the Elimination of Doubt and
Misgivings
16: Reading To the Hadith Master and Its
Etiquette (7 sections)
17: Mention of the Morals and Ethics of
the Narrator and What Manners He Must Use With His Disciples and
Companions (4 sections)
18: It is Offensive to Narrate to Those
That Do Not Seek It And It is A Waste to Give It to Other Than Those Who
Are Qualified (8 sections)
19: The Hadith Master's Giving of High
Respect to the Students of Knowledge and His Keeping the Best Opinion of
Them and A Mild Disposition (8 sections)
20: The Hadith Master Must Exempt
Himself From Accepting Remuneration For Narrating (3 sections)
21: His Caring For His Appearance and Looking to His
Adornment Before Narrating Hadith (28 sections:)
1. Siwâk
2. Paring Nails
3. Clipping the Moustache
4. Grooming the Hair
5. Wearing Clean Clothes
6. Avoiding Foods That Cause Bad Breath
7. Dyeing One's White Hair [with Henna], Contrary to
Jews and Christians
8. It is Fine to Use Saffron or Memecylon (wars)
To That Effect
9. The Dislike of Dying One's Hair Black
10. The Preferred Garments For the Hadith Master
11. His Shirt
12. The outer headcover (qalansuwa) and turban (‘imâma)
13. The unstitched head-shawl (taylasân)
14. Wearing a Ring
15. Combing His Beard
16. Incensing and Perfuming
Himself
17. Looking At Himself In the Mirror
18. Wearing Sandals
19. His Composure in Walking
20. His Initiating Salâm With Whomever He
Meets Among the Muslims
21. Entering His Gathering of People
22. The Desirability of His
Sitting Square-Legged and In A Humble Manner
23. Using Gentle Speech and Keeping Composure In
Discourse
24. Avoiding Jesting With the
People In the Gathering
25. The Desirability of Being Gentle In His Rebukes
Without Acrimony Nor Breach
26. The States In Which Narrating Is Offensive
27. Those Who Disliked Narrating Other Than In A State
of Purity
28. Those In A State of Impurity Who, Wishing to
Narrate, Perform Dry Ablution (tayammum)
34: The Hadith Master's Care To Share
His Company Equally Among His Companions (5 sections)
35: His Care to Be Absolutely Truthful
in His Speech Regardless of His Concerns and Situation (9 sections, of
which the third, seventh, and eighth examine the question of narrating
hadith according to meaning rather than precise wording
36: The Ruling Concerning Whoever
Narrated a Hadith From Memory Then Was Contradicted In It (4 sections)
37: Dictating Hadith And Dictation
Sessions (7 sections)
38: Employing A Repeater (mustamlî)
(33 sections)
39: Competition Over The Hadith Among
Its Students And Mutual Secretiveness So As To Withhold Its Benefit
40: The Obligation of Mutual Faithful
Counsel and Benefit With Regard to Narrations
41: Picking and Choosing Hadith By Those
Who Are Unable To Write All Its Chains Comprehensively (6 sections)
42: Concerning the Writing of Hadith In
Detail and In Its Totality And the Need For This Endeavor In the
Compilation of Books Related To Its Various Sciences (15 sections)
43: Travelling In Pursuit of A Hadith To
Far-Off Countries So As To Meet the Hadith Masters There And Obtain Short
Chains of Transmission (13 sections)
44: The Memorization of Hadith and the
Penetration of Insight Concerning It (12 sections:)
1. Emphasis on the Memorization of Hadith
2. Those Who Described
Themselves as Memorizers
3. Hadith Learning is Not By Mere Instruction For It
Is None Other Than a Type of Knowledge Allah I Creates in the Heart
4. The Means That Facilitate
Hadith Memorization
5. A Supplication For the Memorization of Qur'an,
Hadith, and the Various Disciplines
6. Types of Preferred Foods and Those Recommended
Against For the Improvement of Memory
7. The Requisite Schedule of Night Study of Hadith For
the Student
8. Repeating What is Memorized To Master It By Heart:
Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar said: "My father came in
and saw me reading silently in a notebook, reading it back to
myself. He said to me: ‘Your only aid in your type of narration is
whatever your sight conveys to your heart. If you want narration
then look at it and read it outloud also. For then, your aid comes
from both what your sight conveys to your heart and what your
hearing conveys to your heart.'" Dr. M. ‘Ajaj al-Khatib
commented on this narration: "These are fine and true words,
for this is what the authorities in education and psychology say:
the more senses participate in the absorption of a subject or its
learning, the faster and easier its memorization."
‘Ilqima said: "Repeat the hadith at length
and it will never be erased from memory."
One time a pail of water was placed before Ibn
Shihab al-Zuhri. When he placed his hand in it, he happened to
remember a hadith. He did not remove his hand from the water until fajr
rose and until he had completely mastered the hadith.
Sufyan al-Thawri said: "Make the hadith your
own discourse to yourself and the very thought of your hearts, and
you will then memorize it."
Ja‘far al-Maraghi said: "I went into a
cemetary in Tustar, and I heard someone shouting: ‘And al-A‘mash,
from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayra; and al-A‘mash, from Abu Salih,
from Abu Hurayra,' for a long time. I began to look for the source
of this voice until I saw Ibn Zuhayr, studying al-A‘mash's
narrations alone, from memory."
9. Rehearsing Hadith With All Types of People
10. Rehearsing Hadith With Disciples And Friends
11. Rehearsing Hadith With Spouses And Companions
12. Rehearsing Hadith With Older People
Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri said: "Review (tadhâkarű)
hadith with each other, for one hadith brings out another."
‘Ilqima said: "Rehearse the hadith to one
another, for its life is its remembrance."
Ibrahim al-Nakha‘i said: "Whoever is pleased
with memorizing hadith let him narrate it to others, even to those who
have no inkling for it. When he does this, the hadith will be like a
book in his breast."
Al-Zuhri used to read back the hadiths he had
memorized to his slave-girl and the beduins in his land.
Ibn ‘Abbas would say to Sa‘id ibn Jubayr:
"O Sa‘id! Narrate." Sa‘id replied: "I, narrate in
your presence?" Ibn ‘Abbas replied: "If you make a mistake
I will let you know."
‘Ali ibn al-Madini said: "Six men would
almost take leave of their minds upon hadith repetition: Yahya [ibn
Ma‘in], ‘Abd al-Rahman [ibn Mahdi], Waki‘ [ibn al-Jarrah], [Sufyan]
Ibn ‘Uyayna, Abu Dawud, and ‘Abd al-Razzaq – due to their ardent
love of it. One night, Waki‘ and ‘Abd al-Rahman rehearsed hadith
together in ths Holy Sanctuary and did not stop until the caller to
prayer raised the adhân of fajr."
‘Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Shaqiq said: "I was
with ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak in the mosque on a cold winter night
and we rose to leave. When we reached the door he reminded me of a
hadith and I reminded him of another. We did not stop reminding each
other until the caller to prayer came and raised the morning adhân."
45: The Exposition and Definition of the
Immense Merit of Compiling And Authoring Books (15 sections)
Abu Zur‘a was asked about the
[final] number of those [Companions] who narrated hadith from the
Prophet e . He replied: "Who can compute it? Those who witnessed
with the Prophet e the Farewell Pilgrimage were 40,000 and those who
witnessed the campaign of Tabuk with him were 70,000." In another
narration someone asked him: "O Abu Zur‘a! Is it not said that
the hadith of the Prophet e is 4,000 narrations [in all]?" He
replied: "And who said that – may Allah untooth him! – ? This
is what heretics say (hâdhâ qawlu al-zanâdiqa). Who can
circumscribe the totality of the hadith of the Messenger of Allah e ?
When he died there were 114,000 sahâba who narrated and had
heard from him.
46: Ceasing Narration In Old Age Lest
Memory Is Affected And the Mind Becomes Confused:
Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman
ibn Khallad said: "If the hadith scholar lives a long life, I
find it preferable that he stop transmitting narrations at the age of
eighty, for it is the period of senility. Making glorification, asking
forgiveness, and reciting Qur'an is all more appropriate for
eighty-year-olds. But if his mind is crystal-clear and he has
perspicuity, knowing the narrations in his possession and in full
mastery of them, and he purports to narrate for the obtainment of
reward, then I hope all the best for him."
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